The Republican journal., 1906-03-22

lghteSt boat, and therefore the easiest
to draw over the land. We left one
man to guard the 2nd cntter, with in
structions that if he saw anything That
was suspicious to fire his gun to warn
US of danger. Then we manned the
sides of the boats with the thirty-one
men, Mr. Dean and myself leading the
way Mr.. Dean had pockee compass
and a small dark lantern, while | had
narrow axe on my shoulder. In thus
manner we boldly pushed out for the
assault. We found several obstacles IN
the way of our advance that we had not
reckoned on. The first and most dread
ed was snakes. We found monstrous
great snakes said to be the moccasim
coiled up on the warm sand on the
| beach by the hundreds everywhere. We
| could hardly move without disturbing
one But as both men and snakes were
| equally willing to run we got through
| the marrow belt of them without much
! trouble. for, as our caravan approached,
! they went kissing out OF our path. We
were soon out of their way but encoun-
reIed another obstacle that was as bad,
| indeed, we felt it worSe-and that is the
prickly cactus which abounds in Texas.
| These plants stood about three feet
| high and branch ont about the same
| distance and it was next to an lmpoS
| sihiity t. avoid them in the night time.
| But in the language of Phoebe
''We scratched our hands
And tore our clothes
But still did not complain.
We pushed on until at eleven O'Clock
we found that we lad progressed into
the enemys country about a half mile
lnu h
| farther we had to go, but judged from
the ship that the strip OF land was
about two miles wide. SO if our esti-
mate of the distance was correct it
| would be about half past two before
we should be able to disturb the dreams
of the rebels on board the schooner.
But our speculationS were soon cut
short, and under the providence of God
we were destined to 60 no farther in
that direction, for we were thrown into
| state of alarm by hearing the dis
charge of gun in the direction of
where we had left the other boat. We
| Immediately turned the boat around
and made all haste back to the landing.
| Our progress was necessarily SLOW, and
being fleet of foot, much more so than
| | am now, took one man with me and
started back to reconnOiter On APP
preaching the boat we found all quiet
except that the man we had left on
guard laid in the bottom of the boat
grooming. We soon learned that he
! had accidentally discharged his gun.
He said that wishing to change his po-
sition in the boat lie got up, holding his
gun in his right hand by the muzzle,
and somehow dragged the butt of the
gun across thwart of the boat. The
trigger caught discharging the gun and
putting bullet through his left arm
above the elbow. l sent the man with
me back to report to Mr.. Dean. while
cared for the wounded man as well as |
could. The others soon came up and
we found that we had not returned a
moment too soon for safety, for the
north wind had subsidized and quite a
strong breeze had set in from the south
east, which had caused surf to roll in
onto the beach in such a reckless man.
npr that it was with difficulty we sue
ceeded in launching our boats. The
wind was increasing all the time, so
| that had we been half an hour later it
would have been impossible for us to
| have got them afioat, and we were again
reminded of the old saying that
There is a sweet little cherub that sits up
aloft,
! To keep watch for the life of poor Jack.
Although the ship was but three
/ miles off shore it took us six hours
of rowing against head wind and a
! heavy sea to reach her, which we did in
| an exhausted condition. We were glad
ly welcomed back again by everyone on
board the ship, with the exception of
Mr.. Smith, who did not come on deck
| to greet us. The captain seemed more
delighted at our safe return, with but
one man wounded, than anyone else.
He told me that we had not been gone
from the ship an hour before he began
to realize his folly in letting us go, and
that he was more delighted than he
could express when he saw both boats
pulling toward the ship.
The gale increasing, and the ship be-
ing too near the land for safety in case
we should drag our anchor, she was
close reefed, got underway and headed
off shore, E. n. E., to obtain a better
offing, and we had ten hours of as severe
a southeast gale as we had while on the
coast. But the episode did not end
here. Acting Master Smith, still on
the rampage and feeling himself cha
grined and insulted, wrote a scurrilous
letter to Flag Officer Farragut in rela-
! tion tn Cantain Trathen. preferrlng