Connecticut western news., 1880-06-02
hundred and forty-fve after passing the

hundred and forty-fve after passing the cape.
 A few days after this, while in com pany with another ship, we saw her thrown fiat upon her beam ends by a white squall, which raised so heavy a swell that, after fighting, she rolled away her topmasts our own ship, meanwhile, though only half amile distant from her, feeling nothing of the tornado.
 mention this circumstance from the fact that the incident which formed the chief interest of our voyage originated from precisely such squall.
 A wind like this, coming from little white cloud, will tear up the ocean like a plow, making one mighty furrow, gen. orally from twenty to hundred yards wide.
 We were often in sight of the African coast, and at last dropped anchor at the mouth of the ZambeM River. Here lay dismasted vessel, which, from her chain plates, we perceived to be brig.
 We took her at firstfor an honest trader, which having become disabled, had been forced to make port but the fact that she had crew enough to man four or five such vessels, excited our suspicion.
 ssIsn't that the craft we fell in with the day we took the last whale 9 asked the captain of MT. Jencks. "The loss of her spars alters her so that I can't tel, but the hull looks the same, certainly ,
 :" think so" said the mate the hull looks like her anyway, and she has about as large crew. We might be in better company, but I don't imagine they'll trouble us.
 "Yes, they will" said the captain They know that whaleman always has good supply of spare rigging and spars. But then, perhaps they'll pay us for them. We couldn't do much fight ing the fellows, for no doubt they have some big guns and plenty of muskets. We'll, here we are, and the wind is all gone now. We can't get away till no- body knows when.''
 Even old Smith looked serious perhaps all the more so that he was true sailor, and knew real from imaginary danger.
 Presently the briggs captain, with his lieutenant and boats crew, came on board of us. He could speak some En- glish, and we found him to be Span iard from old Spain-not a Cuban or a H1 1,S-, self as Don Herrara, and his lieutenant as Don Arista. Both were villainous looking fellows, with flashing black eyes and cool efrontery of manner.
 The cap5to,ao said that his brig, the Santa Clara. had fallen in with a white squall, which tore her masts out of her before she had time to capsize; that the foremast, dashing against the bow, had started the cut water, causing the vessel to leak two thousand strokes an hour that she had subsequently been on shore, knocking off her false keel, and that, in short, she was now totally worth less. Hence he made no application fo1 material, as neither spars nor rigging could do him any good. Meanwhile he freely acknowledged himself a slayer now laughing coarsely at his situation, and now swearing fearfully. He was a blunt, cruel villain, and could not help thinking that the scoundrels who made up his crew must have hard time un- der him.
 After a while he went away, having taken close observation of everything about our ship, as we plainly saw.
 "We are in tight place. said Gap tain Wilder "that fellow will be aboard of us tonight. He wants this ship. He knows from the looks of her that she must sail well, and so she is just the yes. sel for him. We'll, we must see what can be done."
 But what, indeed, could we possibly do. We saw from aloft that the slavel had on deck several large pieces of can vas and judged that under those he hac big guns concealed.
 We might hold our own in the face ot boarders, but single heavy cannon must bring us to terms at once, as we had no means of defence against it. A whaleman at that period usually carried a six-pounder or two; but we had none and must depend wholly on harpoons lances and few miserable old muskets It was finally decided that, after dark we would slip our cable and drop silent ly out with the current of the zambezi coming back afterward and fishing uI the chain and anchor, should they remain I undisturbed.
 But the slayer captain did not wait fol night. All of sudden we realized tha 1 the Santa Clara was much nearer to u! than when we had anchored while, a the same time, long pivot twenty-fou, pounder, which had until now been art fully covered, and which ranged abov' her very low bulwarks, began to glitte in the sun, together with four long twelves-two on each side of the vessel The crafty Spaniard had slipped hi own cable, and was drifting fast toward us.
 "It was of no use," said the captain as MT. Jencks proposed slipping ou chain; Che can cut us all to pieces He's hardly two cables length from u now, and, with that big pivot-gun, h could sweep every man off deck in thre !