Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1899-02-17
By CHAUNCY q EIOTCEIK1SS.
copyright. 1897. by D. Appleton & Co. All rights reseyedl

mess! promised to show You a sea scrim-
mage, but not the kind you were Matching.
Let us have further warrant of these facts"
he continued to me. WHO was he?" point
ing toward the scupper, "and when did this
happen? Let us come by the papers,"
"Yonder fellow is Donald T%horndyke, the
master till l overcame him." I answered.
II shipped as mate. II you will go below we
can come by the whols matter" l replied,
not caring to extend my yarn with the negro
within hearing. "Or, better, we can take
what we there find and go aboard before
your captain, where the whole matter may
be boiled down at one sitting"
"Twould be a saving of time, certainly"
be answered, "but we'll hear the yarn while
the schooner is being searched; of course,
you understand the Importance of the form"
And he turned to a sea corporal and gave
him the necessary orders. "Now, sir, l am
at your service" he said, crossing the deck
toward the cabin companion. Hesitating
there, he seemed to hang in the wind for an
instant, and then strobe over to the body.
Did you shoot himf" he asked, as he bent
over the PROSTATE form.
NAY, / struck him." I answered.
Faith, them" he returned, sizing me up
with a side glance, I'D sooner take the
chance of a bullet than a blow from that fist
if you struck in earnest! Did he wing you
at the onset?'
"Nay, nay; twas a niger striving to knife
me in the back. Let's below. Mayhap We
have a doctor aboard who will fix up q bad
cut"
Through all this / was conscious of the eye
of Scammell fixed on me. Whether or not he
was suspicious Of me, or whether he was still
boiling under the dressing / had given him,
there were no means of telling. I saw plain
ly the resentment he made little effort to
conceal, and felt that I had made an enemy
who would be mighty glad to cross swords
with me on the slightest provocation. He
was % or 80 in years, or about my own age,
and was under me not two inches in stature,
, which is speaking well for him, as l stood
three inches above six feet, unshod. BY
weight and Drawn | well overmatched him
las | did most men), especially in the latter
quality of physique; but he made a typical
dragon officer, and would be a formidable
antagonist in any field.
l might hope for little mercy if ever ] fell
into the power of this man, for mercy was a
quality which, strained or unstrained, he
and his fellows had naught to do with. This
made sure of on getting into the cabin,
where in course of conversation it turned
out that he was a captain in DE Lancy's
Loyal Legion, a body of tory cavalry half
freebooters and half in the regular service.
l had heard Of them, as who has not? Be
twixt New York and Philadelphia and the
country surrounding both places they were
a terror, the malignancy e~qualing if not
surprising the rapacity of Tryon himself.
l itched to get my fingers on him then and
there, that there might be one less blood
sucker above ground, but policy held me from
committing an act which probably would
| have at once wrought ruin to my plans and
left my poor mother without a son. ! was,
therefore, bound to treat him with civility,
sary, but l fancy we each knew the other
was but skipping over the thin ice of polite
ness.
Being, as it were, in the enemy's lines, ]
followed the bent of the lieutenant, and
laughed loudly and long over the puzzle
ment (as he called it, into which the Phan.
tom had led them. drank to the king and
damned the rebels; told a story OF being
a free lance under elastic instructions from
Sir Henry Clinton, and how l had taken
the vessel by killing Captain Thorndyke and
b%esting the crew. In short, ! put myself
INTO NlF mate 5 former pace as nearly as was
possible, following his coarse manner and
uncouth language, exhibiting the rough and
ready character beftting a fellow of his
breeding.
But, beyond Sir Henry's signature, never
a line did l show them or tell the nature of
my orders; and that for the best reasons, for
l knew little of the business myself, not hav,
ing had the opportunity to more than scan
the papers | had taken from the body.
The regular clearance discovered the
schooner to be a Yankee trader. There was
a Yankee sailor captured and IL Yankee cap.
tain dead, and why should there be suspi-
cions?-and there were none in the mind of
the lieutenant; but of his friend, the dra-
COON, who had come aboard for a bit of dan.