Kenosha tribune & telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1856-1859, 1858-04-08

In this hall, which was big enough
to hold double our number, we were
ordered to make halt, while the Pirate
y Captain, accompanied by three OF his
crew, followed the Indians through a
doorway, leading off to the left hand,
as we stood with our backs to the por-
tico. In front Of u.s.. towards the right
was another doorway, through which
we could see some of the Indians, cut
ting away with their knives, right and
4 left, at the oyerspreading underwood.
Even the noise Of the hacking, and the
hum and murmur of the people outside,
who were unloading the mules, seemed
to be sounds too faint and trifiing to
break the awful stiffness of the ruins
4 To my ears, at least, the unearthly ST
lence was deepened rather than broken
by the few feeble sounds which tiled to
disturb it, The wailings of the poor
children were stuffed within them
| The wailings Of the poor children We're
stified within them. The whispers of
the women, and the heavy breathing of
the overlabored men, sank and, sank
gradually till they were heard no more.
Looking back now, at the whole course
of troubles, / think | can safely say
that nothing-not even the first discoy-
cry of the treachery on the Island-tried
our courage and endurance like that in
terval of speechless waiting in the Pal
ace, with the hush of the ruined city,
and the dimness of the endless forest
all about us.
When we next sawzthe Pirate Cap
tain, he appeared at the doorway to
the right, just as the Pirates began
to crowd in from the portico, with
the baggage they had taken from the
mules.
There is the way for the Buccaneers
squeaks the Pirate Captain, addressing
the American mate, and pointing to the
doorway on the left. Three big rooms,
that will hold you all, and that have
more Of the roof left on them than any
of the Others. The prisoners, he eon-
tinues, turning to us, and pointing to the
doorway behind him, will file in, that
way, and will find two rooms for them,
\ with the ceilings on the floor, and the
trees in their places. myself, because
my soul is big, shall live alone in this
grand hall. My bed shall be there in
the sheltered corner; and l shall eat.
and drink, and smoke, and sing, and en-
ljoy myself, with one eye always ON my
prisoners, and the other eye always on
my guard outside
Having delivered this piece of elo-
quence, he pointed with his sword to
the prisoners doorway We all passed
through it quickly, glad to be out of
the sight and hearing of him. 81
The two rooms set apart for US, COM
municated with each other. The inner
one of the two had a second doorway,
leading, as / supposed, further into the
building, but SO clicked up by rubbish,
as to be impossible, except by climbing
and that must have been skilful climb
ing too. Seeing that this accident cut
off all easy means of approach to the
room from the Pirates side, we deter
mined, supposing nobody meddled with
us, to establish the women and children
here; and to take the room nearest to
the Pirate Captain and his guard for
ourselves.
The first thing to be-done was to clear
away the rubbish in the women's room.
The ceiling was, indeed, as the Pirate
Captain bad told us, all on the floor;
and the growth of trees, shrubs, weeds,
and flowers, springing up everywhere
among the fragments of stone, was so
prodigious in this part of the Palace,
that, but for the walls with their bar
barous sculptures all round, we should
certainly have believed ourselves to be
encamped in the forest, without build
ing near us. All the lighter parts of
the rubbish in the women's room We
disposed of, cleverly, by piling it in the
doorway on the Pirates side, SO as to
make any approach from that direction
all but impossible, even by climbing
The heavy blocks of stone-and it took
two men to lift some of them that were
were not the heaviest-we piled up in
the middle of the floor. Having by this
means cleared away plenty of space
round the walls, we gathered up all the
litter of young branches, bushes, and
leaves which the Indians had chopped
i away; added to them as much as was
required of the underwood still stand
Il ing; and laid the whole smooth and
even, to make beds. / noticed, while
we were at this work, that the ships
boy-whose, name was Robert-was
particularly helpful and considerate with
the children, when it became necessary
to quietthem & to get them to lay down.
He was rough boy to look at, and not
very sharp; but, he managed better, and
was more naturally tender-hearted with
the little ones than any of the rest of
us. This may seem a small thing TO
mention; but Roberts attentive ways
with the children, attached them to him;
and that attachment, as will be hereaf-
ter shown, turned out to be of great
benefit to us, at very dangerous and
very important time.
Our next piece of work was to clear
, our own room. 1t was close at the
side of the Palace; and break in the
t outward wall looked down over the
sheer precipiee on which the building
stood. We stopped this up breast high
in case of accidents, with hbbish
, on the floor; we then madoVm beds,
Z just as we had made the women's beds
: already.
/; A little later, we heard the Pirate
! Captain in the hall, which he kept to
himself for his big soul and his little
: body, giving orders to the American
mate about the guard; On mastering
: the Pirates, it turned out that two OF
e them, who had been wounded in the
4 fight on the Island, were unfit for duty.
Twenty eight, therefore, remained
These, the Pirate Captain divided into
companies of seven, who were to mount
o guard, in turn, for a spell of six hours