Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1900-05-18


ward, guarding the forecastle hatch, and his
sister had gone below. From the prisoners
,who had come at last to realizing sense
Of their position) nothing had been heard
beyond a demand for water, which had been
given to them, and air, ocean, and schooner,
with all on board, had quieted into what
bade fair to become dead calm.
We had seen number of sail during the
day, but nothing had as yet come hull above
the horizon, even these showing south and
west mere specks of light against the pearl
of the sky line. l thanked God for the scare
given the British by the advent of the
French feet, and knew that each cables
length we made to the east brought us so
Eluch nearer safety. The day was waning;
night would soon be on US, and if the wind
held, under cover of darkness we would be
secure in our fight, and possibly the NOR
rows sun might rise and show me the gor-
geous reds and yellows of Gay Head bluff
with its cap of green turf, sign that we
were in home waters.
Even as my heart warmed at the thought,
/ cast my eye landward over the larboard
quarter and saw coming out of the haze
which had all but blotted out the Long
Island coast topsail schooner bearing
southeast or directly toward the Phantom.
She was some five or six miles away, but
even at that distance l could see by her
slope that she had found fresh slant Of
wind, and that from her forward cloths TO
the tip of her main boom every rag was
drawing, her progress being nightly helped
by the square sail set on her foretopmast
There was no knowing what she was, but
the fact that any craft had gotten so close
without having been marked, gave me
start, and I put the helm down that the
lib and staysails might draw, which would
at the same time bring the stranger over our
taffrail. a landlubber could have seen she
was no Frenchman, for the Gaul had style
Of cut, rake and carry, all his own, be-
sides which they were not given to sailing
small craft in these waters. She might be
a privateer, in which case all would be well,
but if not, and | feared my own intuition,
then my air castles were doomed to ruin,
nay borrowed happiness was but the swan
Song of hope, my dream that of a con-
demned man.
The jibing of the foresail and my hail to
Ames brought Miss King to the deck. Her
brother joined US, and we three stood look
iEg at the oncoming vessel which had ap-
peared like cloud to mar the brightness
OF a perfect day. There was no need to ex-
plain the menace lying beneath that bunch
of swollen canvas. BY the faces of the two
| saw they realized it was a plain case of
chase, the only doubt being whether it
would prove for good or evil. I would have
given the gold in my pocket for a good glass
with which to make her out, but, as that was
impossible, it. took me but a few seconds to
come to the conclusion that our only hope
;and that slim one) was to make the chase
a stern one and give the poor Phantom,
with her foul bottom, all the speed possible.
Putting the wheel in charge of Ames, with
no loss of words went forward, clambcred
up the fore shrouds and managed alone to
rnfurl the square sail, settling the bracing
and the sheet and tack on my return to the
deck. In the present light air the pull of the
canvas was small, but it was something, and
I knew the stranger would mark the increase
Of sail and read plainly as print that we
wanted nothing of her.
ITO BE Continued