Gulf Coast breeze. [volume] (Crawfordville, Fla.) 1897-19??, 1898-01-21

small boats.
Enough" shouted the captain q
little later. Every man on deck"
The novelty of the orders made the
men now obey with alacrity, and they
had partly forgotten their danger in
their exertions. But when they as.
sembled on deck again and saw tho
pirate only short distance on their
faces paled once more.
But Captain Bald realized that the
moment for action had come. and he
gave his orders in quick, sharp com.
mands.
Lower the boats and tie them to-
gether with rope twenty feet long"
He fastened one of the lengths Of
rope t. the first boat himself, and
threw the other end TO the first mate.
The pirates saw the launching Of the
four whaleboats, and prepared to do
the same with their boats. But they
little realized that the brave senmen
were not making ready To escape to
the shore, but were planning for their
destruction.
II want four brave men who are
willing to risk their lives for the rest
OF u.s." Captain Bald said in his usual
abrupt way. will You please step
forward.
Instead of four men every one OF
the crew stepped forward.
THAT'S enough, my brave men,"
the captain said, while his eyes grew
moist. "I'll select my men.
Then taking four of his most trust
worthy sailors he gave them brief Iii
rections what to do. The sailors nod
ded their heads, and jumped into the
boats. each carrying life-preserver
with him. The last words the captain
said tn them were:
Remember the right bank! Swim
toward it and I'll pick you up"
What could lie mean? The sailors
on board the Carrie asked this, and
the pirates must have been curious
also to know. They stopped mo-.
ment in their yelling and watched the
peculiar proceedings of the men in
the whaleboat.
The four boats shot out from the
Carrie and were rowed directly to-
ward the pirate, the strong current Of
the river helping them in their speed.
The pirates did not notice at first that
each boat was fastenedby strongropes
to each others prows. They were
too intent in watching the strange
proceedings of this attack Ii might
have dawned upon their obtuse minds
that part Of the crew Of the Carrie
had deserted, or that they were COM
ing TO plead for mercy.
But the four rowers were silent and
active. When they were within fifty
yards of the pirate the men threw
away their oars simultaneously and
bent over something III the middle of
their whaleboats. There was tiny
spark of light, flash and then n sud
den upward blaze.
The four brave men slipped over
the side of their boats aud disappeared,
but the flames which they had started
burned furiously. The whale oil in
the bottom of the boats furnished fuel
that made fire hard to extinguish.
The tide was carrying the boats rapidly
down the river toward the pirate.
Then for the first time the pirates
noticed that the boats were tied
together, forming n wide line stretch
ing half across the river.
Instantly there was a commotion
on board the pirate ship. In the con
fusion everybody forgot the prey they
had so neatly hemmed in the river.
Thogu were aimed at the approach
ing oil boats of fire, and one was actu-
ally blown to pieces, but the oil foated
on the water and only spread the
flames.
In a few minutes the fire boats
struck the pirate ship, and the ropes
holding them together drew the end
boats around toward the ship in such
a way that flames were soon spreading
through the rigging and hull. A few
PIRATES climbed down and cut the
ropes, but before they hoated away the
ship was a huge mass of flames and
Meantime Captain Bald had not
been idle. Just IA soon rs his men
dropped into the water from the fire.
boats he crowded on all sail, and,
helped by the tide, he went, bowling
down the river close up toward the
right bank.
While the pirates were fighting the
fire and trying to avert the doom of
their ship, Captain Bald was leisurely
picking up his four brave sailors who
had caused the mischief.
"Now we'll stand out to sea-" he
said, "and let 'em chase us again"
But the last he saw of the PIRATES,
as his schooner rounded the point Of
land at the mouth Of the river, was
cheering sight. Most of them were
seeking safety in the water. For
mora than two hours n dense wreath