The Boy Soldier; Or, Garibaldi's Young Captain — page 317: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

. c: . - THE BOY SOLDIER: OR, GARIBALDI'S YOUNG CAPTAIN. _ oll ee place about thirty leagues, west of Acapulco, he steered directly for that harbour, where he safely arrived. | »I my no: His first business. here, after a vain attempt to open intercourse with the natives, was to desta three’ of his ships, in order \to;/strengthen, - crews of the méen-of-war; so as to enable.them to undertake with more safety the »~passage across the Pacifici; | 01) Sty huevos, dedd bo Having watered:and | provisioned: his, two ships that were remaining, he weighed anchor, and pro- ceeded on his voyage. | G1 After experiencing much bad weather one of Captain Tom’s small) vessels, haying lost moat, of her spars, became so leaky that it was found impos- sible to keep her any longer above water. - Accordingly the crew was removed to Tom’s own vessel, and the othcr was set on fire. On the 26th Captain Tom arrived at Carthagena. By this time Tom's crew had suffered so. much from sickness and death that scarcely a, hundred men remained fit for duty. Ke They were immediately landed for the, recovery of their health, and, after remaining on the island some days Captain Tom again stood out to sea.and came to an anchor near the city of Pernambuco, After many “provoking delays; and difficulties, Captain Tom obtained permission’ from the au- thorities to repair his ship and replenish his* stock of provisions. 9’ 1) 2 EBD This being at length satisfactorily accomplished he put to sea'‘again, and resolved once more to try and intercept the treasure ship im her passage back to Manilla. J He continued cruising for several weeks, when at an early hour in’ the morning, to the inexpressible joy of the whole‘crew, they discovered a sail from the mast-head, (J There “was no! doubt ‘but’ that this :was -the long expected treasure slip. bis The gallant young captain-im mediately stood to- wards her, and at half-past seven she was visible from the quarter'decky L) RAB LONE At this time the Manilla craft: fired a gun and took in her top-gallant sails, which was’supposed to be'a signal’ for assistance, and ithe gallant Tom, by way of amusing her, fired a gun to leeward, In the méantime the stranger did not change her course, but to Captain Tom’s surprise bore down upon him. ‘ aft nt ‘For he could hardly believe what afterwards ap- peared to be the case, that she knew his ship, and had resolved to fight him. Bh | About noon the stranger hauled up her foresail, and brought to, on her top-sails hoisting Mexican colours, and having Maximilian’s colours flying at the top-gallant-mast-head. Meanwhile Captain Tom picked.out about, thirty of his best marksmen, whom he distributed. into his tops. thy As he had, not hands enough left to quarter a sufficient number in the customary manner to each gun; he, on.her lower tier, fixed only two men to each gun, who were, to be solely employed in The rest of his people,were divided into different gangs of ten or twelve men each, who,were to be continually moying about the decks, to run out and fire such guns as were loaded. | By this:management he was enabled to make use of all his guns... td patty : oh And instead of whole broadsides, with intervals between them, to keep up a constant fire without intermission, : From which he hoped to procure great. adyan- tages. The “Spitfire” now approached the stranger very fast. But several squalls of wind and rain often ob- scured her from their sight, However, when it cleared up, they found her lying to. About one o'clock, the ‘‘ Spitfire,” being within gunshot of the enemy, hoisted her broad pendant and colours, and the gallant Tom perceiving that the stranger had till then neglected clearing their ship, and were throwing their cattle and lumber overboard, he gaye orders to fire upon them with their chase guns, to disturb them in their work, and prevent them completing it. The stranger instantly returned the fire with two of her stern-chasers, and the ‘Spitfire’ getting her sprit sail-yard fore and aft, that if necessary she might be ready for boarding. The stranger, in a bravado, also rigged their sprit sail fore and aft, The “ Spitfire” soon after came abreast of the enemy, within pistol shot. The engagement now began in earnest, and for the first half-hour Captain Tom over-reached the stranger, and lay on her bows, where, from the wideness of the ports, he could traverse almost all his guns upon the enemy. i The stranger could bring only a part of her’s to ear. _ At the beginnirg of the action the mats with which the stranger had stuffed her nettings took fire, and, burning violently, blazed up nearly half as high as the mizen top. This accident, which was supposed to be caused by the “Spitfire’s ” wads, filled the enemy with the utinost terror, and also alarmed Captain Tom, who was in pain from the apprehension of the stranger being burned, and from the possibility of her driv- ing on board him, The strangers, however, at last freed themselves from the fire by cutting away the netting, and tumbling the whole heap, which was in flames, into the sea. Meanwhile, the “Spitfire ’ kept her first advan- tageous position, firing her guns with great brisk- ness and regularity, while the stranger’s decks lay open to her top-men, who, having at their first volley driven the enemy from their tops, made prodigious havoc with their small arms, killing or wounding every officer but one that appeared on the quarter-deck, and in particular wounding the commander of the stranger vessel himself. | But when the ‘Spitfire’ had continued in this advantageous situation about half-an-hour, she lost the superiority she had gained by it, and was close alongside the enemy, who continued firing most.. briskly for nearly an hour longer. Yet, in this position Captain Tom Ford’s grape- shot so effectually swept their decks, and the num- ber of their slain and wounded became so consider- able, that they began. to fall into great disorder, and the ships were so near that some of Maxmilian’s officers were seen running about with much assi- duity to prevent the men from deserting their quarters. But these endeavours were vain. For after they had as a last effort fired five or six guns with more judgment than usual they submitted. And as the stranger’s colours here in the begin- ning of the action singed off the ensign-staff, she struck the standard at her maintop-gallant mast- head, QO MICLO© CO SoCO