The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1906-02-16

shaken with the last tnrOeS OF MS
flooded heart, and reeled over. The
Scorpion of our fleet had got her guns
in action: the little Ariel was also fir
ing. D'ri leaned over, shouting in my
ear
Don't like tn way they re whalin
NV u.s." he said, his cheeks red with
anger.
Nor l." was my answer.
Don't like { stan here an dew
nuthin' but git licked" he went on.
ct ain no way nat'ral."
Perry came hurrying forward.
"Firel" he commanded, with quick
gesture, and we began to warm up our
! big twenty-pounder there in the bow.
But the deadly scuds of iron kept fly
/ ing over and upon our deck, bursting
/ into awful showers of bolt and chain
4 and spike and hammerheads. We saw
shortly that our brig was badly out of
gear. She began to drift 10 leeward,
\ and being unable to aim at the enemy,
we could make no use of the bow
gun. Every brace and bowline cut
/ away, her canvas torn TO rags, her
( hull shot through, and half the men
I dead or wounded, she was, indeed,
sorry sight The Niagara went by on
the safe side of us needless of our
plight. Perry stood near, cursing as
he looked off at her. Two of my gun
ners had been hurt by bursting can
lister, D'ri and | picked them up, and
made for the cockpit. Dri's man kept
] Ii Ag hnr ri cd
along over the bloody deck, there came
a mighty crash beside us and a burst
of old iron that tumbled me to my
knees.
A cloud of smoke covered us. l felt
the man l bore struggle and then so
limp in my arms / felt my knees get
ting warm and wet. The smoke rose;
the tall, herculean back of D'ri was
just ahead of me. His sleeve had been
ripped away from shoulder TO elbow,
and a spray of blood from his upper
arm was flying back upon me. His hat
crown had been torn off, and there was
big rent in his trousers, but he kept
going. | saw my man had been killed
in my arms by piece of chain, buried
to its last link in his breast. l was so
confused by the shock of it all
that | had not the sense to lay
him down. but followed D'ri to the
cockpit He stumbled on the stairs,
falling heavily with his burden. Then
| dropped my poor gunner and helped
them carry D'ri to a table, where they
babe me lie down beside him.
1T is no time for jesting,' said l.,
with some dignity.
MY dear fellow" the surgeon an
swered, your wound is no jest. You
are not fit for duty"
looked down at the big hole in my
trousers and the cut in my thigh Of
which / had known nothing until then.
l had no sooner seen it and the blood
than | saw that also was in some need
of repair, and lay down with a quick
sense of faintnessS My wound was no
pretty thing to see, but was of little
consequence, missile having torn the
surface only. l was able to help Sur
geon Usher as he caught the severed
veins and bathed the bloody strands
Of muscle in D'ri's arm, while another
dressed my thigh. That room was
full of the wounded, some lying on
the floor, some standing, some stretched
upon cots and tables. Every moment
they were crowding down the compan-
ionway with others. The cannonading
was now so close and heavy that it
gave me an ache in the ears, but above
its quaking thunder | could hear the
shrill cries of men sinking to hasty
death in the grip of pain. The brig
was in sore distress, her timbers creak-
ing, swapping, quivering, like one being
beaten to DEATH his bones cracking,
his muscles pulping under heavy blows.
We were above water-line there in the
cockpit, we could feel her finch and
stagger. On her side there came sud-
denly a crushing blow, as if some great
hammer, swung far IN the sky, had
come down upon her. | could hear
the split and break of heavy timbers;
l could see splinters flying over me in
a rush of smoke, and the legs of man
90 humping on the beams above. Then
came another crash of timbers on the
port side. | leaped off the table and
ran, limping, to the deck, do not know
, why; l was driven by some quick and
, irresistible impulse. | was near out of
my head, anyway, with the rage of
: battle in me and no chance to fight.
Well, suddenly, l found myself STUN
/ bling, with drawn saber, over heaps OF
: the hurt and dead there on our
reeking deck. 10 was a horrible place:
everything tipped over, man and gun
. and mast and bulwark. The air was
r full of smoke, but near me l could see
a topsail of the enemy. Balls were
: now plunging in the water alongside
the spray drenching our deck. Some
poor man lying low among the dead
caught me by the bootleg with an ap-
> pealing gesture. | took hold of his
collar, dragging him to the cockpit
: The surgeon had just finished with
D'ri. His arm was now in sling and
!. bandages. lie was lying on his back
the good arm over his face. There was
, a lull in the cannonading. I went
quickly 10 his side.
+, How are you feeling?" I asked, Civ.
. ing his hand a good grip.
= Muffin L brag NV" he answered