It was useless to argue with these terror-stricken people. They merely stared in dumb misery3 and trudged4 on, mothers leading children, dirty, bedraggled, footsore and hungry—little boys and girls carrying their toys and pets—the old, the young, scrambling5, crowding, hurrying they knew not where for safety.
Vassar arrived at General Hood6’s headquarters in time to witness the clash of our squadron with the advance fleet of the enemy.
The battle was not more than five miles at sea in plain view of the shore.
He watched the struggle in dumb misery.
It was magnificent. But it was not war. He felt this from the moment he saw our five ships with their little flotilla of torpedo7 boats and submarines head for the giant armada that moved toward them with the swift, unerring sweep of Fate.
Our great red, white and blue battle flags suddenly fluttered in the azure8 skies as the Pennsylvania’s forward turret9 spit a white cloud of smoke. A long silence, ominous10 and tense followed and the sand dunes11 shivered with the roar of her mighty12 guns.
The big cruiser leading the van of the advancing foe13 answered with two white balls of smoke and Vassar saw the geysers rise from their exploding shells five hundred yards short of our ship.
From out of the distant sky above the armada emerged a flock of gray gulls14—tiny specks15 at first, they gradually spread until their steel wings swept a space five miles in width. The hydroplanes of the enemy had risen from the sea and were coming to meet our brave airmen with their pitiful little fleet of biplanes.
Higher and higher our boys climbed till but tiny specks in the sky. The great gray fleet of the hostile gulls began to circle after them.
The guns of our battleship were roaring their defiance16 now in salvos that shook the earth. The imperial armada, with twenty magnificent dreadnaughts, advanced to meet them with every gun thundering.
“O my God!” Vassar groaned17. “To think our people closed their eyes and refused to see this day!”
Had his bill for national defense18 become a law our navy would have ranked second, if not first, in the world. It would not have been necessary to shift it from the Atlantic to the Pacific. We could have commanded both oceans. It would be too late when our main fleet returned by the Straits of Magellan.
Our ships were putting up a magnificent fight. One of them had been struck and was evidently crippled, but her big guns were still roaring, her huge battle flags streaming in the wind.
Vassar lowered his glasses and turned to General Hood.
“They’re going to die game!”
The General answered with his binoculars19 gripped tight, gazing seaward. “They’re gamecocks all right—but I’m just holding my breath now. You notice the enemy does not advance?”
“Yes, by George, they’re afraid! There’s not a dreadnaught among them that can match the guns of our flagship!”
“Nonsense,” Hood answered evenly, “they’ve slowed down for another reason. Unless I’m mistaken they’ve led our squadron into a school of submarines—”
The words were scarcely out of his mouth before a huge column of water and smoke leaped into the heavens beside the flagship, her big hull20 heeled on her beam’s end and she hung in the air a helpless, quivering mass of twisted steel slowly sinking.
“They’ve got her!” Vassar groaned.
Before the Pennsylvania had disappeared her three sister ships had been torpedoed21. They were slowly sinking, the calm waters black with our drowning men.
The sea was literally22 alive with submarines. The conning23 towers of dozens could be seen circling the doomed24 ships.
The Oklahoma had been disabled by shell fire before the submarines appeared. She was running full steam now for the beach, with a dozen submarines closing in on her. The white streak25 of foam26 left by their upper decks could be distinctly seen from the shore. Utterly27 reckless of any danger from the after guns of the dying dreadnaught they were racing28 for the honor of launching the torpedo that would send her to the bottom.
Her after guns roared and two submarines were smashed. Their white line of foam ended in a widening mirror of oil on the dark surface of the sea.
At almost the same moment a torpedo found her bow and sent the huge prow29 into the air. She dropped and her stern lifted, the propellers30 still spinning. Two swift submarines making twenty-two knots an hour had circled her on both sides and brought their torpedoes31 to bear on her bow at the same moment. Her battle flag was flying as she sank headforemost to her grave.
The wind suddenly shifted and the men who watched with beating hearts heard the stirring strains of “The Star Spangled Banner” floating across the waters from her slippery decks. Weird32 and thrilling were its notes mingling33 with the soft wash of the surf at low tide. The music was unearthly. Its strains came from the deep places of eternity34.
Instinctively35 both men lowered their glasses and stood with uncovered heads until the music died away and only the dark blue bodies of our boys were seen where a mighty ship had gone down.
“We’ve but one life to give!” Hood exclaimed. “It’s a pity we haven’t the tools now to make that life count for more!”
The little torpedo boat flotilla closed in and dashed headlong for the submarines. To the surprise of the watchers not one of the undersea craft dived or yielded an inch. Their five-inch disappearing guns leaped from the level of the water and answered our destroyers gun for gun. Their decks were awash with the sea and armored so heavily that little danger could be done by our shells.
The battle of the sharks was over in thirty minutes. Not a single destroyer escaped. They had dashed headlong into a field of more than a hundred dreadnaught submarines. One by one our destroyers broke in pieces and sank to rise no more.
A few dark blue blots36 on the smooth waters could be seen—all we had left afloat—and they were sinking one by one without a hand being lifted to their rescue.
The imperial armada was mistress of the seas. The great ships moved majestically37 in and prepared to shell the shores to clear the way for their landing.
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1
torrent
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| n.激流，洪流；爆发，(话语等的)连发 | |
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2
rumors
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| n.传闻( rumor的名词复数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷v.传闻( rumor的第三人称单数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷 | |
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3
misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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4
trudged
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| vt.& vi.跋涉，吃力地走（trudge的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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5
scrambling
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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6
hood
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| n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖 | |
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7
torpedo
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| n.水雷，地雷；v.用鱼雷破坏 | |
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8
azure
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| adj.天蓝色的，蔚蓝色的 | |
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9
turret
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| n.塔楼，角塔 | |
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10
ominous
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| adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的 | |
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11
dunes
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| 沙丘( dune的名词复数 ) | |
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12
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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13
foe
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| n.敌人，仇敌 | |
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14
gulls
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| n.鸥( gull的名词复数 )v.欺骗某人( gull的第三人称单数 ) | |
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15
specks
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| n.眼镜；斑点，微粒，污点( speck的名词复数 ) | |
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16
defiance
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| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
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17
groaned
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| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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18
defense
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| n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩 | |
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19
binoculars
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| n.双筒望远镜 | |
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20
hull
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| n.船身；(果、实等的)外壳；vt.去(谷物等)壳 | |
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21
torpedoed
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| 用鱼雷袭击（torpedo的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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22
literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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23
conning
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| v.诈骗，哄骗( con的现在分词 )；指挥操舵( conn的现在分词 ) | |
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24
doomed
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| 命定的 | |
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25
streak
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| n.条理，斑纹，倾向，少许，痕迹；v.加条纹，变成条纹，奔驰，快速移动 | |
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26
foam
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| v./n.泡沫，起泡沫 | |
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27
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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28
racing
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| n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的 | |
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29
prow
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| n.(飞机)机头，船头 | |
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30
propellers
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| n.螺旋桨，推进器( propeller的名词复数 ) | |
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31
torpedoes
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| 鱼雷( torpedo的名词复数 )； 油井爆破筒； 刺客； 掼炮 | |
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32
weird
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| adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的 | |
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33
mingling
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| adj.混合的 | |
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34
eternity
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| n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷 | |
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35
instinctively
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| adv.本能地 | |
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36
blots
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| 污渍( blot的名词复数 )； 墨水渍； 错事； 污点 | |
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37
majestically
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| 雄伟地； 庄重地； 威严地； 崇高地 | |
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