Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1896-08-27

- - ~
heave-to p cried CO.. nder Ne
vile.
Take o boat and ! &oz1n OF
hands, Mr. O'Riley, n ontinued;
board her, inspect he fsrs and
come back TO report. her papers
are not in order, a11&d be, syou
may search for sIavel but If they
are, you had better ID Dothine fur
shsx Fon knsx Il IL 3Isnfly sds
down in the poftocol that are not
entitled to search the hold il the
papers are in order and there have
been complaints lately against
some over-zealous officers, Who have
got into trouble in consequence.
So be careful. But keep your eyes
open. Note any suspicious circum-
stances, and come back as soon as
you can, to report
Before Lieut.. ORiley reached the
ship he saw that everything about
her had been sacrificed to speed.
Her spars were unusually heavy
for craft Of her size.
The British officer was received
by a little, thin, elderly man,
speaking with a strong Yankee ac-
cent.
Produce your papers, if you
please said O'Riley. They were
handed out at once, and seemed
regular.
What have You got on board p
was the next question.
General cargo-dry goods and so
on
why isn't your name on the reg
ister?:'
Amt it now? Well, / guess it
must be because this is q new ship.
We can't put our name on the reg
lister by telegraph, mister
Just tell your men to knock of
the matches. / want to have o look
at Jour cargo
The skipper shook his head. :
'I've been delayed long enough,
said he, 'and have lost a great part
of the only wind we've had in this
darned latitude for week.
Il will do it myself, then ? cried
O'Riley.
Not now, sir ; not with six men
when l have fifteen. You have no
right to search the hold of a respec-
table merchantmen and disturb her
cargo. Do you take me for a slav-
er, or what? II you must have the
matches up, send back to your man
of-war for larger crew, so as to
overpower me, you understand, and
you may do it with pleasure. But
l guess there'll be a complaint
lodged at Washington, and you
folks in London will have to pay
for it. That's all, mister. / only
want thing fair and square, within
my treaty rights
And having delivered himself of
this long speech, the Yankee skip
per turned on his heel.
OF course, O'Riley could only re-
turn to the Petrol and report all this
to his commander. I'm convinced
she is a SLAYER, SIR said he in con-
clusion.
'But You have no evidence of it ;
and you say the papers were all in
order.
apparently they were, SIR
Then Pm afraid ! can do moth
ing said the commander. And,
to the deep disgust Of the whole
ships crew, the order was given
for the Petrol to return to her
course.
Allthat night, however. Comman-
der Neville was haunted by a doubt
whether he had not better have run
the risk of a complaint and q repri-
mand, rather than forego the over
hauling Of go suspicious-looking q
craft; and in the morning a rumor
reached his ears that tha coxswain,
who had accompanied Mr.. O'Riley
to the Black Swan, had noticed
something about her Of Q doubtful
nature. The man was sent for and
questioned; and he said that, while
the lieutenant was on board, the
boat of which he was in charge had
dropped a little way astern; and
that he then noticed that the name
Of the vessel had been recently paint
ed ont, but SAe last two letters were
distinctly visibls And these letters
were LIE, not AN.
The scoundrel said she was new
shipv cried the commander. bout
ship p