The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1906-12-13

The yard was swung round and the
vessel lay quietly rising and failing on
the waves. Tho boat dashed alongside,
her brass cannon trained upon the brig
antlnc. aud her squad Of marines with
their fingers upon their triggers ruady
to upon iirc. They grlnned and shrig
gcd their shoulder. when they saw that
their sole opponents werc thrrc unarm.
ell men upon the poop The officer was
on deck III an instant with his drawn
sword In hts hand.
Come up. two Of you" he cried,
You stand here At the head OF the lad
der. sergeant. Throw up rope, and
you can nx II 20 this stanchlon Keep
awake down there and bc all ready 70
fire. You come with me. Corporal le.
moline Who is captain Of this shipi"
Il am. sir" said Ephraim Savage
suhmissively,
You have three Huguenois aboard"
tut, tut Huguenots. are theyf !
thought they were very anxious 10 get
away, but as long as they paid their
passage Il was no business ~ mine.
An old man, his young daughter aud
young fellow about your age In some
sort Of livery"
"In uniform. sir--the uniform OF the
kings guard Those are the folk ]
have come for"
"And you wish 10 take them backg"
Most certainly"
'Thc old man IL In his bunk asleep,
the maid ls IN cabin below, and the
other s sleeping down the hold"
Sleeping. you sayf We had best
surprise him"
'But think you that you dare do II
nlonci He has no arms, II Is true, but
he is well grown young fellow. VIII
you not have twenty men up from the
boati"
Some such thought had passed
through the officers head. but the cap
tain's remark put him upon his mettle.
Come with me, corporal" said he
Down this ladder, you sayf'
Yes, down the ladder and straight
on. He lies between those two cloth
bales" Ephraim Savage looked up
with q smile playing about the corners
OF his grim mouth The wind was
whistlIng now In the rigging, and the
stays OF the masts were hummlng like
two harp strings. Amos Green
lounged beside the French sergeant
who guarded the end Of the rope lad
der while Tomlinson, the mate. stood
with bucket OF water In his hand |
exchanging remarks In very bad
French with the crew OF the boat be-
meath him.
The officer made his way slowly |
down the ladder which led into tho
hold The corporal followed him, and
had his che,i level with the deck when
the other had reached the bottom II
may have been something In Ephraim
Savage's face or II may have been the
gloom around him which startled tho
young Frenchman.
up again, corporalr' he shouted. IL
think that you are best at the top
And think that you are best down
below, my friend" said the Puritan,
who gathered the officers meaning
from his gesture Putting the sole OF
his boot against the mans chest, he
gave n shove which sent both him and
the ladder crashing down on to the
officer beneath him. As he did 80 he
blew his whistle, and In moment the
hatch was back In Its place and
clamped down on each side with iron
bars.
The sergeant had swung round at
the sound Of the crash, but Amos
Green, who had waited for the move
ment, threw his arms round him and
hurled him overheard into the sea,
At the same instant the connecting
rope was severed, the foreyard creaked
back into position once more and