Williams news., 1922-05-05

|
 these guns. Here they are, labeled
 cream separator Stand by with thai
 sling to"
 But, Glib, my dear boy" protested
 Captain Scraggs, ''this is insanityl''
 "I know it," said MT. Gibney calmly | ''ScraggSy, you're perfectly right. But
 I'd sooner die fightin' than let them
 stand me up agin a wall in Ensenada
 We're filibusters, Scraggsy, and we're
 caught with the goods. I, for one, am
 goin' down with the steamer Maggie,
 but I'm goin' down fghtin' like a | bear"
 ''Maybe-maybe we can outrun her, | Gib," half sobbed Captain Scraggs. ~
 "No hope" replied MT. Gibney.
 Flight and die is the last resort. | She's eight miles astern and gainin' l every minute, and when she's within 1 two miles she'll open fire. Of course, we won't be hit unless they've got q ! Yankee gunner aboard.''
 'Let's run up the Stars and Stripes l and dare 'em to fire on us,'' said Cap tain Scraggs.
 NO" said MT. Gibney firmly, .:my l old man died for the flag an I've | sailed under it too long to hide be- | hind 1t when I'm in Dutch. We'll fight. If you was ever navigatin' of fcer- on a Colombian gunboat, Scraggs, you'd. realize what 1t means to run ] from a Mexican" ... -- . Captain Scraggs said nothing fur ther. Perhaps he was little ashamed of himself in the face of Mir. Gib- ney's simple faith in his own ability perhaps in his veins, all unknown, there flowed a taint of the heroic blood of some forgotten sea-dog. Be; that as it may, something did swell in his breast when MT. Gibney spoke of the flag and his scorning to hide behind it, and Scraggs' .snaggle teeth came together with a snap.
 "All right, Glib, my boy" he said solemnly, I'm with you. Mrs. Scraggs has slipped her cable and there ain't nobody to mourn for me. But if we can't fight under the Stars and Stripes, by the tail of the Great Sacred Bull, we'll have a flag of our own,' and leaving MT. Gibney and the crew to get the guns on deck. Captain Scraggs ran below. He appeared on deck pres ently' with long blue burgee on which was emblazoned in white letters the single word Maggie. It was his own housefag, and with trembling hands he ran it to the fore and cast its wrinkled folds to the breeze of heaven.
 Good old dishcloth !' shrieked MT. Gibney. "She never comes down.
 'D-d if she does,'' said Captain Scraggs profanely.
 While all this was going on. a deck hand had reeved a block and tackle through the end of the cargo gaf and passed it to the winch. The two guns came out of the hold in jig time, and while Scraggs and one deckhand opened the after hold and got out ann intuition for the guns, MT. Gfbney, as- sisted by the other deckhand, pro- ceeGed to put one of the guns to- gether. He was shrewd enough to realize that he would have to do prac- tically all of the work of serving the gun himself, in view of which condi- ton one gun would have to defend the Maggie. He had never seen a mountain gun before, but he did not find it difficult to put the simple me chanism. together.
 ''Now, then, Scraggsy,' he an nOunced cheerfully when the gun was finally assembled on the carriage, ''get a sizeable timber an spike it to the center O, the deck. I'll ruin the | trail spade up against that cleat an that'll keep the recoil from lettin' the | gun go backward, clean through the | opposite rail and overheard. Gimme |
 
 waste, somebody. This cosmoIine's | got to come out O. the tube an out O. | the breech mechanism before we com mence shootin'." ;
 The enemy had approached within | three miles by the time the piece was ready for action. Under MT. Gibney's instructions Captain Scraggs held the fuse setter in case it should be nee essary to adjust with shrapnel Mir. Gibney inserted his sights and took 6 squint. "A little differ ent from gun-pointint in the navy, but about. the same princiole,'' he declared. ''In the army. I belie<,e they call this kind O Shootin' direct fire, because you sight direct on tie target" He scratched his ingenious head and ex- amined the ammunition ".Not a high explosive shell in the lot''- he mourned. ''I'n have to use percussion fire to get the range; then I'll drop back a little an' spray her with shrapnel Seems a pity to smash up fine schooner 1 like that one with percussion fire. I'd rather tickle 'em up a bit with sbrapnel an scare 'em into ruf,1sn' away"
 He got out the lanyard, slipped a cartridge in the breech, paused, and scratched his head again. His calm deliberatfon was driving Scraggs crazy. He reminded Mir Gibney with some asperity that they were not at ending strawberry festival and for the love of heaven to get busy.