Show N g J 0 wi W I 1 4 XA ay I 1 if copyright 1915 by J W muller all rights right reserved A narrative fact story based authoritatively on the inexorable mathematics of war whit can fie be done to 10 oppose an invading army with our actual present resources in regulars trained militia untrained citizens coast defenses field Artill artillery cry and all other weapons of defense lERV V continued SYNOPSIS owing to impending war against the tha united static ay ay iy iy LA a coalition of powers ut coropo ind and asia tho the mobilization of 0 our regular and volunteer forces forced la Is ordered or derel the national authorities and that tile united states Is in woefully unprepared A huge huffa foreign fleet of invasion la Is reported mlle miles in length tile the united states baates navy lotes loses ships in battle tho the coalition fleet at appears olt off tho the new land lana horizon slid america becomes panic bulcken ken A volunteer aviator scouting along the atlantie antle coast discovers the coalition fleet ot off now new bedford mass thirty of 0 the transports are seen een nantucket island standing in toward bloc island the tha invaders take block island nantucket anti and la martha artha a vineyard and warn want tho the po population pu lation not to resist they bombard with their warships tho the coast of new england bolow below cape cod trie men ilbo vho were working the ships guns were from little villages front from pretty seashore allio illio these ei they were not thinking of tho the habitations habitation which were belog blasted awny away it was wai till ti operation of war nr with their bronnis of steel nid and tire they simply were sweeping clear hlll lie floor on oil which that lint army WIB was to set bet its IN foot far in shore of the blaino torn cr safe froin any anny anni fire mider the alio para parabolas bolas tit of the naval its if they were tinder it i bombproof arch certain little vessels tind find tolled up tit and down front froin the he beginning slowly for they dragged between them liera long w wire re cathles bat hung down to the sen ben bottom they moved back abid forth along tue the hench the fish they were trying to catch were and content steel fish elsh that bon little protuberance i on oil their tops like the sprouting horns of f A yearling it md id jk A touch is as soft ns As the touch of it lovers hand coula cooki drive those them little horns In willrd to awaken a slumbering little devil of of mercury whose whore sleep ti ii so light flint it mere gnp will brenk break it 1 and the fulminate s ox ex would detonate pounds of guncotton the submarine little alno says to tile tho big ships chips 1 I am ain deattie dc de utti attil and they cannot answer it it but there Is nn an answer to the mine it Is the wine mine sweeper that drags draga for them tho the on oil these theao milne sweep erg era dedicate themselves to the tomb some must inevitably perish thy th y will and a aulne with their keels lu in stead of their groping drags or they will grapple oue too close or their wire cable will clutch two mines aal owing BV tug them together so eo that the little horns touch but it all the wine mine sweepers are arc permitted ler to work on oil the mines may lilt kill niad kill find kill yet lt lit in the end they will bp be gathor exl in there la 14 an absolute answer to lo tho the mine sweepers sweeper s it la Is to hammer them theses with tire lire front from the shore shoie aliese little vessels drugging dragging laboriously pie pic i sent targets sea scarcely une move M artillerist can call miss ills i them but again there la is an hinder answer to the mano protecting guns gulls it Is id long iong reigo lire fire front from the allias that lie ho safely outside of tile tho u anlin ine fields thery there la is only one answer to that it la Is for defenders deafen ders on oil land to plant luge buge guns gulls far inland that call reach reix h tile ships mid and beat them back ihna at they the dare not come clodi enough to reach the lesser shore artillery nearer tho the sea eca this formula of shore bhore defense la Is n formula KO ho that a clan glien given the conditions call work it out lah with simple arithmetic though lie he never lie erlind had it cannon lit u bli lift life guus guns guns and ui il guns alii an all army to protect therul this ahls was the only reply to the let fleet that wn willi poul pounding lIllig the coast the rile united states had nut not but clentry clent ly powerful oust coast nulls gulls mid baege guns gulls it had not lot chough artillerists to light fight what guns gum there then were mcie and it wd hid not enough ammunition to provide them with allu food in Bethi chem PA up the lIt hudson idson in ili smoky watervliet Water vliet lu in hartford and bridgeport and new blaven a and lid it dozen other towns with machinery hastily assembled and workmen hastily learning they were cie trying now to malic make projectiles enough and guns gulls enough they were hero trying to make enough pow wv der in delaware aud and new jersey in ili the of tho the united states army nt at that moment trains were delivering guns guns made in record time magnificent testimony I 1 to 0 american efficiency under tinder but tile the atins kilns were wem coming lit in one by one oil to meet nil