Evening star., 1933-08-13

OUT of the gloom On the quarter-deck ap-
~ peared . tall slender figure svathed In
long cape stepping lightly. Whitley knew It was
Miss Emerson taking her evening walk.
In his mind. Whitley was somewhat confused
as to which was the more beautiful-Miss En-
erson In her blue nurses uniform, or the new
12-pounder.
In 0 way, the two were inextrtcably Assoct-
ated; for Miss Emerson, too, admired the l2-
FOUNDER, and always in her walks stopped to
admire the gun and talk with the boys about it.
A sea struck the President abeam; the bridge
tarpaulns ratified applause. and the ship rolled
with o sudden lurch. Smith put out his hand
to steady the nurse. Mumbling something about
having to go on watch, Whitley fled and stum-
bled through the nearest hatch. It was familiar
of Smith to put his paw on her like that.
He felt better when he had relieved his watch
and fallen to work with his shovel. He began
to sing in q hoarse somewhat uncertain voice.
Here, sailor, straighten your necktie and
fall to-" The ships cook. bearing huge pail
of hot black coffee, and slat basket Of sand
wiches, entered the bunker
Whitley was in the act of dipping . second
helping Of coffee when there was violent
crash-immediately followed by the sound Of
ripping steel and timbers The ship lurched
heavily, throwing both men to the deck.
What a sea-" cried Whitley.
Sea- my eye!" gasped the cook, not noticing
have hit u.s."
The sudden calm that ensued, broken as it
was only by the throb of the engines and the
swish of water against the hull, was ghastly.
The ship still quivered from the impact.
From somewhere there was the faint, ghostly
sound of running feet. Then-a harsh clang-
ing of bells-the weird wailing Of siren.
General quarters! Whiteys thoughts immedi-
ately concentrated on his hunch. A U-boat had
attacked the ship!
The President was now alive with activity.
There were sounds of men running, the harsh
clang of metal as water tight doors were
slammed and secured.
Then another sound came to the solitary
young coal passer in the bunker: . series of
nearby minor explosions. Whitley recognized
Immediately what it was-the 12-pOunder was
speaking. Tears of excitement and disappoint-
ment came into Whiteys eyes; he began to
shovel coal desperately to restrain himself from
gushing above deck.
sinister noise like the soft kissing Of q
rattlesnake, obtruded itself into his conscious
ness Whitley, glancing aft, saw a small stream
of water swirling over the deck, as the shrill
sound of the siren, followed by the mufaed
notes of a bugle came down to him.
Abandon ship!
The black gang began leaving their stations
on the double. Come on, Whitley, she's sink
ing!" called out an oiler.
BY the time Whitley had reached the main
deck, the President had lost all headway and
was wallowing helplessly in the trough. Morn
ing was breaking, and in the faint light he
could just distinguish vague, writhing mass
few hundred yards of the starboard bow.
ship-probably a German raider-had rammed
the President and then opened fire.
Suddenly. he remembered: Miss Emersonl
THE last /life-boat had already been swung
over on its davits; only the RATS were left
for the crew. Silent men, like wraiths In the
semi-darkness, were running to their stations
Whitley turning tn retrace his stems aft where