From one extreme of movement to the other. We woke to rolling blue seas and an increasing vibration, which told that the Hawkins was working up to her two hours' full speed test. Which: full speed, it may here be mentioned, as an illustration of the punctuality with which things axe done in the Navy, was reported to the Captain preweely at the intended hour. neither a minute before nor a minute after. What that speed was it is not my business to say, But imagining oneself travelling in a motor-car over a smooth road, it seemed incredible that this vast conglomeration of over 9000 tons of steel and machinery could be driven through the seas at like pace. The nearness of the Hianvkins' quarter-deck to: the water enabled one to get a good idea of the tremendous speed at which we were moving. The exhilaration it inspired was thrilling. Even the officers, not given to emotion, showed visible excitement. Contrary to expectation there was but little vibration. Despite the sea she travelled on a perfectly even keel, and when the gunnery officer took advantage of the trial to have a little practice at imaginary aeroplanes, shooting up a smoke shell and aiming at the burst, he was able to do some very pretty marksmanship. Any—aeroplane situated where those white cushiony dabs of smoke were being ringed and punctured by the black puffs of high explosive would have had very little news send home about it.
The two hours. were over, the Hawkins relapsed to an easier pace and her Engineer Commander smoothed out the furrow between his brows and got: into.clean clothes. Not the least memorable part of the run was the apparent calm prevailing in the engine and furnace rooms. One might almost have been deceived into thinking that nobody was doing anything nor had a care in the world and that those terrible oil furnaces, so intensely bright that they cam only be looked at through smoked glass, needed no more attention than the average motorist gives to the explosion in his cylinders. And certainly oil must be a great improvement on coal from the stokers' point of view. But every extra) convenience that man invents—for his comfort or undoing who shall decide?—must be paid for, according to the well-proved law of compensations—and turbines and oil fuel are tricky things, to be hedged about. and governed by a hundred.careful regulations if they are to.remain the servants
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.