mi eneany aneio who was tta bea beathia nt at tile the gates oud cud could not be propped ex copt with hundred even then the off the coast was sputtering a codo code into tho the night it WM a long code but its meaning was short it meant no newt 1 the mine sweepers hauled their gear wid AM camo came out fourteen had gono gone lit in those that come camo out were nine little before they had well begun to move the beach was white wit alth h culps hotot jill r f n jali ftc ts till ahna marines met het foot on oil the mainland of the united states with sharpened aires laires L la in their sheaths sheat lia unil and funded carbines and bandoleers filled witia cartridges ond and entrenching tren ching tooh and provisions each cacti nian alan of that aliat hist first force foice presented the highest unit efficiency for war ar I 1 the boats were scarcely off the beach to return to the ships before of these units ceru cru trotting through the upland up luid throwing out advancing parties mid and milking hasty ansty trenches chea from which in ili it 11 moment thero looked the greyhound RIO bound muzzles of machine guns on oil tin the short tho the strand party was sinking hand anchors and rigging derricks others were setting together tuo me and one half foot of jointed hollow laati for the wireless when the ho bonts boats beached again with morr moro men two iwo forty foot masts reach rd ed into the night und and hind hand power gen more 0 ill a hing ill the c antennae pul puo o willi mysterious life Lau itches nine in fit now dragging wide lint flat bottomed pontoons pon nd iq them on oil to shore and setd apt d ing leiff bm biddi h for more men nl al and held them in fit the surf 1 ran nil their 1110 orill up thu the bench beach willie alle oth ers era carried tail led out k edges and built bout an lola achors from nil jilt sides to in ilinko a k 0 t them it ew lie in ill thu gr kyound 0 bild swell sell file beach baione white as aa day till all at anee the rhe destroyers imd had steamed li it neif ore giving filling their men aid with their searchlights in ili swung inore pontoons pon broadside to lu broadside leaked and anchored out they ed ont 11 into 1 t 0 I 1 ile ben bell nt at halt it a dozen parts of tho the bench beach lil lal far enough apart that they should not touch however hard bald the swell might inight otilio to grind iland them together they alic formed floating piers reaching beyond the farthest outer line of burt from pontoon to pontoons pon ran gang lashed f anit A t flirt c hours had bad passed three tim almea the loats boats had bad made the trip lc ile tween warships and shore thirty naval service cutters cacti carrying thirty men twenty soven hundred Fail melois lors marines and soldiers were holding the ithone island coast kroin from the trenches of fit the advance party it a wireless spoke to the cruiser bearing the senior officer ai motor trouts reported lit in front on oil road three thousand yards jaida tn tit will alre rocket indicating direction tho the rocket burst for a minute it made nil all that part of tile black country egand out n under lightning Cr crasha Cra ashl alil bald tho the ship over tho the swept the shella and burst Crag cragel Cr ailiS hl said another ship apparently effective sald said tho the wire 0 les o dignin shall shaft send patrols forward and again it spoke ke in halt half tan rin hour enemy driven hark back our hold road barb wire vre entangle ments completed scouts in rel report ort luid land clear except for enemy cavalry in tome force out of malige CHAPTER vt VI where Is I 1 our army aji jowl owl said bald tho the crul cruisers sers bj less speaking once inore into 1 the son sea silent formless black four our vast ast ships long and antl twice its tall na as the crul cruisers came r in among them those these were the transports sealed that not it thread of light should shine from them to betray them to the thing that nil all tho the fleet voled moro more than anything else che tho the underwater lance of a bub torpedo under water tile the submarine Is always blind veil even when the brightest light of tho the noon day sun suit shims vertically into the ocean it can see only with its periscope eye above the tha surface at night the periscope cannot see ece thou then the submarine ceases to be useful as a submarine it can act still but only on oil the lie surface nur face like any other torpedo boat two score destroyers each of thirty knots each armed with alth from four to ten tell three inch guns gulls and rapid fluera circled around the twice na as swift ng the surface speed of the th B swiftest submarine armed overwhelmingly they could defy surface attack Amer american lenn submarines now tit in com coin do da not carry more than one three thre inch lucli rapid ire fire gun un it Is IR st bt lit in a water tight compartment front which it la Is elevated when the vessel Is on oil the surface sur faco of destroyers destroy cra are ammen class tire live three inch rapid fire BU caliber rifles alwyn abw n class four four inch rapid lire fire 60 baliber baan bridge bildne cloas two owr clicc inch rifles awl an I 1 tire live six rapid ire fire they aliey liem hein nied the darkened troop milas round ii with ith A great circle of searchlights nil all thrown outward talt served the