Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1908-12-02
The Fate Of the
'Senegambian
Queen"
By WALDON ALLAN CURTIS.
Copyright, by Shortstory Pub Coz

! est vessel ever ventured voluntarily,
yet the clumsy little Dutch brig, labor
| ing slowly southwark before a fair
north wind, with the mangrove
swamps of the shore not three miles
/ off it's stapboard quarter, could hard
| ly be a vessel which storms had driv-
en- into that neighborhood, for fair
weather had prevailed Cor several
weeks. Storm driven she was not,
! honest she could not but be, for no pirate
would sail in such a wagon of the
deep, and so the pirate lookout in the
tall tree at the entrance of the cove
where lay ambushed Vie Senegambian
Queen, Capt. Avery, conjectured that
| it was in search of water that the
stranger had approached the pirate
haunted coast. Such poor prize the
| brig looked to be. The men cursed Capt.
Avery for calling them from their maps
and sports to the pursuit of this little
square-nosed Dutchman. But as they
overhauled it, a languid interest and
finally keen surprise took the place
of their complaining, for on the
doomed vessel no preparations for
fight or fight were being made. In
deed, there was no sign of alarm, and
! the crew of the brig were apparently
oblivious 20 the existence of aught but
themselves. Through a glass could be
seen the captain sitting on the deck,
reading big tome. Along the bull
warks leaned a score Of men, gazing
at the coast. Not a glass, not an eye,
even, was turned on the pursuing Sen
egambian Queen.
wake then up, quartermaster,"
said Capt. William Avery. Send a
shot through their rigging and let
them show that they are alive, or
know that we are"
The lonk twelve spoke, the shot
passed harmlessly through the rigging
OF the brig, and then, like puppets in
| show, the men leaning on the bull
warks turned about, the captain closed
his book, and all gazed at the pirate
/ ship, calmly and in no alarm.
"Well, the shot half awakened
/ them" said Capt William Avery. eve
will see if we cannot drive all the
drowsiness from their eyes by board
| ing them. Ready for boarders!"
AS if to aid the design of the cap
tain, came a sudden freshening of the
breeze, carrying the Senegambian
| Queen almost to the stranger before
| it shook the latter's sails at all. And
then the eyes of the pirates fell upon
what deprived them of speech, and the
| misgivings that invaded their minds
would have made them turn tail and
away but that they were deprived of
the power of motion, too. From the
open mouth Of Capt. William Avery
came naught but a gasp, the helms
man stood frozen at the wheel, and
lake statues stood the boarders with
| their cleaning cutlasses and pixies,
| while swiftly closed the distance be-
| tween the well-groomed Senegambian
Queen and the decaying hulk, along
which ran phosphorescent CLEANS
down near the water in the shadow
that the two vessels made. On wealth
er-blackened masts hung yellow, tat
tered, widowed sails, and over the
crumbling bulwarks looked crew of
ancient, hoar men, clad in ragged,
faded garments of a past century.
"The Flying Dutchman! Cut the
| lashings! Port the helm!" cried Capt.
| William Avery, finding his voice at
| last and at last spun the wheel in the
helmsman's hands, and dozen men
sprang to do their commanders bid
ding, but leaped back in dread as a
venerable old man appeared, drawing
himself over the bulwarks and dropped
upon the deck of the Senegambian
| Queen.
"Who is it that thus rudely lies
aboard of the ship of Vanderdecken?"
he cried in q Quavering, yet deep and
powerful voice. Not an answer had he
save in the changing Of arms dropped
! by the pirates nearest him as they
scurried back into the ranks of their
comrades. But whatever your errand,
am ready to forgive the first men
who have not fed from rs in a cen
tury. Pirates you may be, but you are
also men, and the first we have seen
face to face in an hundred years. Like
lords shall you be treated. Come
aboard Of us. Malvoisie, Chianti, sher-
nv and the juices of the Rhine, mel
lowed by the flight of time until there
is nowhere It's like in this terrestrial
globe, shall be yours. Not even kings
can drink such wine as you shall have
with us. Come, we bear you no i'll
will, but love you like brothers, so
pleasant it is to see the faces and hear
the voices of men once more. Affair off
in storms, afar off in fair weather, but
always fleeing from our accused ship,
have we seen other ships, so unreal
that we have wondered if time had
not slain all mankind and we alone be
left in the world in the midst of fit
ting specters. Blessed be your dis
honesty, your temerity, whatever has
made you board us to-day. Pursue
ship we cannot, so slow are we. You
are the first who have pursued US.
| Como the good cheer waits -