The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1901-03-08

which he brings this time is one which
Tunis will long remember.
Don't thee be troubled, lad," says
one of the admiral's crew to curly
haired boy who is looking wistfully to-
ward the shore. "We1l get thy father
out of their claws yet, never fear!
The bows face glows at the words, and
there is fight in his clear blue eyes
which shows that if fighting is to be
done to-day he will not be hindmost.
Ten weary years have passed since
stout Tom Jackson, struggling for LIE
on a dismasted wreck, was seized by
these pitiless rovers; and the son, who
was child of five when he disappeared.
had come back as boy of Is, to take
part in his rescue.
Onward come the great floating cas-
ties, in a grim silence which awes the
fierce Arabs in spite of themselves.
Suddenly there comes rattle and
splash, as all five ships cast anchor at
once. Then boat is seen gliding shore
ward from the admiral's vessel with
flag of truce to give the over-confideni
nirates one last chance to surrender be-
fore it is too late.
But instantly there comes puff OF
white smoke from the nearest port, and
heavy shot splashing up the water close
to the boats bow, showing what an an
swer the message of mercy has to ex-
pect.
Then Blake's face is seen to darken
ominously, and with his wonted tug OF
depressed anger at the point OF his
long, black whiskers, he gives the word
to open fire. Then up through the still
air rises the stern cadence Of the old
Puritan battle-psalm, to the sound of
which Cromwell's Ironsides had swept
the best of the royalist soldiers from
many hard-fought field.
God is our refuge and our strength,
In straits present aid;
Therefore, although the earth be moved.
We will not be afraid
Though hills amid the sea be cast,
Though waters roaring make
And troubled be; yea, though the hills
BY swelling seas do shake"
Instantly sea and shore and sky were
wrapped in one thick gust of hot,
sitting smoke, while the warlike music
was drowned by the roar of 500 cannon.
Fire, smoke, yells, groans, curses.
pelting shot, crashing timbers, falling
stones, deafening cannonthunder, all
at once.
Far away in the desert the wandering
Arab stopped to listen to the dull BOOM
ing of the distant cannonade, and trem-
bled as he heard it.
Men with -blackened faces
fired at random into the cloud of sui
phurous smoke that yelled alike ships
and forts, broken only bv the sudden
flashes that brought death along with
them. Masts and yards came crashing
down on one side, stones and mortar
on the other; and still the smoke bill
lowed, and still the cannon roared.
But although the Arabs fought as
fercely as men could do, the logged,
unslackening steadiness of the English
fire at length began to tell
The fort which had fired upon the
flag of truce was fast crumbling into
shapeless ruin. Five guns had been
dismounted in the second fort, and
three more were standing idle, with all
their gunners lying dead around them.
liz vain he Tunisians yelled and fired
and struggled and shook their swords
at the death-dealing ships, and dashed
their prisoners forward to repair the
shattered breastwork. Slowly but
surely the battle was going against
them more and more.
Suddenly curl of smoke was seen
to rise from one of the pirates gall
leys. The Arabs rushed like madmen to
quench the fire, but in vain. The smoke
Redeemed into fame, while fresh spouts
of fire broke from galley after galley,
till the while pirate feet was one red
and roaring blaze.
Then the enemy began to lose heart
altogether. AS their fire slackened,
that of the British redoubled, and the
cheers of the sturdy blue jackets were
heard. even through the thunder of the
bombardment.
"Hurrah for old England" shouted a
gray-haired prisoner in the nearest bat
terry.
"Silence, dog!" roared a ferocious
Arab. striking him savagely across the
face.
That blow was an unlucky one for the
striker. One swing of the iron bar
with which the Englishman was work
ing felled the Arab dead on the SPOT.
and the next moment came a splash in
the water, shout from the flagship,
and in few minutes more the lopg-lost
Tom jackson was being hauled on
board of her by his own son, amid a
burst of cheering that seemed to split
the very sky.
ualf an hour later all was over. The
pirate prince, as abjectly mean now as
he had been boastfully insolent before,
sent to beg for mercy. and TO promise
the surrender of all his prisoners.
The next morning Blake sailed out
again With the rescued captives, leaving
the defeated corsairs TO recover their
courage by slow degrees, and to bring
down upon themselves by fresh mis-
deeds still more terrible punishment.
-COlden DAYS