The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1856-02-06
est. and that I can do" he said.

4 tucduS II, aJu = HSuI up W Iuc StOI'
with him.. / did want cabin boy, bu
l hadn't made any arrangements for an,
because just such one as 1 wantcc
about me all the time, was hard to find
At the store / asked Mr.. Van Vert (ht
was an old friend of mine) about the
boy He told me that the boys father
used to. be porter in the store but tina,
he died about two mouths before and
the boy was now an orphan, his mother
having been dead some years. Then he
took me aside, and says he:
IF you want q boy, captai,, you'll
find him faithful ono, He's been with
me, off and on, ever since he was quite
young"
Of course I took him. His name was
Edward Grover, though he gaid twas
Ned, and SO Ned we called him. Two
days after that tug towed US out,
and we stuck cur nose clear of Sandy
Hook before dinner. First we went to
Calcutta and then to Canton; and ,na-
ny time did 1 bless my stars that Ned
Grover was with me, for my own child
couldn't have been more faithful than he
was. And then he was bold fellow,
too and never was the blow that could
shake him, nor the storm that could
blanch him. On the royal yard he was
like squirrel on tree, and he was as
quick of wit as he was Of body.
Well, our business was all done up at
Canton, and only had to touch at Sin.
gapore on my way home unless I chose
to heave-to at Batavia We had splen-
did run down the Chinese Sea, making
the Natunas in just eight days. In
three days from that we were among the
Anambus Islands-off Malacca, you
know. Most of these Islands We left on
the starboard beam, and along towards
the middle of the afternoon Lamsang
was on the lee bow, and not more than
six miles distant. always took the
eastern run of Lamsang, because knew
the channel. Since morning the wind
had been light and variable. though not
battling, but it had now kind of settled
down in the westward as though to rest
itself-for with studdinc sails below aud
aloft, we didn't run off more than three |
kpots at the ouside.
1t was just four o'clock when I came
on deck to see how the land lay, and I
found Lamsang then just about eabeam,
but as the wind now came, the island
was to windward of US, and four miles
distant. looked at the compass, at
the sails, and was then looking out for
the land when the man in the main top
hailed the deck:
What is it ?'
"A Malay proa l' he answered.
" right in shore by that rock. There
don't you see her ?''
I Hooked, and 1 did see her. I sent
Ned for my glass, and by the time he
came with is the proa had come out in
full sight from behind the rock. 1 lev
cled the glass, and could make the fell
low out plainly. Twas one of the lar
gest proas 1 ever saw. 1 should say
seventy.fve feet long, with. bows like
an old mans nose turned bottom up
wards, and stern about the same 1
the men in her, and could do
it pretty surely.
What is she, sir !'' asked Walker,
my first mate.
"A Malay proa,'' told him.
How many men p
"Seventy-hve, at least"
"a pirate ?" he uttered.
"She isn't very likely to be any thing
,lse," answered, assuming as much
as could but you may be
sure felt but little of it, for Malay
pirate is just about the worst thing in
the world-bloodthirsty as Bengal IT,
ger, with all the wit of man to back it
up. Their very religion makes piracy
and murder holy virtue, and man is
honored among them for the many times
his knife has found human heart
And they are powerful fellows, too. and
trained f.om childhood I'd the use of
arms.
ssShe's coming after us?" cried the
man in the top. But then, he needn't
have told us OF il, for had seen that
from the first.
The men looked anxiously towards
me, and 1 saw they we're stricken with
fear. And our position was not one to
inspire poor chap with very deep joy.
The wind was still to the westward, and
three knots an hour was the most the
ship could be made to run. The Malay
was now within three miles, and shoot
ing through the water like mad. He
had twenty broad paddles out-and you
know how she bloody hounds can send
those long, narrow, sharp proas aleng.
We were now sure that there were over
seventy men in the great boat, for We
could even see their long knives and
clumsy firearms through my glass. My
crew, all mustered, counted twenty-nine,
and one of them only boy. Ofswords
and cutlasses We had only six, but I had
thirty brace of good boarding pistols in
the arm chest, and dozen pixies by the |
mast. Rather dubious show, wasn't