The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-01-02

sdiu antoine, with low rolling laugh;
"Oh, that is very dam funneer'
The sight of the British flag looseued his
tongue in English. Il was undoubtedly
ridiculous, these two twenty FOUNDER train
ing on a whole feet. Presently there was
! more defiance-the Jersey flag. a nice OBJ
long piece of white linen with two diago-
nal req stripes; it was hoisted on the
house of the master.
"Oh, my goodn' said Antoine again; 'it
will be the old man and the three BOYS
next What, what?-million thunders,
| look at thatr'
He laughed uproariously, forgetful of
discipline, of everything save the sight of
oid man Carnival, MS three sons, and his
three daughters-msrching with muskets
from the house to the great shed
Antoine heard a laugh behind him. He
looked round, then Strengthened himself
I and stood at attention. 1t was Admiral
Riehery, guffawing almost as loudly as
Antoine himself had done.
That's big splitter in little pot
gunner, said he. "Petticoats. too" He
put has telescope to his eve "And. son OF
Peter, scarce out of their teens! The
Lord protect us, they are going to fight nv
squadron He laughed again till the
tears came. ''The glory Of heaven, but
it is drol that! IL is a farce au diable /!
They have humor, these fiesherfolk; Ell,
gunner?"
same, answered Antoine, bridling up in
side
'Oh, no, you know these people, my gun
ner? said the admiral
These ten years, excellency," answer
ed Antoine, land by your leave, excellency.
l will tell you how"
And, not waiting for permission (after
the manner of Jerseyman), he told the
admiral the story of his old life and of his
being pressed.
Very good" said the admiral coolly.
you Jersey folk used 10 be Frenchmen:
now that you are a Frenchman again, you
shall do something for the flag. You see
that twenty FOUNDER yonder behind the
wall? Very Well dismount it. Then well
send in a flag of trust and parley with old
man Carnaval for his jests are worth
. attention and politeness. There's a fell
low at the gun7-no! he has gone. Take
good aim and dismOunt the gun in one shot
Ready now-you have a good range"
The whole matter went through An
TONES mind as the admiral spoke If he
refused to fire, he would be strung uD to
the yard-arm; if he fired and missed, per-
haps other gunners would fire, and. once
started, they might RAE the fishlng-post
II ne fired and dismounted the gun the
matter would be only jest for as such
so far, the admiral regarded it, In dis
! mounting the gun and furthering the Jest
helping England TOO.
Well, to think that he must fire against
the place where he had got his living these
ten years! Why he and Minois had many
a time sat gossiDing on this very gun
that he was asked to dismount!
There was no time to weigh the matter
further; the admiral was frowning. So An
tome smiled as though the business was
pleasing him. and prepared to fire.
lie cast away the tackle and breechings
took off the apron pricked a cartridge
prined, bruised the printing, and covered
the vent. Then he took his range stead
lily, quietly. There was a brisk wind blow
| ing from the south-he must allow for
that but the wind was stopped somewhat
in its course by the Perez Rookie must
allow for that. He knew the wall behind
which 1T was, its weakest Dart-he must
take that into account. He had got what
he thought was the right elevation; the
distance was considerable, but he believed
that he could do the business. He had a
cool, somewhat stolid head, but his eve
was quick and we'll trained
He was ready. Suddenly a girl apneared
running round the corner of the building
making straight for the gun IT was
Minois! He himself had taught her how
to fire that very gun. She was going to
be gunner now One of her brothers was
running towards the other gum a second
l.
not taken this into account
Fire, you. foor' cried the admiral cor
you'll kill the girl"
Antoine laid a hand on himself. as IL
were. Every nerve in his body seemed
tingling, his legs trembled, but his eve
was steady He took the sight once more
ooolly, then blew on the match. Thu
girl was within thirty feet of the gum
the madcap Minoisl
He blew on the match again and fred
When the smoke cleared away he saw,
that the gun was dismounted. and not fif-
teen feet from it stood the girl as if she
had been turned into stone looking-look>
ing dazedly al the gun.
He heard laugh behind him. There was
the admiral walking away. his telescope
under his arm. Presently Antoine saw a
boat lowered even as one of the 21-pound-
ers on the shore replied impudently to the
shot he had fired. The officers were laugh
ing with the admiral and pointing toward
Antoine.
"A good shotr' he heard the captain saw
''Was it?'' said Antine to himself. Was
it? Then it would be the last that he
would ever fire against the English. The
sight of that girl upon the shore had de-
cided him, had quickened some feeling in
him. He looked over the side, and saw
the boat drawing away with the white flag
of truce in the hands of a midshipman
He wished he was in that boat; he then
could see Minois face to face. There she
was, talking to her father, and stamping
her foot too. She had a temper had
Minois Never mind, she was the finest
girl in all the world.
He would desert tonight No-not de-
sert, that was not the word; he would es-
cape, and go ashore to Minois! He would
go back TO the English flag, no matter
what happened.
As he sponged the gun. his ma cou-
zaine,' he made his plans. Swish-swash
the sponge staff ran in and out; he would
try to steal away at dog watch. He
struck the sponge smartly on ma cou-
zaines" muzzle, cleansing 1.-THE would
have to slide into the water like a rat
and swim so softly-so softly! He reached
for d fresh cartridge, and thrust it into
the throat of ma couzaine" as far as he
could reach, and as he laid the seam down.
ward, he said to himself, IF they see
me, one minute / can hold my breath un,
der water: I'm one minute I can swim a
hundred yards; good" He lovingly placed
the wad to the cartridge, and, in three
strokes of the hammer, drove wad and car
fridge home with the precision of drin
1t was a long swim to shore but If he
got fair start he thought he could do il.
As he unstopped the touch-hole and tried
with the primingwir whether the carr.
l.. aHaa usaN aa.aa.l