PUBLISHED BY
McCLURE'S MAGAZINE
AND
METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
| The Last Battleship |
| Absolute Zero |
| Over the Border |
| The Fire Worshiper |
| The Baby |
| The Grinding of the Mills |
| The Equation |
| The Twins |
| The Brothers |
| Kismet |
| The Mate of His Soul |
| The Voices |
| The Sleep Walker |
It was nearly midnight, and the battleship Argyll, stripped to baresteel, was drifting with banked fires but a full head of steam, waitingfor daybreak to discover the enemy. New things were expected in thiscoming action. Wireless news had told of the presence of submarines, asyet unproved in war, and before the going down of the sun a high-powertelescope on board had brought to view two small moving spots in thedistant sky—airships; but whether they were friends or enemies had notbeen determined. No hammocks were piped that night—men slept at theirstations or remained awake and talked; and aft on the superstructurea group of officers off duty discussed the possibilities of futurewarfare, and the coming place of the battleship under the menaceof the bomb-dropping dirigible balloon and the invisible submarinewith its deadly torpedo. All had taken part, some with laughter andjoking, others with the earnest conviction of serious thought, and thediscussion finally had narrowed down to a wordy combat between thehighest and the lowest of the commissioned officers, Mr. Clarkson,the executive officer, and young Mr. Felton, temporarily the torpedolieutenant. Mr. Felton had become dogmatic in his assertions, which isexcusable at sea only in the young.
"But, Mr. Felton," said the executive officer, slowly and earnestly,"have a little common sense. Can't you see that conditions must change,that the battleship, like the steamship, has almost reached the limitof size and development, while the airship and the submarine are intheir infancy?"
"But there must be a center, a nucleus of the fleet. How can youpreserve t