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Show AERIAL OBSERVER IS MAROONED IN SWAYING BASKET FOR20 HOURS Terrific Gale at Sea Makes Rescue Impossible; Kite Balloon Recruiting Takes Sudden Slump. "THE FIGHTING FLEETS." By BAXiPH D. PAINE. (Copyright, 1918, by Kalph D. Paine.) 'By special arrangement with Houghton Mifflin Co.) INSTALLMENT 31. Side by Side With Britishers. HERE was a sudden diversion a r I 1 glimpse of something a few hun- dred yards off to starboard. It A might be a slender bit of spar, but a red flag soared to a signal yard and spoke the submarine warning to the ships in column behind. A gun was fired and a shell splashed near the suspicious object which BO closely resembled a perl-scope. perl-scope. It served as a reminder that the fleet was cruising in perilous waters. The admiral was undisturbed by this momentary interruption. His ships bad fought off submarine attacks before now. It was one of the annoyances of the service. ser-vice. He had reason to be In good spirits whenever he gazed astern and watched those other splendid ships of his as they crashed through the towering seas. Faultlessly Fault-lessly they maintained their intervals and stations, hour after hour, and there was no reason to fear the critical eyes of the British admirals who looked on from their own divisions of battleships. "Man Overboard'9 Startles Crew. On deck, beyond the forward turret, several sailors in charge of a boatswain's mate etfrere toiling to make things secure. Lifelines had been rigged to safeguard the men when the bow of the ship went roaring roar-ing under and she shook herself clear of the water that streamed aft. One of these brave young bluejackets was not quite vigilant enough or perhaps he took a reckless chance and had nothing to cling to when a big sea stamped across the deck and carried him with it. He was gone from his comrades in an instant, in-stant, swept off into the chaps of broken water, blotted out with no warning. The signal of "man overboard" swiftly passed from ship to ship, but it was Impossible Im-possible to launch a boat. The one hope was to throw him a line or a lifebelt if he rifted past on the crest of a billow. ThlH was never a glimpse of him. Sacrifices Life on Active Service. He had given his life for his country, on active service. Ail he had to give he freely offered while engaged in a hard and dangerous task from which he had not hung back. The sacrifice was as complete com-plete as If he had died behind his gun. There was sorrow in his watch division, for his mates were fond of him, and the loud talk was hushed when they gathered for coffee and hash. One of the British ships towed a kite balloon which had been sent up before leaving harbor. Then the gale had swept down and It became Impossible to reel In the gas bag without wrecking It and drowning the observer. He waB, therefore, there-fore, condemned to sway aloft in his basket, bas-ket, and there he stayed for twenty-four hours on end. By comparison the plight of a mariner marooned oh a desert island would have seemed luxurious and safe. The ship steamed into the teeth of the gale and dragged the balloon with it. High above the deck it swayed and bobbed like an apple on a twig. Beneath It hung the tiny basket whose motions were wild and terrific. It was snapped about like a game of crack the whip. All day long the basket was flung to and fro, sometimes tailing horizontally and then swinging off to de scribe another arc as startling. The lone observer was invisible. It was to be inferred in-ferred that he was busily engaged in sticking fast to the inside of the basket with fingers, toes and teeth. You expected to see catastrophe overtake him. that the balloon would collapse or break free and go rocketing off in the mist, or that this unfortunate captive would be shot out of his basket and tumble into the sea. Doubtless he expressed his emotions by telephone to his shipmates who could do no more than crane their necks and look on. A junior watch officer of the American navy gazed with sympathetic concern and shook his head as he observed: Kite Service Is Very Appealing. "That bird Is distinctly out of luck. Wind cold enough to freeze your gizzard, and he just can't help being seasick. Nobody No-body could. I shall never complain about anything no, never again. And friends of mine want to be transferred to the kite balloon service! They ought to stand here and look at that!" Only the commander in chief knew how many war vessels, great and small, were spread out over this region of the sea as a fleet. The mist concealed many of them, and their columns moved for miles beyond te field of vision. Other units might have moved out from their several bases to meet at the appointed rendezvous rendez-vous somewhere in these clouded waters. They were all mysteriously in touch with one another, unhesitatingly following the courses assigned them. Weather Spoils Practice Cruises. For twelve hours they held their way, driving into the wind and sea at a standard stan-dard speed of twelve knots, and then reluctantly re-luctantly they turned and steered homeward. home-ward. The weather had "spoiled the show." Again the enemy had eluded them and the challenge of the grand fleet was unavailing. In the pitchy darkness of the second night the great ships picked up their landfalls and filed in through the narrow firth where the tide boiled in whirlpools and the sound of breakers was clamorous to starboard and to port. They dropped anchor or found their moorlng-buoys, but not to rest Inactive. The ftreroom watches were keeping steam in the hollers and. as always, the fleet was prepared to seek the sea if another alarm should All to action. Of this the German high sea fleet was well aware. American Jackies Aid British Tars. The British bluejackets were building a, road on an island near by and several hundred American marines went ashore from their ships, next day. to help them. They turned to with a will, for this navy game was a partnership and It was not the proper thing to stand by and look on. There were the bone and gristle of real men under the khaki uniforms of these marines and they made the dirt fly with pick and shovel. A veteran sergeant ser-geant who had won his service medals for Haiti and Vera Cruz turned aside from his perspiring detachment to say: "It's healthy for them ami It makes a hit with the Britishers. They like to see us willing to work as well as fight sfde by side. And we are making a pretty nifty little piece of road. Not that we pin bouquets on ourselves, but did you ever see a job that the marines couldn't get away with? It don't seem long since I was In th conning tower of a locomotive locomo-tive rattling freight cars over a crazy-stretch crazy-stretch of Central American railroad, and the lieutenant yonder was temporary mother superior of an orphan asylum until un-til the nurses could be coaxed back into town." |