Part 90

Winslow smiled.

"It's impossible," said he. "She's simply coming around!"

But the Deerhound kept on.

Another officer approached the commander of the Kearsarge.

"That beastly yacht is carrying off our men," said he. "Better bring her to, Captain!"

"No Englishman who carries the flag of the Royal Yacht Squadron can so act!" Winslow replied,--somewhat pettishly. "She's simply coming around."

But she never "came around," and Captain Raphael Semmes was soon safe upon British soil. He had fought a game fight. The superior gunnery of the sailors of the Kearsarge had been too much for him. Nine of his crew were dead and twenty-one wounded, while the Kearsarge had no one killed and but three wounded; one of whom died shortly afterwards.

Thus,--the lesson is:

If you want to win: Learn how to shoot straight!

* * * * *

Captain Raphael Semmes died quietly at Mobile, Alabama, August 30th, 1877. His ill-fated Alabama had inflicted a loss of over seven million dollars upon the commerce of the United States.

A number of wise men met, many years afterwards, in Geneva, Switzerland, and decided, that, as the British Government had allowed this vessel to leave their shores, when warned by the American minister of her character and intention to go privateering, it should therefore pay for all the vessels which the graceful cruiser had destroyed. England had broken the neutrality laws.

John Bull paid up.

But, --Boys-- it hurt!

EL CAPITAN

"There was a Captain-General who ruled in Vera Cruz, And what we used to hear of him was always evil news: He was a pirate on the sea--a robber on the shore, The Señor Don Alonzo Estabán San Salvador.

"There was a Yankee skipper who round about did roam; His name was Stephen Folger,--Nantucket was his home: And having sailed to Vera Cruz, he had been skinned full sore By the Señor Don Alonzo Estabán San Salvador.

"But having got away alive, though all his cash was gone, He said, 'If there is vengeance, I will surely try it on! And I do wish that I may be hung,--if I don't clear the score With Señor Don Alonzo Estabán San Salvador.'

"He shipped a crew of seventy men--well-arméd men were they, And sixty of them in the hold he darkly stowed away; And, sailing back to Vera Cruz, was sighted from the shore By the Señor Don Alonzo Estabán San Salvador.

"With twenty-five soldados, he came on board, so pleased, And said 'Maldito, Yankee,--again your ship is seized. How many sailors have you got?' Said Folger, 'Ten--no more,' To the Captain Don Alonzo Estabán San Salvador.

"'But come into my cabin and take a glass of wine, I do suppose, as usual, I'll have to pay a fine: I've got some old Madeira, and we'll talk the matter o'er-- My Captain Don Alonzo Estabán San Salvador.'

"And, as over the Madeira the Captain-General boozed, It seemed to him as if his head were getting quite confused; For, it happened that some morphine had travelled from 'the Store' To the glass of Don Alonzo Estabán San Salvador.

"'What is it makes the vessel roll? What sounds are these I hear? It seems as if the rising waves were beating on my ear!' 'Oh, it is the breaking of the surf--just that, and nothing more, My Captain Don Alonzo Estabán San Salvador!'

"The Governor was in a sleep, which muddled up his brains; The seventy men had caught his 'gang' and put them all in chains; And, when he woke the following day, he could not see the shore, For he was away out on the sea--the Don San Salvador.

"'Now do you see the yard-arm--and understand the thing?' Said rough, old Folger, viciously--'for this is where you'll swing, Or forty thousand dollars you shall pay me from your store, My Captain Don Alonzo Estabán San Salvador!'

"The Captain he took up a pen--the order he did sign-- 'O my, but Señor Yankee! You charge great guns for wine!' Yet it was not until the draft was paid, they let him go ashore, El Señor Don Alonzo Estabán San Salvador.

* * * * *

"The greater sharp will some day find another sharper wit; It always makes the Devil laugh to see a biter bit; It takes two Spaniards, any day, to comb a Yankee o'er-- Even two like Don Alonzo Estabán San Salvador."