New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1873-08-03
4 Drama of the Sea.

! 4 Drama OF tce sea.
Or fne morning in May. 1881. I was
rounding Cape FRO, on the coast OF Brazil
in tie brig Ca-ron. bound from Glasgow to
Rio Janeiro. and. although we had our
share of rough yea tier on the way, | can;
remember voyage that I enjoyed more.
1t was about ten o'clock in the mocn;u :,
and l was lying OF spare sail in the main
TOP reading and locking through NV teIe.
| scope. turn about when all at once the
| skipper shouted UP TO me. MASTER X.
wul. We list TAX lc0k through the pr0spec'
| (telescouel at yon craft on the weather
bow" | !evelei ny glass at her. and made
| ingly Standing away from Us. and SO re-
ported TO the captain. Bat in another ten
minutes or %. :.is voice came tip again tard
this tine with rather different sound in
irl "Maste- X. dinna like the look o:
yon craft; wu!l ye jlst tax anither look at
ner,' why" said l, leveiiny my eiass.
she. changed her course; she's comm !:
| bring dowE the rrospec. sir, l wad like 10
| TAX a LOOK myself This time there was a
tremor id his voice which no one could mis-.
| take. l began to feel uncomfortable. and
| came down n posthas-e.
| The skipper took the glass, and l. watch
Ing him as he looked through il, saw his
| grea. redeace grow winter and winter til.
| l. W as Nv III DIS d Cut psf. just gOI
| four words IN a kind of half-choked whis-
| per: She. an armed vessel" understood
! it all in a moment. and so did every ore
! else that heard him. This was lust at the
clos. of the war between Brazil and Buenos
Ayres. and the eastern coast was swarminr
| with ex-privateers. who hal been thrown
out OF work by the peace. and didn't care
whom they attacked so long as there was
any thing to be got by it. For one moment
fponpht Of ShcuJpr i~bt Thai
wouldn't hold water. Not cutlass nor a
pike was there on board, let alone firearms
aud our crew was the most innocent set
you can imagine-quiet, easy-going West
land Scotsmen. mostly married men. with
broad, good-natu-ed, simple faces, ike the
villagers in the pantominie.
The very sight Of them would have been
enough to reassure any pirate on EARTH
and the only thing left to be done was to
try stratagem. SO the captain gave orders
to zig up as many dummies as possible.
with spars and old Jackets, to look as If we
mustered pretty strong. and every one
began to conceal his valuables; put my
gold watch anon. the grounds OF the coffee
pot; the surgeon slipped his case of instru-
ments under loose plank. and our skipper
hid the chronometer. Meanwhile the pirate
(tor there could be no mistake about her
now was coming down upon u. ike W.
ture. she ran across our bows and lay to
within easy hail. so tina. We could see every
face on board OF he-. And a rare sight
they were. There seemed to be no disci-
pine among them-neither captain nor OF.
fcers-all were dressed alike. in coarse
guernsey frocks, taken. no doubt. from
some ship which they had plunderei. Sal
low Spaniards and ced faced Englishmen;
lean, ol!ve-o o!ored Portuguese. and brawnv.
yelloT-ha!red Germans. gaunt. Ratchet
faced Yankees and vicious looking mulat-
toes: but upon each and ali was that name
less stamp which marks the man whom
some great crime has CIT Oft from his iei-
lows-the kind OF look thar have seen
many time among tie worst class CT
Couvicts.
1t is always difficult toc a man 70 to.eteli
how he Will feel when suddenly brought
face to face with a deadly peril. have
seen a man whose lite was hanging By
hair watch curiously the movements of a
spider on his window. l myself. Ia tie
crisis Of the dead!iest scrape | ever was il,
found leisure to note the peculiar shape Of
cloud in the sky. l remember. as if it
We're Yesterday. that my first feeling at
sight of the pirate. was one Of re ge-a kind
OF angry disgust at the idea of such mean
looking rasc:.!s daring to attack US at all.
But had little time to think Of it. for
Just as they ran alongside OF us our skipper.
to ley aston.shment. coolly hailed them.
ship, ahoy: What's our name!'
There was pause before they answered.
giving some Spanish name, which forget.
Cur skipper left them no time to think
about it, but went on: Whats your cargo!
Its guild to haze the first word. Mr.. Ky
Fish" That's 4 lee. ami big one, sir"
said the captain to me in whisper; mae
fishing vessel would haze less than fowre
boats, and yor Graf. has but iva. Whaur
do We come frae'' ne added aloud. From
the Falkland Isles. How mony days."
Nine. That's another lee. Master X:
nae vessel can dot il less than saxteen.
(Aloui., Whaur are We bound for Per
nam ouco" Then came pause. We were
az TIE end OF our questions. and now the
pirates must have their turn. In that ter
ribie interval. with the worst of all deaths |
staring Us in the face. there came the
strang est. we!rdest mngllng OF broad fun
with the black horror that enc0mpassed us.
Oar good. sinpie-hearted crew had
obeyed the captains order to ri z up dunn
together a. the rails os a paiisade, with old
hats and Jackets Tapping upon them IKE
scare-cr0ws: while on the round house it.
self appeared an old Kiimarnock bonnet,
as if some giant had suddenly risen up
through the very roof. This last absurdity
made the cup al the shippers patience !
overflow altogether. "Ye drunken rascals,"
lie growled under his breath. do We think
ony man wud put his dead through roon |
fricht.t like craws il a field Is enough &c |
make them board Us az once. tor d;,Uciu - |
max tuies o them
Ship alloy. what yoUc name
Tae sharp. stern Gail te!! acros. his NUT !
teriHgs like the cut of a sword. The cap |
tain started and answered: The Car-on.
from Glasgow What's your cargo!'
4, 80
Master X. that We hae Manchester
goods aboard: they wad cut our tn,otts for
the halt Of them Where are We bound |
fol-" Rio Janeiro' There was another |
pause, and then came sea.c..n. question. |
DO yo.: reckon by !. ch-ouometer or by |
t.nle: by time
Thec ensled dee p silence. ard il that |
dead hush Of expectation. l could almost |
Tea, the beating of NY Own heart. The
captains face looked pinched and drawn |
ike a three days corpse; and the surgeon |
who was standing near ne BIT his lip Until |
the blood ran down. 1t was not the thought |
OF being killed tua. troubled Is. tU. 10 die !
bu.chereG ike sheep. wlthJu: a chance OF |
resistance Wa. mere than We could bear. |
We could see that there Was discussion 60 !
in on among the pirates. and :ha: many OF |
them were Tor boarding us a: once. Hands |
ware pointed az us again and again. and !
voices rose UP high ana fierce in {. iafgon O: |
all languages 81 once. til! the las: I'VE |
seemed to have lived lifetime IL those few !
minutes. we heard the order given to put |
about" a1d the pirate began slowly TO |
draw OF.
THIN we knew tia: We were saved. and |
every man drew a long breath. as if he had |
risen from tic grave. But as the pirate !
wore round. as though she had still one !
more do.e in store for us. saw something
in the after mart of her tLa. m AIDE nv blood |
run cold. She was just coming about, and |
y .rtt