United States or Ghana ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Rhett's crew tumbled into the scuppers, where they were under the partial cover of the bulwark, but many were killed, even before they could reach this shelter, and living and dead rolled down together, as in a ghastly comedy. The boys, intent upon this awful scene, turned as a shout from Job Howland swelled above the uproar. The big gunner was at the breach of his swivel-gun, ramrod in hand.
Poor fellow, he was very glad, fired his swivel-gun, and then brought up for breakfast. The general character of the Samarahan is similar to that of other rivers flowing through alluvial soils; the stream is deep, with muddy banks and bottom, and apparently free from danger or obstruction.
The boat pulled eight oars, and there were two marines in the bows, and two in the stern-sheets, sitting with their muskets between their knees. In the bows of the boat was a small swivel-gun, and all the bluejackets with cutlasses and pistols.
"We shan't be able to keep 'em in sight at this distance, if they've sighted us, which most likely they have. I'm going up to have a look at 'Long Poll' now." Accompanied by the two boys, he made his way along the steeply canted deck of the plunging schooner to the breach of the swivel-gun at the bow.
Nixon therefore launched out on the habits of the sacred bird the crimes committed by the swivel-gun in the hands of the marketmen, the consequent scarcity of the game and the near approach of the time when the only rare specimens would be found in the glass cases of the museums, ending his talk with a graphic description of the great wooden platters of boiling-hot terrapin which were served to passengers crossing to Norfolk in the old days.
The prau had by this time been rowed to its station, and from the stir on deck it was now evident that the brass swivel-gun was being loaded and preparations made to send a volley of missiles tearing through the stern windows. "That will be awkward, Gregory," said the major. "Do a lot of damage, sir," said the mate coolly.
He kept his armed men lying down in the boats and covered with oilcloth like goods. Hundreds of red-skins were squatting on the beach, awaiting the coming of the flotilla. The canoes ranged up along the shore. Then, at a signal, the coverings were thrown off, and a rain of bullets was poured into the defenceless savages, while a swivel-gun mowed down the victims of this brutality.
An American flag floated from the prow, and behind the flag the universal types of progress everywhere goods for trade and a swivel-gun. Horses were led alongshore for hunting, and two pirogues sharp at prow, broad at stern, like a flat-iron or a turtle glided to the fore of the keel boat.
Don Leonardo was not at all alarmed he had fought too many battles with the negroes to fear them. He quietly prepared his fire-arms, and loaded to the muzzle a heavy swivel-gun he kept mounted at one of the main windows, while he gave arms to such of his slaves as he felt confidence in, and to his immediate retainers.
In half an hour the largest boat, which carried a brass swivel-gun in her bows, was stretching gracefully across the bay, with her three white sails flashing back the sunset. The lieutenant steered, and he had four men with him, of whom Cadman was not one, that worthy being left at home to nurse his bruises and his dudgeon.
Word Of The Day