"No—that is to say, I don't think so. But what happened? Did they fire some other gun in our direction by mistake?"
For a moment they all hesitated. Then the Admiral said, gently:
"No, General. It was your own gun—it burst."
"My gun! My gun burst?"
"That was it. Fortunately, no one was killed."
"My gun burst! How could that happen? I drew every plan for that gun myself. I made every allowance. I tell you it was impossible for it to burst!"
"But it did burst, General," went on the Admiral. "You can see for yourself," and he turned around and waved his hand toward the barbette where the gun had been mounted. All that remained of it now was part of the temporary carriage, and a small under-portion of the muzzle. The entire breech, with the great block, had been blown into fragments, so powerful was the powder used. The projectile, one watcher reported, had gone about three hundred yards over the top of the barbette and then dropped into the sea, very little of the force of the explosive having been expended on that. A large piece of the gun had also been lost in the water off shore.
"My gun burst! My gun burst!" murmured
