The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, May 8, 1898, Page 22

22 THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, MAY 8 1898. OGGED at bow and stern, her deck ends like a truck’s platform, while a slight twist in the old hull canted the foremast port and the mizzen to starboard. It would be hard to know n the even keel. The uneven plank- d out, was scarred like a chopping from a former and intimate trade; aloft were dingy g slack hemp rigging, untarred s, mended with patch upon acquaintance with the coal unscraped for years for d tan-colo: patch of lighter hued canvas which doubled and trebled their thickness, that seemed to fall apart from their own welght. She was English built, bark rig- ged, bluff in the bow, square in the stern, un- painted and leaky—on the whole as un- kempt and dis- reputable looking a craft as ever flew the black flag, and with the ‘clank of the pump marking ime to the wail- Ing squeak of the dller ropes, she wallowed through the sea like a dog in an cddying tideway. n the black flag at the gaff end wore amake- shift, slovenly 1 wad 3 air. square sectiod of the bark’s fore- royal, painted k around the skull and cross bone design, which had been left to the origi- nal hue of the THE CAPTAIN YELLED T g i — ;"‘ | i ‘/ 1 { 2t ) r ONE DASH AND TODD WAS UPON HIM. guns and ammunition. When the fog shifted the pursuing English war-brig that had riddled the pirate saw nothing but the peaceful old tub ahead and went on into the fog, looking for the other. “Any port in a storm, Angel,” remarked Captain Swarth, as he flashed his keen eyes over the rickety fab- ric aloft; “but we'll find a better one soon. How do the boys stand the pumping?"”’ Mr. Angel Todd, first mate and quartermaster, filled a black pipe before answering. Then, between the first and second deep puffs he said: “Growlin'—dammum.” “At the work?”’ “Yep, and the and foracastle sme they want their grog. grub, And they Say the ‘tween deck s o' bedbugs and bilge water—and ‘An ungodly witness scorneth judgment; and the mouth of the wicked devoureth in- iquity.” ” ' Mr. Todd had been educated for the Methodist pulpit; but, going out as a missionary, he had fallen into ungodly ways himself on the t and taken to the sea, where he was more successful. Many of his old sings clung to him. Well,” drawled the captain, “men get fastidious and high toned in this busine: an’t blame them, but we've got to make the coast, and if we don’t pick up something on the way we must careen and stop the leak. Then "Il have something to growl about.” 1 ptai rth, with a pleasant smile and a lightening of his eves—“hope she will, and give me a chance. Her majestic widowship owes+me a brig, and that’s a fine one. Mr. Todd had never been known to smile, but at this speech he lifted one eyebrow and turned his saturnine face full at his superior, in- quiry written upon every line of it. Captain Swarth was musing, however, and sald no more; so the mate, his long figure down the poop-ladder, and went forward to harass the men—which, in their opinion, was all he was good for. According to his mood, Mr. Todd's speech was cholcest English, or the cosmopolitan, technical slang of the sea, we'll have to pass for a peaceable craft until we can drift close enough to board something. I think the brig'll be back this way, too. Get out some old tarpaulins and cover up the ports. Paint them, if you can, the color of the ou might coil some lines over the rail, as though to dry. Then you can break out cargo and strike the guns down the main hatch.” Three later, with Cape St. Roche a black line to the westward, a round shot across her bows brought the vessel— minus the black emblem now, and outwardly respectable—up to the wind, with maintopsall aback, while Captain Swarth and a dozen of his men—equally respectable in the nondescript rig of the merchant sailor —watched the approach of an English brig-of-war. Mr. Todd and the rest of the crew were below hatches with the guns. The brig came down the wind like a graceful bird—a splendid craft, black, shiny and shipshape, five guns to -bound officers on her aquarter-deck, jackets darted about her white deck and up aloft a home- ward-bound pennant trailing from her main truck, and at her gaff end a British ensign as large as her main royal. Captain Swarth lazily hoisted the English flag to the bark’s gaff, and, as the brig rounded to on his weather beam, he pointed to it; but his dark eyes sparkled emvi- ously as he viewed the craft whose Government's protec- tion he appealed t “Bark ahoy,” c bark is that?" C me a voice through a trumpet; *“what ‘aptain Swarth swung himself into the mizzen rigging and answered through his hands with an ac excellent_cockney accent: “Tryde Wind, o' Lunnon, Cappen Quirk, fifty-woon dyes out fro‘* Leeverpool, bound to Callao, general cargo.” “You were not heading for the Horn.” “Hi'm a Jeakin’ badly. Hi'm a goin’ to myke the coast to careen. D've happen to know a good place?” An officer left