Show DANIEL BOONE 88 by KARL GRAYSON associated newspapers newspapers service er MONTH after fritz parker A joined the navy and was assigned a berth aboard the U S S marlin he was dubbed daniel boone and the name stuck there were two reasons for it first fritz came from kentucky and secondly he was an expert rifleman quite seriously erious ly he admitted it shucks hed say 1 I can plug a dime at 50 yards if theres a glint of sunlight on it sos it can be seen yep I 1 reckon im about the best shot in the pine mountain district in Kain tuckey at which speech his mates hooted and laughed their merriment bewildered fritz he understand what was funny about a man telling how he could handle a rifle good shots he thought ought to be pretty important to the military forces of a country especially when there was a war on you ought to have joined the army jake russell told him there aint much chance for a sharpshooter to do his stuff in the I 1 navy fritz looked worried but shucks I 1 been livin on solid land all my life an I 1 had a hankering han kerin fer a boat ride dont the navy fellers never get a chance to shoot he glanced around yuh see that buoy out there the one with the bell belat well lieck heck I 1 could ring that bell in one shot seized by a sudden inspiration fritz jammed a cai cartridge into his rifle and demonstrated st the bell on the buoy went ad ping and fritz grinned see that he said well I 1 guess there aint anyone in the army could do better this was directly following a deck drill and there was quite a crowd around everyone laughed and there were one or two exclamations of admiration because the buoy was some distance away and its bell was small and then suddenly an ominous silence fell an officer had come up and his face was dark who he asked did that fritz beamed that was me sir he said proudly these jiggers seem to think I 1 was much of a shot and I 1 so you pulled a daniel boone for gem cm eh the officer cut in sarcastically casti cally well sailor youre not in this navy to plug at bell buoys weve got bigger guns to play with come along with me fritz spent a week in the brig when they asked him where hed got the cartridge he confessed quite frankly that he see the good in carrying a rifle without having a couple of bullets along in case of need and was promptly told a few things about military regulations the young kentuckian understand der stand it the attitude of the officers puzzled him the amusement of his mates brought a ponderous frown to his forehead he had the good sense to keep his mouth shut to try and figure the thing out tor for himself but in this he was unsuccessful cess ful men without guns and guns without bullets bullet sl and there was a war on eventually the marlin was detailed to join a convoy scheduled to escort the transport Bra gentine to france they weighed anchor in the chill of an early dawn and put out to sea aboard the Bra gentine was a regiment of infantry it was important that they be landed safely in france everyone knew this every sailor and officer and soldier and everyone knew that the accomplishment ment of the feat depended solely upon the alertness of the convoy boats least affected perhaps was fritz parker fritz see the danger he understand why a whole bunch of vessels like that armed fore and aft port and starboard with guns big enough to blow a whole city to pieces in ten minutes should be afraid of one little U boat fritz had been told about torpedoes had read about them and heard endless discussions about them he knew that it if a U boat ever got the chance to let one loose it might do a lot of damage but shucks with all those guns he quite see how they were going to get the chance but they did it happened five days out boston harbor there was a heavy sea running and the air was murky the lookouts sight the periscope until it was too late whistles sounded sirens screamed bugles blared and orders were barked like the snapping of ships the convoy began to maneuver deck crews rushed to their posts guns began slowly to swing into range depth bombs were released but the periscope had digap lawhite irregular line I 1 1 t marked across the sur te dinow invisible deep h of a wave now ay janst ast of another it came on IT a relentless furious pace and its destination was the hulking broadside of the cumbersome Bra gentine below decks at a forward porthole fritz parker watched the progress of the torpedo and into his mind flashed a picture of all the things hed read and heard of the damage they could do and into his mind also there flashed a pic ture of a swiftly flying grouse there are few birds that can get through the air more rapidly than a grouse few that are harder to hit only an expert marksman can bring one down when its in full flight fritz had accomplished that feat and other feats equally as miraculous memory of it caused a wave of pride to surge through him the torpedo he thought was traveling about as fast as a grouse it would require quite a lead to bring it down on the wing so to speak these thoughts raced through fritzs mind in a split second as thoughts are apt to do when a crisis is at hand even as he pondered the matter his lian hand d reached ba back ck and seized the rifle that leaned close by the rifle was now loaded and ready for use fritz shoved the muzzle through the port hole squinted along its barrel and got a bead on the torpedo then he swung about the same distance hed do if it were a grouse and pulled the trigger he worked the lever frenziedly and shot again officers and men standing on the decks of transport and convoy convoy ships were abruptly amazed to hear a loud explosion and to see a great geyser of water stream into the air fully yards away from the brag entine there was a moment of awed wondering silence and then pandemonium broke loose below decks fritz parker eased the firing pin back into place stood the rifle against the ships side and sat down with an expression on his face that indicated he was obviously sunk in the depths of despondency about him men were milling wildly babbling incoherently pounding each other on the back jake russell came up and changed fritz between the shoulder blades by god daniel I 1 never see anything like it I 1 never would have believed it if I 1 seen it with my own eyes what I 1 call shooting fritz looked up morosely and shook his head his face wore an entirely earnest expression there was a look in his eyes of misery and chagrin quit it jake I 1 could stand for your giddin me before but im getting kind of fed up shucks Shuck sl he gestured dismally that there torpedo tr avelin no castern fa stern a grouse an by jingoes jingles it took me two shots to bring her down guess now I 1 cant blame you jiggers for chinkin th inkin I 1 aint as good a shot as I 1 let on |