The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1923-07-13
CHAPTER VII
In the Old Haunts.


Now, see-the captaini" rOared
old Johannes. shaking the pole sup
port Of the palmetto thntch in his
turbulence. 1.-THE bo'sun Of the
Peterborough him. You older fell
lows, there He commands you In
this affair of the English woman And
you'-he leveled savage eyes upon
the younger islanders who crowded
under the thatch-"does any man
| speak against me7"
There was no answer The sweat
ing, motley crew pressed closer to
stare at Jean Lattice.
Gaspar Sazarac-henceforth Jean
Lafitte to the gathering members Of
his old adventuring crew which once
had numbered thousand men at the
Red fort ON Grand Terre reef sixty
miles to the southward-arose and
looked at the silent faces.
First" he said sternly, IT want
to know this matter of the muskets
stolen from the English ship at the
Algiers wharf 1t has hearing upon
this mystery of Madenoiselle Lestron,
1 imagine. The customs officers and
the British skipper alike are In an
uproar over it. Black Mlke-speak I"
IAN itch to be looting-that and the
drink" muttered Black Michel, I'M
easily. "An Irisher in the English
crew, who once had sailed with Paul
Jones, and later taken and impressed
into the kings navy-he wished to
desert, and meeting up with Bohon.
and John Crackley, who had fled from
the navy but a week before, he pro-
posed to seize the muskets. 1t APP
pears they were unloaded by q mis-
chance from the Genaron. The skip
per protested to the customs that the
arms were destined for the Mexicoes
and not for this port. And while
they quarreled of Ii, our fellows
lugged them Off Old Bulge was the |
dock Waterman, which made it easy"
"And you, Black Mike-what was
your part in it?"
"Oh, nothing They smuggled the
stuff on my lugger. that was all, and
cached it on ST. Joseph's island. Sure
ly my captain, you will not reproach
me over a little affair like that ~
There was a hoarse laugh. Even
the captain smiled.
Thirty cases of new muskets--
three thousands rounds Of ball-who
knows when we might ueed them?"
The captain looked out to the tidal
bayou winding through the painless
norass to the Mexican gulf. At the
waters edge, past the scl7ggy, hurri-
,ane-riy en- oaks, lay q dozen trappers'
irogues-slender swift canoes hol-
owed from single cypress log. Be
Tond, at their moorings, swung a trio
# red-sailed luggers, with the smoke
f their charcoal pots drifting lazlly
nto the air
''Bohon-" Jean summoned the
warthy Portuguese smuggler from the
lrong. Your lugger-twelv men to
le sweeps, for there Is no air. must
re the deserters from the English ship.
he Genaron was TO convey the Brit /
h mission to Vera Cruz. See here {
)ul Has there been among you of
tie, any man who whispered against
lie American occupation of louisiana?
OF openly, as did Captain Lockyer of !
e Sophia, who, as you older men will
landed at our fort with a i
yal commission for me, and the kings \
I'D for all who would betray New
rleans 10 Pakenhams fieetY
There was a shout. "Ayel The !,
-itish got our answer at Chalmettei :
no fought the Yankee bat'ries but .
r. Grand Terre punners 20
Even Old Hickory did not question :"
here they got their skill WI the TWEEN
four-pounders ~