USS Vulture

“ I couldn't have slept very long, for when I woke the sun was still in about the same place, and a few scattered shots could be heard way to the west, in the direction of Santo Domingo. I stared up through the brush tangle into the hot sky, where one great vulture slowly circled over me, wondering whether or not I was dead. Not twenty paces away a barefooted Indian with a rifle crouched on his motionless horse. He looked up at the vulture, and then searched the face of the desert. ”

“ A screen generator whined its overload as the Patrol ships got the Vulture's range and pounded her with everything they had. This time, they were too many—and too fast.
"Run!" Cutlass howled to the drive-room. "Godammit, run!"
His eyes were hot and wet with the rage that rasped in his voice. No Cutlass that had ever buccaneered Space for four generations had ever given that command. But now the notorious Vulture, last of her kind in the Solar System, finally was forced to take to her jets or be torpedoed to cosmic dust like all the rest. ”

“ They went thither, where the earl had made them make a good ship that was not made like a common long-ship. It had a vulture's head, and was much carved and painted.
"Thou art a great man for show, Thrain," said the earl, "and so have both of you, kinsmen, been, Gunnar and thou; and now I will give thee this ship, but it is called the Vulture. Along with it shall go my friendship; and my will is that thou stayest with me as long as thou wilt." ”

“ This time her aim had been true and the torpedo grazed the top of the conning tower. The Vulture also ducked, but came up again.
"It all depends upon who gets in the first square shot," said Lord Hastings, and at that moment the square shot struck.
The Vulture, swerving suddenly, barely escaped a torpedo from her foe, while the pirate's next torpedo struck the enemy squarely upon the bridge. ”

“ It is natural that this bird should find an important place in the Maya writing, as it is an abundant species in the region considered, and of great importance as a scavenger. The black vulture seems to lack the mythological character associated with the king vulture. It appears usually in connection with death and in the role of a bird of prey. This is especially true in the Tro-Cortesianus where in 24d, 26d (Pl. 19, figs. 5, 6) and 28c, it is attacking a human being, in the first and last cases represented as dead. In 86a and 87a, the bird is shown plucking out the eye of a man. ”

“ Why should people hate vultures? After all, a vulture never kills anyone...
Illustrated by Douglas
The launch carrying the mail, supplies and replacements eased slowly in toward the base, keeping the bulk of the Moon between itself and Earth. Captain Ebor, seated at the controls, guided the ship to the rocky uneven ground with the easy carelessness of long practice, then cut the drive, got to his walking tentacles, and stretched. Donning his spacesuit, he left the ship to go over to the dome and meet Darquelnoy, the base commander.
An open ground-car was waiting for him beside the ship. ”

“ The vulture is to be found in almost all hot countries. A traveller in Abyssinia speaks of having seen them hovering, as a black cloud, over an army of soldiers, in numbers like the sands of the sea. After a battle they come sweeping down to feed upon the slain. Indeed they prefer dead to living food, and must be endowed with a wonderfully keen sense of sight or smell, the former is thought most likely, as no sooner does a beast of burden drop in the deserts exhausted on the sands, than vultures begin to make their way towards the carcase. ”

“ Hill we gather also, that the common opinion is erroneous, which attributes to the Vulture a confinement of appetite to flesh in a state of decomposition. Flesh is his food; and that he does not pounce upon living prey like the falcons, is because his structure is not adapted for predatory warfare, and not because he refuses recent, and even living flesh, when in his power. If the John-crow Vulture discovers a weakling new-born pig apart from the rest, he will descend, and seizing it with his beak, will endeavour to drag it away ”

“ But it is certain that not only do numbers of them roost together at night, but they even associate with the black vultures at such times.
In most countries the vulture is a privileged bird. He is looked upon as a cheap and useful scavenger, clearing away the carcasses of dead animals, that would otherwise pollute the atmosphere. This is a matter of much importance in hot countries; and it is only in such countries that vultures are commonly found. ”

“ Moreover, the other birds are, so to speak, ever before our eyes, and continually remind us of their presence; but the vulture is seldom seen, and it is difficult to meet with its young, which has suggested to some persons the strange idea that vultures come from some other world to pay us their rare visits, which are like those occurrences which, according to the soothsayers, do not happen naturally or spontaneously, but by the interposition of Heaven. ”

“ They could each have a house in the compound. It would pay them far better than eating him now. Did they understand Pushtoo or was it Persian? Certainly not Hindustani and Urdu. People who came shooting alone in the desert and mountains, where vultures abounded, should learn to talk Vulture and pass the Higher Standard in that tongue. But even if they understood him they might be unwilling to serve a coward. Was he a coward? Anyhow he lay glued with his own blood to the spot he would never leave—unless the vultures could be bribed. Useless to hope anything of the jackals. ”

“ The vulture alone as the emblem of protection is frequently figured with outstretched wings across the ceilings of the passages, particularly those of the royal tombs of the XIXth dynasty. There is perhaps no sight in the animal world more imposing than one of these birds, stretched out with a span of some nine or ten feet, hanging in the air close overhead; it is natural that it should have excited the admiration of man, and not being hurtful it readily came to be honoured as a type of maternal care. ”

“ The latter is a large and very remarkable species which has only recently been ascertained to frequent the cities of several of the West Indies.
Nearly all of the American Vultures are remarkable for a disposition manifested, in a greater or less degree, to resort to cities, or even more isolated abodes of men, for the purpose of procuring food. In the southern cities of the United States, the Black Vulture congregates in large numbers ”

“ The largest vultures are fifteen or sixteen feet from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other, [114] even when not stretched to the utmost, and four feet from beak to tail. Its legs are as thick as a man's wrist, and its middle claw seven inches long. They bring forth their young on the tops of inaccessible rocks, in sunny regions, more than twelve thousand feet above the level of the sea.
The European Vulture dwells amongst the Alps, but flies as far as the mountains of Africa and Asia. It is not so large as the condor, seldom exceeding the size of an eagle. ”