the group and returned with what Captain Swarth knew was a chart, which & few of them studied, while their captain hailed again: /Morgan Roberfson blue . i e ’ Thankee. Good marnin”.” In three hours the brig was a speck under the rising land ahead, in another she was out of sight: but before this Captain Swarth and his crew had held a long confer- ence, which resulted in sail being shortened, though the man at the wheel was given a straight evurse to the bay described by the English captain. Late on the following afternoon the old bark blundered into this bay—a rippling sheet of water, bordered on all sides by a sandy beach. Stretching up to the mountainous country inland was a luxurious forest of palm, laurel and cactus, bound and intertwined by almost impassable undergrowth, and about half-way from the entrance to the end of the bay was the English brig, moored and slightly careened on the inshore beach. Captain Swarth's seamanly eye noted certain appearances of the ta that held her down, which told him that the work Wwas done and she was being slacked upright. ‘“Just in time, he muttered. " They brought the bark to anchor near the beach, about & half-mile from the brig toward the entrunce, furled the canvas and ran out an anchor astern with the cable over the taffrail. Heaving on this, they brought the vessel parallel with the shore. So far—good. Guns and cargo lightered ashore, more anchors seaward to keep her off the beach, masthead tackles to the trees to heave her down and preventer rigging and braces to assist the masts would have been next in order, but they proceeded no further toward careening. Instead they lowered the two crazy boats, provisioned and armed them on the in-shore side e%l the bark, made certain other preparations—and ‘waited. On the deck of the English brig things were moving. A gang of blue jackets, under the first lieutenant, were heaving in the cable; another gang, under the boatswain, were sending down and stowing away the heavy tackles and careening gear, tailing out halllards and sheets and cofiing down the light running rigging, while topmen aloft loosed the canvas to bunt-gaskets, ready to drop it at the call from the deck. The second lieutenant, overseeing this latter, paced the gort quarterdeck and answered remarks from Captain unce, who paced the sacred starboard side (the brig being at anchor), and occasionally turned E dilapidated craft down the beach. “Seems to me, Mr. Shack,” he said across the deck, “that an_owner 'who would send that bark around the Horn and the master who would take her ought to be sequestered and cared for, either in an asylum or in jail.” “Yes, sir; I think so, too,” answered the second lieu- tenant, looking aloft. “Might be an insurance job. Clear away that bunt-gasket on the royal yard,” he added in a roar. ‘aptain Bunce—round, rosy, with brilliant mutton-chop whiskers—muttered: “Insurance—wrecked Intentionally— no, not here where we are; wouldn’t eourt investigation by her majesty’s officers.” He rolled forward, then aft and looked again through the gl. “Very large crew—very large, Mr. Shack.” hail from the forecastle, announcing that the anchor was short, prevented Mr. S answering. Captain Bunce waved a deprecatory hand to the first lieutenant, vho came aft at once, while Mr. Shack descended to the vaist and the boatswain ascended the forecastle steps to attend to the anchor. The first lieutenant now had ge of the brig, and from the quarterdeck gave his orders to the crew, while Captain Bunce busied himself with his ss and his thoughts. Fore-and-aft sail was set and head sheets trimmed down to port, square sails were dropped, sheeted home and hoisted, forevards braced to port, the anchor tripped and fished and the brig paid off from the land breeze, and with foreyards swung, steadied down to a course for the !Aye, that hi will. his glass on ‘he said, “very curious, " said the captain, “‘there are fully forty men on that bark’s deck, all dressed alike—all in red shirts and knitted caps, and all dancing atound like madmen. Look!” He handed the glass to the first lieutenant, who brought it to bear. “Strange,” said the officer after a short scrutiny; “there were only a few showing when we spoke her outside. It looks as though they were all drunk.” As they drew near, sounds of singing—uproarious dis- ed them, and soon they could with the ve that the men on the bark were wrestling, danc- ing and running about. “Quarters, sir?”’ inquired Mr. Duncan. “Shall we bring-to, ide?"” “Well—no—not yet,” sald the captain, hesitating] it's vet it Is strange. Wait a littl They waited 1 salled down almowst abreast of the gray old eraft, noticing as they drew near an appreciable diminution of the uproar, when a flag arose from the stern of the bark, a dusky flag that straightened out directly toward them, so that it was difficult to make out. But they soon understood. As they reached a potnt squarely abreast of the bark, five points of flame burst from her innocent gray