Connecticut western news., 1883-09-05
THE CRUISE OF THE TOM.

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 The Tom, of Baltimore, was a saucy hermaphrodite brig, whose men took great pride in the tony forty-two pound CT which she carried amidships, and en- tertained also an exceeding admiration for the skill of their first lieutenant, MT. Gale, who in all cases of emergency took upon himself the immediate direction of that destructive engine.
 One extremely foggy night, off Der muda, the Tom found herself in the midst of what seemed fleet. The slips of convoy always carried lights aloft after dark, in order that each might know the whereabouts of the others; but upon this occasion the air was so thick with mist that no light would show unless very close at hand; so that it was only at intervals that the crew of the privateer could detect the glimmer of one; yet the fact that they could .occa- slonally do so proved their unknown nelghbors to be much nearer than could hays been wished under all the uncer- ! able that some of the strangers might be merchantmen and others men-of-war; but, of course, no definite conclusion could be arrived at in this respect.
 As there fell at the moment an almost entire calm, the relative positions of the vessels could be changed but very slow ly, if at all; but the men of the Tom keeping a careful silence. her proximity remained unknown to the others, what ever they might be. Now and then a light would show faintly through the fog, seeming to be close to the privateer, then becoming wholly obscured by an increasing density of the mist. The weather was precisely in that state which is apt to keep sailors at work shifting studding sails from one side to the other of their vessel, in order to profit by what ever light air there may be, as it comes now from starboard and now from port. Occasionally a boatswain's pipe was heard; and the hollow atmosphere per mitted even the words of command on board of some of the strangers to be made out with great distinctness by the privateer's men. The sentences were somewhat like these:
 s'Lay h'aft, ere, and give pull hon that mizzen-top-s'l-'alyard! The yard s sagged-get it h-up were t belongs p
 ''H'in with them larboard stunners'lsr''
 Small pull hon the weather bracesp'
 Come, h'up with the fore and main tacks and h Tease half sommut h'ou tie sheets !'
 Height bells Call the watch there. 3
 The nationality of the strangers could no longer remain in doubt,
 In the morning, after the sunbeams had dispersed the fog, it was found that the fleet consisted of three West India. men and a seventy ty-four-gun ship.
 The man-of-war immediately gave chase to the Tom, then about three miles of, and, as the pursuer had the best of the breeze, the privateer' 's-men saw themselves ill position of no little peril. But, after the kings ship had succeeded ir decreasing the distance by third, she ceased to gain. The chase was continued in this manner for mum. Der of hours-for the American captain finding that the breeze had become steady, and consequently that he could sail three miles to the enemy's two slung drag under the Toms bows il order to deaden her headway and give the Brlton such hope of overtaking hel as would cause him to continue the chase until he should be widely separated from the merchantmen.
 Ere long the West India vessels were so far off that their top-masts could scarcely be seen above the bendine ocean; and now the Tom began to tr1 her great pivot-gun upon the seventy four. It was longer and heavier thar any of the enemy's guns, and, although the distance was two miles, Lieutenan Gale had strong hopes of being able t, make his mark somewhere about tn bulky Englishman.
 tBut you won't hit him at the frs trial" said Captain Brown, the com mander.
 'No, don't expect to-" replied tn lieutenant. "I guess about the thir, lire I'll plump a shot into him. Tn first may go over and the second under but the third'Il fetch him l'
 MT. Gale was no boaster, and seldon undertook more than he could perform
 The privateer was going very steadily
 
 with but little rise and fall of the deck so that the occasion was favorable, bu still, even abiR seventy -forr- ponnder at distanoe q t4o niIes conil be uo gex