double purpose of lne ing the alio ocean for tiff lest and nd of blinding any who tried tu to approach no human eye looking into that glare could have seen the transports even it if tile the night light had not shrouded them still these liners with their tens of thousands tit of men were w cro too precious pre clous to bo be protected only by this bright loue V lp ljydi W lach cli hilti there here rrt ro ejected long steel booms booma eleven to it a side elde these held beld out a n halt half ton toil net 0 of steel grom grommett grommets mets stretched fore and aft ns as taut aa could haul it tills this shirt of chain mall mail hung bung far down lutu lute the sea to catch any torpedo that might couie come driving tit nt the keel there was more protection than that it would be day soon tind and then the submarines would I 1 lie blind no nn longer all around the area chosen for the transports tran to llo ile lit in tho the flailing fishing boats boata taken fruin from tile sea islands were being towed by dost destroyers rui era to drop their nets their wooden buoys formed odd geo outlines on oil tin the aei gea these thin things of meshed twine mode made only illy to hold little inoffensive fish call were suspended like fences north unit und south alad east cast and west of the field of operations that such trivial filings should bo be of city avail underwater craft with denh in their henda heads might well have seemed ste ined absurd to it they lid did not seem absurd to the lieu licu IWO 1 M 0 g U M T I 1 K 4 11 11 i X J gnp 1 1 U 44 4 J A 1 1 11 1 1 1 r THE MOTHER ER SHIP OP OF THE ATTACKING aeroplanes AERO PLANES tenant who commanded united states stated submarine nib marlue M sit 0 when he steered his craft awash out from behind fishers ri island sound tit at dawn and looked cast ward through his glasses ten miles away lay la the transports quite motionless beautifully assembled as n target for him at that distance their masts and funnels seemed find died lie ile had a vivid picture in his bis mind nilma for an instant it was a picture of fat slow sheep crowding together with a wolf among them but between them and his wolf lay tile the net buoys buos dotting all the surface in and out as it they lind had been laid by some 0 me laboring artist to make a maze the sea wolf went vent slowly nearer with its tanks tanka full of water it lay so far submerged that the sea washed the comb lilg around the manhole hatch the iho lieutenant was like a man mail wi tiling breast high in ili the ocean it would be hard bard tu to see him from any dist distance linnee lie ili the traceries tra ceries cerles of f buoys buos there vero spices spaces between them that betokened gaps in the fences one might ind find a gnp gap and go through out but to find a gap the submarine must raise her bor neri periscope scope above water and look around nil nd here sweeping incessantly to and fro fro like sm cavalry were destroyers st tr with periscope shot away a subina one line even though uninjured is quite 1 I elp legs sh may escape if she Is in lep loop water and tile the la Is far enough aita to give her time to dive dhe rind floe flee deeply submerged see loss f r TJ U 12 on march 10 merely through destruction st truc tion of periscope which permitted nemy enemy destroyers to ram mm bera could one dive dhe and go through blind I 1 tile tho lieutenant knew the limitations of his little animal its kiss could draw a ton toil still ship into the abyss but the woven twine would laugh nt dt torpedoes its ita nose could cut through them like the threads that they were but the torn ends would catch conning tower and masta and periscope tubes even if it tore away a wa front from them the whirl of tho the propeller remained to renew tile the danger sucking the trailing cords to itself and lit in one instant switching them around and around till the spinning shaft with the propeller blocked the submarine must rise for only with its ita propeller thrusting and its Loriz 1 horizontal ins fins set to hold it down can call tho the submarine stay under it submerges not by sinking but by diving diring with main strength another rather vivid picture flashed dashed into tile the lieutenants mind it was not ilot a picture this athla tine time of n wolf rolf among sheep it was a picture of a n sudden enormous among those quiet net boys ns as of struggling down below and then of it a vioa alo len Lauree AS 13 tim tha ln 1 aji bel kup e carrier carried to fu the surface by y a bel helpless p I 1 as submarine held fast by the tall tn A breeze arose with the rising e bun un lind and th the L water tin the subina submarine stopped it could not meet rough water while it was wah awash akaah although its buoyancy when it was sealed was such that its propeller hod had to thrust full speed to make it dive yet with its hatches open TOO gallons of water fin fill lems va than Is con contained tallied lit in a s 11 bis wave would send it down like a tin ill can the commander field on oil us as long as he ha could watching the whitening wn wa ter lit in the east cant und find watching thu tho trans ports lie ile saw that at a thousand yards distance around them just what lie he would have chosen as nent torpedo range there lay a little icet fleet of gunboats gun boats all thrusting out booms |