Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-05-22

dawns; we must change our tactics,'
tepllet the Captain. Go down again;
there IL nothing you can do
"nut ! was wrought up to too high a
pitch to 90 down again; and the Can
tain and l remained up all the rest Of
the nlgntuntil daylight dawned discuss
ing the situation, and racking our
ran ior a method of escape.
lana now the sun sprang up and
glofined the tumbling ocean, whose
troubled bosom was certainly heaving
with lar less vehcmeace than before;
and there, not half q mile away from
us, on our larboard quarter, lay the
brigantine, still rolling heavily as we
ourselves did. her row of guns, eight
on a side, CLEANING brightly in The
morning sun; her bulwarks thickly
lined with heads; and at her gait, adj
hitting of.nodoubt any longer as to her
character coal-black flag! We could
see tnat we were the object of eager *
animation by her crew; and for their
benefit we enacted a little pantomime,
which the Captain and l had planned
the night before. No uniforms were
now t be seen upon the deck; but, as
we knew that their glasses were upon
US. intent on discovering our force,
those IN uniform were instructed to y
pear occasionally at the hatchwnys
both fore and aft, as if about
to come on deck, with their
ARMS in their hands, when they
would at once be peremptorsly ordered
below by n of the mates - giving
those IN the brigantine the idea that we
wereJtall Of troops.
las the morning passed, it was evil
dent that the brigantine's people
were puzzled. and hardly knew whether
to leave us alone or not. All that day
andh all that night we lay about half a
mile apart, courtesying to each other
as we crosse and fell on the swell, with
no incident to aus us fresh appre-
hensiop, save that at night they again
got their sweeps out, and actually
swept her right round us, in order,
l SUPPOSE, to keep us in a state Of panic
and anxiety.
again the day dawned, again the
blaze OF sunlight streamed over the
waters. What is it that is making
such a stir in the swarm IN board
the hrigantine? Why, are they get
ting out their sweeps again in such
haste?' Are they e ing at last to at
tack us? Are they?- But no! their
stern is toward us. They are moving
in the opposite direction! Is help COM
ing to us? Are they moving off in
fearp Our Captain rushed up into
the maintop with his glass, and even
before he had reached that height, the
shout of "A sail!' came from his lips,
and his finger pointed over our lar
board quarter; Eagerly we strained
our eyes in that direction, aud far
away, hull down beneath the horizon,
in thcvcry quarter to which the brigan-
tine was steering, we saw the CLEAN of
white which betokened the presence of
a large vessel under sail.
".A large merchantmen, homeward-
bound, | should say the Captain
shouted from the top. That villain
must have been waiting for her when
he fell in with us. Let us hope she
will get away from him. She seems
to have, a breeze, at any rate
r'What a relief it was to see that
swarm of miscreants moving off by
their own exertions! How we toll
lowed them with our eyes and glasses
as hour after hour their sweeps rose
and tell upon the now subsiding sur
face afG the sea! By-and-by, her sails
seemEd TO fill, she heeled slightly to
one tide; her sweeps were no longer
to BID seen-she had a breeze.
"Shortlv after this an exclamation
from our skipper attracted my atten-
tentian. 4 thought so,' he said;
there are two of them!' and as we
looked, just clear of the merchantmen
on the other side we saw a suspicious
looking schooner. The brigantine at
ono hoisted a signal and fired a
gun. as we could see by the white
smoke; and then the two evidently
c%onverged upon the great merchant
man. She, too, saw them, that was
evident, for she piled up canvas upon
can fas, to WOO the too sluggish breeze.
Now the foe were nearing her, and all
disguise was evidently thrown aside,
for puff after puff of white smoke
darted from their sides, responded
to, We were glad to see, by puffs at
long er intervals from hers; and family
on the nearing breeze caught
the sound of the explosions. But closer
still and closer crept the foe, and every
eye was strained upon the desperate
fight, and all minds intent on that
alone, when All hands make sail!n
shouted the Captain; here is the breeze
right on top Of us!' And sure enough,
there it was. coming down crisp and
fresh almost before We were ready for
it. Quickly our good fellows covered
the good ship with a cloud of canvas;
and as she felt the gentle power of tho
young breeze and heelcd over to it, and
the bubbles began swiftly to course
astern, a terrible load fell from our
hearts, and we felt that we were
saved"
The Colonel paused a moment, his
eve fixed on vacancy, as if he saw HIM
self once NOR upon the deck of the Al
fred.
"And what became of the merchant
man?' l asked, when silence had lasted
for some moments.
Don't ask NEEDN'T ask mel" he
replied, in agitatcd tones. "Poor
| so,lsi mnrdered-overv ono Of them