388 The Story of the New England Whalers 



"Seeing this the officer in charge of the boat 

 hailed our ship, reported the state of things, and 

 wished to know if it was the captain's desire 

 that he should board in spite of resistance. Cap- 

 tain Waddell ordered the boat back to the Shen- 

 andoah, which immediately steamed towards the 

 contumacious Yankee, and ranged alongside. 



"The skipper still stood by his bomb gun with 

 his forces drawn up on deck as though he actually 

 meditated fighting it out. 



"Haul down your flag!' shouted the officer of 

 the deck as soon as we were near enough for his 

 voice to be heard on board the whaler. 



"Haul it down yourself, G d d n you, if 

 you think it will be good for your constitution ! ' 

 was the plucky response. 



" ' If you don't haul it down, we'll blow you out 

 of water in five minutes.' 



"Blow away, my buck, but may I be eternally 

 blasted if I haul down that flag for any cursed 

 Confederate pirate that ever floated." 



A boat was now sent to take the whaler on 

 board the Shenandoah. It was able to get along- 

 side the whale ship without a fight solely because 



