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

"There they are % exclaimed the cap
tain; whose eye had taken the direction
of mine; the rascals have roWed clear
of us. and are coming on from the St.
Domingo side. Stand to your arms, boys!
the rOgues are upon u.s. In an instant
every man was at his post, and on the
alert. Stand in the shadow of the spars
and rigging, so as to be out of sight, con-
tinued the captain, and not man of you
fire till give the word"
Gay, ay," responded the crew, with
nautical precision.
"And now," says. the captain, who
really went to work in business-like
q, style, let us get this gun on the other
tack, Mr.. Brae, to be ready for them
through the opposite port, keeping dead
aim at the boat, which was little more
that = quarter of mile distant
"Strange," said l, "that the fellows
should choose to row against the moon,
when by so doing, they must know we
should see the glitter of the oars
81 suspect" replied the captain, 'that
they had no choicea bout it. You forget
that We have had more or less wind off
the land since sunset, and are at least six
miles from where we were then. The
probability is that the roguOs lost sight of
us after night-fall; but it seems they have
found us at last"
The boat was now very near us, still
not sound came from her. The closest
and most painful attention could not hear
the dip of her oars, which rose and fell
like pieces of mechanism, glittering in the
moonlight like blades of silver
Boat ahoy ?" cried the voice of Cap
tain Beltrop, in its most startling tones
No answer was returned to the summons,
and the oars were piled moro lively
Keep of or I'll blow you out of the
water p
This threat, and the frebrand which
flourlshed with great fierceness, seemed
to make the pirates hesitate. The motion
of the boat was arrested. Captain Bel
trop thought that the victory was almost
achieved, and he again raised his voice
in tones Of authority. "Thow your arms
overheard and come alongside"
A volley of musketry WAS the reply to
this summons-a dozen bullets whistled
by, and the Captains hat flew across the
deck. A deep imprecation burst from
his lips The next instant broad stream
of flame issued from the quarterback, and
the explosion of the piece broke upon the
dead stiffness of the elements with voice
like thunder. A distant crash, q heavy
spashing in the water above which cry
Of mortal agony was terribly distinct, had
arisen in the direction Of the foe before
the smoke had dispersed sufficiently to
enable us to see the effect of our shot,
No boat WAS then to be seen; nor any
trace of the crew; We had in all ProbA-
bility sent every soul into eternity
"By George" cried the Captain with
something like compunction in his tome'
and rubbing his head with his handker-
chief, "I would rather have taken the
rascals and had them decently hang
ed, than sent them to the bottom in this
off-hand manner. You couldn't have
made better shot, Mr., Brea, it"
A horrid yell, arising apparently from
the very depths beneath the ship, stopped
him in the middle of his speech. A boat
plidcd out of the smoke, and shooting un-
der our bows, dozen dark forms were
seen sprinping from it to the side
of tho ship, But our precautions
had been wisely taken, and were com
plctely successful No sooner did they
touch the slippery sides of the vessc.l,
than most of them, with the most horrld
blasphemies, fell back into the sea, snap
ming their pistols at us even after they
we're filled with water. At the same mo-
ment their boat which had been rlddled
by our shot, filed and sunk to the bot
tom. Three only got upon deck, and they
were Immediately overpowered and secu-
red. Five more were with difficulty
dragged out Of the water, and disposed OF
in the same manner One powerful fSI-
low, however, was not so easily quelled.
He had succeeded in getting ono foot up
on deck, when young seaman flew at
him with the fercensSs of tiger.
They closed, and after balancing a
moment between the deck and the water,
the pirate, who was much the heavier
man, fell backwards overheard, dragging
his antagonist with him. They both
sank, but soon rose again about four rods
from the ship, clinging closely together
Then commenced a combat the most sin
gular and appalling had ever witnessed
No one on board seemed to think OF de
vising means of assisting our champion
No one dared to fire upon the pirate 10
so closely were they coiled together s.
rapid we're their evolutions, and so din
the light shed by the moon, that it wa
impossible to hit one without endangerlnt
the life of the other. AT the commence
ment of the struggle, their efforts seemed
to be aimed solely at drowning each 9th
er. They whirled over on the top of thu
water, dashing it about like woundeC