The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1871-11-09
Select STORY.
THE MUTINEERS.
FROm THE PAPERS OF A LONDON
Detective POLICE OFFICER.
BY AUSTIN C. BURD1ck.

London, and l resolved to take q few
months respite from my disagreeable du-
ties and IN order to do this l knew
should have TO leavethe island for, let me
be anywhere in England, from Lands End
to the Tweed, and / knew that / should
be called upon TO catch some wished for
character for the benefit of MIR. Justice.
An old friend of mine, Captain Albert
Souther, was upon the'point of sailing for
New Holland, and made up my mind to
take trip with him, he having generous
ly offered me snug quarters IN his cabin.
The ship which he commanded was q
heavy lndiaman. On the present occa-
sion he was to take a few convicts for Bot
any Bay, and. he bad also'quite a number
of passengers who had taken passage for
Cape Town. where they talked Of locating
themselves for agricultural purposes. In
additioni to his cargo, which was mostly
stores for the colony at New South
Wales, he carried some thousands fpounds
IN gold, that was consigned to the COVER
nor of Sidney.
In due time was ensconced in my
aquatic quarters. and with much promise
of pleasure l bade temorary adieu to
Old England Our ship was noble craft,
and she afforded all the comfort that could
really be desired, Captain Souther was
| an excellent ship-master, being stout,
danger His crew consisted of forty men,
most of whom had been under him some
years. He liked them for their uniform
good conduct and. subordination, and they
| liked him for his kindness and gentleman
ly bearing The convicts, six in number,
were carefully disposed OF, so that no
trouble could be apprehended from. The
passengers for Cape Town were ffty-six in
number, and they were all Of them stout,
| able men. When I first cast my eyes
among them marked some of them as
men whom had seen before; but, though
| few of them had villainous looking
countenances, yet was not positive that
any of them were known rogues.
For some time everything went on well.
l spent much of my time IN the cabin
reading, and as the situation was a novel
one for me, did not take much notice of
odd matters as 1 otherwise should. Every
thing was odd to me.
We had passed the Canary Islands, and
must have been somewhere off Cape Blan
CO, when was destined to find that I had
not, after all, escaped the business 1 was
trying to fee from. l was sitting in the
cabin early one morning, engaged in wri-
ting in my book. I had been left
entirely alone, and had seized the moment
as favorable one for writing up my ynotes
of incidents and aspects of the past three
days. While l was thus busy at work
Captain Souther came down. There was
something so peculiar in his step that it at
once attracted my attention, and I looked
up. The captain was much agitated, and
l saw that he was pale about the lips He
carefully closed the door behind him, and
then came near me and sat down
"Mr. Lamworth," said he, addressing
me, "speak low, sir" He spoke in a
whisper, and then drew his stool closer to
nae.
What is the matter?" 1 asked, closing
the book in which I had been writing, and
laying aside my pen.
Matter enough" he returned. There's
mutiny on board my ship
Among your crew ?" inquired
"I don't know" he answered" "All l
know is, that my pistols have been stolen
from my berth, and that there is bag
full of cutlasses among the luggage in the
long-boat. Where are your weapons ?"
"In my BERTH l replied.
"Let's look" said he.
We went to my berth, but my pistols
were missingl knew that 1 had seen
them there the night before, for l had at
that time freshly primed them.
This is something that needs looking
after" 1 said, after was sure that my
pistols were gone
"Yes-lt does" added Souther, "and
you are Just the the man to do it. You
have been fer years engaged in overhaul
ing land-pirates, and l do not see why
your wits mayn't work as well at sea
Despite of my desire to be rid of this
kind of work my nerves were all strung
now. 1t had become a second nature with
me to feed on my wits on the searching
after rogues, and l entered instinctively
into the spirit of the present emergency.
1 was like hound just come upon the
track of fox
What sign have you given on deck that
your suspicious are aroused ?" l asked,
after l had resolved the matter over in
my mind a few moments
Not any" returned Souther
Have you spoken about it to any
one?'
"Only yourself"
"Have you any reason to suspect any
of your crew."
mo, sir. do not believe single man
of them could be drawn into mutiny"
Then it must be among the passengers
for Cape Town"
"I think So"
"Your money Is all under this floor p
"Yes-directly underneath where yoU
sit Six boxes of it."
''Think any of those fellows know where
it is?"
40 yes. Some of them were here wher
it came on board"
got the captain to explain to me al
that he had seen on deck. He had dis
covered the bag of cutlasses in the long
boat by accident while reaching over afte
a rope. yarn. He saw the brass hilt of oD'
just peeping out at the mouth of the bag
and from the abrupt projections all owe
the bags surface he knew that it must b,
full of the same kind of weapons. He die
not touch the bag, and he moreover as
sured me that no movement of his coult
have betrayed the startling knowledge h
had gained.
I bade Souther go on deck and look af
ter his business as though nothing hat
happened, and for the present to leave tn
rest with me. He went up, and shortl,
afterwards followed. The crew were al
on deck, but most of the Cape Town pass
engers were below. There were only fv
of them up and they were on the star
board side of the forecastle. l carelessl,
lounged forward as far as the waist, an
there I climbed up on a water-cask an
leaned over the rail. When I turned t
come down cast my eyes INTO the long
boat, my elevated position giving me
view of its interior l could see beneat
the boats temporary roof, which, durin
pleasant weather. was sometimes raised
and I knew that saw the very spot wher
the captain had seen the bag, but it wa
, not there for me to see. saw other al
ticles which he had described as lyin
, close about it, but even they were not
the position in which he had describe
them I knew that the bag must hay
been moved, such of the baggage of thes
Cape Towners was In the long-boat, 4
: they had perfect liberty to go there whe
/ they choose.
$ As soon as 1 had taken this Observable
a 1 went down to the galley to light cigs
The galley was forward, on the steeral
deck, whistling careless medley as
went, seeming as easy as though wei
: halt asleep, but yet with every wit I
work. All the passengers were there, son