The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1901-02-15

venOmously at his interrupter, did al
he was told, and the two of them gam
ed with knucklebone for maravedi a
throw until far into the night.
Next day we laid the first plank of
our new ship, and thenceforward the
fiat by the cave resounded with the
bubbing Of AIDES, the ring of hammers,
the Earring of saws and the songs of
the workmen, a discordant medley
enough, but to our ears the sweetest
harmony.
First arose a bristling thicket of ribs,
the bare, unsightly skeleton. Next a
skin Of planking, rising from rabbits
on the keel, spread slowly over the
superstructure till it reached the deck
beams and then continued upward 70
form strong protective bulwark, gar
ped with small rowports and larger
gun embrasures. Then tough treenails
pinned the deck planks on their bed
and by and by began the music of the
calker's iron and mallet. When every
stroke of the ak or hammer was a
stroke nearer to freedom, there was
little chance that the work would be-
come wearisome.
Our Spanish slaves were useless ex-
cept for porter's work, and of the
English none had served an actual ap-
premiership to the carpenters trade.
Yet such was the energy which our
captains enthusiasm infused into ey-
cry man of us that, incredible though
1t may seem, 1. John Topp, solemnly
declare that the schooner Scourge kiss
ed the waters of the harbor three
months and four days after the first
timber sof her keel was laid on the
stocks.
W What a shout we raised as her stern
swooped joyously down to meet the ell
ement she was destined for! Eagerly,
us though flinging from her graceful
sides the dishonoring faint of earth.
she embraced the water. Her forward
rush was stopped by the stout warp of
esparto grass which bound her. and
she swung sharply round to stand
still. And before the wave she threw
up had spread Il dozen fathoms we
made a simultaneous rush upon her
clever red polled architect and hoisted
him high above our shoulders.
And when we had had enough of
cheering for Captain Alec Ireland some
Of us We're uncomfortably hoarse, while
as for the old man he could not laugh
above whisper.
!, But the Scourge was mere hulk SO
far and not well fitted fighting ship,
and so it was to work again without
premature holiday. Masts had to be
made and stepped, rigging to be de
signed and set up and sails to be cut
and stitched from the unpickings OF
older sails. And these labors, with the
fittings below and the shaping of spars
and such like, We're not the work of 8
day or week. All hands took part il
them except the old man, who was
deeply engaged in the construction OF
some internal engine near the mouth
of the harbor the use of which he OBJ
stinately refused to tell us.
Almost all the powder on the wrecks
of the Spanish ships had been spoiled
and handful or SO from the heart o
each barrel was all we were able t,
secure, but arms, small and great, ant
body armor we found in abundance
enough to have supplied two such ship
as the Scourge.
One would have thought, moreover
that the great Spanish lombard, whic
the old man kept trained on his prison
ers in the caves, was as heavy piec
as reasonable man could desire. Blu
Alexander Ireland was not as othe
men. He argued that with our sma
crew, q fight at long bowls would b
our only chance, and SO he set to Wor
to devise weapon which would enabl
us to do this. He made drawings an
then model in wood, from which b
fashioned mold of moist sand. Thel
breaking up falconet and some sma
demiculyerins and sakers, he built
furnace and crammed it with the br'
zen fragments of these pieces mike
with charcoal and from shipwrigf
turned himself to the trade of gu
founder.
And must own that it was dead
weapon which he turned out. For, q
though the gun had none of that orn
mentation which one looks for in
piece that is to earn high repute, ST
it could not fairly be Judged by tt
standard of other weapons, because
differed from every gun that had hit
erto been cast. 1t was fearfully cul
bersome in the breech and down
where the trunnions lay, but from tn
point forward it tapered througho
the whole Of its enormous lengt
which was full foot and half
yond the fathom, until just round t
muzzle 1t swelled out to form stro
ring He made carriage for 1t, tt
and planted it right amidships betwe
the masts. The piece could be fir
from a large port on either side,
over the bulwark if need be; SO tn
except directly ahead or astern,
deadly pelting commanded every pc
of the compass. With this power
weapon and the culverins and fal
nets mounted on either broadside
had as much artillery as we could M
But the powder room was empty.
This was a most serious gap In