The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1896-08-27

Rushing -cn- deck 1 beheld two big.
war junks sailing out from an ambuss:
.aade fataaea ~ 9, projectins point of
aa 81 s S Ea va up the5channel ahead
anshor, there, Jpep shouted,
takffgM our chances at a glancea
"Clapfhs sails ON herys Hawkins. We
mustaEun3 for If, That Internal pilot is
at the. bottom Of this!'' .sz
While my orders were being carried:
outssth ti-mungs bore rapidly down.
upon us. Seeing that we. were liable
to escape, they fired several shots at
us, one of which came crashing through
our topsails.
We replied to this with q broadside,
which swept the deck of the foremost
junk, and must have killed dozen of
her crew.
How long our men seemed lifting
that anchor. On came the two war
Junlss, their proNs showing huge, hide
Gus 'caTven faces. with great goggling
eyes, gongs beating end crews yelling,
as though they expected to terrify US
by their horrible din. At the mast
heads OF both were stationed men with
,>s0lnkpot" grenades, ready, when they
came close enough, to cast the suffocat-
ing things down upon our deck.
Beside Me stood my plucky little
wife, carrying in Ter hand a light rifle
which had given her and taught her
how to use. -
''Se-shev' said I, 'spick those fellows
off the masts, yonder."
Without a moments hesitation she
fired, and sent one Of them hurting to
the deck below. -
=, bravo! Well doner' cried, patting
her ON the shoulder. "Here, Ton. aud
Joe, do you the sare to every steers
man they send to their Wheels
Having given this order. ran to the
forccastle gun and trained it upon the
foremost OF our enemies. Waiting pa
tlently until she was within about 100
yards, 1 let drive. The double charge
of grape and cannister r;lkcd her fore
and aft, and by the cries g. nd confusion
that ensued, must have created terri
BILE havoc.
Then, leaving the gun to the crew to
reload, rushed aft to the long eight
cen, and as the Marie's sails filled and
she came around, T blazed away at
war junk No. 2, which was making for
our quarter.
Now came tile imperialists' turn, and
as they brought their ti-mungs broad
side, in order to rake us, I made all
hands lie fiat on deck to avoid the COM
ing fire. Presently their two ten-gun
broadsldes roared almost simultane-
ousl y; but, being poorly aimed, their
shot flew mostly over our heads, whist
ling through the ropes and tore huge
rertS in our sails h..
Scarcely had the last shot whizzed
and hurled through our rigging when
my men were On their feet, and with a
loud shout Of defiance, we let.drive our
port broadside. Then, spinning our
vessel around, we poured the contents
| OF our starboard guns into the other
war junk. The effect must have been
dreadful, for we could see great gaps
cut among the numbers crowding their
decks, while the sp1lnters flew from the
bulworks in clouds
| The gallant little Marie was now
! gathering Roadway, and although the
breeze was light, She promised soon tc
take us out of close quarters with our
pursuers. Her handsome maneuver.
ing must be credited to A-choong, who
! throughout the enemy's fire, had stood
| courageousqy at the wheel.
| One great advantage we had over
| our assaiIants was the fact that ou1
guns We're moveable, While theirs were
dashed as fixtures to the bulwarks. BY
picking off their steersmen, therefore
we could prevent them from getting
into the position they required to train
upon us their full batteries. Conse.
quently, we poured three broadsides tc
their one.
We We're NOW drawing rapidly away
from the tf-mungs ana speeding down
the river. As soon as we had gained
half a mile, Our pu .sners gave up the
chase. Little did I suspect the Gun.
ming course they were about to pur.
sue.