The Union and journal. [volume] (Biddeford, Me.) 1858-1882, 1869-02-12

side.
'Hurrah, boys! VIC have her now,'
shouted the captain of q gun near me,
'there goes her fore-mast-let her have Il
again. and, jerking out his piece ut the
word, another deadly discharge OF grape
was sent hurling along the enemy's
BY this time the two vessels had got
afoul, the b0wsprit of the foe having be-
come cntangled with the shrouds OF our
main.mast. Unable longer to resist the
whlrlwind OF grape poured along their
decks, the crew Of the enemy determined
ON making a desperate effort to retrieve
the tide of battle by boarding, and gath
ering suddenly forward ut the call Of their
leader, they made an instantaneous rush
upon us. But their attack was rs quickly
met. T
A momentary yacillation of the veil Of
smoke hanging over the deck Of the foe
by disclosing the numbers gathering upon
ersforeeastle, betrayed to our gallant
leader the Intention Of the enemy. He
saw at glance that the attack must be
repulscd speedily or we were lost. The
vessels were already swinging around
side-<o side, and In few moments the
overwhelming numbers of the English
men would be enabled to leap upon our
decks, with almost as much ease as II we
were moored alongside of their craft In
port. Not moment was to be lost. e.
thcr the enemy must be repulsed at once,
and so promptly as to preclude oil future
attempts OF the like character, or else we
must lose every advantage we had already
gained, and be overpowered finally by the
mere force of numbers.
What have taken so long to describe,
flashed through our minds with inconcelv-
able raplaity. The captain did not hesi-
tate moment. Waving his sword aloft he
Numbered,
'Boarders ahoy muster ut the main
to beat back the enemy and then In a
lower tone he added. charge the long
gun 10 the muzzle with grape
Obedient ut the word our gallant fcl.
lows hurried to their stations, and stood
eagerly awaiting the onset Of the foe;
who having, by this time, mustered on
the part of their craft stood ready to spring
upon our decks nc the first opportunity.
That was now at hand. The two ships,
which had mOmcntarily receded, now
rolled together and every man Of the en-
enly's crew strained his muscles to their
utmost tentiOn, rs ho prepared to spring
OF our decks.
Never shall forget that sight. Clus-
tered around the fore-shrouds and on the
cat-hcad, and covering the whole space
vrrwecn. were the dense masses Of the en-
emy, their dark frOwning c0unfenances,
and gllttering weapons forming promi.
neht objects in the spectacle. They had
sprung up, rs II by magic, from u score
OF lurking places, and gathering ut the
call of their commander, now stood with
threatening numbers about to leap upon
us. To resist such whirlwind of cutlass-
es with our little crew was well nigh mad
ness. But our leader had already detcrn-
incd to make their very numbers the
cause of their ruin. At this moment, when
the two ships approached each other, he
turned rapidly to the gunner, and shout
ed.
'Givc 1t to them with the long gun
flre!'
The effect was electric. With noise,
like the bursting of volcano, the instru-
ment of death went off bclcllng forth its
fiery torrent with resistlcss fury. An
Avalanche could not have swept of It's
VI as more ,ruthlessly than did that dis.
ciyirge dlspefsc the foe. Nothing could
w(hstand that hurricane of grape, It's eff
fed was awful. Clearing lane through
and'thrOugh the crowd upon the forccas-
tia the enemy, 1t tore It's passage on
ward amid the spars and hamper of the
ship with resistless violence, almost drown
ing the shreks of the dying and the curses
of the wounded In It's terrific crash. The
enemy's boardcrs staggered and fell back,
and before they could rally the two ships
fell asunder. While they were still wav-
ering, our hamper became disentanglcd.
and we once more flOated free Of the enc
my. AS we passed along her side our fire
was renewed with redOubled impetuOsity,
while the Englishman, crippled rs he was
by our las. irightful discharge, could only
feebly reply.
Pour It In, my lads shouted the gun
ner again, 'and we'll soon bring her to
quartcrs-givc 1t to 'cm now, for the hon.
or of old Plymouth
God save the king!' came hoarsely
back from the enemy, blow the rebels
ont of the water
The speaker standing just abaft the
mainmast, and had distinguished himself,
during the attempt to board us, by his We
hement GESTURES and apparent Influence
Il
Westbrook watched him keenly as he
he spoke. Suddenly M officer approached
and gave him an order. lie looked
around, started from his protractcd situ-
alton, and dashed up the main shronds,
with the intention, as we now perceived,
of reeving rope which had been shot
away, and the loss Of which prevented the
main-topsail from being hoistcd to the
cap.
They're about to make off, said l to
Westbrook, hes a daring fellow to 20
aloft In this fire, anyhow
Hes not SO sure OF success said West
brook, for they'll have shot at him from
the forecastle.'s
The man had by this time, with almost
inconcelvable rapldty, effected his pur.
pose, although more than one musket had
been fired ut him from our craft. He now
turned to descend, but proud or his
achievement, he could not resist the temp
tation of momentary bravado. lie took
off his hat and gave a h,lrrah.
It's your last boast, cOolly said West
brook, rs he snatched musket, and lift-
Ing 1t to his shoulder, glanced his eye
along the barrel, and fired. shuddercd
inyoluntarily, even though an enemy was
the victim, for knew WcstbroOk's deadly
aim. My presage was true. The man
staggered on his footing an instant made
m abortlve grasp at The air Instead OF a
rope, and falling backward. struck the
shrOuds, and rebOunded into the sea. lie
sQuatted a moment OH the water, Ike
wounded dick, and then sunk forever.
leaving only a small dark stain Of blood
upon the wave to tell where he dlsap-
poared.
BY this time the fire Of the enemy had
almost ceased, and even amid the smoke OF
battle. we could see that her scruppers
were literally running with blood. An
Intellectual attempt was now made to cs-
cape from us, but we ran down upon the
enemy at the first symptom, and rc-com-
menccd our fire with undated Jury.
Their rigging was soon terribly cut up, rs
we now aimed principally at that. As n
few moments removed all possibility OF an
escape on the part OF an Engllshman. aud
rs we had suffered ourselves In our ham
per somewhat from his fire, we then ran
of short distance, and began to repair
our damages. An hour and half sufiic-