The Washington herald., 1915-12-05
The SLAYER ''MOrr0''
b, HERBERT RUSSELL.

In the year lS56-a long time 10 LOON
back upon now.-I was a midshipman
on board H. NJ. S. Lapwing. raking
schooner of 2l0 tons. armed with four
carronades of a side, and Long Tom
on a traversing carriage forward. and
carrying ninety blue jackets in her
tween decks. The waters of the South
Atlantic and the Caribbean swarmed
with slavers in the thirties. mostly
schooners and feluccas clean-heeled.
wide-winged craft which seldom found
any trouble in giving the slip to the
ponderous square rigged warships that
went in quest of them.
On the particular day Of my story
We were patrollins the waters to the
south of the island of Cuba The hour
was about ) o'clock in the afternoon.
Lieut. Broadbent. the commander of
the schooner. stood against the weather
main -bac ackstay, steadying his telescope
against it, and peering dead in line with
our bowsprit end. Long and motionless
did he remain in that posture, then,
quietly shutting the tubes OF the glass.
he called to the boatswain and bade him
set the lonS-headed gaff topsail and the
foretopmast staysail.
Good. This means business, L NUT
tered to my companion. l stepped to the
side and gazed at the ocean beyond the
bows. Yes; there. sure enough, was the
tiniest Pickering speck of white. far as
the eye could reach.
She is certainly fore-and-aft ris.
exclaimed Lieut. Broadbent. land l
should say most probably a schooner
like ourselves. My opinion is that if
she isn't the Morro herself. she is an
other of the same breed. l wonder if
they've sighted us yet? Bound to have
done so, / should say Anyhow, there's $
nothing in. our appearance to cause them
uneasiness yet awhile They'll take us
for one of their own craft making the
passage with a hold full of negroes"
At o'clock she was not more than
half-a-league ahead of us. plainly
schooner, deep i'm the water, curtsey-
ing briskly TO the waves. with a sluice
of foam pouring out from under her.
counter.
Suddenly the commander turned hastily
away from his Ieveled glass and cried:
Mr. Murray-the Moro, ] can rcad her
name now plain as a pikestaff"'
"Hurrah.'' calculated the second lieu
tenant. hurrying to his side
Well come to business with him at
once exclaimed Broadbent There are
but two hours of daylight left but that's
abundance of time for our purpose. Get
the ensign hoisted. sir. if you please. Run
il up to the mail truck so that he may
see it without changing our course.
and then fire a blank round as signal
10 him to heave to. Meanwhile general
quarters. Mr.. Murray.
The second lieutenant passed the neces-
sary orders. and a ball of bunting soar
ed TO our mainmasthead. and broke forth
into the St Georges Cross. minute
later puff of white smoked spurted
through one of the forward portfolios. and
the stunning. sullen boom of cannonade
The stranger held steadily on We
continued in silence for a short while. al
ways steadily diminishing the distance
between the two vessels.
''Morro-that's plain as a pikestaff"
repeated Broadbent Mr. Murray throw
a round shot close aboard that schooner
Don't hit him. but let the splash come
near that he can't help seeing it.
Well try whether thatIl make him
heave-to."
The effect of this second gun was cleo
trical upon the hitherto impassive
hard down. and let fly her sheets. The
length of her graceful black hull drew
out as she rounded into the wind; and
with her sails shaking furiously she
speedily lost her way. and lay rising and
falling upon the run of the waves
In the meantime the commander was
instructing Lieut. Murray to get the
cutter hoisted out. to take a strong and
well-armed crew. and go aboard the
schooner. to demand her papers and in
sist upon her raising her matches.
1t CHANGED, much to my satisfaction.
that I was selected to 60 In the boat
Our complement for the expedition con-
sisted of twenty-five hands, armed with
boarding kit complete, and three officers.
The men stood together just abaft the
shrouds, watching us in silence. their
arms folded upon the bulwark rails. One
of them was a middle-aged person, with
reddish whiskers; the other was quite a
young fellow. with a hawks-bill nose,
clean shaven and hatchet faces. Both
wore wide Panama sunhats. They were
the only signs of life on board visible to
US from the boat.
The bowman took turn with the
painter around one OF the channel
plates and thus made the cutter fast.
Lieut. Murray sprang erect in the stern
sheets, and stretched across and grasped
one of the shroud lanyards.
hsa2ss
M2 .SN~.s