The news-democrat. (Providence, R.I.) 1906-1909, 1906-07-28
THE NEWS DEMOCRATS DAILY STORY
To be published in daily instalmenta on this page
-THE
SLAVE SQUADRON
A THRILLING TALE OF ADVENTURE
By HARRY COLLNGwoOD
CHAPTER XVI.

'Tn just step UP as far as the crosstrees
myself"
VERY good. Mr.. Mildmay; do so by all
means" said Capt Vernon. But the
wind is light. and what little OF IL tnere
is will carry the sound OF your voice
down to the brig II you hail the deck.
and so apprise them OF our approach.
I'VE must avoid that II possible; want
10 get alongside the craft and take her
by surprise and we may have some rou-
BILE In accomplishing that II they suspect
that we are after them. The Daphne 10 a
fast ship, but so also IL the brig. ana
am by no means certain that she has not
the heels OF Us. We must devise litte
code Of signals from you 10 the deck. 80
as TO obviste any necessity for hailing
Can any one suggest anything7
A very simple plan had occurred TO me
whllst the skipper was speaking and as
no one else seemed TO have suggestion
TO make, | offered mine.
'If the pennant halliards were cast
adrift down here on deck, sir. and held
by one OF us" l said Mr.. Midday could
get hold of them aloft, and one tug upon
then. might mean port two tugs star
board and three steady"
Excellent" exclaimed the skipper,
''and perfectly ample: We will adopt IL
forthwith. and you shall attend TO the
deCk-en0 OF the
ley, with Mr. Keene and Mr.. Peters TO
pass the word from you along the deck TO
the helmsman Place us In a good wealth
eriy position, Mr.. Mildmay, IL you please,
so that when we run clear OF the fog the
brig may have no chance TO dodge us"
"Ay ay, sir, never fear for me" an
swered Old Mildmay as he swung nimbly
into the main rigging, and In few sec
onds his body disappeared In the mist.
The old fellow soon put us in the right
course and away we went, crowdnG sail
after the invisible brig An anxious half
hour followed, and then we ran out OF the
fog and found ourselves creeping along
parallel with the land 20 the northward
OF the river mouth, with the brig about
half a mile ahead OF US under every stitch
OF canvas she could show TO the freshen-
ing land-breeze We had gained on her
considerably the master having kept u
keen eye upon her cleaning upper can
vas whilst plotting US out OF the river
and steering in such direction as 20 very
nearly cut her of altogether. He Of
course came down on deck as soon as we
had cleared the fog. and Captain Vernon
at once ordered the crew 10 quarters.
The men were not long in getting to
their stations, and when all was ready
a gun was fred after the flying brig, as a
pOllc TtQutSN lOI utI 10 HtdNt-lp,
the ensign hoisted 10 the peak. was nat
urally very anxious TO see what notice
would be taken OF this. since the some
what high-handed course we were taking
with the craft had ben adopted entirely
upon the strength of my representations
ana II the brig should. after all, turn out
to be the Vestale French gun n-brig as she
had pretended to be. our skipper might
perhaps involve himself In a considerable
amount OF trouble II was therefore with
a sigh OF real and genuine relief that I
heard a shot come whlstling close past us
from the brig In reply TO our own.
Captain Vernon, too. was evidently
much relieved. for he calculated In tones
OF great satisfa ction;
Good she has hred shotted gun at
us and refuses 10 show her colors. Now
my course is perfectly clear. Try the eff
feet OF another gun on tFsr. Mr. Armt age.
ana aim at her spaTs. eho 10 sklmmlng
along there Aks witch. and Il we are
not careful will give ia the slip yet"
ArmtaEc. who was In charge OF the bat
tory forward. upon this began popoerlng
away at her In earnest. bnt though the
shot made daylight through her canvas
every time. no damage was done either TO
her spars OF rigging. and Il began 20 be
only 100 evident that she was gradually
creeping away from as. TO make matters
worse. too, her crew were just as smart
with their guns as we were with ours. IN
fact trifie more so, for before a quarter
Of an hour had passed several Of our
ropes, fortunately unimportant ones, had
been cut; and at length n thud and a
crack aloft turned all eyes in that direc-
ton. TO see the fore royal mast topple
over 20 leeward.
Captain Vernon stamped upon the deck
in the height of his vexation
CTo be continued tomorrow)