El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1899-09-23

and preparations made to throw the
brig in the wind. While one man has
| tily got the lantern from a little round
house, in which certain stores and
tools were kept on deck; Ned Carlton
pulled off his shirt, and was in the
act of binding it to the signal hal
yards, when the Spaniard, whose quick
ears detected some commotion, sprang
on deck, armed as usual.
On seeing Carlton busy with the hal
yards he looked round, caught sight
of the ship, which was running with
the white foam boiling under her fore
foot, and thus in a moment OWNED
what we were about.
Muttering a terrible imprecation in
Spanish he fired at Carlton, but missed
him as before, and shot lead q poor
apprentice who was close by.
"'Tarnal thunder, flesh and blood
can't bear this" shouted Tom Lam
bourne, whose fury was boundless, and
who snatched up a capstan-bar. Bear
down on him all hands,; there is neith-
er sea law no land law can help us
here!"
Snatching whatever came nearest to
hand, we all rushed upon the Cubano,
who stood boldly at bay, n keeping
the pinnacle between is and him, fired
over it five or six shots from his re-
volver with terrible rapidity; but so
unsteady had his hand become in con-
sequence of his free potations below,
that every bullet missed, though one
cut the knuckles Of Tom Lambourne's
right hand, and another tore away the
rim of my straw hat.
He drew a second revolver from his
sash, but Lambourne, by one lucky
blow with the c~apstan-bar, knocked it
out of his hand. 1t went twenty feet
into the air and fell overheard.
Quick as lightning Antonio placed
the other in his breast, drew his knife,
stopped his head, and darting through
us like an eel, gave Carlton a cash in
the thigh as he passed.
He then made for the main rigging,
and sprang on the bulwark, no doubt
with the intention of running up aloft
to some secure perch, where he might
reload his remaining pistol, and shoot
us all dow at leisure; but he missed
his hold of the rattlins, and fell over
boardi
There was a shout of furious joy.
The sea will rob the gallows of its
duel" said Carlton; but he'll be
sharks meat, anyway"
But Antonio was not gone yet, for
in falling he caught one of the lower
studding-sail booms, and clutched it
with deadly tenacfty, for he knew tina
if once he was fairly launched into
the ocean his fate would be sealed.
His face was pale with combined fear
and fury; his black eyes blazed with
the fire of hatred; the perspiration
oozed in drops from his temples. Tom
Lambourne sprang forward to beat off
his fingers; but at that moment the
boom, a slender SPAR. broke from its
lashings alongside, and swung out at
a right angle from the brig, with the
wretch at the extreme end of it, dang
ling over the waves, like a herring at
the point of a ramrod.
Again and again he writhed his body
upward in wild struggles to get astride |
the boom, OIL to reach it with his
knees, but in vain!
Instead of exciting pity his terrible |
situation drew forth a shout of de-
rision, mingled with expressions of ha-
tired and satisfaction, from the line
of avenging faces that surveyed him
I'VE the bulwark. He hung thus for
fully five minutes, for he was a power
full man, of great strength, muscle and
1 have no doubt this man was as
brave as it is possible for a rufian to
be; but the prospect of an immediate
death-a death, too. from which there
was NO escape-terrifed him.
His glance of hate toward us turned
to one Of wild n earnest entreaty.
"Mercy!-pardon!-in the name and
for the love of the Almighty" he ex-
in Snanich in a f1-o - ~
tense earnestness; but he was heard by
with fierce derision in that moment
of just triumph INC too long delayed
Twice the Eugene gave a lee lurch,
and each time the feet and knees of the
wretched Cubano were Immersed in the
waves.
Beneath him was the abyss of wa
ter that rushed past the side of the
brig. He parted rather than breathed,
md through the dusk we could see how
his aching hands turned white as his
face, and that the points of his fingers
we're blood-red. His eyes grew wild
haggard as terror chilled his cow
ard heart and agonized his soul; and
yet through the surge the fleet craft
lew on!
Every moment increased the weight
If his body and the weakness of his
lands and wrists. s
At last it was evident that his pow
RS of endurance could be no longer
axed: he uttered a h~alf-smothered {
.hriek, and closed his eyes as he chung E
o that slender spar, and it swayed to
md fro while the c~lose-hauled brig t
on, {
The iron look in the bulwark on 1
vhich the st~udding-sail boom was :
ing gave way under the double t