The Wahpeton times., 1889-01-10

men in the crowd, and among those.
they secured was Richard Hexel, who
was standing at her fathers door.
The party then retreated with their
captives, closely followed by the
crowd, crying, s'Down with the Press
gang! Down with theml" More than
once the sailors were so hard pressed
that those in the rear had to turn
and make a stand in the narrow
streets, and q serious conflict was
threatened. But they reached their
boat with the men they had cop
tured, and at daylight next morning
the sloop-of-war in the bay had dis
appeared.
That night there was much wailing
among the women of St. Ives, and q
fruitful subject of talk was afforded
to the club tthe George and Drag
on. Among the members of this
club were Captain Trenwith, aretired
officer of the Navy, who had sailed
with Admiral Benbow, and had lost
leg in the service of his country;
Mr.. Matthews, ropemaker and Mayor
of st. Ives; old Will Nance, who had
once been smuggler, and who wore
a patch over his left eye, which had
been knocked out in some encounter
with revenue officers; and, lastly,
John Tackabird, the town barber,
who, although occupying a lower So
cial position, was allowed to associ-
ciate after business hours with the
men whose wigs he dressed in the
morning. But the barber was in ad-
vance of his time, and held opinions
which Captain Trenwith and the May
or thought little less than reasonable.
John Tackbird was, in fact, q Demo-
craft; and on the present occasion he
was loud in his denunciation of the
press-gang, which he said was contra
ry to Magma Charta and the Bill of
Rig hts-a tyranical and unconstitu-
tional violation of the liberty of the
subject, and showed that we were a
nation of fdown-troddens slaves, writh-
ing under the iron heel of despotism.
"Where." said he, waving a news
paper he held in his hand, "where are
our boasted liberties, when the hire
lings of q corrupt Government can
thrust themselves into our houses
and carry off our sons and brothers,
and force them to fight in the un-
holy .quarrels of Kings and their un-
scrupulous Minister'S? How long
are we to be chained to the chariot
wheels of a bloodthirsty oligarchy?
How long,
'Tut, tutl' interposed Captain
Trenwith with warmth. "Stop the
palaver, John Tackabird. The
King must have men for his ships -
"Men for his ships. CAPTAIN Tren-
With" retorted the barber; "let the
King get them by fair and honest
means. and then he will perchance
have men who will stick to their
colors, and not run away as some
of Admiral Benbow's ships did in
the West Indies!"
This was a sore subject with Cap
tain Trenwith, who could endure no
s)ur on this British Navy, and who
had himself been an officer on board
Admiral Benbow's ship at the time
referred to. The barber felt he had
gone too far, but the mischief was
done.
The Captain rose from his seat, his
face purple with rage. "Thou id
chin-scraping scoundrel! how durst
thou rake that matter up in my
presence? I'll drive my staff down
thy throat for prating ofmatters be-
yond thy barber's brain!"
"Nay, nay, Cap'n," cried Will
Nance; "let John Tackabird be. May.
hap he hath spoken unwisely, but tits
well known Cap'n Wade and Cap'n
Kirby were shot at Plymouth for de-
serting the Admiral"
"Yes," said Captain Trenwith, re-
suming his seat, his anger having
passed away as suddenly as it came
-';yes; and shooting was too good
for them. They ought to have been
hanged at the yard-arm-and so
should some Others that l got of!''
here he looked hard at the ci-devant
smuggler.
"sWell, but''-resumed the barber,
whose tongue must needs wag in
spite of his fear of the Captain
touching this matter of the press
gang"-
"I'll hear NO more on IT," cried
Captain Trenwith; 'tis in every
FOOLS mouth that one volunteer is
worth ten pressed men; but 1 have
seen pressed men fight as bravely
as the best-and as for Admiral Ben
bow, he fought his ship like q
hero, and died the death of a gallant
old sea-dog as he was. If some of
his men left him in the lurcl, enough
remained to save the honor of Eng
land. But bark ye, s. hn Tackabird,
let me warn thee that there be some
matters had better be forgotten"
At that moment, steaming bowl
of punch being brought in, all fur
ther unpleasantness disappeared un-
der it's soothing influence. The par
ty, which now included Peter Hexel
and John Renowden, drew in their
chairs, and the former proceeded to
I'll the glasses of his guests with a
silver punch-ladle that had a guinea
let into the bottom OF it. As it was
not yet known that young Hexel was
one of the pressed men, there was
nothing to cloud their enjoyment. A
visit from the press-gang was too
common an occurance in seaport
towns in those days to excite much
remark, save among those who were
the immediate sufferers. Captain
Trenwith said he would take upon