Show ai MAE T W 2 1 AMIL A MIL mom 11 I 1 ea by B N orvell by LJ i dy doran IM A C 2 L CHAPTER VII 10 the last cruise of the pour pou old pinmore binmore one night the breeze having beconi bero urit light we proceeded under a cloud 0 of sail it was a alghi such as you yoi rarely tind find anywhere but in the file tropics the four scintillating stars of 0 the ali southern cross twinkled merrily down upon us our suits were full and UK tire waves murmured post past our how bow the th sky was a gorgeous spread ot of blinking stars and old man moon was so si bright that he be seemed to be laughin lit and chuckling the buccaneers bucca deck was crowded we sat around in geril genial lil fra eternity tern ity officers prisoners and crew each with a goblet ot of champagne what ho he a light I 1 my lly night telescope nl at my eye I 1 saw a ship on the bo horizon brightly outlined by the lie light of tile moon stood a stately three master our flash signal flared out across the water heine to 10 a german cruiser un on able to make us out she little guessed that we were nothing more inure than a sailing ship from which she could easily escape by slipping through the hie night we were confident she would tale take us for or an armored cruiser easily able to cutch catch her and blow her out oui of the sea with a broadside we waited a al the rail to see what would went happen Preset presently itly we heard a splashing of oars oara out of the lie dark ness came a halls hail the lie loll JoIl lest hull bull I 1 have hare ever listened to it was in nasal seaport french what a relief instead of a boche cruiser I 1 find you are nn an old wind jammer like ourselves but why by lite jole joke your signal fooled us complete ly I 1 suppose you want to tell us u something somei liing about the war come on board I 1 replied IV we e have lots of neus we were in our shirt shin sleeves arid and looked like illie ordinary seamen on oil deck be sold said proudly 1 I 1 am a frenchman As though we have guessed it A frenchman fine how Is 16 france doing abl ah I 1 france she Is victor victorious rous or will be very soon ravi de voir tie ile fairly bubbled oer with delight when we offered him bin a bottle of champagne being homeward boni eard bound he was to in a frolicsome mood he was such a cheery convivial soul that thai I 1 buted to break the bad news to him I 1 left the progress of events to do that ile he wanted to have buve a look over our ship so I 1 ushered him film aft to my cabin and threw open the door ue lie took a step forward and recoiled on the walls ere pictures of the kaiser hindenburg ladendorff Luden dorff and von and it large german ong flag des allemand sl tie lie groaned yes I 1 said we are germans then we are lost per dieu 1 yes per dieu you are lost ile he stood with ills fo forehead in one band hla his despair was bulb both bragio and comic to behold 1 tried as best besl I 1 could to say a few words of cheer well captain you are not the only one to lose your ship during the nr ar tomorrow 1 tou too may be sulk or the next dext day lie he replied in the most domzil tone it Is not so BO much the loss loa ot of my ship cut but its that I 1 feel I 1 lime haie only e myself to blame tor for it in where I 1 lay in port alib my dupleix two of troy my fellow captains warned me alk oot not to turl start until they bad cabled our oui owners for final instructions and ner nef about U bouts and cruisers bl our owners would instruct us to keep off the usual course they sald but the wind was fatir and I 1 thought li it best to lake adrun tuge of it IL so without walling waiting tw for a reply from our owners ori ers I 1 sailed from valparaiso ahead of the other oilier two captains plains cu and auw because I 1 did not take their advice I 1 have lost the luphel lup lel my ship mun blon lieu dieu who un an I 1 was now the will report it II to my owners and I 1 III never get gel a hip again what were tile names anines of your friends ships the antonin tire the antonin under captain lecora Lec 7 yes and the lu la orderly I 1 called in german tile the captain did not understand bring of up captains numbers ge ani all nine while we walled waited I 1 invited my mournful guest to have some more cham champagne but he refused unit und con tinned holding his head and moaning hig A knok nl at the door come in and in walked tile the captains of the antonin and the la they bad been on board ten and three oliree days respectively the crip captain tain of the dupleix biped kli eli toul la in francel france he cried aull of ironical he raised re ased his girls ginis gin is of and saluted them then thed with joy