The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1890-12-19
lily be n no.qunrter fight in a few |

wy uE u IO-uuuftcC uSuO III Il lew
was ~ volunteer; and,
though | drew Uncle Sans pay and
ncle Sans rations, it was not for
pay ] ought. but for principle, and,
| suppose ] must add glory-you see
] was only %. began to feel that,
il there was to he II lnnd-to-hand
fight with the lIarbingcr, it would
become IL historical affair like the
Shannon and Chesapeake thing; l
should get to bca hero; and the hero
profession was the particular busi-
ness into which, at that period otmy
life, ! most longcd to go.
Presently we entered the bayou.
There lay the lIarbingcr. IL big pair
OF shears rugged over the engine
room, and Il great crowd OF men
hauling away ut something they
were drawing up from it. So busy
were they with the job that ut first
they didn't perceive our approach.
The fellows rushed to their quarters,
and several oil the officers hurried on
to the bridge. The Hnrbingcr was
anchored. you know, and her furnace
fires wercout. Aswc ran within fifty
yards of her stern, so as to take
her with gun after gun, il ncedlul.
the bells in our engine room ordered
the engines to lc reversed, and we
almost ceased to move.
Ii you don't surrender" shouted
our commander to the Confederate
Captain, who stoodupon the bridge,
"l'll blow We all into almighty
blnzcs."
There were the three great Dahl
grcn guns; their shot would have
passed through the llarbingcr's
decks, aud she certainly would have
gone to the bottom five minutes
aiterward.
81 guess Ill come down" said the
confederate chief. lie was IL brave
man, but lie knew that resistance
was useless.
Tell your chaps to throw down
thcirarms andgo ior'ard," cried our
old man, "or I'll sink We ut once!!"
Admiral Sykes had to give the or
der; it wasn't II time for Joking, and
our boss would have carried out Ills
threat. Slowlyand sullcnly the con-
felerate crew left the guns, and ling
ing their weapons upon the deck,
marched forward in II body. Then
our boats were lowered and We took
the entire crew prisoners and put IL
guard over them OF which ! was one.
| never saw surlla tattooetl, starved
hungry looking lot in my life before.
They were quiet enough, poor
chaps, at first. till suddenly one
of them espied the man who had
betrayed them standing on our
bridge, the quartcrmnster still 10y
his side, revolver in hand; aud then
Il great yell went out from he whole
crowd Of prisoners, officers and men.
They would have lynchcd him then
and there il they could have got at
him. They SHOOK their fists at him,
they ground their teeth, they cursed
and sworc anu called names; they'd
have torn him into little pieces if
they could have got hold of him.
And that chap had to stand by the
quartermaster's side and face them.
He looked drcadfnlly scared. and
well he might. Those that cursed
and swore tllcloudcst were naturally
the five-nnd-thirty dcscrters that
chad got to be hanged. Poor
chaps! They knew who had fitted
the ropes around their nccls. Sykes
had to surrender Internationally,
and every one of those tive-and-thir-
ty men were hanged, except Il couple
who jumped overheard aud were
comfortably drowned before we could
manage to get the prisoners below
and put the matches on.
Judas had IL certain amount of
pluck-yes. it is impossible to deny his
pluck. lie Just rlinched his fists, and,
though his wrists were hnnlcut1cd,
lie stretched his arms out toward his
old comrades and cursed back with
a fine long string OF BOwcry oaths.
He'd got Il wonderful command of
that sort oflangunge, had Judas.
1t was just this way. Judas had
shipped rs stokcr. lie was an am
bilious amateur; but he got high
wages, which they didn't pay him;
his rations were nominal and sur-
prisingly irregular, being mostly
pork and hominy: lie got more kicks
and then ha'pencc, and the morning
of the day on which lie deserted,
Judas had had six dozen well-laid at
the capstan-hea,l. So he skipped off
in the darkness in the canoe, and he
betrayed his ship and comrades
partly for money, partly :or revenge.
Judas was an exceedingly clever
fellow. lie made out to admiral
ty people that he had shipped aboard
the Harbinger with the intention of
betraying her from the first-from
patriotic motives. A real right
down mean thing ceases to he n real
right down mean thing when dictated
by pure and patriotic motives. Con-
gress voted $4,000 to Judas! He
took the $4,000 and went out of
the Iscariot business for good land all.
He was u far-seeing man, too. When
the VII came to an end (as it
did soon afterward), the patriots
wanted to give him n public
banquet in New York. But no he,
wasn't grasping: he was contented
with the dollnrs! The authorities
found out that the patriotism of
Judas was oil tlnpdoodle-he WASH t
an American citizen Mt all, and his
motives were dollars, not patriot-
ism.
Then Judas disappeared. l met
him, as told you, the other day.
We Americans are fond of hero wor-
ship, and We generally accommodate
our hero with n pedestal of the
tallest kind, but | couldn't well look
upon Judas us II hero. knew all
about him before lie had become
famous. Things get forgotten, but
| can't forget those thirty-tivc poor
fellows, and my own opinion is that
Judas won't die in his bed.
How to Give Medicine to a Cat.
Now Norl. frontla,,op L,o n ,-nr,