National opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1865-1874, 1872-04-05

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action, the screaming was renewed teniold
Coolies streamed and crawled on deck in
dozens. They were all violently excited
but did not seem disposed to do any mis-
chief ! sent one OF the hands TO ascer-
tain what was the row, before gave my
command; but before he returned, the
native doctor sprang TO my side with
CLASSY torror-stricken eye and trembling
limbs. Mr.. Topsal, says he, our lives
are in danger Who could do itf You
must act very prudently, Mr.. Topsal, OF
this will be our last voyage
"Whilo | was staring at the poor hor'
rifed doctor, unable to see his drift, the
man returned, and said that the row wa
cansed by the coolies having discovered
that the bundle was gone-or, as they
said, that their god had carried it off. il
was yet early dawn, and the great fact
had Just been discovered. ! had forgot
ten about the affair. Now | glanced ur
at the truck Of the main mast. No bun
die was there. 1t was gone. How
Nothing in the way of atmospheric force
could have removed it. OF course, We
could not admit the supernatural, (unless
indeed, a half-forned suspicion of The
devil having done the thing. Only one
other explanation remained, that Of hui
man intervention. But how and who
| felt cold and giddy, a clammy perspira
tion oozed out on me, and ] felt shaky
nerved myself. must act at once, and
secretly.
"The doctor whispered; ooh, Topsal,
we'll all be murdered in cold blood, il
they discover the trick Who could it
have been =
II could only echo his question with a
groan. / called the second, much to his
surprise and disgust; but having left tho
deck in his charge, the doctor and | went
on voyage of discovery. First we re-
paired to my room, and thought. Sud
denly We both raised our eyes, and staring
at each other, whispered: The boys
'Oh, confound them cried l 'oniy
wait. If we make this voyage, anu get
quit of this load of gunpowder safely, oh,
won't ~
Let US hunt them up, said the doctor.
SO we set out for the forecastle We
entered noiselessly, and crept in the direc-
tion of the boys hunks. AT first there
seemed nothing unusual. The lamps
swung and creaked, the timbers strained,
the water went thud, thud on the ships
bows. We crawied nearer. We held
our breath Hush What sound was that 2
Was it not the chinking Of money o
horror!
"The doctor and | pinched each other
black and blue, and shuddered. We
crswled still nearer. We got behind
coil Of rope and some barrels We peeped
into the corner where the two young
.capegraces dwelt. Yes, the metalic sound
proceeded from that direction. We
stretched our necks. There before our
eyes sat the two little creatures, with the
bundle between them, costly but secretly
dividing the spoil. Such a combination Of
daring and folly almost made us commit
ourselves. But we watched our chances,
and pounced on them, and clapped our
hands on their mouths. In an instant we
had them tied up and gagged The con-
tents Of the bundle we quietly concealed
about our persons and dropped overheard
when we went aft. We set watch over
the boys, and read them lesson in
whispers, which put the terror Of death
on them. 1t was dark night, you know;
they had clim5ed up the stag uanoticsd and
taken The Juadle!
"Ah doctor, III never forget that voy-
age. | was forever thinking that the
blackies were rising, or that they had fired
On deck, | walked on needles and pins
every sound startled me. / had taken all
possible precautions, had my arms ready,
&c. but it would have been madness to
have thought of resistance. had all the
burden on my own shoulders, for never
told the skipper, and the second did not
seem to understand the affair nor to ap-
preciate our danger. But the native doc
tor did and assisted me ably. Even my
turn below was 10 rest; ] could sleep
i dozed and started till I was called on
deck again. O, man, it was awful! Sus-
pense, doctor, is terrible thing | felt
just as if | were living over volcano
never sure but that on eruption might oc-
cur. 1t would almost have been relief
to have had the worst Ny hair txned
gray, doctor-no mistake The second
even noticed that. | turned shaky and
fanciful. No, doctor didn't drink; that
had nothing to do wthit. How rejoiced
at the close of each day! We made a
pretty good voyage and | almost felt as
if the land, when we first sighted 1t, was
paradise! When we actually got that car
go safely on shore, and felt my thI oat
still uncut, | almost thought it too good
to be true-no mistake" :"
| don't know how many of my cigarettes
Mr.. Topsal smoked but know that the
stock was sadly reduced.
"But, l say, Topsal," put in, "what
about the boys, you know Did you give
them an awful thrashingl"
Mr.. Topsal looked sulkier than usual as
he replied; "Well, they got loose as
soon as we got into port--slipped me,
and deserted the ship. That was the last
saw of them"