rs to close all the watertight doors. Soon after that came orders to
abandon the ship and get out the boats.

"One cutter was being launched from the port side, but the Hawke at that
moment heeled over before the boat could be got clear, and the cutter
lurched against the cruiser's side and stove in one or two of her
planks. As the Hawke went down a small pinnace and a raft which had been
prepared for such an emergency floated free, but such was the onrush of
men who had been thrown into the water that both were overcrowded. On
the raft were about seventy men knee deep in water, and the pinnace also
appeared to be overfilled.

"When those who managed to make their way into the cutter, which was
also in grave danger of being overturned, caught the last glimpse of
these two craft they were in a precarious condition. The cutter moved
around the wreck, picking up as many survivors as the boat would hold.
All those aboard her who had put on lifebelts took them off and threw
them to their comrades who were struggling in the water. Oars and other
movable woodwork also were pitched overboard to help those clinging to
the wreckage, many of whom were seen to sink."

*The Emden's Last Fight*

[By the Cable Operator at Cocos Islands.]

KEELING, Cocos Islands, Nov. 12, (Dispatch to The London Daily
Chronicle.)--It was early on Monday that the unexpected arrival of the
German cruiser Emden broke the calm of these isolated little islands,
which the distant news of the war had hitherto left unruffled. One of
the islands is known as Direction Island, and here the Eastern Telegraph
Company has a cable station and a staff engaged in relaying messages
between Europe and Australia. Otherwise the inhabitants are all Malays,
with the exception of the descendants of June Clunies Ross, a British
naval officer who came to these islands ninety years ago and founded the
line of "Uncrowned Kings."

The war seemed to be very far away. The official bulletins passed
through the cable station, but they gave us very little real news, and
the only excitement was when it was rumored that the company was sending
out rifles in case of a raid on the stations, and orders came that the
beach must be patrolled by parties on the lookout for Germans. Then we
heard from Singapore that a German cruiser had been dispatched to these
islands, and toward the end of August one of the cable staff thought he
saw searchlights out over the sea. Then suddenly w