Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1906-07-19
THEY MET ON A
YACHTING PARTY


| of the inlets of Florida. She could not
| on which she allied, for 1t was eS-
tremely murky. Indeed she could new
er have passed the Federal gunboats
on starlight night unchallenged, and
ii was necessary that she should do SO,
| for she had on board Antoine Della
barre, native of Louisiana, envoy of
| the Confederate government, on his
| way TO France for the purpose of in
ducing Louis Napoleon to interfere In
behalf of the newly established gov
eminent Delabarre, though young
man. had already distinguished himself
in diplomacy.
The day before the Starlight was to
sail n young woman who gave her
name MS Ninifred Dove applied for
passage. The application was sur
PRISE to the captain, Cushion, who had
supposed the intended sailing was g
secret After comforting with Mr.. De-
labarrc he told the girl that she might
go and, taking her to her staterOom,
locked her In, that she might not fur
| Their reveal what she knew. The next
morning when out of sight Of land she
was released with trunped up eX-
cuse for the treatment she had receiv-
ed. The Starlight had escaped without
having been seen by any of Uncle
| Sans watching feet, the weather
cleared and Captain Cushion pointed
for Gibraltar. His course ran not far
from the American coast but far
enough to be without the line of the
blockading ships.
Miss Dove being the only woman
aboard the Starlight and the men being
uninteresting. Antoine Delabarre nat
urally turned to her for companiOnship.
Whether or no the Starlight was well
named 1t appeared to all that Miss
Dove was very we'll named. She was
qulescencc itself
He first sounded her patriotism for
the Confeleracy, but beyond confess
ing herself secessionist she expressed
little interest In the struggle. The
young diplomat endeavored to fire her
with more ardor. She listened to him
demurcly. but did not eyince any inter-
est in his remarks.
Miss Dove was very poor sleeper.
She would sit on deck ut night with
Mr.. Delabarre till he could keep his
eyes open no longer and remain there
hours after he had sought his state
room. During the day she would usu-
ally not appear till afternoon.
The Starlight flew the United States
flag and, though she passed several
merchantmen with the same ensign at
the peak, was not molested When night
came on every light was ''doused," and
as she was painted gray she was not
easily visible from IL distance Miss
Dove asked Mr.. Delabarre why this
was done. He told her that the cap
tain was Il miser and wished to save
oil. She seemed perfectly satisfied
: with this explanation, and her attend
ant remarked to himself that the stu
pidty of some women was very lovely
He asked her how she knew the snip
was to sail for foreign parts, and she
told him that she had supposed all
ships were made to sail somewhere
and usually to other countries. This
childlike reply only Increased his ten
der feelings for her
At night only the officer OF the deck
the helmsman and two sailors were on
duty. Miss Dove was allowed on deck
: because she was Il woman, Il COnfeder.
ate and very stupid. One night or
rather, one morning-it was | o'clock
Captain Cushion was ON the bridge. Il
sailor aft and n sailor forward. Miss
Dove was sitting on Il steamer chair
amidships. Suddenly the captain saw
{ the flash of light on his port bow 1t
: was only for an instant. but 1t told him
| that a Yankee war craft was playing
the same game as himself while look
ing for contraband ships. He ran aft
and informed the men on duty OF the
danger and Miss Dove as we'll telling
them to keep perfect silence. To the
helmsman lie gave an order to sheer
Off. Then he ran forward to the bridge
: He was congratuiHilug himself on
the certainty of an escape when he
heard Il "s-h-h-h-ng" sound amidships
on his own vessel and. turning. saw a
rocket mounting skyward
There was Il terrible commution on
the Starlight Mr.. Delabarre rushed on
, deck in his nightShirt and the captain,
who was so beside himself with wrath
that. he could not speak. pointed to
Miss Dove. one of the men Informed
the diplomat that she had fired a rock
ct and Il Yankee gunboat was coming
down on them. Another took the girl
up and was about to throw her over
board when Delabarre stopped him
, The black hull Of mau-of-war APP
pcared close ut hand. followed by a
boom and a shot across the Starllghts
bows. Then boat left the warship,
aud in a few minutes an officer was
climbing up the captured vessels side
lie looked very muth puzzled. but de-
. 7rlmiupl 10 hGev- ehat Ht lights and -
rocket meant IIa was still more as
! touiShed when Miss Dove darted TO
him, sought refuge within his arms
and told him that n Confederate envoy
! was on board
prize crew was put on board the
Starlight and she was taken TO For
Iu2~s Monroe. On the way Miss Dove
threw off her stupidity and appeared