The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1852-05-21
THE PIRATES ATTACK.

cou1iilS oH from lne OF. DOmlng0 Slue. SIinu
to your arms, boys! the rogues are upon us
In an instant every man was at his post, and
on the alert. "Stand in the shadow of the
spars and rigging to be out of sight" contin-
ued the captain, "and not a man of you fire
till give the word"
SAY, ay, sir" responded the crew, with nau-
tical precision.
"And now," says the captain, who really
went to work in business-likc style, "let us
get this gun on the other tack, Mr.. Brae, to
be ready for the gentlemen"
The muzzle of the piece was accordingly
thrust through the opposite port, keeping a
dead aim at the boat, which was nov little
more than quarter of mile distant from us.
Strange" said !, shat the fellows shoud
choose To row against the meeA slst. BY so
doing, they must know we should see the
glitter of their oars"
81 suspect" replied the captain, ''that they
had no choice about it, You forget we have
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 rogues lost
us after nightfall; but it seems that they have
found us at last"
The boat was now very near us, still not a
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 Captain
Boltrop, in its most startling tones. No an
swer was returned to this summons, and the
oars were pliedmore lively. "Keep of! you
rascals, again shouted our commander, soft!
or Tll blow you out of the water!"
This threat and the firebrand which -four
ished with great ficrceness, seemed to make
the pirates hesitate. The motion of the boat
was arrested. Captain Boltrop thought the
victory already achieved, and he again raised
his voice in tones of authority "Throw your
arms overheard, and come alongside"
A voley of musketry was the reply to this
summons "A dozen bullets whistled by, and
the captains hat flew across the deck. A
deep inprecation 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 noise like thunder. A
distant crash, heavy splashing in the water,
above which cry Of mortal agony was ter
ribly distinct, had arisen in the direction of
the foe before the smoke dispersed sufficient
ly to enable us 10 see the effect of our shot.
No boat was then to be seen, nor any trace of
her crew; we had in all probability sent eve
ry soul into eternity.
"By George!" cried the captain, with some
thing like compunction in his tone, and rub
bing his head with his handkerchief. III would
rather hive taken the rascals and had them
decently hanged, than sent them to thebottom
in this offhand manner. You couldn't have
made better shot, Mr. Brae, if"
A horrid yell, rising apparently from the
very depths beneath the ship, stopped him in
the middle of his speech. A boat gided out
of the smoke, and shooting under our bows,
a dozen dark forms were seen springing from
it to the side of the ship. But our precau-
tons had been wisely taken, and were CON-
pletely successful. No sooner did they touch
the slippery vessel than most of them, with
the most horrid blasphemies, fell back into
the sea, swapping their pistols at us even after
they were filled with water. At the same
moment their boat, which had been complete
ly riddled by our shot, filled and sunk to the
bottom. Three only got upon deck, and were
Immediately overpowered and secured. Five
more were with difficulty dragged out of the
water, and disposed of in the same manner.
One powerful fellow, however, was not so
easily quelled. He had succeeded in getting
one foot upon deck, when young seaman,
named Ralph, flew at him with the fierccness
of tiger.
They closed, and after balancing n moment
between the deck and the water, the pirate,
who was much the heavier man, fell back |
wards overheard, dragging his antagonist
with him. They both sunk, but soon rose
again about four rods from the ship, elinging
closely together. Then commenced a COM
bat the most singular and appalling had
ever witnessed. No one on board seemed to
think of devising means of assisting our
champion. No one dared to fire upon the
pirate; for so closely were they coicd tOgeth-
err, 50 rapid were their evolutions and so dim |
the light shed by the moon, that it was i'm |
possible to hit one without endTgering the
life of the other. At the commencement of
the struggle, their effort seemed to be aimed
solely at drowning each other. They whir- |
ed over on the top of the water, dashing it |
about like wounded sharks. Both then sunk |
and for while were lost to our sight. Pre- |
sently they arose again, and exchanged thick
fury, sunk again. Neglecting to use their
WcdpOiS WIllVH WOulu IitNC spccuJ Cnu
to the fray, they fought more like savage
beasts of prey, bent on throttling each other,
than like human beings.
"Shall we stand and see our man murder
ed!" 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 SIX men sprung to execute the Or
der. Just then, after an effort of unusal
ferceness, both of the combatants sunk.
They remained out Of sight so long, that the
men who were letting down the boat suspend
ed their operations, and we all stood breath
less with uncertainty and anxiety awaiting
their re-appearance. At length, about thirty
yards off the waters parted; but only one man
was seen to rise.
as it you, Ralph?" cried the captain, in a
voice.
"liere is some of him, at least, on my knife.
blade" responded the freebooter, with the
accent and laugh Of fend; and springing
nearly to his whole height out of the water,
he threw the weapon with great force to-