San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1889-07-17

| ppostIy crew. OUT aIUer naIr srn nUur Sail
| ing the fog began to break up into quee
| shaped tongues and riffs and drift away, ant
| all of a sudden it vanished and left us q cleal
vision. A wild yell broke from every en-
listed man aboard, for there, hardly muske
shot away, almost stationary on the deaC
tide, was the Lion, the brig we were il
search of. She had left her mornings witt
the wind and tide, but the former had failec
| her, and the fog coming on had obliged hel
| to anchor for the night. She had been with
| in a mile and half of us all night, and haC
| lifted her anchor iii the early morning x
drift down with the last Of the tide and bt
ready to make her offing with the first of the
| land breeze.
The yell of surprise and satisfaction from
our decks was echoed one of establishment
md hate from the SLAYER. Orders were given
| o drop our boats and board her, but at the
anne moment her yawl dropped into the
water and captain and crew tumbled into 1t
| % escape us. There was little delay in get
| ing away, one of her men stopping behind
| or a moment, but when the yawl headed up
he blight, it was at such pace as to dis
courage us. We had two boats down, but 1t
| vas the other one which pursued the yawl,
While was ordered to board the SLAYER and
AXE possession. We pulled straight for her,
cut before we got alongside pandemonium
broke loose The fellow who fingered behind
! mad knocked the fastenings off the gratings
which covered the two matches in her decks,
md the blacks swarmed up and over the brig
ike so many hornets.
Those dusky fellows were submissive enough
when overawed, but as they came on deck to
find themselves in possession they got rid OF
their light chains. and menaced us from
every foot of the rail They could not under
stand what had occurred. and all ships and
all crews were alike to them. They seized
whatever weapons they could get hold OF,
put themselves under a couple Of leaders who
mad probably been chiefs, and dared us TO
board pulled back to our craft for lnStruc-
tons, and was ordered to take one of the in
terpreters back with ME and let him explain
the situation. 1t was impossible for him to
10 50 owing to the yells and shouts which
erected us. They could see him, and see that
ne was not one of us. but when he stood up
and made signs the confusion was increased.
The other boat now returned from her vain
chase, but we had as yet formed no plan when
he land breeze sprang up and the blacks be-
yan to make sail on the brig. There must
nave been two or three among them who had
been aboard of a sailing craft. or they were
sharp enough to study out the rig and dis
cover which ropes to haul on. More of them
Jared 90 aloft, but they let fall or holSted
away until the breeze got purchase on the
cunts and festoons, and then the jibs were run
I'D and trimmed down almost as we'll as sail
ors could have done it. We sought to board
ler while 50 many of the blacks were busy,
out there were enough left on guard to
.hwart our efforts If we could have used
our pistols and cutlasSes we could have been
On her decks in two minutes. but our orders
we're not to injure a man of them, our cap
tain hoping that after their first squirt was
over the interpreters might find opportunity
70 explain.
What followed the coming of the breeze
mas never been detailed except in official re-
ports. The wind came up strong and gusty,
showing an atmospheric disturbance inland,
and the management Of a vessel was some
hing that no one aboard understood. She
lad got her nose pointed up the blight by the
time the breeze took her, and away she moved
Is fast as we could pull our boat behind her,
waving to starboard or port in such way
that her wake was like a rail fence. The
blacks evidently wanted to return to land,
and as she moved that way their yelling was
tremendous After a little practice at the
wheel the helmsman kept a better course, but
the breeze gusted up strong every few min
utes, and during these gusts he lost his nerve
and everything was in confusion However,
the brig kept advancing up the blight all the
time, and our two boats followed behind.
She was holding tOlerahly fair for the mouth
of the river, and we had made up our minds
that she would certainly be beached when
she suddenly fell off, wabbled about, came up
into the wind again, and, after hanging for
a moment, paid off and turned almost on her
heel and headed for the ocean.
Things must have been at skies and sevens
aboard, for the whole crowd yelled in terror.
We did not know until later on what had
caused this erratic movement. The crew of
the SLAYER, after pursuit had been given over,
rested on their oars to see the affair out
When the brig headed up the blight they cut
across her bows to recapture her, not seeing
| us in her wake. They probably attempted
to hook on to her fore chains, but i'll any
| event they got in her course and were run
down and sent to the bottom surely as if
the blacks had planned it. Not man eS
capped
| When the brig headed for the sea the
breeze helped her along faster, and the helms
man got back his nerve and managed TO hold
her pretty even. Our own craft slipped her
anchor and made sail as matter of precau-
ton, but the Lion passed her by quarter of
mile ard held straight out. We had now
to pursue the foolish crowd, which we did IS
soon as our boats could be recalled We
hoped that the seas now getting up would dis
able the blacks, but few, if any, of them
| seemed to mind it. We could sail five fee;