Juliet signal. [volume] (Juliet [i.e. Joliet], Ill.) 1844-1???, 1861-10-15

was bot visible that day, beng somewhat
lndisposed THAT is to say, too lazy to get
up J We at once proceeded to the 'cuddy;'
the council consisting of the master, his
two mates, the boatswaia, and the carpen,
ter; Nj. de 5, Mr.. johnson, and N.Y.
self. Ii would be tedious to described the
meeting; but the upshot of the matter was,
/ that was requested to undertake the war
| like preparatious; and the male passengers.
together with the skipper and his officers,
| swJre to assist and obey me in everything
This was great responsibility to be thurst
upon a young fellow of about TWENTY-FIVE
years of age but did not hesitate to un-
/ dertake it.
My first step was to get Mitchell to mus
ter the crew on the quarter deck, whore
made them short speech, telling them of
the suspicious we bad of the craft in our
wake, and that we must make the best of
/ every bad job that if it came to a brush, |
! felt sure, said, that every mothers son of
them would fight to the last, TO defend the
/ good ship and the two helpless women and
the poor little children who were amongst
us. Mitchell also told them to obey me
in everything, as | was kings officer,
and UP to fighting affairs.
The men answered with a cheer. and
one old fellow, who was called Old joe
at once stepped forward aud said: If YOU
/ ?lease, your honor was captain of a gun
for many years on board kings ship and
| If so should there be anything of that sort
/ on board, and Bill herewith a jerk of
his thumb over his shoulder-can show
them how to handle 'em. There were n
couple Of old carronades somewhere ia the
! hold, Sut we could not exactly state their
where ab uts The hint, however, was
sufficient, and an exploring party was
! speedily sent below to search. After a
tedious and anxious rummage below
the joyful cry was heard from Old
Joe ; Here they are, my bearties, so bear
a hand to get them slowed upl' And
there, indeed, appeared two old ship guns.
with their carriages, but from their looks |
hardly hoped that they would stand a
charge of powder However, the hold
was quickly opened, aud by the help of
an ordinance were safely hoisted upon
deck
The preparing of these guns for service
left for Old Joe and his shipmates, whilst
| and my party collected all the old cutIass.
es, muskets, and pistols we could find on
| board. NJ. de S had good sword and
a pair of dueling pistols, Mr.. johnson had
brace of pistols also, and had a sword
and pistols. From amongst the rubbish on
| board we selected three muskets, four bay
oDets, six or seven cutlasses, and couple
Of tOierab.e pistols. The bayonets wesset
! 20 work and spliced on TO the capstan bars.
and 50 rugged out some capital boarding
pixies; the firearms we cleaned, and the
cutlasses we sharpened by grinding on the
carpenters stone. When all was ready Old
Joe proposed to scale the guns and in or
der to appear formidable as we could.
we contrived to fire the two guns in sue
cession on the starboard side, and then run
them over to port, and fire them again =
By this deXNnEe appeared to carry four
guns W triek our small arms in the
same mannNE fling the muskets and p1s-
tolls in volley.
Much time was consumed in these pro-
ceedings, and whether il wa thai our strait
agem had told with some effect or not, it
was evident that the brigantine's sweeps
had been laid In, and that she had advanced
no nearer in the interval. We therefore
concluded that the pirate intended to wait
till nigh!fall before he ran us board. God
help us! 1t was a fearful thought But
every one bore up like here: and VIC made
the best preparations that we could devise
10 resist the ANTICIPATED assault
Towards shutdown another sail was seen
preceive her at the same moment, for he
once more '0ut sweeps, and pulled towards
the i'll fated sail at a smart pace. Every
sye was strained IN watching the two YES
sells; aud just as it became too dark % dis
tinguish distant objects, "A flash followed
by a loud report, startled the stoutest heart
among us. Further surmises were useless,
for up to this moment, though some had
still tried to hope against hope" that the
| strange craft was not pirate after all, the
! dreadful certainty fell like lead upon the
hearts Of all That guuebot had told a
tale that n0ne could doubt the meaning of;
and unless God should send help. either by
a night breeze, or some ship with which we
might act in concert, and so beat off this
scJuudrel, our doom must. in all human
probability, be fearful one. But il was
no use to give way to despair; and dark
ness hav NJ now closed in, We extingr ished
every light on board, even in the pinnacle,
and enforced the strctest silence fore and
aft in the ship. ! need not say there was
no sleep for any of us that night. Anxiety
had murdered Sleep" and none even at
tempted ito turn in" Long and drcarily
passed the fevcrish hours of that terrible
night; and by the first faint streak Of dawn
. ing light every eve was strained to see i,
: Tue pirate WIS sui III elpuI. AlaS glance
was sufficient. Not only was the pirate
? there, but another vessel with him, evident
, ly the prize he had captured the night he.
| fore. Still they were at some distance
; of Us. and it seemed that the misfortune Of
this vessel had probable saved us from the
/ night attack we had expected.
; Our nerves had been so overstrained for
. many hours that some now began to show
If tI,s
, circumstances, therefore, though it better
to order good allowance of grog TO bt
: served out to the poor fellows, aud keeI
them employed in exercising the guns &c.
as much as our small stock Of powder VOC
+, admit Thus passed another wretched day
:, OF suspense and misery.
2 AS evening was approaching, we saw tht
pirate again making use of he- sweeps, anC
= she advanced this time so close to US, tina
e with the naked eye we could see her deck
swarming with men, and "loug tom" (o
large swivel gum amid ships. | at onct
! | ordered every man &c his station, as we al
? anticipated an immediate attack; but, t
' our establishment, after deliberate surve,
e she went about, and swept back again t,
her prize. She evidently thought We wer,
@ too well armed and prepared Cor an cas-,
prey during daylight so we once more Sc
D ourselves for our long and anxious night
o | watch. Sumo of our men were So wearie,
!, out, that | sent them below to snatch lit.
j, tie rest but by night-fell, of their owl
accord, all hands were again mustered OIL
2 deck
t The lights were once more extinguished
: and l was pacing the poop with silent an,
Q sorrowful steps, when suddenly felt coo
air tanning my cheek. Yes, truly, it wa
D no delusion; breeze had sprung up at last
c Thank God Instantly springing dow
upon deck, gave orders to set every stitcl
a upon her below and alolt," and to trim
the yards so as to feel the full benefit of tn
| hreeze All was DOW hustle and activity