sides, five‘clouds of smoke ascended and five round shot, coming with the thunder of the guns, hurtled through their rigging. Then they saw the design of the flag, a white skull and crossbones, and noted another, a black flag, too, but pennanteshaped, and show. ing in rudely painted letters the single word, ‘“Swarth,’ sailing up to the forepeak. “Thunder and lightning,” “‘Quarters, Mr. Duncan, quarter: Give it to them. Put about first. A youngster of the crew had sprung below and imme- dlately emerged with a drym which, without definite in- struction, he hammered vigorously; but before he had begun men were clearing away gunsand manning flying-jib down-haul and royal clew-lines. Others sprang to stations, anticipating all that the sharp voice of the first lieutenant could order. Around came the brig on the other tack and sailed back, receiving another broadside through her rig- ging and answering with her starboard guns. Then for a time the din was deafening. The brig backed her main yards angd sent broadside after broadside tnto the hull of the old craft. But it was not until the eighth had had gone that Captain Bunce noticed through the smoke that the pirates were not firing. The smudge from the burning canvas port coverings had deluded him. He ordered a cessation. Fully forty solid shot had torn through that old hull near the water-line, and not a man could now be seen on her deck. “Out with the boats, Mr. Duncan,” he said; “they’re dkll'llnk. or crazy, but they're the men we want. Capture them.” “‘Suppose they run, sir—suppose they take to their boats and get into the woods, shall we follow? “No, not past the beach—not into an ambush.” The four boatloads of men which put off from the brig found nothing but a deserted deck on the sinking bark and two empty boats hauled up on the beacn. The pirates were in the woods—undoubtedly, having kept the bark between themselves and the brig as they pulled ashore. The two lieutenants conferred for a few moments, while bly 3 roared Captain Bunce. ) and in with the Kkites. they shooting at you? e St el mever harmed a fly. They would have killed me. My name is Todd. O, such sut ' you will protect m’;? You are English officers. You are not pirates and murderers.” > “But what has happened? Do you live around hesr‘;%{h_ 1t took some time for Mr. Todd to aufet down sui clently to tell his story coherently. He was an Bumb.Q laborer in the vineyard of the Lord. He had gleaf®r among the poorest of the native population in t |§ %:d skirts of Rio Janeiro until his health suffered, and hac taken passage home in a passenger ship, which. t»ér} ik out, was captured by a pirate brig. And the piral .El cre . had murdered every soul on board but himself, an or_l(‘)_' spared his life, as he thought, for the purpose of flim(lét(‘f ment; for they had compelled him to dance—he, a Iins of the gospel—and had made him drink undt'r htu n‘iljxeé and recite ribald poetry, and swear, and wash. tAc clothes. All sorts of indignities had been heaped UbOR him, but he had remembered the injunction of the 1 ia& er, and had invariably turned the other cheek when il o and had prayed for their souls. He told of the flight from the English war brig; of the taking of the old bark in tho fog, and the sinking of the pirate craft, of the transfer o guns and treasure to the bark, and the interview at Seg with the English brig, in which Captain Swarth had decelved the other, and of Captain Swarth's reckless ’r:r;)n‘ - dence in himself which had induced him to follow the brig in, and careen in the same bay. He wound up his tal e with lurid_description of the drunken debauch following the anchoring of the bark—during which he had tremblec for his life—of the insane firing on the brig as she passe [‘d' and the tumbling into the boats when the brig returne the fire, of the flight into the woods, the fighting among themselves, and his escape under fire. b As_ he finished he offered an incoherent praver o thankfulness. and the sympathetic Mr. Shack drew forth his pocket flask and offered it to the agitated sufft‘r_Frfi but Mr. Todd, who could probably drink more whisky wit ss resuits than any man in the pirate crew, declined the poison with a shiver of abhorrence. Then Mr. Duncan, who had listened thoughtfully, said: “You speak of treas- ure; did they take it with them?” Mr. Todd opened wide his eyes, looked toward the dark shades of the forest, then at the three masts of the bark sticking out of the water, and answered, impressive “Gentlemen, they did not. They were intoxicated—mad with liquor. They took arms and a knapsack of food to each man—they spoke of an inland retreat to which they were going—but the treasure from the p: ip—the bars of gold and the bags of diamonds—they forgot. They transferred it from their sinking vessel when sober, but when intoxicated they réemembered food and left it behind. Gentlemen, there is untold wealth in the hull out there which your fire has sunk. It is, verily, the root of all evil; let us