Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1906-12-22
A BATTLE IN THE STORM.

/ airy army OF Salgada, Whlch youll md
on the map of the east coast of South
America if you look good and hard. The
government we were fighting against had
organized a stiff blockade along the
coast, and had fast gunboats and torpedo
craft looking Tor us, and they wanted us
bad
We revolutionists had plenty of men,
but we were shy of rifles, cartridges and
| field pieces, and if we could land this
cargo l speak 81 it meant putting 1000
we'll armed men and two batteries in the
| field.
So here we were, wallowing along in
heavy weather, the crazy old tub loaded
down plumb near to her matches, and
| fifty patriots of Salgada spraddled all
over her decks.
Our boilers were leaky and our coal
was poor. We had been at it a week and
still had three hundred miles to run
where we were to make a landin' by
night, if we didn't get blown out of
water this side of it. There were no
cabins for shelter for my party, and our
decks were fair awash, and every sad
eyed patriot was seasick all the time.
Coal was strewed in sacks all over the
decks, and washin' to and fro among the
coal and rusty rifles and machetes and
mildewed saddlebags was this band of
soldiers of Salgada.
Well, I'm rambling some, but I wanted
to give you a notion of what the propo-
sition was before / fetched in my pal
and shipmate, Perez Morales He was
a lieutenant and my right hand man, a
slim, laughing, black-eyed lad of 10 or
20 that never dropped his nerve or cared
whoop what was coming next.
He was the son of a rich coffee planter
back in the Salgada mountains, and he'd
been going to school for two years at
military college up here in Ohio. He was
quick as cat and hard as nails, with
drillin' and playin' football and such war
like diversions.
After shutdown on this day / speak of ,
l hunted up young Morales, my side
partner.
MY SON. says I, "it looks as if our
fellow patriots was showing signs of life,
though they're not exactly animated.
Let us mount couple of twelve-po
field pieces, fore and aft, and try and
break in gun crews for 'em. We can't
put Up what you'd call spirited action,
but if we do get overhauled at sea, let's
be ready to give little back talk.
Morales jumped at the notion as happy
as if he'd received bunch of letters
from home. He had done his time as a
cadet artilleryman, and had medals for
marksmanship-an I'd pulled a lanyard
or two myself.
So we hoisted two guns from the hold.
One twelve FOUNDER we mounted up in
| the bow, and the other we dashed aft on
the overhang. 1t was a tough Job, but
Morales kept us going strong. working
like a little cyclone, singing the battle
hymns of Salgada, and hammering action
into the patriots, who were still shaky
in their legs.
After we had finished Morales came aft
with me to pile of coalsacks on the
overhang, which was my palatial state
room, and we smoked cigarettes and
talked while for the moon was full
and the air soft as velvet.
On deck forward a revivin' patriot
was picking at a guitar, and a couple of
his shipmates were singing Spanish love
songs in high, quiverin' tenor voices.
As for my young comrade Morales. he
Just had to let out his heart to me that
night. OF course, there was a girl, and
she was in the town of Rio de Contas,
thirty miles from the little bay where we
were hoping to land. This town was held
by 1000 government troops, but this
cut no ice with Perez Morales. We were
going to march our fifty br-r-ave patriots
against Rio de Contas, "pronto,'' quick.
right away, cut our way through the
enemy and carry off the beautiful seno.
rita.
was less than ten years older than
him, but felt as if it was a boy talking
to his daddy. There was none too good
for this Perez Morales, who was all alive
and boiling with patriotism and love and
romance and hot blood.
About midnight the weather got dirty
again and soon it began to blow. One
squlnt at the needle told me that we were
IN Tor heavy weather, and the worst vet.
Long before daylight the tug was hove
to, but she was that crammed with cargo
and coal there was no life in her. The
seas We're washin' clean acrost her and
hammerin' her till you couldn't hear
yourself think
thought we were plenty bad enough
off, but when day broke we found our
troubles hadn't fairly begun. We could
make out vessel, hove to mile or so
away, low and lean and gray, a vessel of
war, showing no colors.
1t was remarkably funny thing. la
dies and gentlemen, and somewhat dis.
tmbin'. If this was Salgada gunboat.
then she was cruisin' in search of us to
sink lis with all hands And here we
were in plain sight, within easy ranoe
OF her guns, but she was as helpless as
we were. 1t was still gamble whether
both vessels wouldn't 60 to the bottom,
before the day was over. for all tbev
could do was to try to buck the storm.
hove to, and pray that their engines
would hold together. BY this time the
patriots We're ehatterin' like a flock of
Iparokeets, feebly waving their arms ond
trying to find their rifles and macbatas Gnu
Morales said: I'VE are up aoo;nst =
for fair, my beloved Maritime Coo
will bet you the best box of cigors :,
Rio de Contas, when we have captured Il
You and me, that this vessel is the Gt+1o