A MATTER OF LUCK.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 183, 16 June 1916, Page 1 (Supplement)

A MATTER OF LUCK.

The long, shrill pipe of the bo's'n s mate caused Able-Seaman H.aus to listen attentively for the words which followed, although the modak.tioa of the call gave him a premonition or what they were likely to be. Away—first—picket-boat!" The words came to him distinctly as he sat in his mess reading a oon.

The call affected him. lie was required in the small steamoo.it carried by the ship for various duties, lie closed his hook with a "lung'' and flung it upon the table, fcr he Was in anything but a cheerful temper. "Course,'' he muttered to no one in particular, " natcherelly ! I gets inboard for five minutes an' sits down, an' away I 'as to go again. Blowed i I ain't just about fed-up " Ho spat vehemently as he reached the upper deck, much to the verballyexpressed disgust and displeasure of the petty-officer in charge there, and prepared to man the boat fiom the " lower boom."

This latter, for the benefit of landsmen who may not understand the term, is a spar some forty teet long, projecting at right angles to the ship's side for the purpose of securing boats to it These are secured by nieivns of lengths of wire rope, with an eye in the lower end, called "lizards," which are suspended from the boom. The weather was very fine, as it should be in .Tune, but it had no particularly soothing effect upon the temper of Able-Seaman Hicks, who was too much engrossed in his pessimistic views of the Navy in general. He slipped quickly down 'he ladder and hauled the boat up beneath him when lie dropped to the white deck. Four or five other figures appeared on the boom, and half a minute inter were in the boat.

With a "clank" a spring door opened in the top of the funnel casing, and 1 grimy, oil-besmeared face, under a thatch of dirty but fair, tousled hair, was thrust upwards through the aperture thus disclosed.

"What's up?" said the owner of tho face and hair. "Called awayr 1

"Yes!" answered th.c coxswain. "All here?'' Then, having glanced round to ascertain that his crew was complete, lie gave a brief order to "Let go tor aid," and a few seconds later the boat left the boom. Describing a large circle it came to rest amidst a mass ot white loam and disturbed water at the after-gangway. Almost immediately a nuinoer ot offic.ers armed with golf clubs, sporting 1 illes. and tennis racquets, stepped into the stera-sheets, followed by a midshipman, who took his place beside tiio coxswain. "Carry on, please," he said. "Shove 1 iff. i'or'ard!" ruder the influence of two boathooks and some unprintable remarks, perhaps (in a monotone, of course), from Able-Seaman Hicks, the bows swung slowly outwards; a gong rounded twice in the engine-room, and in a few moments the boat was on its way ashore. The boat v.a- originally designed for sixteen knots, but regulations lorbade straining her engines to this extent, :o that she approached the shore at nothing exceeding twelve. Down in tho little cabin in the foie part of th,' boat- techim ally known as the "fore peak" lii x was recounting his misfortunes ' i the crew. "When're they goin' to find out I they've got another picko'-e-ai in the shin? That's wot I want to k:ow.'' | He looked around .is thou.': 1 seeking ■: respoii-e. luil. receiving none., he continued, "I'm lust about fed-up, I am. 'Sides, I ain't got no badges. 1 vo never seen blokes without badges in picket-boats before. Now. there s Thompson in my mess, k s a badgeman —never set 11 tii.e inside of a bloomill' boat vet. T don't believe '' -Hello'! What's lip with us now'" The boat had suddenly s»um; round, and as 1 he faces of tho men appeared successive!'.' at the little mall-hole, they

noticed that the ship was ahead ot them instead of astern. Inquiring glances were cast to the coxswain and middy in turn, but no explanations of this curious manoeuvre was forthcoming. Then someone said that the boat was recalled, and all eyes were turned to the signal at the masthead of their ship. "What's the buzz?" asked one. "Dunno!" responded Hicks, gloom ilv. "More coal for us to hump tonight, I s'pose. .lust our luck when we're duty boat." When they arrived alongside again they t'oir.id everyone in a sta-e of orderly panic. Boats were being hoisted, torpedo-nets lashed, and lower-booms were laid aft. ... 11 Get readv for hoisting in at once, said the officer of the watch iiom the quarter-deck, "and prepare ur sea. ' Then even Hicks forgot his troubles in anticipation of a few days at sea. For anything was better tnan duty boat in harbour, i Itfjve wnutes later, the boa i was ; hoisted in-board, and after another ten 1 a flutter of bunting ran up to the i vard-arm. . 1 ' The loading signalman on tee bridge i of the flag-ship saw it and leveled his I telescope I "nominator reports 'Ready to prn--1 coed.' sir," lie sang out to the flag- ■ lieutenant 011 the upper brid.'.e as I answering flng straightened o»it in I b-ee/e, and a moment late' - the \ ' | miral knew that bis squadron wn= ; ready for sea. # • * ! "Hi( said the capta.n of the quarter-deck, "you'll have the morning i watch as 'submarine look-out. " I "Righto!" said the man au.lressed in ' a well-feigned tone of uncont.ern, hut, ' sotto voce, he added, "Just niv bloomj in' luck. First day at sea. too." The morning watch is from \ a.m. to ; 8 a.m., and even in fine weather is i anything but an interesting pastime. ' Four o'clock came all too qu'cklv for i Hicks, who was snugly ensconced in a " purser's" blanket when the corporal 1 came to shake him. I sVith a sleepy appearance and a ' slecnier feeling he managed o rcill out of his hammock, an dressed himself 1 with his eves closed. Tll a few minutes ' lie arrived on the bridge and, in any-

