"Ah was at ma action station at the port foremost gun," he began, wiping his perspiring brow with a wad of greasy waste, which left an undulant trail of oil from the recoil cylinder in its wake, "when we gaed bang into a line o' big Hun cru'sers, and we lat blaze at them and them at us. The range was short, and wi' their serchlichts lichten us up oor position wasna that Ah wad ca' verra pleasant. Up gaed a Hun cru'ser in a spoort o' flame and reek, hit, Ah thocht, by a mouldie launched by oor next astern. Ah was fair jumpin' wi' joy at the sicht, when a hale salvo o' screechin' projes cam bang inta the fo'c'sl. Ah minded the licht o' them mair than the soun', which was na great. "The Huns had switched aff their serchlichts when they opened fire, so that noo the projes was bursting in inky mirk. I doubtna oor midships and after guns was firing, but na the foremost, for Ah dinna mind being blinded by their licht afore the Hun projes gan bursting. My ain gun wudna bear on the Huns, so Ah was just standing by for the time, ready to train if we turned. "Twa salvos cam--maybe frae twa different cru'sers--ane after the ither, wi' aboot half a meenit atween. Ye ken that the licht o' a shell-burst is ower afore ye can even think, and a' the furst ane showed me was just the gun crews, standin', and bracin' themsel's like when a big sea braks inboard. It was ower like a flash o' lichtnin, and the licht had gone oot afore Ah saw anybody blown up or knocked oot. But Ah felt a michty blast o' air and an awfu' shaikin o' the deck, and then the bang o' lumps o' projes dingin' 'gainst the bridge and smackin' through bodies. "The flash o' the burst o' the second salvo tellt me what havoc the first had wrocht, but by noo ma een was licht-blind and Ah cudna see weel. The sta'bo'd gun was twisht oot o' shape, and a' the crew but ane were strechit on the deck. To a' appearance that lad had been laid oot wi' the ithers, but noo he was puin himsel' to his feet and crawlin' up the wreck o' the gun when a proj frae the second salvo burst richt alow him. By the flash Ah saw him flyin' inta the air, and--by the licht o' anither flash a bittie efter--then his corp, wi' twa or three ithers, gang ower the side. A lump o' that last proj carried awa' the Number Wan o' ma ain gun, and, onlike some o' the ithers, not a bit o' him was left ahint. Ah mesel' was knockit flat, but wasna much the worse for a' that.