The San Francisco call., 1898-01-02
WITH HIS SWEETHEART
 HE DEFIED THE FRENCH FLEET
Story of Bumper Who Deserted Rutber hap Attack H lis Native Place, and tbe Strange Consequences
 That Followed.

had many time sat gossipng on this very gun that he was asked to dismountr
 mere was no time to weigh the matter Iurther; the admiral was frowning So
 Aitolie smiled as though the business was pleasing him, and prepared to fire
 ne cast away the tackle and breech- thgs, LOOK off the apron, pricked a car trloge, primed, bruised the priming. and covered the vent. Then he took his range steadily quietly. There was a prlsk wind blowing from the south-he must allow for that; but the wind was 1.oppeu somewhat in its course by the cree hock-he must allow for that He knew the wall behind which it was it's weakest part-he must take that into ac- couht. lie had got what he thought was 'he right elevation; the distance was considerable, but he believed he could do lne business. He had a cool, some what stoiid head, but his eye was quick and well trained
 lie was ready. Suddenly a girl an peared running round the corner of tbe puliolng. making straight for the gun. It was Minoisi He himself had taueht nei @ now to fire that very gun She was Soins to De gunner now One of her olothers was running toward the other gun second was following her. An into account '--i'
 Fire, you fooll cried the admiral. Cor you'll kill the girl.''
 Ahlolne laid hand on himself, as it were. Every nerve in his body seemed ungling, his legs trembled. but his eve was steady. He took the sight once more coolIy, then blew on the match The girl Mie,in thirty feet of the gun-the madcap Minoisi
 lie blew on the match again and hredi
 when the smoke cleared away he saw 1hat the gun was dismounted. and not HIteen Feet from it stood the girl as if She had been turned into stone, looking looking dazedly at the gun.
 lie heard a laugh behind him. There was the admiral walking away, his tele- scope under his arm. Presently Antoine saw boat lowered, even as one of the O-pounders on the shore replied impu- dently to the shot he had fired The off, cers were laughing with the admiral and pointing toward Antoine.
 "A good shot," he heard the captain say.
 ''was it?" said Antoine to himself Was 1t? Then it would be the last that he would ever fire against the English. The sight of that girl upon the shore had decided 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 midship- man. 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 tenn per, had Minoisl 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 escape and go ashore to Minois! He would go back to the English flag, no matter what happened
 As he spopged 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- Zaine's'' muzzle, cleansing it-he would have to slide into the water like a rat and swim so softly-so softly! He reached for a fresh cartridge and thrust it into the throat of ma couzaine" as far as he could reach, and as he laid the seam downward, he said to himself "If they see me, one minute I can hold my breath under water; in one minute I can swim a hundred yards; good" He lovingly placed the wad to the cartridge and. in three strokes of the rammer drove wad and cartridge home with the precision of a drill. It was a long swim to shore, but if he got a fair start he thought he could do it. As he unstopped the touch hole and tried with the priming-wire whether the cartridge was home, he pie tured to himself being challenged per haps by Minois, and his reply. Then he imagined how she would say, "Oh, my goodr' in true Jersey fashion, as he had taught her, and then-well, then. he hadn't got any further than that. Think ing was hard work for Antoine.
 By the time he had rammed home wad and shot however, he had come upon a fresh thought and it stunned him. The admiral would send a squad of men to search for him, and if he wasn't found they would probably bonioard the post ''swab the eaboose," he said to himself. As he put the apron carefully on ma couzaine' he almost burst his head with hard thinking. No, it wouldn't do, to go to Perce village and take refuge with the Carnavals.
 And it wouldn't do to make for t.l> woods of the interior, for the old admiral might take his revenge out of the post. And no wonder, for. he said to himself with a simple vanity. he, Antoine Robi- chon, was fine gunner, and ma couz- aine" would never behave so we'll with any one else. Ma couZaine'' had been used to playing ugly pranks at times, especially if it was blowing freshs She had once torn her tackle out of the ringbolt in the deck and had