Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1915-06-11
A Change Of
Commando
By DWIGHT NORWOOD

III tue OHleU time, WHEn Tue Duc-
cancers infested the Spanish main, an
English pirate named Ricketts,, finding
that the Atlantic was becoming poor
hunting ground on account of the
number OF skull and bones flags on 1t,
concluded to betake himself to the Pa
cifc. Having weathered the Horn, he
turned his course northwestward In the
hope Of falling in with merchantmen
among the many islands lying directly
south of the equator and east of Aus
tralia.
Ricketts,, though fifty years old, had
never sailed in any except Atlantic
waters. He had peer an officer in the
British navy and during the long pc
riod when the duties of British war
ships were to prey on Spanish COM
merce with Spain's possessions In the
new world had acquired a taste for
piracy. This induced him to go into
the business himself. He knew the
north and south Atlantic, their winds,
their currents. their periods of storms,
their fogs and protracted Gains. But
the Pacific was to him an UNEMPLOYED
tract.
None Of his officers had had any
more experience in the Pacific than
the captain. but one of them had heard
from sailors who had spent much
time on it that many of those indica-
lions which foretold a change of
weather were different from those on
the Atlantic. The captain, who had
oil a npfffchar,c oorRHanao ta hfuoooIf
secuted the idea that a man who knew
the Atlantic had anything to learn on
the Pacific, and a man who rules a
pirate ship is not to be contradicted.
While approaching the Marquesas
islands Ricketts, fell in with a ship
which be appropriated and compelled
the crew to walk the plank. There
was a gentleman aboard from the col
ony of New York named Fletcher, with
his wife and daughter, and being Brit
ish subjects, Ricketts, concluded to
spare them. There was also a young
sailor, Dargan, whose vigorous appear
ance pleased the captain, and he gave
him his life on condition that he join
the pirate crew. Dargan was an
American, but all his time was spent
at sea in voyages between the East
Indies and Philadelphia.
Dargan, by pretending to ~sympathize
with the pirates and on account of a
masterful way he had with him, ac-
quired an influence over the pirate
crew. The captain was a tyrant, and
the men hated him. Nevertheless they
were ignorant of navigation, a knowl-
edge their captain possessed, and re-
quired his superior intelligence to keep
them from being swung at the end of
a rope. For these eason Ricketts,
maintained his ascendancy and felt SO
confident in 1t that he did not notice
the influence Dargan was gaining ove
them.
One afternoon Ricketts, was pacing
the quarterback, now and again sweep
ing the horizon with his glass in search
of prey. when he heard a voice amid
ships sing out in stentorian tones:
MAN the weather bracesl"
The captAin turned with a scowl
to see who except himself dared give
an order on the ship he command
ed and saw Dargan and the men
running for the braces. Before Rick
etts could recover from his anger and
collect his faculties the braces were
manned and the sailors stood ready
for the next order.
drop those bracesr' cried the cap
tain in a fury.
Hold the braces" said Dargan
calmly, but firmly.
Every mans face turned from Oar
gan to Ricketts,. A few dropped the
braces; the rest held them. Whipping
a pistol from his belt, the commander
fired a shot at Dargan which grazed his
cheek.
There's a hurricane coming, men,"
said Dargan. IF you drop the braces
we are lost"
This steadied the men amazingly.
The captains pistol contained but one
ball, so he could not fire another. The
wind suddenly dropped, and the sails
tapped. Ricketts, looked at the water
to leeward and saw a black line com
ing.
Haul tautl Haul, every man of you.
for your livesr' cried Dargan.
The yards swung round SO as to take
the coming wind. Then suddenly the
stiffness wal broken by shrieks in the
rigging above. and the pirate ship ca
reened till the water poured yer the
lee gunwale. The crew chung to what
they could catch; the captain was pitch
ed against the rail and lay still with
a broken leg.
The storm was over in a few min
utes, and the sun came out, a harbinger
of changed conditions for the pirate
ship. Dargan, who was obeyed as