The daily morning Alaskan., 1903-09-01
A BAD CROWD
LconyrIrht. isoa. by JuIIu, Mullsr.l

ed.a brig which seemed to take alarm at the English flag.
 ] z Numbers of men started to go aioft but stuck at the crosstrees, and such galls as were cast loose were not sheet ed home to do their best We walked , up to her hand after hand and in half an hour were within biscuit toss. and our captain was hailing to know what was wrong. The answer was plain enough without words. Her decks fnirly swarmed with men, all but Ave or six of whom were in convicts' dress. As matter of fact, there were just ninety Of them. It was useless for them to reply to the hail, but the yell tbcy uttered in chorus was enough to make the hair curl.
 Our craft was sheered in bit closer and demand made that the eonviess surrender They could plainly see that we were a strong crew and had mount ] cd guns, but the demand was received with yclls of derislon. The leader of ! the gang. whom we had not before Identified, now mounted the rail and ln broken English warned us to keep ofr or take tho consequences. He bold. ly declared that they were escaped conylcts from the French penal settle mcnt
 The defiant attitude of the conyicts seemed to put our captain in an em' barrnsslng position, but after a mo menrs thought he called out to the fel' low on the raii:
 "You must have captured the brig to get away from Cayenne. What has become of the crewT
 "Dcad-every one of them killed and thrown oycrboardp' shouted the hend in answer.
 "Do you mean to say you murdered captain. mate ond all handsT
 "Yes; all the crew. Now, you've got the news, and you sheer or and go your own way. let French ship pur' sue us and take us."
 We were compelled to widen the dis tonce between us to prevent accident through the lubbery manner fin which lbe brig was steered. but we reduced sall so as to keep abreast of her, and the captain and his officers descended 10 the cabin for consultation. l don't know whether they questioned their right 10 interfere or discussed the best
 method of recapturlng the brig. but they were not absent over quarter or 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 conylcts was Hloft with 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
 os a warning of what was in store for
 her if she did not. but the roar of the
 gun was followed by a chorus of yelis
 and three or four bullets came whh-
 zing over our heads. The brig widened
 thc gap until out of rife range, ana
 thc captain then said to the crew Of
 Long Tom:
 "Aim to strike her above the water
 line. A few shots may take the ngnt
 out of them"
 The first shot passed between her fore and main mast without touching , anything. but the second smashed her
 bulwarks and killed two men. A third
 and fourth were fired, 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 of the wind. } Tho fellows were evidently determined to get near enough to use their rihes' but with their poor seamanship they stood no show.
 We gave the ship more sail, and art or couple of lacks were off the Drigs D quarter and sending solid shot aboard
 again. There was great confusion among the conylcts, and we were hop inc for a signal when the wretches 3 brought two women on deck. We e could see them very plainly without . ? glass. and their presence put a stop to our firing. as the conyicts had expect cd. It was scheme to stop our hre' and every man groaned fin 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:
 "Alm at her foremast and try to cripple her. She must surrender or Pn sink her."
 During the next thirty minutes we fired six times. and each time the shot ' was pumped into her hull. but with their craft lying wreck fin the trough of the seas they continued to shout ' defiance at us. The unfortunate wom' ' on must go down if the convicts did, , but death would be preferable to our
 sail,ng away and leaving them fin the hands of the monsters. We changed
 our shot 10 shell as we loaded Long Tom again. and the gun was pointed to strike the hull. One after another hye o shells were sent into the brig. each one
 tearing great hole and carrying wounds and death, and we had reload , ,d for the sixth time when 1t was seen - that the craft was settling away.
 We had our eyes on her as she wal t,.,.,d ,,r hroodsida to us by a wave