Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1904-05-17

of the effect of purely personal char
acter. l felt it myself, and | could see
how it told upon every man of the
crew as soon as he came into contact
with It. Something Of the cool, cynical
Of the man seemed to
enter into each one he spoke to, and
in less than five minutes he had set
each to work in his preparation for de-
Tense. There were four guns on deck,
and these he had cleared away and
loaded with q miscellaneous assort-
ment of odds and ends instead of ball,
while he took special interest in the
fifth one on the forecastle, which he
loaded himself. The guns and ammu-
milton were served out under his In
spection. and each of the crew was
provided with cutlass, Menzies him.
self selecting the largest among them.
The men worked with will. and the
mate appeared to be everywhere at
once and to direct everybody, though
he never seemed to be in a hurry. At
last everything had been done, and
the sailors, of whom there were TWEEN
ty-five, were armed and ready. Then
Menzies stepped deliberately up the
steps to the poop deck and looked
around in the gathering twilight. Aft
err few seconds he leaned over the
unbrokein part OF the rail and spoke.
moo, my lauds, baud yersels ready.
The first ane IL be alangside in two
or three meenutes. We Gamma stop
them frne board1n' us, but yen mind
an let fly VT the cannons, Mr.. jarvis,
when All gle the word. All reckon
they'll list ABBOTT sweep the decks. Ye
medina mind the ane On the fock'sle.
We might want it later on. Moo, mind
ye, Am no sayin' We'll beat them, but
Am thilakin' it's jist death anyway, an
It's mail becomin' tae dee, il we maun
dee, fechtin' than seekin' mercy frae
4 wheerl thrown deevils like yon."
The men were beginning to cheer.
but he held up his hand to stop them.
INA, M. lauds," he said. keep yer
braeth till We need it, an that III no be
lang. Dinna let them guess were gaun
tae fecht till we Gamma help it."
There was dead silence, and the
men looked at one another. glanced
along the line Of weather beaten faces
and noticed that some of them seemed
uncertain what to do next.
Look here, my men," said. Keep
steady. See that your guns are all
ready. Stand well back on this side
of the deck and be ready to fire when
give you the word-not a moment
sooner-and then fire low"
AYE, aye, sir; that's RIGHT. Mind,
men, arr whan we've fred ven jist DOT
cutlasses an follow me. Am comm
doom whan she comes alangside. but
no till then. They MIGHT want tae
speak till us, though All dinna expec
that mllckle manners frae them"
Silence fell on the deck again when
he stopped, and some of the men
looked mt the caps on their muskets to
see that all was ready. There was
hardly sound except the occasional
flappins; Of sail or the crisp dash OF
q wave against the ship. The light
was fading rapidly, and the horizon
was closing in, gray and misty, and as
I listened I fanoied I could hear the
splash Of water, as If thrown of from
vessels bows close at hand, and once
or twice. a confused noise as If Of many
voices.
It was the mates voice that broke
the oppressive silence.
moo, Mr.. Jarvis. be ready WI the
lannon's an staun' by tae rim back the
ports. Div We hear her the moo? She'll
be alangside in a meenute or two
Ilosh me; they steer her weel. Please
the Lord we'll gle some O. them their
fairins, lauds."
We could see nothing Of the enemy
as yet from where we stood on the
main deck, concealed by the high bull
warks, but in another minute saw
the shadow Of mast and square
topped sail creep past, and then sec
oud. Then hoarse order was shouted
in what took to be Spanish. Then
there vras sound Of hauling ropes and
{ creakirtg yards, and l could hear the
rush and splash Of water close along
side as the schooner forged slowly
ahead 10 windward, drifting down up
| on us 8 she lost way. Then there was
another shout, a pistol was fired, and
next moment Menzies leaped from the
| poop To the main deck with the ex-
clamatlon:
"Eh mon, All thocht as much! If
the thlnwn deevil didna try tae pit a
bullet In me. Moo, then, Mr.. Jarvis,
are We a. ready wi the cannons? Weel,
then, ava WI the ports, an fireP'
| There was low, fierce ring In his
voice and next moment the sailors
who STOOD by the movable parts OF the
bulwark on the windward side dragged
| them away. The four cannon were
fred almost simultaneously at range
Of certainly not more than dozen feet
on to The deck Of the drifting schooner.
and through the sudden roar OF the
reports came q fierce. inarticulate
howl more like that of beasts than
men. The thick white smoke rose in
a dense cloud, shutting off the shad-
owy ,nasts and sails that moment
before had seemed almost to touch our
shrou,ls and make even the figures
/, of our own men look dim and shadowy
in the falling light 1t was only for a
minute or two. Then several OF the
schooner's cannon were fired into our
hull, and next moment. with a wild
veil, the pirates boarded.