Novel 1974 - The Californios (v5.0) Read Online Free Page A

Novel 1974 - The Californios (v5.0)
Book: Novel 1974 - The Californios (v5.0) Read Online Free
Author: Louis L’Amour
Tags: Usenet
Pages:
Go to
than when we’re ashore.”
    At midnight he returned to the deck, took a sighting on a star, then turned in. Tennison sent Congo for him at four in the morning.
    Tennison returned to the deck after breakfast and the sea was empty. From the masthead they could see nothing.

 
     
    Chapter 3
----
     
    F ROM THE STARBOARD bow Captain Sean Mulkerin looked toward the California coast which lay just over the horizon. The big schooner would be over there, beating up the coast, perhaps sailing a little slower to check the coves for hiding places.
    Sean knew he was postponing the inevitable. Machado was a shrewd man, and he might sail right on to San Pedro and make contact with the authorities in Los Angeles.
    A cold wind was blowing on this morning, and the sea was choppy.
    At twenty-two Sean Mulkerin was a veteran of several years at sea. Born on the ranch at Malibu he had grown up herding cattle, hunting and wandering in the mountains, breaking wild horses, and sailing to the Channel Islands with the Chumash.
    At fourteen he made his first voyage with his father. They sailed down the coast to Mazatlán, Acapulco, and Tehuantepec. His second voyage, later the same year, was to Panama, Callao, and Valparaiso. Another six months ashore and he was back at sea again, now grown to his full height of five feet and ten inches. This voyage took him to Hawaii, Shanghai, Macao, and Taku Bar. The ship had started for home when it reached Taku Bar and word of rich cargoes in the Moluccas turned them back. From there they had sailed to Samoa and Tahiti before returning home.
    At sixteen Sean weighed one hundred and eighty pounds. Between the hard work on the ranch and at sea he had grown tough and strong. And at eighteen made his first trip as mate. By that time he was a veteran of dozens of brawls in as many ports.
    The frequent wars and rebellions in Latin America had spawned a number of privateers sailing under letters of marque from one country or another, most of them with European crews prepared to attack any likely looking ship, whether an enemy vessel or not.
    The
Lady Luck,
like many another merchant vessel of the time, was armed. She carried four guns amidships and a Long Tom on the stern.
    Sean’s first sea fight had occurred on his first voyage, an hour-long battle with a privateer in the Gulf of Tehuantepec.
Lady Luck
’s amidship guns were below deck, concealed behind ports invisible from more than a hundred and fifty feet. The privateer, a brig with sixteen guns anticipated no trouble. Ordering
Lady Luck
to heave to, it closed in rapidly.
    Jaime Mulkerin had been master of his own ship on that voyage. He was sure that he could outrun the brig but he needed sea room.
    Expecting no trouble, the privateers had not manned their guns. They could see the Long Tom astern but no gunner was near it and unless the schooner changed course that gun could not be brought to bear.
    “Load with canister,” Jaime ordered. “Fire at my word and try to sweep their decks. Reload immediately and aim at their water line.” He stood at the wheel.
    His crew was six men, and at least forty privateers could be seen on the brig. Slowly the brig drew abreast, and at thirty yards range, Jaime gave the order. The ports flew up, the guns ran out.
    From the brig there was a shout of alarm, drowned in the boom of
Lady Luck
’s two starboard guns. The unexpected blast of fire swept the deck of the other ship.
    Caught by surprise the brig had no chance to man her guns. The decks were bloody, littered with the dead and dying, and her one shot had whistled harmlessly between the schooner’s two masts.
    The Long Tom, loaded with solid shot, struck the mainmast, ripped a chunk from it and passed on through the afterdeckhouse. Jaime Mulkerin shook out all of his ship’s canvas and the
Lady Luck
began to pull away. Standing in the stern Jaime gave a parting wave of his cap.
    It was his mother who worried Sean now. The Señora was a strong, capable woman, even
Go to

Readers choose