The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1877-05-03

the attack OF the irOnclad That wer'nt
10 place for Us, and we starboartled and
an up the beach as fast as we could
seam. Luckily the flashes of their GUNS
md their signal-lights and rockets de-
1ned the position of the men-of-war. and
Tter runnin' till we thought we was
clear, we parted and stood out to sea.
We was little too soon, hows'ever for
one of 'em seen us, and fired at us, and |
we had to starboard agin and run for it. |
Then we makes one right ahead, and |
had to port agin and run off with her
arter us, but at last arter about three
quarters of an hour about as excitin' as
one would wish for, we left 'em all be-
and and went on about our business.
We was like young bears, though,
all our troubles was to come We
didn't care much for this inner line of
blockaders, cause we had got to runnin'
through 'em by night easy enough, but
it We're the oif-shore cruisers that trou-
bled us; them that we run foul of in the
daytime. This v'yage I'm tellin' YOU
on, when the mornin' come, here were
a gun-boat right ahead of us We part
ed and went off to the west ard, bringin'
him onto our port-quarter, and he Civ
| chase. In about a quarter of a hour we
raised another one, right ahead, and
agin KEEP off to the su 'thard till we brung
him onto the port beam, and this altera-
ton Of course brought the fust one onto
the starboard quarter We run this way
about a half hour, and had begun to
drop the second one sighted, when we
raised a third one, jist for'ard of the
| Icfn n-lNn a1.I Il 1,,l
that we should make one ahead to in
sure our capture. Besides this, as you
will see, sir, if you have followed me I'VE
had turned completely round, and it was
only Il question of time when we should
git in agin with the fleet we had run
through the night afore. Our chance of
escape was but slim, and all depended
on whether we could outrun the one onto
our port beam enough to sail round him
and git our head off shore a9in
We KEEP TAXI the bearin's of the
one on the port hand, and
as we dropped him half a pint, we
would haul up half pint, still keepin'
him right abeam. Meantime, number
three that we had fllst made for'ard of
the starboard beam, had been a steamin'
light for us, and at s O'Clock he found
hisself within distance, and begin to fire
at us. The fust shot went over us, the
next fell astern, but it was evident that
we was in range, and might expect to be
hit unless we got this troublesome Gus
toner out of range. We starboarded a
pint more, bringing the second craft for
ard of the beam and our nearest neigh
Dor one pint abaft the starboard beam,
and then come the question, Must we
sacrifice any of our cotton?' You've
never run the blockade, sir, and you
can't think what it were to throw cotton
overheard them times. 1t were like
drawin' out your eve teeth. Every bale
was worth ESQ; but it were better to lose
some than to sacrifice all; the shots was
fallin' all around us, and we must gl1
! out of range or we was gone, and so the
old man civ the order to throw over
board cotton.
"'Cut 'em open my lads says the
old man, .and scatter it all you can, Sc
as to foul that feller's propeller that's ;
cumin' up astern,' and we done so; bu
| don't think that done any good, caus'
we seen this craft, which were the frs
, one we made in the mornin'. Whel
she run into this cotton, she jist stopped
; and Civ up the chase and picked up al
she could of it. This cuttin' adrift b,lsi
!, ness, hows'ever, was too slow for us
and shell burstin' close by us, the oil
: man sings out don't stop to cut an,
more: overheard with 'em as quick a
,, the Lord will let YOU
. "You'd think, sir, that men with tn
+ fear of capture afore 'em would do thcl
q best, but vet it's a fact that durln' tina
chase one of our passengers goes dow
o into the fre-room, and says he, t
apiece, my lads, for five more revoltl
= tions.' and blow'd if them firemen didn'
! turn to and CIT 'em. Under this lncreas
of speed we begin to drop our friend o
the starboard, and it were happy tim
:. for us when his shots begin for to dro
astern. Our companion on the port sid
had eot abaft the beam agin, and we wa
soon able to begin haulin' up more an
more, half pint to time, and by
> O'Clock that AFTERNOON we had sale
j completely round him and was on ou
course agin.
g 1.-TWO nights after this | had the dec
# and the old man were on the bridge
/ and all of sudden heard him sing OF
;. port; hard aport.' and the next min
e he sung to, stop her. jumped ont
d the bridge. Look there says the OF
i man. and there a crossin' our bow WEI
o A steamer. She had no lights set, ant
S from her rig and general appearance
O we knowed she were a cruiser, but 81
! passed right on and never seen us at al
and we steamed on about our buslnes
i This will show you, sir, the risks we II
d continually.