The People's vindicator. [volume] (Natchitoches, La.) 1874-1883, 1877-06-16

wafer we stopped 'eI aS'lI, anu t'lC
engineer repaired his damage perma
nently.
"rhen we started in agin, 'caus,
in we be to go that night, or else
we'd have to 90 back for coal. Well,
lust at dark We sighted a man. ofwar,
and the pilot thought it were block
adm vessel off the mouth of the Bra
EOS River, 'twixt Galveston Island
and the mainland. Well, We steers
along MOI theast by east in quartz.
less three, a rurnin' up for the bar
All of Il suuCint the man in the chains
sung ont, Port! hard a port = aud AZ
her head swung off, sure enough, here
we was close aboard ola man of,war
We seen her lights and heard 'em call
to quarters. We keep the helm hard
a port and went completely round
till we headed in shore, and then
steadied and run inside of him. That
way we enclIcred him cause he new
err dreamed of our goin' inside, but
thought Yves pass outside of him.
lie didn't fire cause lie lost 81 yht of us
50 fast. Well, in abont twenty min
utes more we found ourselves ri Sht
in among the fleet. They seen us to
and in instant the whole face of
creation was lighted up; guns were
firm on every side, and the shot and
shell was Il whis'lln' around US like
hail stones. Wig we didn't git hit |
don't know the Chprub were Il look :
in out for It's that night and no mis-
take. Twice shots struck the water
near enough to send their spray
SplaShiug over us, aud once round
shot cut off one of the smoke stack
guys, but we wasn't never hul|ed.
"lf our pilot had been worth his
salt, we'd have gone on in spite of
the fusi|adc, but he Civ mp and lost
his head, and as the old man didn't
know the way IN, there was no help
for it but to stick her head southeast
and let her bile full speed IF shore.
The man in the chains KEEP sivin'
three fat|'oms.' or and half three
and we didn't Seem to deepen. |
steps into the chart room, where he
old man were a taking the bearins,
so as he could run her in hiSself in
tho mornin,' seciu' as how the pilot
wrr'nt no good, and | says to him,
Captain Steele, we're Il runnin' south
east and we don't deepen our water
Don't deepen onr water, Mr.. Wood,'
says he, why you must deepen it;
stop her and Sita good sound. ! guess
she's a derpenin', she must be- |
went on deck aud told the mate and
he stopped her, and | goes to the
chains and takes the lead and Sutr
enough we bad five taihomS. | tell
YOU this to show how little deepen
deuce could hr placed onto any body.
Men lost their heads, and there wrrn't
II" truStin' of 'em. The only man rs
didn't funk or git excited were the
skipper. | don't hesitate to say, sir,
as almost any other man would have
You back to Havana for coal, bnt
this here old man he determined t"
run back into that there hornets nest
we'd just left, and run through 'rm
himself in the daytime, the only time
when he could take her in.
1--WE slew ed her round once more,
and pinted her for the beach, and
then run it up till the pilot said we
was up with Fort Magrnder, and we
would he onto the middle ground if we
went any further, SO we anchred her
to wait for daylight. Just afore the
day broke we got the anchored an!
started ahead. The old pilot was
very much excited, and Civ the Or
der to Go ahead, full speed : but the
old man said, Nonsense we can't go
full speed here in this shoal water ;
the ship won't steer let her go slow
and take it easy, pilot
"Half mint after this VIC makes a
launch under the port bow and had
to port a bit to clear her. She had
gun on the bow, and was filed with
men, and why she didn't fire on us
| don It know. Perhaps the officer in
command of her thought best to let
us 90 unmolested, seem that we was
q runnin' straight into the middle of
the feet and viii, an almost certainty
of capture. The day had now
broken and here we was Just inside
of the blockadin' feet. 1t was death
or glory now, for the old man was
bound to go in. In fact, to have
turned back would have been almost
as dangerous, for we were within
range of the whole feet. The first
ship let us pass, thinkln,' suppose,
that VIC might be a Yankee gunboat
jist arrived. In fact, the second yes.
sci was in doubt, and hoisted lot
ofcolors. You see, sir, they conld't
believe that any man would be tool
hardy enough to run in among 'em in
the daytime, as was a doin' of. Well,
of course, we couldn't reply to the
signals, and the next we seen was a
little puff of smoke, and a ric"chet
shot came skipping over the water,
and bounded over rs. Then the next
ship took it up. and then The whole
fleet, and the shot and shell begin to
fly around US like hail. Lucky for
US, there were a heavy sea on, and
this spilled their aim. Some shots
went over US, and some fell short.
The old man took it as cool as Gu
cumber; he stopped onto the bridge,
and | were there, too. The old pilot
was layin' fiat on his face on the
bridge, and were in mortal terror.
"You know aboard of ship, sir,
the fust thing arter daylight, all
hands has their coffee, and the Old
man called for his that mornin,' jist
as if there hadn't been Il man .ot-war
within a thousand miles. 1t were
brung to him on waiter by little
coIored boy, and jist as he gifts into
the bridge with it shell burst right
and a piece of it flew over