Page:Under Dewey at Manila.djvu/273

Rh of the big gun to which he had been assigned filled Larry with interest. He wondered how it would sound when the charge went off, and if they would hit anything on the first trial.

In the conning tower, a round, steel structure, stood Captain Gridley, ready to do or die, as the occasion might require. The captain was not well, but had begged to be allowed to take charge of his vessel upon this trip, confident that he should come out of any contest with colors flying. Close behind the captain was the man at the wheel, and half a dozen others, on duty at the speaking-tubes and ready to carry commands to any portion of the warship.

The commodore was on the bridge, that curious structure set sidewise above the deck of every modern battleship. With him, too, were petty officers, to carry his commands or send them to the other vessels by the use of night signals. And all was as silent as death, even the big engines doing their work with nothing more than an indefinite rumble, and the big fires blazing away without a spark soaring skyward.

A bit of land came out of the distance. Slowly but surely the Olympia crept closer to it, keeping