that lie made no effar to conc crmoil cu moil etil he clasped tire the hands tit the two hose adice lie hart find ono and wito had encountered the same saine fate us its lie he they Ms ilia welcome el corne belh fill it a gilm t li humor 1 tile price ot of these three cap call lita kalns fris the hie See Se udler cadler represented si lobs ot len thorgund thou gund tuna lung of salt n petre destined for or french powder mills anti nii a fining of hundreds perhaps of german lives 0 a a one ie S sunday unda morning we sighted a large anre e british barque lii bacque arid started after tier her she thought we were d raiful ly tier lier to a race and t tried t to run away I 1 dont know whether whet lier we could liae haie caught her in ID a straight stif sniffing stiffing fing ship against sailing ship con test at al any rate our motor gave us the edge A strange stra tige feeling come over me AS we guined ou on tier her and as tier her lines became mure more distinct it was a sense of sadness rind anil if vague dimly dawn daun ing III had I 1 seen that thai ship before was it possible signal and ask her for or her name dame I 1 called our bignal ong went aloft the reply came baak Illin wore all ali my mv old binmore on which I 1 had lie he longest and must bar rutting toyace tit of my life memories swept over me of those hose endless storms and of the disease on hoard board berl berl my aly whole being seemed to leap back to the dais of my youth homesickness seized me I 1 could not say a word to Leudeman Leude manni nj who stood beside me no ni use tile the ship must be sunk a harsh inner liner voice told me it uns as hard for me to sink any sall sail ing ii essel lint but cruel to have to sink my old ship I 1 felt as though she were a kind mother no sailor bailor with ally kind of sailors soul in ID film elm will raise a hand against his own ship we tonk tier her as we bad taken the others when tier her crew came aboard I 1 looked for familiar faces there were rione none the skipper captain mul ten len came up to me iab with a humorous scam anly air well captain out our hard bard tuck luck Is your good luck luki I 1 felt like saying do you call this lucky lie ile was a typical old beanum beaman afraid delther neuiS in war nor storms at sea the seen seibu seas had been his home like the sailing strip ship the old time windjammer captain Is vanishing Cal baltau tau mullen was indeed like the king ofa of a vani vanishing stift race he Ile swaggered dou below and saluted our other skippers with alth a jovial air he soon became the leading figure of the cup cap talus club when every one had left the loin more I 1 had a boat take me over to tier her I 1 clambered aboard and sent the boat and its crew back telling them I 1 would give them a ball when I 1 wanted them again why does the count want to re mail alone aboard her I 1 beard one of them say I 1 went to the toc ste there was waa my bunk the elie same old bunk where I 1 had bleat night after night fur for mouths months und and had tumbled out countless times tit nt the command nil all hands bands on deck while those endless storms bore down upon us I 1 paced tire the planks on deck here I 1 had stood watch so often it seemed as though I 1 had never seen thai ilia deck save in a storia T those base kales gales had left so deep an imprint on my memory Dien lory that it gave rue me a sense of strangeness to see fee the sun shining in n the Vinni ores planks and a slowly ay treating heaving sea around I 1 remembered a cunning little cat I 1 tied had once onuel on board tier her the captains wife wanted it the steward gut got it 1 tor for tier her I 1 told the steward that it lie he did not bring it II back to tile me I 1 would go to the captain tire the steward laughed ut ul me I 1 determined to com coin iraln plain to tire culp tain about tin steward a und nd his wife ife und and demand my cat back I 1 could coal see bee myself as I 1 had wrathful ily strode tilling along the deck to the he cabin the rhe sight of the door made me stop I 1 mustered up my courage and ad laired again I 1 ventured just far fai enough to peep in at the door which was ajar the skipper us as sitting there chere reading ng a paper one glymps e of of tile the toaster masler and all of Ili elax lue lne discs bravery oozed away he fie turned and tiptoed away I 1 never did get my cut cul hack back and forever after held a grudge against the steward 1 I could still feel tile the old eni enmity tilty if I 1 could have found that steward I 1 would have let him know how the nd of a rope felt I 1 went to 0 o file cabin 1 und nd bill bair buir opened the door it was