Willmar tribune., 1903-04-29
IA BAD CROWD

! Copyright 1903. by julius Muller.]
/ We were about ninety miles off th'
;eoast of Cayenne, in the armed Eng
1'aish survey ship Wales, when we sight
ed brig which seemed to take alarm
ut the English flag.
Numbers Of men started to go aloft
,but stuck at the crosstrees, and suct
nails as were cast loose were not sheet
ed home to do their best We walked
up to her hand after hand and in hall
IN hour were within biscuit toss, and
our captain was hailing to know what
k5was wrong. The answer was plain
enough without words. Her decks
fairly swarmed with men, all but five
1As matter of fact, there were just
ninety of them. 1t was useless fol
Ythem to reply to the hail, but the yell
they uttered in chorus was enough to
make the hair curl.
Our craft was sheered in bit closer
and a demand made that the conyicts
surrender. They could plainly see that
we were strong crew and had mount.
ed guns, but the demand was received
with yells of derision. The leader OF
'sthe gang, whom we had not before
53dent1fed, now mounted the rail and
In broken English warned us to keep
..od or take the consequences. He bold.
aly declared that they were escaped
.convicts from the French penal settle.
zment
The defiant attitude Of the convicts
seemed to put our captain in an EN-.
barrassing position, but after mo-
ment's thought he called out to the fel.
dow on the rail:
"You must have captured the brig to
get away from Cayenne. What has
sabecome Of the crew."
"Dead-every one of them killed and
i&hrown overboardv' shouted the fiend
In answer.
''Do you mean to say you murdered
eaptain, mate and all hands?"
Eyes; all the crew. Now, you've got
the news, and you sheer off and go
your own way. Let French ship pur-
sue US and take u.s.
We were compelled to widen the dis
ttance between us to prevent accident
through the lubbery manner in which
the brig was steered, but we reduced
sail so as to keep abreast of her, and
the captain and his officers descended
to the cabin for consultation. l don't
know whether they questioned their
right to interfere or discussed the best
method of recapturing the brig, but
they were not absent over quarter of
an hour. When they came on deck,
We got the order to load with solid
shot, and in ten minutes every man
and gun was ready for action. One of
the convicts was aloft with a glass and
could plainly note every movement
aboard of US, and our captain, who was
likewise posting us, reported that the
fellows had armed themselves with
rifles and revolvers and were erecting
shields against the bulwarks.
A solid shot was fired across her
bows as a summons to heave to and
as warning of what was in store for
her if she did not, but the roar Of the
gun was followed by a chorus Of yells
and three or four bullets came whiz-
Eing over our heads. : The brig widened
the gap until out Of rife range, and
the captain then said to the crew of
Long Tom:
"Aim to- strike her above the water
line. A few shots may take the fight
out of them"
The first shot passed between her
fore and main mast with hout touching
but the second smashed her
bulwarks and killed two men. A third
and fourth were fred, both Of them
creating havoc aboard. and we were
looking for some token of surrender
when the brig ported her helm and
came bearing up to our quarter. We
had the weather gauge, but she had
been three or four points off the wind.
The fellows were evidently determined
TO get near enough to use their rifles,
but with their poor. seamanship they
stood no show.
We gave the ship more sail, and aft
'er a couple Of tacks were off the briggs
quarter and sending solid shot aboard
'ogain. There was great confusion
among the convicts, and we were hop
ing for a signal when the wretches
brought two women on deck. We
could see them very plainly without a
glass, and their presence put a stop to
our firing. as the convicts had expect
ed. 1t was scheme to stop our fire,
and every man groaned in spirit as he
wondered how our captain would take
It. He must have realized that there
was but one course open to him, and
after bit he said to the captain of
our big gun:
= "Aim at her foremast and try to
scripple her. She must surrender or I'll
sp3r1y bo,,