The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1914-1938, 1917-09-27

light draft craft to escape bsc..
the anchored mines coming 70 ,na~ OF
face. # SUI
The men in each crew hav.
carefully selected. They are az, oeen
best physical condition. pooa - Ae
mers, and the Brass Hats lo@ "in'
have even made certain thar na.
them has a cold. A sneeze or ! e Of
might betray us. Despite this 's y
damp, chilly night air makes -, 'oe
the men in our boat sneeze sudas s OF
It sounds to us like the crash
mine. / don't see why Il dIdnx ~
the top Of the fellows head ON axe
finely made motors, OF COURSE ouf
mufiied until you could not distine r.re
their purr ten feet away.
"a thousand yards or SO ana NAN,
across the fields" says the Bra.s noe oe
in our boat. He has 1t figured daI Lat
pretty fine. Now We are skim,s, "n
over a bar, where a heavier boat can,s
not 60. S~
Discover Enemy Destroyer
We strain our eyes ahead TO c,,o,
the white CLEAN OF the wake ~ as
leading craft and stare behind n mssl
out the white bow wave OF tba
following us. 1t is the only wsv
can keep ourselves in line.
Presently pick up out OF the b,.o.
ness OF the night a patch Of someth,n.
that is even blacker. A ripple ,nas
down my spine. The great mom.a,
has arrived. This is not like cbos,ns
a submarine which is trying 10 b.ss
and which you can almost run circ,.s
around. 1t is more like six mosouitoss
tackling a band OF giants. II evsr
they can hit us slap we win ~
crushed to jelly.
i point out the black patch 20 ths
Brass Hat. He strains through hIs
night glasses, then hands them 70 ma
Destroyer" he says.
The term is well applied, and real.
ize for the first time what destructive
power one OF these slick sea iiphten
has. She is running without lights.
We wonder in whispers whether the
other craft have sighted her. There a
no way for us TO signal them. The
man standing at the wheel throws her
over a little to starboard, following
the white wake OF the boat ahead
Of us.
"They see her." says the Brass Hat
next. They're circling in."
A glance astern shows us that our
followers have observed the change IN
our course. i do not know how far
we are from that destroyer. In the
dark she looms SO big that IL seems we
must be going to Craze her.
There is lurid stab OF red in the
darkness ahead-a deafening roar-the
smell OF battle is in our nostrils. The
leaders three incher has barked. Guns
barks at almost the same time. 0un
has bitten, for we can see the fash Of
the explosion as the shell falls on
board the destroyer. That Is better
luck than we had looked for.
The Searchlights Scour the Sea-
The flashes have shown us other
craft-destroyers, patrol boats and
gunboats. No hope Of concealment
now. We wait just long enough be-
tween shots to make It hard for the
Germans to locate us from the fash Of
the guns. Our engines, with the muf-
fiers open to give us all possible speed,
are roaring almost as loudly as the
cannon it seems.
The Boches must be confused. They
haven't fired on US yet. Searchlight
are darling everywhere across the wa
ter and In the sky. Their one object
Is to find and destroy us, but they can
not figure out what to look for. They
of course think we have come N
through the channel, and their power
ful rays sweep the entrance to the
harbor and the waters just INSIDE
while others play over the surface
from whence we fired our first snou'
They don't expect craft OF our size 20
attempt such a daring raid.
How much damage we have cone
we do not know, but we cease nf1ns