hope that it remains at the bottom of the se “Bars of gold—bags of diamonds,” said Mr. Duncan. t’;gn;{ne on board, Mr. Todd: we'll see what the captain nks."” During the breakfast the two lieutenants reported the results of a survey which they had taken of the wreck at aylight. “We find,” said Mr. Duncan, “about nine feet of water over the deck at the stern and about three feet over the fore-hatch at low tide. The topgallant forecast b and the end of the bowsprit out of water, easily reach the upper ends .of the bob: about five feet rise and fall of tide. Now, we h: > pontoons r casks. Our only plan, captain, is to lift her bodily. ‘And w ve a diving suit and air pump,” said Mr. Shack, enthusiastically, “and fifty men ready to without suits. We can raise her. captain, in tw “Gentlemen,” said Captain Bunce, grandly, full faith in your seamanship and skill. I leave the wo in your hands.” Which was equivalent to an admissi he was fat and lazy, and did not care to take art. nk you, sir,” sald Mr. Duncan, and “thank i other ple and the , In spite of brought other 1st passed so agreeably t soul-felt vea E the yearning for oke inspired by the cigars in the mouths of the oth felt the influence of the enthu: n and bestowed his blessing—qualifiedly—on the enterry Svery man of the brig’s crew was eager for the worlk, but few could engage at first; for there was nothing but the forecastle deck and the bark's rigging In three days the bark’s nose was as high as part tackle would bring it, n could find room at t a luff tackle on the and fleeting up, the ittle out of water—w! ther gang had® been able to slip the other position abaft the mizzenmast, hook on the tackle and 1 the fall through a itchblock at the quarter bit ard to the midship an. Disdaining the diving I , they swam down nine fe t to do these t ich they found in a rack at the mainmast. A man in the water weighs practically nothing, and to ve around a capstan under water requires lateral ance. To secure this they dived with hammers and and fastened a circle of cleats to catch their feet. . with a hoy on the main fiferail (his head out) hold- ing slack, eighteen men—three to a bar—would inhale all the air their lungs would hold, and with a ‘“one, two, three,” would flounder down, push the capstan around a few pawls and come up, gasping—blue in the face—to perch on_ their bars and recover. It went slowly, this end, but in three days more they could walk around with their heads above water. In the morning the work was resumed and more boxes sprinkled the . They drifted up. with the flood and back they came with the ebb tide; but among them now were about forty others, unobserved by captain Bunce pacing his quarterdeck, but noted keenly by Mr. Todd. These forty drifted slowly to the off-shore side of tne brig and stopped, bobbing up and down on the crisp waves, even though the wind blew briskly with the tide and t should have gone on with the oth It was then that Captain Bunce stepped below for a cigar, and it was then that Mr. Todd became strangeiy excited, hop ping along the port rail and throwing overboard 'every 's end within reach, to the wonder and scandal of an eved steward in the cabin door, who immediately apprised the captain. Captain Bunce, smoking a freshly lit ctgar, emerged i ht—the good and noty Mr. Todd, tenanc holding a match to a biack pipe and puffing vigoro while through the ports and over the rail red-shirted men, dripping wet and scowling, were boarding his brig. Each man carried a cutlass and 12-inch knife, and Captain Bunce needed no special intelligence to know that he was tricked. One hail only he gave, and Mr. Todd, his pipe glowing like a hot coal, was upon him. The'captain endeavored to draw his sword, but sinewy arms encircled him, his cigar was removed from his Iips and inserted in the mouth of Mr. Todd alongside the pipe, and he was lifted, spluttering with astonishment and rage, borne to the rail and dropped overboard, his sword clanking against the side as he descended. When he came to the surface and looked up, he saw through a cloud of smoke on the rail the lantern jaws of Mr. Todd working convuisively on pipe and cigar and heard the angry utterance: Y —n ye, I smoke.” Then a thundering voice behind Mr. Todd ~roared out: “Kill nobody—toss 'em overboard,” and tne captain saw hjs servagts, cooks and stewards tumbling over to join nim. Captain Bunce turned and swam, there was nothing else to do. Soon he could see a black-eyed, black-mus- tached man on his quarter-deck delivering orders, and he recognized the thundering voice he had heard, but none of the cockney accent of Captain Quirk. Men were already on the yards loosing canvas, and as he turned on his back to rest—for though fleshy and buoyant, swimming in full uniform fatigued him—he saw his anchor chains whizzing out the hawse pipes. He was picked up by the first hoat to BACK WITH @ FINE COCKNEY ACCENT. ing cut through betw saws, the bulwarks w holes smashed through lashings of the gun