The Argosy, Vol. 75, No. 4 — page 156: what you’re looking at

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

858 The captain motioned me into the bow of the gig and we pulled for the great vessel lying in the offing. The great burly figure of the Welsh- man, clad in tarnished red velvet and, incongruous as it may seem, black leather breeches and wearing a wide- brimmed hat and sea-boots of soft leather, stood by the rail and welcomed his captains with gruff good humor as they came aboard. It was a curious face; deep devil- ment showed in the gray eyes and in- domitable spirit lurked in the square chin that thrust forward at us. Two pistols lay in his sash and a heavy, handsome cutlas swung from his belt by a silver chain. “Come below, gentlemen. I must have your words in this matter.” The cabin door closed on the nine, and, leaving the poop, I went forward to learn the temper of the men. The council was of but short dura- tion, and it seemed but a moment from the time we had boarded the craft till we were again in our boats making for our own vessels, while Morgan’s crew lined the rail to watch us as our men gave way, and crew after crew sent up a cheer as the boats sprang through the long surges under the impetus of brawny arms. On the Black Prince they had got a great grindstone up on deck under the shelter of the galley and were sharpening cutlases and furbishing the pikes, while the armorer was busily engaged in setting new flints in the ship’s muskets and pistols. On board of us, too, the great twenty-four-pounder gun that stood on a pivot amidships, and which was gen- erally covered with the longboat, was cleaned and polished; the breeching- tackle was rove through the blocks, and a dozen balls were placed in the racks along the coamings of the hatch- way, while the crew forward had made all the arrangements for the fight that they well knew would come. We bore away on our course again, and in less than an hour, just before 4 THE, ARGOSY. sunset, the call came from the lookout forward, “ Land ho!” * What is it like? ” “Stone fort on the headland, sir. There’s a flag flying, too, sir; but I can’t make out what it is,’ and as he answered we saw a puff of white smoke jump out of the blue blur to leeward, “Crowd on all gal! Set everything that she can carry alow and aloft, Mr. Anderson. I will take the ship.” Cap- tain Hetherington began to quietly pace up and down the weather side of the quarterdeck. The alarm was already given, and nothing was to be gained now by any attempt at concealment, so we ran straight in for the harbor. When we came within cannon-shot, ball after ball fell around us, testifying to the good-will, if not to the good marks- manship, of the Spaniards. We could not reply without yawing to get the aim with our bow guns, for the pivot-gun was useless as we lay, and it would have been dangerous to expose the ship to the fire of the heavy batteries while we fired in broadside. “Watch. for signals, Upholme! What does that say?” Captain Heth- erington pointed to a long string of particolored bunting that was broken out from Morgan’s ship. “Run in to a landing and call away your boarders,” J read, and we crowd- ed on all sail. Ship by ship, we ran into the fairway, where six vessels of the squadron unloaded their men un- der the very guns of the works without damage, for the pieces had been placed to command the approach by sea, and the beach was too close under the walls to be dangerous. The remaining vessels bore up to the north, and then turned westward around the headland to take the fort in flank. Ship by ship we passed slowly up the channel, each following close in the wake of the next ahead, and then, as we passed in where we no longer felt the terral, as the Spaniard calls the Gomichbooks (E@)