The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1905-09-10
!. !. Bl::y''Q.'#
Author Of Dead-Man's Rock, Etc,

4 ~ y :
lie looked neither out TO sea nor iowa rd
Coverack, but headed straight for the
first cottagc---tho same that stands above
North Corner to-day. A man named
Billy Eide lived there then. and when my
father burst lntosthe Kitchen bawlng,
Wreck! wreck!' he saw Billy L5de's wife
standing there in her clogs with a shawl
ovcr5ile head. and her clothes wrlnginE
wet. e
s. IS sage tho chap!' says Billy Edc's
wife Ann. What dec mean BY crying
stale fish at that rate?' ".
l"5'Ent IT'S wreck. I tell 'cc I've
$a-zeed mr.
$59..' .Why, so It's says she, and I've
a-zecd III too. and so has every one
with an eye In his head
5t land with TINT she pointed straight
over my fathers shdulder%and he turned,
and there, close under Doler Point, at the
end OF Coverack town. he saw another
wreck washing and the point black with
people. like emmets. running to and fro
d In the morning light. While he stood
staring at her. he heard a trumpet sound
ed on board, the notes coming In little
Jerks Ikea bird rising against the wind:.
& but family. Of course. because Of the dis
tance and tho gale blowlng-thoughI this
had dropped little.
Wife Ann, and full OF horse soldiers.
fine long men, When she struck they
must, ha' pitched the bosses over first
to tighten tho ship. for a score Of dead
bosses had washed5iln afore / left, nlf-
8an-hour back. An three or four sol
dicrs too-nnc, long corpscs In white
brooches and Jackets OF blue ana gold
II held the lantern to one. Such a straight
young man Il. Il
my father asked Der about the trum-
peting. @ II ri rs ssf ii
j4f.'s That's the queerest bit VI all. She
was burnin' light when me an my
man joined the crowd down there. All
her maats had gone; whether they car
.ried away, or were cut away to ease
her, I don't rightly know. Anyway, there
she lay pom the rocks with her decks
bare. Her keelson was broke under
her and her bottom stove. and she had
lust settled down on her shs ged u tins
bcrs like setting hen. just the lcastesti
list to starboard: but n man could stand
there easy. They had rigged UP ropes
across her, from bulwark to bulWark. an
beside these the men were mustered,
holding on like grim death whenever
tho sea made a clean breach over them.
an standing up like heroes as soon as
It passed The captain an the officers
were clinging to the rail Of the quarter
deck, all in their brave uniforms. walt.
ing for the end as ifstwns King George.
they expected. There was no way to.
help for she lay right beyond cast
OF lsline. though our folk tried 1t fifty
itimes-and beside them chung - NJ
peter. a whacking big man, an between
the heavy seas he would lift his trumpet.
with one hand. and blow a call; and
every time he blew, the men gave a.
cheer. There--hnrk zee nowhere ne
goes agen! But you won't hear no cheer.
Ing any more for few are left to cheer,
and their voices weak Bitter cold the
wind Is, and reckon 1t numbs their
grips O. the ropes. for they were drop
ming off fast with every sea when my
man sent me home to get his breakfast.
Another wreck. you say? Well there's
no hope for the poor dcars. u us me
Manacles. You'd better run down and
help yonder: though It's little help any
man can Give. Not one came N awe
while ! was there. The tides ilowlng'
and she won't %,hold together another
hour, they say.
well. sure enough, the end was COM com
Ing fast when my father got down %
ihcS nolnt Six men had been cast UP
alive. or Just breathlng-a seaman and
Two troopers. The. seaman was the ohly
o,to THAI had breath to speak; ltnd
while they were carrying him into me
town. the word went round that the
shlp's name was the Despatch. tra ms
fort homeward bound from Corunna,
VIII \ detachment OF the Seventh Hus-
sars that had been lighting out there
With Sir John Moore. Tie seas il'u
rolled her further over BY this ,llte,
and given her decks a pretty shla a s'oepe,
hnt n dozen men still heia en' -, stse ~
by the ropes near the snip 5 Wa's', =
couple near the break 81 inc poop, NY
three ON the quarter decR 4. ! !, 7,
."of these three my father made out one
ID be the skipper close by him chung an
oOiccr In full regimcntals-hts name, thcy
heord N fter. was Captain Duncanfleld'
and last came the tall trumpeter; anu,
- 'vou,ll believe mo, the follow was
waking shift there, at the very last,
~ ,,ou God save tho King. what pa, $
mare. he got to Send us Victorious w
ror. mn extra big sea came bursting
,nross and washed them offs3tne accs-.
n ~ maj, but one of the Fair peneat "
~ : noop--und ho dropped his hod De-
foro the next wave, being stunned,
, ~, 1,he Others went out OF slght az
~ hut the tr,mpeter-being, MS sa'a,
i Z nowerf,,l man, as we'll as a tous'' SWIM
mnr-rose like n duck. rode out u coup :.
of breakers, and came N or t''e y 20 :, -
~" third. The folks looked TO see MN
broke like an egg at their very feeti ply
men tia smoke cleared there ne was ".
lnr face downward, on ledge Felom
nan, and one Of the men that happetleu
70 nave = rope round hirn-1 forget the
fellow's name. 8if i ever heard it-'nmpea
dawn and grabbed him by the ankle as
he began to slip back. Before the mex.
h hn zen, tho pair were hauled high enoush
r. a9 "a o,,t of harm, and another heavo
brought them up TO grass, Qulck Work'
5h,t master. trumpeter wasn't quite dead
nothinr worse than u cracked head ana
threo STAYED ribs, In twenty minutes Or
80 they had him in bed, with the ~ doctor
to tend him, !, !. ,oYt
"Now was the time-nothing being ielt
alive upon the transport-for my rather
~ tel,5 Of the sloop he'd seen driving upoh
iho Manacles. And when he got 9 near
ING though tho most We're set npon sal
wage and believed n wreck IN the mana,
So e say, to he worth half-a-fdozen .hey
couldn't see. n good few volunteered 20, %
start of with him and have a look Ihey
nrossed Lowland Point; no ship % pe