The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-04-30

Pauline de la Chasie rose to the surface.
A French vessel bound for Mobile was
captured and sunk By Spanish cruiser
soon after the recapture of Pensacola by
the Spanish feet in 1719. One prisoner,
a slender and beautiful girl, was the only
prize secured by the victOrs. The light
had been a close and deadly one, with a
result not uncommon in those days when
a naval engagement at best was mere
matter Of broadsides and boarding. Car
rving fewer guns and lighter ones than
its adversary, and withai being much
slower, the French vessel fell an easy
prey to its vigorous adversary. 1t went
down with its colors flying, however,
while the Spaniards were in the act of
boarding it; but before this the deck had
been SO raked by cannon ana muskets at
short range that the brave little crew
were nearly all killed, so that it was but
a smoke grimed and bloody handful of
them that cheered pluckily as they sank
in twenty fathOms of green gulf water.
Pauline de la Chasie was saved from
the fate of the vessels crew by one of
those strange chances which now and
again inject into real life the most i'm
possible appearing elements Of romance.
She had rushed upon the deck, wild and
disheveled, Just as the ship lurched for
ward to go down. a young Spanish Off
Ger, bearing the honored name of Cortes,
saw her, and this lovely apparition, how
ering in the smoke of the last terrible
broadside, impressed him deeply. His
Imagination, like that of most youthful
Adventures who were sailing the seas
at that time, was a most inhammable
one, ready to flare up wildly at every
touch of the new, the strange or the
beautiful What could appeal more for
chilly or more directly to the heart of
such youth at such a moment than the
vision of a young girl, 1.-the, slender,
lovely, with white arms outspread, yell
low brown hair afloat on the breeze, her
pale face upturned, and her garments
futtering wildly, running across the
bloody, corpse strewn deck of the sink
ing vessel against which he had Just
been directing his guns? Indeed, so
much was he affected, he started for
ward and stretched forth his hands as
If to reach and save her.
Not one Of the stalwart French sailors
was ever seen again after the water closed
over the i'll fated vessel; but the beautiful
end frightened young girl, Pauline de la
Chasie, rose to the surface and with her
long, wet hair clinging closet to her shape
Iy shoulders and girlish bust, was seen
tossing about on the short chopping
waves. In some way her clothes had
caught hold on a fragment Of spar, so that
she had been kept atioat. Fortunately
her instinct of self preservation had over
borne her fear at the critical moment.
With desperate eagerness and energy she
chung to the bitof buOyant wood and was
able to keep her head above the foam and
spray of the noisy and tumbling waves,
albeit she was scarcely aware of what she
was doing.
Cortes, whose habit was to spend no
time in celebrating at the point of an
emergency, called for men and quickly
had a boat lowered. In a few minutes
the girl. in a semi-conscious condition,
was on board the Spanish vessel, where
she received every kind attention that
chivalrous men could offer under the cir
cumstances. The shock to her nerves
had been very great, not only on account
of the terrible nature of the engagement
and the results following it, but more on
account of the peculiar conditions under
which she had left France TO go to the
obscure little garrison at Mobile. on the
then wild southern coast Of America.
In those days love was something to
live for and to die for. To be young and
in love meant that along with the youth
and love went a certain romantic devo-
tiOn which would turn aside for no o.
stacle, hesitate at no sacrifice. Man and
woman, youth and maiden felt that to
go To the end of the world for loves sake
was at need the noblest OF all tasks, the
highest and hottest of all duties. The
influence Of chivairy was still alive and,
although the formalities of olden knight
hood had mostly passed away forever,
there fingered in the world, especially
among the young and the brave, a spirit
OF honor which demanded extraordinary
exactitude in the matter of keeping prom
ises, and especially those promises bound
by the golden thread of love.
Pauline de ia Chasie at the time of
the disaster 10 the vessel that bore her
was on her way to join her soldier lover,
one Louis Doucet, whose fortune had
called him to Mobile. 1t would be very
interesting, if space and the scope of tins
story would permit it, to so back and
give the details Of this romantic love
affair, which budded in the fairest part
of southern France. at one Of the old
towns whose ruins date beyond the time
when the pope had his home in Provence,
and whose roses are still the very ones of
which the troubadours raved. We must
be content, however, TO trace the Ameri-
can part of whit must always remain
one of the most noteworthy strains of
romance contested with the settlement
Of our southern coast.
The grave his; 1rIan. who scOrns what
ever is not dry IS dust. runs over what
he looks upon as mere incident, and he
turns aside from anything romantic or
touched with sentiment, as though he
feared some lurking infection which
might enliven has blood and send 4 thrill
of poetry into his book must clouded
mind. Still it is true that, 10 the large
majority of readers, these personal Incl
dents, these bits of romance that form
the neglected fringe Of history, are the
very parts of the past which are most
interesting. Pauline de Ia Chasie's ex-
perience certainly may claim the atten-
-AkAn nf this liberal naainritr- II uns .