“ This bird has never been known to breed in any of the Atlantic states north of New Jersey. In the southern cities, during the winter, they pass the night on the roofs of houses, and are fond of warming themselves in the smoke that issues from the chimneys. This bird is about two and a half feet in length, and six in breadth; the upper plumage is glossed with green and bronze, the fore part of the neck is bare. The Black Vulture is smaller, and flies in flocks; the range of this bird is confined by very narrow limits to the southern states. ”

“ As you get into high latitudes and colder regions—where the air is not so readily tainted by putrid substances—the necessity for such a scavenger no longer exists, and he is rarely met with. There the great vulture gives place to the croaking raven, and the small carrion-crow.
Vultures, I have said, are privileged birds. In most countries they are protected by law. This is the case with regard to the present species, both in English and Spanish America, where there is a fine for killing them. The consequence is, they are seldom molested ”

“ Yesterday the pretence of a flag of truce was made to draw people from the Vulture on shore. The boat was fired upon in violation of the customs of war. Capt. Sutherland with great propriety means to send a flag to complain of this to General Arnold. A boat from the Vulture had very nearly taken him on the 11th. He was pursued close to the float. I shall favor him with a newspaper containing the Carolina news, which I brought with me from New York for Anderson, to whom it is addressed, on board the Vulture. I have the honor, &c. ”

“ Altogether, the Vulcan is a very complete floating workshop, sufficiently speedy to keep up with a fleet, and even to do scouting work. Her guns and her torpedo craft would render her a very troublesome customer in a fight, though, being practically unarmoured, she would keep as clear of the conflict as possible, acting on the offensive through the proxy of her "hornets." She constitutes the first of a type of vessel which has been suggested by experts, viz. one of high speed and unarmoured, but capable of carrying a swarm of torpedo boats which could be launched in pursuit of the foe. ”

“ What human agency would operate so mysteriously in this hot, stagnant sea? Why should any group of men entrap the helpless crew of the Vulcan with such a display of mystery and power? It was useless. It was ridiculous. It was shooting a mosquito with a field gun.
All his thoughts ended in utter absurdity. He felt that he had run up against some vast power. The schooner Minnie B, the tug Vulcan, were but trifling units in the enigma of this deserted, weed-clogged sea. It must be some power whose operations were ocean-wide. ”

“ Tug and submarine were now rushing at each other full tilt, only one ran under water, the other on the surface. Suppose the submarine should thrust up a periscope for an instant—a cough of the torpedo tube and the Vulcan would be blown to scrap iron.
The men on the poop ran forward, staring with frightened eyes over the gray-green soggy field through which the Vulcan ripped her way.
It seemed fantastic to think that somewhere under that lifeless weed human beings spun swiftly along, freighted with the most terrific engine of destruction. What strange warfare! ”

“ It was a sight to behold the deck at night—bare-armed Vulcans wielding the sledge—Brontes, Steropes, and Pyracmon at bellows, forge, and anvil—fires blazing—hailing sparks flashing along the decks—incandescent masses of iron growing into shape under the fierce blows—amateurs and artists admiring—the sea keeping watch and ward outside, and the hum of voices from its myriad of sentry waves rising above the clank of hammers which were closing the rivets up of the mail in which we were to do battle with old ocean for the captive he holds in his dismal dungeons below. Will he yield up his prisoner? ”

“ One minute the great structure would rise dizzily, high into the black blast, a skyscraper flung up on a mountain Madden could look far below on the lights of the struggling Vulcan. Up there the storm yelled and screamed at every corner and brace of the weltering dock, and wrenched at the midget helmsman. Then came the sickening drop, down, down, down, into the profound, and the Vulcan would swing far above her towering consort. For the instant the storm would be blanketed by the prodigious waves. ”

“ At first glimpse of the battle line, the Vulcan had sheered about, and now rushed northward, stringing her black smoke flat behind her. Up from the south, the submarine followed on the surface, although she could not make as good time through the weed as did the Vulcan. However, the burden of destroying the English craft had been transferred to the cruisers that came rushing forward at at least twenty-five knots an hour. ”

“ Captain Watts was ordered by Rear-Admiral Cockburn to use his best endeavours to discover a navigable passage through Tangier straits, and to procure fresh provisions for the use of the squadron in Chesapeake bay. He succeeded in establishing himself 15 miles higher than any square-rigged vessel had ever before been, and annoyed the enemy to the utmost of his power. On one occasion, he gave chase to a vessel in person, in his own boat, penetrated 12 or 14 miles up the river Wicomico, and not only destroyed her, but captured and burnt nine others. ”

“ The secrets of the sea have been investigated so well that no destructive agent is likely to exist that is not known to science. Collision with a whale would not damage a liner, though it would be bad for the whale. The sea serpent may be dismissed without comment. The eruption of submarine volcanoes may be dangerous to small vessels, but the idea of harm from them can not be entertained in connection with the Atlantic service. ”

“ Little Tommy (who has never been out of Whitechapel before) . "Oh! Oh! Oh!"
Kind Lady. "What's the Matter, Tommy?"
Little Tommy. "Why, what a big Sky they've got 'ere, Miss!"
AT THE NAVAL REVIEW.
Neptune (to Vulcan) . Hillo, Mate, you here?
Vulcan. Yes, my hearty; why not?
Neptune. Well, my ancient monopoly's all gone to pot.
You've been "inching it in," for a number of years;
Your Lemnos no longer has charms, it appears
To detain you on shore. Once a Naval Review
To a smithy-smoked game-legged land-lubber like you——
Vulcan. ”