White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1929-07-12
CHAPTER v-Continued

We added another allied nation to
our list Of prizes when the Buenos
Aires came bowling along. She was
I'm Italian ship built in England, a
hne vessel but filthy dirty. Every
thing was untidy from stem to stern.
Her captain, fat, unkempt man OF
about fifty-five with a bristly nous.
tache and a months growth Of scrag-
ely stubble on his face, came aboard
the Seeadler carrying an umbrella
Can you imagine skipper of wind
TANNER carrying an umbrella at sea?
We couldn't, and my men all burst out
In rude outlaws. ! suppose he had 1t
to protect himself during a hurricane,
Ell? had once seen a photograph of
the Italian commander in chief, Count
Cadorna, carrying an umbrella. So
we Immediately dubbed our new skip
per Cadorna. He was genial fellow,
full Of good nature and fun. You
should have seen his establishment
when he saw the fine quarters we pro-
vided for our captive shippers. He
never did quite get over it. Apparent.
", he was better off as our prisoner
than he had been before.
One night, our lookout saw tiny
flash of light astern. A ship was com
ing along behind us, and somebody on
her had looked at his watch with a
pocket flash. We kept along on our
way. No doubt in the morning she
would still be close to US. Dawn
came, and there she was, a magnifi.
cent French barque, the La Rochefou-
cauld. We signaled her:
sImportant news"
She hove to. The captain, who was
Oh deck in his carpet slippers, saw our
gun but thought we were the mother
supply for squadron of British sub
marines Seeing that he was under
some illusion, decided to have a lit.
tie fun with him. called our cap
tured sailors to deck in patches. First
up came the Cinnamon. They lined
up along the rail SO that the French.
man could get good look at them
Then called the West Indian negroes
on deck. After them the white men
Now Chinese, now black men, now
Caucasians-the captain of the La
Rochefoucauld thought he must be
having nightmare. And most dis.
agreeable nightmare 1t was when be
saw the German flag run swiftly to
the tip OF our mainmast. You should
have heard him swear.
He climbed ont0- the Seeadler's
deck a picture of wrath and despair
He still had on his carpet slippers.
and had brought nothing with him
His name was Lecoq.
"D0n't you want to send for your
belongings. Captain Lecoq?" asked.
"If have to lose my ship, mon
Dieu, want to lose everything" he
replied.
"You don't want to take anything
with your
mo. let everything go down with
the ship"
Il sent a couple OF his sailors back
aboard the lie Rochefoucauld to pack
his luggage and bring 1T aboard the
Seeadler.
One Of my sailors came to me. say
Ing:
'sThey met cruiser couple OF
days ago"
My men had orders to circulate
among captured sailors and talk with
them to see what they could pick up
This sailor had heard mention of a
cruiser In the talk of the French
sailors.
That was funny. had asked Cap
tain Lecoq whether he had sighted any
ships within the past week, and be
had replied no. In his log | had
found no mention of being searched
by cruiser. One OF my officers ex.
hmfned The log again and found that
page had been torn out A thorough
questioning OF the French sailors
brought out the fact that they had
been thoroughly searched by British
cruiser. This warship had taken her
position three hundred miles south OF
US and was cruising back and forth
across the Pacific ship lane. examining
every vessel that passed So you see.
we, apparently, were picking them no
after she had O. KID them Captain
Lecou had hidden his men to say moth
ing sbout the cruiser. Apparently he
hoped that we would wander far
enough south to run afou of the Brit.
Usher and be captured.