New-York tribune., 1918-06-02

Men on Mediterranean Station Pray for Their Dailv
Give-and-Take Duel With Enemy
Flier or Submarine

face, and had she kept her course -
could easily have come down a.
wind and bombed her as we passed.
But she was wise, that U-boat.
wise as woman, who, as Won,
know, m'sieu, is wise withouf
knowing it. Instead of waiting foy
US the U-boat headed into the wind
which blew so strongly that with our
engines at their best we could nakA
only fourteen kilometres the hou
That was the U-boat's speed, and
while we hung astern she fired if.
teen shells at US. Some burst cfosA
so close that the little V stilI
bears the scars on her body. But.
luckily for US and she, they were NOT
incendiary; they did not set her on
fire. We answered and hit her. too.
But our little one-pound sheIls
glanced from her curve like peas
from bald mans pate. Oui, n,'siex
just so!
1t Was All in
The Days Work
"It was suicide to persist, so we
struck a wide tack across the wind
to outsail and come back at her
from the other side, with the sun in
the eyes Of her gunners. But when
we came about she was gone, that
U-boat; submerged and fled from
our little v. But such is your
Boche. A cunning coward, unless
the odds are his"
I took another look at that little
Frenchman-he had spoken so quiet
ly, as though hanging on the tail Of
submarine, a mark for it's gum
ners, was all in the days work. He
could not have been more than five
feet high. He probably weighed III
the neighborhood of 10 pounds.
But the spirit that looked out of his
dark Latin eyes was big as Mont
Blanc. The soul of him could not
be weighed in tons. He shrugged
when l mentioned the danger.
"1s war ecer safe, m'sieu? We
do not always escape Out there
a fling Of his thumb indicated the
flying field-"we watched the Ad-
miral-fy off on a far mission. She
was seen here, there and yonder,
flying south over the land. A ship
reported her well along the Medf-
terranean, a gallant sight between
the sunlit sky and deep blue sea.
Then"-his shoulders rose to his
hair-"she vanished. Perhaps sub
marine got her with an incendiary
shell? A flash of fame between sen
and sky, the splash Of her charred
body IN the water, it would be over.
Or she may have been brought down.
1t is, perhaps, that some day her
crew will come back to us from An
interior German prison."
just as he said, a dirigible offers
an immense target, but just how
large did not realize until, late in
the afternoon, our ship came sliding
out OF the sunsets gold. The huge
bulk of her, shining and ethereal
looked as big as the hangar.
While she was still a f1vsnecl ~
the red face of the sun, the lone sem
try away up on top of the hangar
had sounded the bugle blast that
brought the men from the huts. \
swarm of black bees. AS she slowed
and dipped down with engines cut
OFT, the quarter-mile trail rope thud-
ded on the ground. It was sch d
by a hundred hands and quick .
Dent to dead man" anchor. IT,,
guy ropes were as quickly slippe
through the stay rings then, on q
VIDE circle, and they marched her
around to the hangar.
Give Us This Day
Our Daily U-Boat
She looked larger than ever. go
ing in; "some target" as the boys
would say, for the U-boat they ara
going to flush one of these DAYS
personally, l hope they catch her
under water-at least before she
can unship her guns. But these fy.
ing sailors of ours show no mental
disturbance at the thought Of a give
and-take duel. On the contrary,
like the ''heavier than airs" l had
flown with, the ''daily bread" in their
prayer has been changed to s'suk.
marine" They will get it, too--let
US hope in the slang sense Of tho
term.
Meanwhile, they are carrying d.
Daily they go forth on the patrols
escorting conveys up the coast, Keep .
ing the U-boats out of the FrsnGh
ship channels. Also they are uah-
ing the best Of a rather cheezlsw