Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 40, Number 101, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 August 1908 — THE VANISHING FLEETS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

THE VANISHING FLEETS

By ROY NORTON

ILLUSTRATED BY A. WEIL

Buiimi *"*• *V h» Uiiaal.l Safaay fctime And what a difference them was between this fleet and these to which the men aboard were accustomed! On those battleships of the seas were magnificent forces of men trained to fight, which were numbered by thousands; but here each crew consisted of a bare half-dozen. In the hulls of those vessels of the sea strove a small army, watching over and driving huge engines, and supplying them with steam; here were only ode man and an assistant standing before lovers, switches and buttons, which did their work instantaneously and with no noise. In those destroyers of the waters throbbed mighty engines considered the modern triumph of speed; here was a craft that by a finger's pressure could almost run abreast the sun. Those ships' bristled with mighty gnns; here were no frowning muzzles or unwieldy turrets. Science was bringing an end to brute force, and the last battle against barbarism was at hand. For the first time since Its birth the great plant was silent and Idle and the men who had created It and by its means built this new fleet of the air were at rest. They had done all they could, and now gathered silently round the radioplanes, which stood in orderly array with portlike doors yawning wide to receive their crews. “Fighting” Bevins stood by his flagcraft, the Norma, and looked at the force under his command. Captains who had handled hundreds of men and driven their great floating crafts of steel, and engineers who had learned new callings waited attentively for his last instructions. The battle-Bcarred veteran addressed them In a voice that needed no high pitch to be audible to all his hearers. “Gentlemen," he said, *‘l have nothing more to sav to you. You are going out to fight what will probably be the last great battle in history. Tou are active participants in the final chapter of international war. The time Is approaching when our profession will be useless, and I for one shall gladly turn to ways of peace.” Norma, who had left the bedside of the sleeping Inventor, Joined the officers, and Bevins stopped and saluted her. “With us,” he continued, “Is a girl who has laid all her talents on the altar of country, and Is now prepared to jeopardize her life for victory. We can do no less. It may be that some of ns will not return —the hazards qf war can never be foreseen. You have been put In a strange position, and are even robbed of the sailor’s right to send a last message to your homes; but that, too, has been for the country’s good. To my personal knowledge you have all passed your lives in trying to do What was right, and have given the best that was in you to the flag. You will do no less now.” In the glare of the /arc lights he took one last look at his comrades in arms, and then, as If once more at sea, loudly ordered: “Board ship, aUt?' He uncovered and stood aside In an attitude of the greatest respect while Norma passed and entered the flagship bearing her name. With steady precision the other officers saluted, took possession of their radioplanes, and as the doors clanged shut behind them a mighty cheer burst from those outside. Before It had subsided the dynamos in the strange collection were humming and droning with unleashed energy, and the unshuttered ports stared out Into the gloom like eyes of fire suddenly opened from sleep.

From the Norms there shot up into the sky swiftly alternating streaks of red, white and blue, the night signal asking If all was ready. From the other monsters came flashing answers of acqulascence. .There was an Instant’s pause. The flagship gave a slight upward shock and lifted slowly Into the air. Immediately behind tp stately upward sweep followed anqtber radloplaue, and in quick succession, like gigantic birds oj the night, they took flight In a great swinging circle until they reached a common altitude, she cheer below bad died away, and all was still. Then, as If answering the call of a baton swung by a god, tbe palpitant air was riven by a mighty chorus from beneath. Mounting upward there penetrated to them, quivering with terrific terror, tbe cry of Invincibility voiced In the majestic words of that deathless song of battle: Mine spss have seen the (lory es the coming of tbe Lord; He Is trampling out tbe -vintage where his grapes of wrath are stored : He bath loeeed the fateful Ughtning of hie terrible swift swurd; His truth to marching on. Out to the went, over sleeping cities and homes, across mountain and plain, chasing the long set sun, they want to moot the fleet of an enemy Which wm steadily sailing to Ite doom. The sword of g nation's vengeance wag cleaving the night skies in its danvto•aoe of an overwhelming blow.