breechings. and cared for, as Wi had _been lately transhipped. trader had been taken in a fog by Captain men an hour sunk alongside-— appearance, anchions with axes instead of -re further disrigured by extra the stanchions to 2 But the guns were bright the uniforms of the crew, for they Far from home, with a general cargo, this ancient old efore their own well-known hich gave them just time to hoist over early days he never be- take the to be a clergyman and muttere handle men.” ‘‘Angel, Swarth and his vessel had mingled with wonderful profanity. dropped—he we: choker of the clerical prof foot on the fore hatch, waving his long arms and ol gating the scowling men at the pumps, he might ea have seemed, to any one beyond the reach of nis languag exhorting watched him with an amused look on his sun-burned face, d, “Good man, every inch of him, but he can’t Then he cailed him aft. he said, “we made a mistake n cutting the ports; we can't catch anything afloat that sees them, so But one habit of his wore, in the hottest €, them. Captain Swarth “What! Captain Swarth, in agitated tones. struck us on the water-line. and Rio’s too far to run back. Follow us«in: but if vou lose sight of us, it's a small bay, latitude 5 51 40 south, rocks to the north, low land to the south, good water the entrance and a fine beach. It’s Swarth and his gang. Good morning.” “See anything more of that pirate brig the day?’ ‘e a peerate?” answered ‘Be that you a-chasin’ ‘When—a peerate? Be ‘We are homeward bound, Look out for the brig. the blue jackets clustered around the bows of their boats and watched nervously the lize of the forest up thedbe;:chi, and had useless. her, and in storm and battle, the black frock and of 'im? Naw, hi seed nothink of 'im arter the fog shut from which bullets might come at any time, on. Standing now, with one 'im out.” decided to put back, when a rattling chorus of pistol The captain conferred with his officers a moment, then reports sounded from the depths of the woods. It died home and hoiste called: aw: hen was heard a crashing of bush and-brancn, and sails and royals, “We are going in to careen ourselves. That fellow out upon the sands sprang a figure—a long, wierd figure succes in black frock of clerieal cut. Into their midst it sped with mighty bounds, and sinking down, lifted a glad face to the heavens with the groaning ‘utterance:. ‘O, God, I thank thee. Protect me, gentlemen—protect me from those vicked men.” b C“s\'hm is 1t? Who are'you?”’ asked Mr. Duncan; bark, and ordered pursuit, but this was The clean-lined brig had ster best speed of the boats, and now head and she payed off from the shore. put off from the soon seen to be v equal to the ails were run up, T¢ ails were sheeted and with topgallan ails follwing it in quick on, the beautiful craft hummed down to the inle and put to sea, while yells of deriSion ocenslonalin crme back to the white-faced men in the boats. A month later, the rehabilitated old bark atso stag- gered out the entrance, (and with a naked, half-starved crew and sad-eved, dilapidated officers, headed sc var. Srennnt s P officers, headed southward on occasi nally came 000000000000600OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO000000000OOO000O000000000OOOOO0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000009000000o coo00 WONDERS oF THE ELECTRIC ARC Metals Melted and Welded in the Blacksmith-Shop of the Future. ROFESSOR ELIHU THOMSON of Lynn, Mass., has developed a new use for the electric arc which has a special interest in | these days of war scares. It is| a process, moreover, which will be put to good use in machine shops all over the world. It is, in short, a simple method for perforating harveyized plates,which are used as an outer protective skin for our men-of-war. A harveyized plate is, popularly speaking, a sheet of iron which has been excessively case-hard- ened. The surface of the metal is al- most as hard as glass; the interior is comparatively soft and serves as a backbone to support the outer casing. Sometimes it is necessary to bore holes in this outer casing, a rather discour- aging process, because the steel is really as hard as the drill which is used to perforate it. Professor Thomson now comes forward with a small in- strument which generates an electric arc and which will fuse a hole through this hard steel surface in an instant. There is nothing very remarkable about the instrument itself; it is the idea which is novel. The tool is pri- marily two metal points, each one of which constitutes the end of a broken eircuit. These two points are clampe] very close together. When a current ia *urnped on from & dynamo it cannot hard down, show where an experiment flow from one point to the other when they are so separated, but when these two points are held against a steel plate the latter completes a very imperfect electric circuit. It is just as though you held the tips of two fingers near together against a board. The cur. rent of electricity flows down