Cooper's Clarksburg register. [volume] (Clarksburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1851-1861, 1852-05-12

sharks. Both then sank and for while
were lost to our sight. Presently, they
rose again, and exchanged thick and
heavy blows, and closing with redoubled
fury, sank again. Neglecting to use
their weapons, which would have put a
speedy end to the fray, bent on throttlino
each other, more like brutes than human
beings.
Shall we stand and see our man MUIR
dered ~ at length exclaimed voice from
among the crew, 1t operated like magic
to break the spell that had fallen upon US
all.
Clear away the boat there % shouted
the Captain, and ak men spring to exc
cute. just then, after an effort of unusu-
al tierceness, both of the combatants
sank. They remained out of sight so
long, that the men who were letting
down the boat suspended their opera
tions, and we all stood breathless with
uncertainty and anxiety, awaiting their
re-Sppearance. AT length, about thirty
man WAS seen TO rise.
Here is some of him at least, ON my
knife blade" responded the freebooter,
with the accent and laugh of fend and
springing nearly his whole length out of
the water, he threw the weapon with
great force at US. Another hollow laugh
rang over the waters, and, on looking
round, wide circles Of rippleS were seen
moving on the moonlit sea, az if some
heavy body had just sank in it.
1,yo, 41,o Al.
now rushed on every heart. Some, in
the blind fury Of the moment, actually
their pieces into the centre of
those waving eddies, without stopping to
reflect upon its usslessnesE. Others, with
their guns in readiness, and eyes glaring
upon the sea like psnthers robbed of their
prey, stood prepared, the moment he
would show his head above the WAter.-
But he rose no more.
The winged messengers of death that
had been aimed at his life, sped harm
leIsly over his head and had it been
possible to penetrate the secrets of the
great deep, he might have been reposing
peacefully on its sandy bottom by the side
of his late antagonist. A sulky silence
pervaded the ship.
The men looked gloomy at each other
and with lowering browH on their help
less prisoners, as if sufficient atonement
had not been rendered for the life of their
To one skilled in the language
of the human countenancs, it was evident
that nothing but the restraint of dis
cipline held them back from a summary
act of vengeance and of crime that would
boUn a1nk thaIC0 tn n laval w,itl, t1,n nh
Judging of the feelings of
the crew from their looks, or more prop
erly from his own, and anxious to remove
the temptation to evil, our Captain order
ed our eight prisoners to be slowed under
the matches, and they were accordingly
tumbled in with very little CEREMONY
How many of this band of genuine despe
radoes had been lost, We had no means of
ascertaining, for oar prisoners either did
not or would understand English or
French. But when they fired upon us,
twelve to sixteen men were visible, and
the yell that followed our discharge was
such rs is never e1torted from mortal
man but by the pangI of the last agony.
Six, or eight, then, of the freebooters.
had certainly persisted. What chance of
success they might fancy that an open
boat could have against vessel of the
size of ours, it completely bewildered us
to imagine. They muat either have been
or in the situation of a beast
of prey, whom the goadings of hunger
viii impel to rush upon a foe whose face
he would otherwise have fed. Viewing
it in either light, it was an act of the most
daring hArdihood. The struggle had
been fierce and boisteroua, but had pass
ed. The ship was restored to her usual
tranquility, and WAS moving before a gen
tie breeze from the shore, yet so slowly
as to Icarcely rultle The face of the ocean.
Weekly Instructor.