Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-03-03

Bone with dramatic Appropriateness.
Sail. ho!' cried the lookout from the
ling suddenness.
VIII Bowman heard the men bound up the
deck with quick irnpulsve leaps. He could
hear the clang of their tools they dropped
them on the planking. He rose and fol-
lowed them with great quietness. shoulder
ing his straw sack of tools as if he had fin
ished his job.
He found everything in confusion On
board. Men were clambering up the shrouds
and getting to the highest points of the
masts which could be reached, in order to
obtain a view.
How many may there be O. them?" cried
Dick Okell to Job Bone, who had obtained
a higher post of observation.
There's three o. them-big boats and
PUN up fast wi the trade windl'' cried
FAITH returned Okeu ..yo' might "a
been wrong. ovid bird, but I wur moan in
sich hangment O. a hurry to have it
proved!'
Signals were being freely exchanged with
the shore, and in a few minutes Capt. STAINS
field and Saul Mark came on board with
the full crew of the Corramantee. Saul at
him ashore. But my father said, Let the
lad stay till we have brought the ship as
near the entrance of the reef as is safe.
Then he can go ashore in the last boat
And as nobody questioned his will, SO it
was arranged. Whereupon who more help
full than Will?-at the getting up of the
anchor, at the towing of the Corraman-
tee by her boats VIII was one of them
selves, while all the time he had his ears
open to the free and excited talk that went
on about them. He heard that their chief
enemy was a certain Capt. Keys, who had
been wounded on one occasion in a duel at
the Dry Tortugas by Capt. Stansfield, and
had sworn revenge. Capt. Keys, as they
phrased 1t, had played booty" and in
some way arranged matters with the colo
NAL governments that he was under protec-
as stirred a keel through the Spanish main.
His position gave him great ascendency
over the other buccaneers, and so when the
Corramantee captured one of the ships of
his tall he had sworn revenge. There
was not the slightest doubt that the three
vessels in the offing were those commanded
by Capt. Keys, and that he had come to
avenge the taking of our late prize.
Nothing was now heard save anathemas
upon one who, having been brother of the
coast had been guilty of discovering
refuge isle to the enemy, and even of TAX
ing service under government. If the YES
sells had been his majesty's ships of the
line, it would have been quite fair. That
was their business, but to be attacked by
Capt. Keys was quite a different matter.
VIII Bowman came ashore about in the
afternoon. By this time the Corramantee
was stripped for fighting, and the guns
were trained on the narrows of the passage,
which were within easy range Capt. STAINS
field had resolved to let the ships come on
without opposition till they We're well with
in the grasp of the reefs. knowing that
there was no turning about among these
intricate channels and dangerous knife
edges of sunken reef.
But the enemy, who were now close in to
the island. had evidently no intention of
coming further at present, but contented
himself with firing a shot from his flagship
at the Corramantee, which fell far short,
skimming among the outer reef bars like
flat stone sent edgewise from the hand.
OF this direct challenge Capt. Stansfeld
fprtrn1v cd any do
velopment of the attack upon his strong
hold
When Will came on shore he found yell
low Jack and his mother waiting for him
In great excitement. THE time had come"
Eborra declared. Never would there be
better chance. All the buccaneers were
busy. and the attack upon the island would
Keep them on the alert for several days.
For it was certain that so large a force
would not abandon its purpose without
making an attempt in some quarter.
Anna and l We're, of course, ready for
anything. But my mother was more diff
cult. VIII Bowman went to break the news
to her. and before he went he asked me If
I thought he might say that -Umphray Spur
way would aSsuredly be fitting out ship
to seek for us in the plantations, and that
We would be sure to meet him there.
AS the matter was urgent, and a lie in
good cause has. after all, something to say
for itself thought that he might. Besides,
1t was not exactly lie, for there was no
doubt that Umphray Spurway, if he had
escaped, would most certainly do what he
could to find us.
So Will Bowman departed and after an
absence Of more than hour returned
with the joyful intelligence that my mother
would come with us gladly If she was not
required to sit beside the witch woman
who reminded her so of Goody Grisby, the
witch woman of Great NARROW. This VIII
had promised readily enough, for We
thought that We could stow away the light
weight of the old negro woman in the bows
without altering the trim too much
But as more imminent peril VIII re-
ported that the guards were still set over
my mothers house, being two liberty men
who had not gone aboard with the crew of
the Corramantee, having been slightly
wounded in the last encounter. This was
difficulty indeed, for my mother, being
delicate of body and tinlid of spirit, could
not make a dart for it, as any of the rest
of us might have done. Besides, she was
liable at any moment to stop short for
the purpose of explaining to us why she
could not go any faster, and in her En-
glish fashion to ask our pardon for it
which, though pretty enough to hear,
would prove exceedingly fatal to our pro-
iect.
But a plan came into my head which
mentioned to Will and Anna, who
thought that it might be worked. This
was to keep Anna out in the woods where
she was, my mother to dress in Annals
hooded mantle, in which she had often
descended from the window at night to
wander the beach with me. The sentinels
were quite accustomed TO tnlS- 1n0eeQ, II
had become a jest among them, and they
had enough of good humor to keep the
matter carefully from our respective
fathers. who, though hardly straight-laced
in their own conduct, might not have
shown the same 1eniency toward the esca-
pades OF their children.
My mother was of about the same height
as Anna, and If she could be kept from
speech might very well pass for her. So,
with this plan to rehearSe, VIII went back
into the pleasant and quiet room where
my mother sat calmly at her knitting. At
first she would not listen to a word.
What! would she put on a child's cap
and cloak? She might be in danger, but
thank God she had garments of her own,
which she could wear without being be-
holden to any. Besides. what would she
wear afterward? If they should meet any
one who knew her in the plantations, it
was not Anna Marks cap and cloak that
she would care to appear in. The shame
would cause her to sink into the ground
But VIII treasured her by offering to
smuggle anything she wished out for her
She went joyfully to make the bundle
ready, 1t proved to be almost a boat load
of itself, and she was with difficulty advis-
ed to restrict herself to cloak with a
hood, a warm underkirtle and light mus
| lin gown, which she selected from the vast
store of women's clothes which Capt STAINS
field had put at her disposal. Annals only