Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1901-12-18

grinding one another upon the swells,
as though they had been sentien,
animals. The men on board of them
shot their arrows, slashed with axes,
thrust and hacked with swords, and
hurled the throwing fire. But in
every way the fight converged upon
the Bear. It was on her that the
enemy spent the fiercest of. their
spite; it was to the Bear that the
other crews of Tatho's navy rallied
as their own vessels caught fire, or
were sunk or taken.
!, On: our side, the battle-cry was
"Tob!" and the name of this obscure
ship-captain seemed to carry conf
dence with it for our own crews that
many a well-known commander
might have envied. The enemy had
a dozen rallying cries, and these con-
fused them. But as, their other ship
commanders one by one were killed,
and Dason remained, active with mis-
chief, "Dason!" became the shout
which was thrown back at us in re-
spouse to our ''Tob!"
However, I will not load my page
with further long account of this OBJ
scure sea-fght, whose only glory
was it's ferocity. One by one all the
ships of either side were sunk, or lay
with all their people killed, till final
~ only Dason's galley and our own
Bear we're left. For the moment we
were being mastered. We had score
of men remaining out of all those
that manned the navy when it sailed
from Yucatan, and the enemy had
boarded us and made the decks of the
Bear the field of battle. But they
had been over busy with the throw
ing fire, and presently, as we ragged at
one another, the smoke and the flame
from the sturdy vessel herself let us
very plainly know that she was past
salvation.
l. But lob was nothing daunted.
''They may stay here and fry if they
choose" he shouted, with his great
boisterous laugh, "but for ourselves
the galley is good enough now. Keep
guard on Deucalion, and come with
me, shipmates!"
"Tob!" our fellows shouted in their
ecstasy of fighting madness, and
too could not forbear sending out a
''Tob!" for my battle-cry. It was a
change for me not to be leader, but
it was luxury for once to fight in
the wake of this lob, despite his un-
couthness of mien and plan. There
was no stopping this new rush
though progress still was slow. Toh
with his bloody ak cut the road in
front, and we others, with the lust
of battle filling us to the chin, ragged
like furies in his wake. Gods! but il
was fight.
Ten of us won to the galley, with
the flames and the smoke from the
poor Bear squirting at our heels. We
turned and stabbed madly at all who
tried to follow, and hacked through
the grapples that held the vessels tc
their embrace. The sea-sWells
spurned the Bear away.
The slaves chained to the rowing
galley's benches had interest neither
one way nor the other, and looked or
the contest with dull concern, save
when some stray missile found bill
let among them. But handful o:
the fighting men had scrambled DIES
perately on board Of the galley after
us, preferring any fate to a fiery
death on the Bear, and these had t.
be dealt with promptly. Three, will
their fighting fury still red-hot il
them, had most wastefully to b.
killed out of mischief's way; five, wh<
had pitched their weapons into thu
sea, were chained to oar looms, il
place of slaves who were dead; anl