111 i 11 Li but a pleasant frame o* mind, received the "lammy" suit which his predecessor clir-ea:de-el, lor the morning air was k' . a. The long line ot grey pit's wliicn were ships advanced through tli.e water at a uiiilonu speed ot eighteen knots, and the mind ol one ot tiie lookouts 0.1 ih." bridge of the nominator reverted to them. From Oa'tloships his mind wandered to "lea.v, and from "leave" to a girl in -well, never miu dwhere. "Wonder wh,en 1 shall yt home again. Twelve months! Wry, other blokes have been home dozens o times since then. Still, just my blooniin' luck," and he kicked savagely at a ring- bolt in the deck, and immediately wished lie hadn t. Dav?.i .had broken, but it was not yet sufficiently bgbt 'to distinguish anything clearly. One wave in particular, -.'.me o:s----tancc away, «eemcd i" a'.trai t Ins eyes more than tlv others but i.o: hi- attention. Memories ami promises, both vivid and vague, pleasant ami otherwise, passed llveungly thoougn his brain. t wish S'.n.e!li'ng would 1 app;-n. he told 1 he seal, blight near -' In. " Torpedo- - mine—or -anything it send .1 : in dock so s t!m\ d g 1 v lca\e. Ills sulil.wpii.'s were rui'e.v broken by a swiii r.-icii; of his th .eghls to tie duties Ije was there to perform. The Vijiile a v ■■ be lu:d been uin.mioilsl V. ,'i. 1: i lIL'.- w.->s mil 'I Ileal, r. and he v.a- able lo -bs a - ■ .i-iaiis about ii. And the short. 1 ; > .. po.e lit ar one end ' f it ■:i"cd--d .10 5... r- : 111 co'i s!i Icra 1 ■ 11. •• Submarine .1 : the pi it lieam. si 1 . Alile-Seamaii 1101-.s' l-arbc, the captain and made that ;o iiileman jump. The other effects ol the wolds were electrifying. , A few sharp older-- ran;-; thrmgli me

voice-pipes and telephones from the bridge. Everyone who, a minute befo1 0, had seemed barely awake, suddenly leapt into a vicacious activity. in a few moments guns were laid and trained on the thin htreak of white 10am which spelt "death" and "destruction" to men and ships. One man had seen it first i':om the bridge ot the nominator; now every ship in the line had received the information that a submarine had ucen sighted. Tiie searchlights of the flagship blinked urgent and imperative messages to the ships astern, wtio divided . into divisions and sub-divisions as the> | abandoned their original coir so for a ; safer one. A Hash, a cloud of brown smoke and a deafening report occurred hynchron- ; ously at the muzzle of a six-pounder, acid a second afterwards, a splash of white spray shot into the air for a few seconds ahead of the ominous periscope —butit was a "miss." A second later a whits, silvery streak appeared, apparently fiom nowhere, at the surface of tho water, and rapidly approached the few remaining ships. And in the moments which followed, Able-Seaman Hicks forgot himself. He hoped fervently that the whitestreak would end at the side of the Dominator. He saw visions fa couple of months in dockyard hands, and, Incidentally, a few days' leave. Everything, be felt, depended upon that lone white line of air-bubbles The guns barked again, but the target was a difficult one, and even as th" I'st shot foil—:hr<v? yards over —a 1 cloud of smoke and flame buret with a I deafening roar from the next ahead.' i The white streak bad gone. "Ah. veil." he said, bitterly, "just my bloom ill' luck !" --"Sheffi"!'' Weekly Telegraph.'