one fin- ger or point across the surface of the plate to the other point and so on back to the dynamo. But this connection, electrically speaking, is very bad, and when an electric current encounters a bad con- nection it always makes things hot for it. In faet, if the points are held against the plate for more than a mo- ment the surrounding parts would fuse. In actual work, however, the little sec- tion of plate situated between the two points of the fusing-tool is instantly softened and can be easily drilled. Heretofore there has been great trou- ble in machine shops when case-har- dened metal had to be perforated, but this new and simple process will now remove all the difficulty. Elihu Thomson is the high priest of electric welding, and in his laboratory in Lynn, Mdss., he is constantly trying to develop new uses for the electric current in this direction. He has al- ready, by his inventions, changed the method of work in the bigger machine shops _of the country. The scene in the laboratory is unique. On all sides the gleaming arcs, sending off little shooting stars of molten metal as the levers of the machines are jammed ELECTRIC WELDING OF is being made, or where some welding is being done by contract. The process is very simple. Two wires, for instance, are placed end to end in the machine and the current is turned on. Immediately the two ends where they touch become white hot. The current is instantly switched off, the ends cool and the two wires have become one. The joint is a little big swelled where the machine has pushea the ends hard together, but the joine itself is just as much a single piece o metal as any other portion of the wires. The operation is performed more rap- idly than it takes to tell it, and one man may so weld thousands of bars to- gether in a day. The reason the current so acts is as follows: Every plece of metal resists TROLLEY CAR TRACKS. piece of metal will carry just so much current comfortably, but if more than this amount is sent over it it will im- mediately become hot. If the current is made strong enough the metal will fuse. It will become hottest where the electricity encounters the most resist- ance. If two wires are held end to end and a current is made tc pass through them they will become hottest at the point where they join, because the cur- |\ rent has great trouble to pass across the joint. If the current is made strong enough the wires at the point of junc- ture will get red and then white hot, and finally they will fuse, and so to speak, run into each other. Then if the current is suddenly cut off it wil! be found that the joint has really be- come a solid mass. This, in short, is the passage of a current of electricity | the whole process of welding by elec- according to its size and_slgnlityi Eveq city, The wires or metals are made s 3 to carry more cwrrent than they cgn, struction. comfortably contain, and the result is | In the mind’s eve one can picture a as stated above. | vessel which has been fused electrically This simple process is now being used | into one piece. Strained plates would by the Government in the ranufacture | become a thing of the past and leaks of shells for navy and army use. Here- | could not occur. The masts, deck and tofore the shells were made of castiron | hull would be welded together in a or else of steel by some very costly pro- | manner which would not admit of any cess. Now, the shell is made in two | separation short of some violent con- SHRAPNLL SHELL APPARATUS FOR WELDING SHRAPNEL SHELLS. vulsion. Such a craft would be in its way well nigh invincible. = It would seem even from the present outleok that the day of the rivet 1s doomed to pass away, for the welding machine is taking its place in all kinds of work. It is used to fuse together the - ironwork of skyscrapers, and it is used by the larger manufacturers in joining = 7 E $22 APPARGTUS TOR, WELDING portions. The point is made of very high carbon steel, while the body and base is made of ordinary machinery steel, and the two are electrically weld- ed together at slight expense. In fact, this very simple method causing two metals to become one is destined to play a leading part in the manufacture of ordnance and in battle-ship con- thehard and soft parts of steel and Iron tools; it is used in the blacksmith shop, and it is even now employed by the roadside for welding together the ends of steel rails which are to be used for trolley car tracks. The tracks of trolley roads have to be electrically connected, each one with the next, so that the electrie circuit will be continuous. Heretofore a short piece of wire un- derground riveted across the junction of every two rails had been found suf- ficient. But now the rails are being made into one piece by a portable elec- tric welding car, which travels along the track and reaches down a great electric maw which eats into the mole- cules of the steel and fuses the rails together. WELDING. BY ELECTRICITY IN ELIHU THOMSON'S LABORATORY.