The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1901-02-22
CHAPTER XIV.


draw and we were once more com
fortably under way. ''tell us how it was
you let those Spaniards escape from
the barrack."
"Sneakin hounds" growled Willie,
who was not over well pleased with
himself. "They put shame on an hon
est seaman You'd hardly left the
building wheE the scoundrels came he'll
ter SHELTER at us, all fully armed, fore
ing us to fire the culverin an then to
fight for dear life. Where they got the
arms from the Lord only knows, an /
hadn't time to find out. An while one
party o. the skunks was keeping us 60
Ing in front another was grubbing
away at the wall in the rear, 80 that
before we rightly knew what the trou-
BILE was they'd made hole, an most O.
them was through it an after you. An
then, captain, when the birds was flown,
what could a four like us do? We'd
cut down a bakers dozen O. them, but
we wasn't able to run after an bring
back the rest. So, judging that they'd
make for the town, we filled up the
touchhole O that last culverin an
then, slipping down to the boats, row.
ed off to the lower beach to meet you"
"And well you did so" replied Alec,
'for we have got off with none killed,
which at one time little thought we
would do
"None killed." added, "but several
scratched pretty deep and three badly
wounded George has got crack on
the sconce which fear will stop his
fighting forever. His helmet was slit
through as though it had been a paper
FOOLS cap"
Don't you bother about Cargo. Mas
ter Topp,' sang out Jan Pengony from
the fore scuttle. "Garge's skulls like
a bullock's. Now that the old mans
pulled the broken sword blade out ont
an sewed up the slit Cargo is cursing
away as aEliable as ever he did"
rs the old man surgeoning. then?"
aye, an lacking better we might
have worse He's just chopped off
Tinker Toms leg ut the knee joint an
sewed up the stump as neat as can be.
An Tom, he never uttered a groan nor
a grunt the whole time, an there he is
l/now a clamoring to have his leg sailed
down to take home with him for
4 Keepsake. I'm thinking the old man
bain't no bad surgeon"
And so it proved, for with the excep-
ton of the loss of Tinker Toms leg,
every man of the crew was as sound
ten days after the fight as he had. been
when the Scourge's powder room was
ha fol Of aF
powder and pearls at Ell Pueblo del
Norte was in every way a lucky stroke,
/, for, besides giving us the means for flu
ture battles, it put all hands in conceit
with their captain and their craft
Moreover, it was something prosperous
to look back upon during the profitless
time that followed.
After clearing the reefs of the harbor
we ran round to patrol the well used
highway at the back of the island lying
behind the rocky shelter of Coche
which is separated from Margherita by
strait two leagues in width and dart
ing out when quarry appeared. Six
times In six weeks we were engaged,
but the prey was after Alec'S heart
not mine. We grievously annoyed the
subjects Of his majesty of Spain, but
would not have melted down into a
deep sea lead.
The explanation is simple. Each craft
we brought to and overhauled was
westward bound, carrying a packed
cargo of lanll, lean dons from the old
world to fill their pauper pockets from
the wealth of the new. Quite one-half
of each bark's sallow company was
rotting with scurvy, result Of the long
passage out; and as sick men who have
no wealth but the ragged clothes on
their backs to defend will not fight des-
perately for the fortunes they have yet
to gain, none of these encounters cost
one drop of English blood. Indeed five
ships out of the six hove to at the first
shot and surrendered without further
resistance.
Now. though | know that it goes
against an English seaman's grain to
resort to extreme measures in cold
blood, still prudence is jade that
needs attention as well as the more
highly melted steed chivalry, and so
I and almost all the Scourge's crew
with me saw fit to eXpostulate with
our captain on his treatment of the
prisoners. Their vessels, as he had
no use for them, he scuttled, but their
bodies he consigned to the boats and
allowed them to make for the shore
unmolested. Nor would he allow a
hair of one Of them to be injured.
1t was in vain that we warned him
that some, escaping fevers and hun
ger, wild beasts and heather, must
make their way to the Spanish settle
ments and, giving news of our cruising
ground, either bring the hawks down
upon us or, what was just as bad, pre-
vent the herons from crossing our
flight. 1t was equally in vain that we
showed him how every Spaniard allow
4 ed to go free-for that nation knows
not gratitude-meant one more pair of
hands against us or our countrymen
at some future day. He would listen
to nothing His duty, he said, was to