Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1905-03-11


surprising in one of his gigantic figur
and advanced age After a rapid su
. vey he came down swiftly. sits &
English frigate and not doubt Of i
sir. and rising very fast"
81 thought so. Man the weathe
braces. Up With the helm! Bear
hand now. my hearties! Now. then. a
q good example to the short crew, VIII
fastened to obey his rapid command:
by assisting the two seamen statione
aft to brazil in the spanker, in which Ia
Dor he was speedily Joined by Talbot
who had come on deck. Young Wilton
and Bentley lent the same assistance
forward, ssad in an astonishingly brief
time, considering her small crew, the
Mellish, like the stranger, was going
free with the wind on her quarter, her
best point of sailing, her course now
making wide obtuse angle with that
Of the approaching ship.
snow, then, men. lay aloft and shake
the reefs out Of the topsails. Stand by
to loose the fore and main topgallant
sails as we'll:
"Why. what's wrong, SEYMOUR"
said Talbot in surprise. 81 rather ex-
pected we should be in Massa chusettS
bay this evening, and here we are head
ing south again. Isn't that Cape Cod
that blue haze yonder? Why are we
leaving it? What's the matter?'
''Take the glass, man; there, aft on
the starboard quarter a sail. You
should be able to see her from the deck
now Can you make her out?'
Eyes. by heaven. it's ship. and a
large one too! What is it, think you.
| SEYMOUR
IAN English ship, of course-a frig
ate; we have no ships like that in these
waters or in our navy either-mores
the pity"
"Whew! This looks bad for u.s."
"Well, we're not caught yet by long
sight, Talbot. A good many leagues
| will have to be sailed before we are
! overhauled, and there's many slip
twist the cup and the lip. you know;
that old stale maxim is truer on the
sea than any place else. and truer in :,
chase too. a thousand things may heIr
US or hinder her. See. we are goin:
better now that the reefs are out and
the topgallant sails set, but it's Il fear
full strain on our spars. They look
new; pray God they be good ones" he
continued, gazing over the side at the
masses Of green water tossed aside
from the bows and sweeping aft under
the counter in great swirls.
The spars and rigging of the Mellish
were indeed fearfully tested, the masts
buckling and bending like strained
bow. The wind was freshening every
moment, and there was the promise Of
gale in the lowering sky of the gray
afternoon. The ship felt the increased
pressure from the additional sail which
had been made, and her speed had ma
terially increased, though she rolled
and pitched frightfufly, wallowing
through the water and smashing into
the waves with her broad, fat bows
and making rather heavy weather Of
1t. In spite of all this, however, the
chase gained slowly upon them until
she was now visible to the naked eye
from the decks Of the Mellish. Sey-
mour, full of anxiety, tried every ex-
pedient that his thorough seamanship
and long experience could dictate to
accelerate the speed Of his ship-rath-
er sluggish vessel at best and now,
heavily laden. slower than ever. The |
stream anchors were cut away and |
then one Of the bowers also; all the
boats save one. the smallest were scut- |
tied and cast adrift; purchases were
got on al! the sheets and haIyards and |
the sails hauled fiat as boards and keptl
well wetted down. Some of the water |
tanks were pumped out to alter the trim |
and tighten her, the bulwarks and rails /
were partly cut away. and as final
resort the maintop mast studding sail J
was set; but the boom broke at the |
iron, and the whole thing went adrift |
In @aalfgw moments. Talbot, anxious to
do something. suggested the novel ex-
pedient Of breaking out fieldpiece
from the fore hold and mounting it on
GAC 4uai LSI ucCK 10 use dS stern |
chaser This had been done, but the
frigate was yet too far away Cor it to
be OF any service.
In spite of all these efforts they were
being overhauIed slowly. but Seymour
still held on and did not despair.
There was one chance Of escape. Right
before them. not a half league away.
lay long shoal known as Georges
shoal. extending several leagues across
the path Of the two ships Through
the middle OF this dangerous shoal
there existed ., cha8nel. narrow and
toFtaola hut still, practicable for ships
Of certain size He. Was familiar T
with IT'S windings.. as was Bentley. as
they both had examined it carefully
In the previous summer with view
TO- just such contingency as now &C.
CURED. The Meilish was a large and
clumsy ship. heavily laden and draw
ing much water: but he felt confident
that he could take her through the
pass. AT any rate. the attempt was