wag much AS n lien I 1 had seen it last the bright rainbow glow of the colored skylight gave me die BD an old familiar feeling something restrained me froin entering I 1 did not dot dare go to ID then I 1 would not now at the stern I 1 looked tor for my name which I 1 had once carved on the rail I 1 found it half effaced by time and weather I 1 read it slowly spelling it out as a child spells its first lessons P H E L A X LU IU R E 13 1 G 1 K I 1 looked at the compass beside which I 1 had watched tor for hours the commoss Is a sacred place to a sailor bailor this ship I 1 thought carried we me safely the storms were wild all the way from frisco around the horn to Lher pool they wanted to take us as every man aboard but the good old IiD IMa inore ought fought against wind and wave over leagues anti ami leagues ot of dreary waste arid and brought us safely to port yes she was our mother molher our kindly protecting pes mother the deserted ship with an unguided helm hello rolled back and forth the rigging creaked and groaned it seemed to be a voice a voice that hurt burl me every spar seemed to say so here you are phel phelan back again where have you been all these years where here Is all ahe he crew what do you want here alone what are you going to do with me little had bad I 1 dreamed Lamed dr when I 1 was a sailor on this fine bacque barque that one day I 1 would walk her decks again oot dot fig as a seaman but as the commander of a aulder returning to the Se eadler endler I 1 shut myself up in my cabin in the dis bauve tauve aik e I 1 heard the roar of a bomb and I 1 knew that my old kinmore pinmore bad started on OD tier her last cruise CHAPTER VIII the life of a modern buccaneer although our old jolly boat was waa a raiding auxiliary cruiser she also degenerated into a breed of passenger ship too our passengers were our prisoners pi that made the situation some lint unusual and added a bit of spice ive served as an officer aboard a dozen or more liners and have seen all kinds and strata of society aboard including dull delightful ill natured jovial both the quick and the dead yes I 1 have bad some splendid passenger lists on voyages where every bout was gay and bubbling with tun fun but no group of passengers on a liner ever enjoyed such happy comradeship as did we aboard our buccaneering bucca craft the tact fact that we vre were captors and captives only seemed to make it all the jo jollier iller we took the greatest pleasure to in making tile alie time agreeable tor for our prisoners rith games concerts cards and story telling we tried to feed them well and I 1 think we did which helps a lot as agree we throw it at them either in tact we served special meals tor for all the nations whose ships hips we captured one day our own german chet chef cooked and that boy was waa some cook as you say the next day an english cookie then the french chef then the italian to make us some polenta the tha english food was the worst it usually Is on the other hand the americans fed ed their sailors best of all its ita long been a tradition on yankee clippers in the old days the american ships were famous for frightful work and much brutality but the food was good today the work 1 Is not bad and there Is no DO brutality but tire the food Is hilll at III good the prisoners seemed to appreciate our intentions lutent lons thoroughly they wanted to do everything they could tor for us in return feeling of patriotism should have made them hope for our early destruction but more elemental sentiments ot of gratitude and friendship obliterated the more artt octal passions of war viar hatred I 1 ard am sure that very few of our passengers wished us any III or gloated in the hope of our being sunk by the cruisers crul seri of their nations I 1 think it really hurt many 0 of them to realize that the day probably would come when hen we would be caught and go down under a rain of allied shellfire that magnificent frenchman the captain of the charles gounod kept aloof from the general fraternizing and scrupulously kept up dp his manner of cold politeness and stately hostility toward us but even lie he thawed out a few degrees although he tried hard to keep frona from showing it there was only one of our prisoners who behaved himself in any way that could be considered improper that thai was captain lecoq l who had cherished hopes that we would run afoul of the british cruiser you see the skip perg aboard were quite tree free to go where they liked on the ship except that lint I 1 asked each one as he came aboard not to go into the tore fore part of the ship and I 1 explained why TO or BE CONTINUED |