Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1922-03-10

| cream separator. stand by with tnat
sling to-"
"But, Glib, my dear boy" protested
Captain Seraggs, this is insanity
II know it" said Mr.. Gibney calRlly.
"Seraggsy, you're perfectly right. But
I'd sooner die fightin' than let them
stand me up agin wall in Ensenada.
We're filibusters. Scraggsy, and we're
caught with the goods. I, for one, am
goin' down with the steamer Maggie.
bat Pm goin' down fightin' like a
bear"
'Maybe-maybe we can outrun her,
Glib" half sabbed Captain Scraggs.
"No hope" replied Mr.. Gibney.
Flight and die is the last resort.
| She's eight miles astern and gainin'
every minute, and when she's within
two miles she'll open fire. OF course,
we won't be hit unless they've got a
Yankee gunner aboard"
Lets run up the Stars and Stripes
and dare EN- to fire on u.s." said Cap
tain seraggs.
mo" said Mr.. Gibney firmly, "my
| old man died for the flag an I've
sailed under it too long to hide be-
hind 1t when Tn In Dutch. Well
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 Mr.. Glib
ney's simple faith in his own ability;
/ perhaps In his veins, all unknown,
| there flowed a faint of the heroic
blood of some forgotten ,sea-dog. Be
that as 1t may, something did swell
| in his breast when Mr.. Gibney spoke
of the flag and his scoring 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 amt
nobody to mourn for me. But if we
can't fight under the Stars and Stripes,
| by the tall of the Great Sacred Bull,
wen have a flag of our own" and
leaving Mr.. Gibney and the crew to
| get the guns on deck, Captain Scraggs
ran below. he appeared on deck pres
emily with long blue burgee on which
| was emblaZOned in white letters the
single word Maggie. 1t was his own
housefag, and with trembling hands
he ran 1t to the fore and east its
! wrinkied folds to the breeze of heaven.
Good old dishcloth !" shrieked Mr..
Gibney. "She never comes down"
I'D if she does," said Captain
Scraggs profanely.
Vile all this was going on, deck
| hand had reeved a block and tackle
through the end of the cargo gait
| ard passed 1t 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 am
munition for the guns Mr. Gibney, as
sisted by the other deekhand, pro-
| 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
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 run the
trail spade up against that cleat an
thatll keep the recoil from lettin the
gun go backward, clean through the
opposite rail and overheard. Gimme
a coupler gallons o distillate an some
waste. somebody. This cosmolines
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 Mr.. Gibney's
instructions Captain Scraggs held the
fuse setter In case it should be nee
essary TO adjust with shrapnel. Mr..
| Gibney inserted his sights and took
preliminary squirt. "A little differ
ent from gun-pointin' in the navy, but
about the same principle" he declared.
I'm the army l believe they call this
kind o shootin' direct fire, because
you sight direct on the target" He
scratched his ingenious head and ex-
amined the ammunition. mot a high
explosive shell In the lot" he mourned.
"Pll have TO use percussion fire to get
the range: then I'll drop back a little
an spray her with shrapnel. Seems
q pity to smash up a fine schooner
like that one with percussion fire. I'd
rather tickle 'em up bit with
shrapnel an scare EN- into runnin'
| away"
he got out the lanyard. slipped a
cartridge in the breech. paused, ana