The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-03-15
THE "SLAPPING SAL"
By A CONAN DOYLE.
Copyright by A. Conan Doyle.)

/ bad business, sir. Captain and two
mates murdered. This Hudson, or Hairy
Hudson, as they call him, led the mutiny.
! He's a Londoner, sir, and cruel viii
/ lain as ever walked.
/ His next walk will be to Execution
| Dock, Mr. Wharton. She seems heavily
manned. I wish I could take twenty top
men out Of her. but they would be enough
to corrupt the crew of the ark, Mr.. Whar-
| ton.
Both officers We're looking through their
glasses at the brig. Suddenly the lieu
tenant showed his teeth in a grim while
the captain flushed a deeper red. That S
Hairy Hudson on the after-rail, sir
The low, impertinent blackguard! He'll
play some other antics before we are
done with him. Could you reach him
with the long eighteen, Mr.. Smeaton?'
Another cable length will do it, sir.
The brig waved as they spoke, and as
she came round a squirt of smoke whitfield
out from her quarter. 1t was pure
niece of bravado, for the gun could
scarce carry halfway. Then, with
iaunty swing, the little ship came into
the wind again, and shot round a fresh
curve in the winding channel.
THE waters shoaling rapidly sir,
repeated the second lieutenant. There's
six fathoms by the chart.
-Four by the lead, sir"
when we clear this point we shall see
how we lie. Ha! 1 thought as much:
Lay her to, Mr.. Wharton, Now we have
got her at our mercy"
The frigate was quite out of sight of
the sea now at the head of this river
like estuary. AS she came round the
curve the two shores were seen to
converge at a point about mile distant.
In the angle, as near the shore as she
could get, the brig was lying with her
broadside toward her pursuer and
wsp of black cloth streaming from her
mizzen. The lean lieutenant who had
Ieappoared upon deck, with a cutlass
strapped to his side and two pistols
rammed into his belt, peered curiously
at the ensign. rs it the Jolly Roger,
sir?" he asked.
But the captain was furious.
He may hang where his breeches are
hanging before l have done with him!"
said he What boats will you want,
Mr. Wharton"
eve should do it with the launch and
the jolly-b boat"
"Take four and make a clean job of it.
Pipe away the crews at once, and I'll
work her in and help you with the long
eghteens."
With rattle of ropes and a creaking
of blocks the four boats splashed into
the water. Their crews clustered thick
" into them; barefooted sailors, stolid
marines, laughing middies, and in the
sheets of each senior officers with their
stern schoolmaster faces The captain,
his elbow on the pinnacle, still watched
the distant brig. Her crew were tricing
up the boarding netting, dragging round
the starboard guns, knocking new port
holes for them, and making every pre-
paration for a desperate resistance. In
the thick of it all huge man, bearded to
the eyes, with a red nightcap upon his
head, was straining and STOPPING ana
hauling. The captain watched him with
sour smile and then, swapping up his
glass, he turned upon his heel. For an
instant he stood staring.
call back the boats!" he cried in his
thin, cracking voice Clear away for
action there! Cast loose those main
deck guns. Brace back the yards, Mr.
Smeaton, and stand by to go about when
she has weigh enough"
Round the curve Of the estuary was
coming a huge vessel. Her great yellow
bow-sprit and white winged figurehead
were jutting out from the cluster of
palm trees, while high above them tow
cred three immense mastS with the
tricolor flag floating superbly from the
mizzen. Round she came, the deep blue
water Dreaming under her forefOot, until
her long, curving black side, her line of
shining copper beneath and of snow white
hammocks above, and the thick clusters
Of men who peered over her bulwarks,
were all in full view Her lower yards
were slung, her ports triced up, and
her guns run out all ready for action.
Lying behind one of the promontories
of the island. the lockout men of the
Gloire upon the shore had seen the cui-
de-sac into which the British frigate was
headed, so that Captain de Million had
served the Leda as Captain johnson had
the Shaping Sal.
But the splendid discipline Of the
British service was at its best in such
a crisis. The boats flew back their
crews clustered aboard, they were
swung up at the davits and the fall ropes
made fast. Hammocks We're brought up
and slowed, bulkheads sent down, ports
and magazines opened, the fires put out
In the galley, and the drums beat to
quarters. Swarms of men set the head
sails and brought the frigate around,
while the gun crews threw off their
jackets and shirts, frightened their belts
and ran out their eighteen Founders,
peering through the open portfolios at
the stately Frenchman. The wind was
very light. Hardly a ripple showed itself
upon the clear, blue water, but the sails
blew gently out as the breeze came over
the wooded banks. The Frenchman had
gone about also, and both ships were
now heading slowly for the sea under
fore and-aft canvas, the Gloire a hun
dreds yards in advance. She luffed up
to cross the Leda's bows, but the British
ship came around also, and the two
rippled slowly on in such a silence that
the ringing of the ramrods as the French
marines drove home their charges clang-
ed quite loudly upon the ear
mot much sea room, Mr.. Wharton"
remarked the captain.
Il have fought actions in less, sir"
eve must keep our distance and trust
to our gunnery. She is very heavily