Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1875-12-02

"eiS Ming, suOuiu say, tueu sixteen
stone; but the person evidently depend.
ed upon the suddenness of the attack &c
accomplish his purpose. I struggled
violently, holding on by my hands To
the rail, and letting fy right and len
with my feet; and in the end was sue.
cessfal. The Chinaman tripped and
lay upon the deck in my power. With.
out thought, without q moments
hesitation, I laid hold of him. by the
trousers With one hand, and took q
couple OF turns OF bis pigtail by the
other, and threw him overheard. Az
ter I had accomplished this I made for
! the cuddy. Arrived there, at once
went to Mr.. Spencer's cabin; but upon
trying the door found it locked! Igave
one or two good kicks, at the same time
calling out to him to open the door.
He sprang from his berth, and called
out in reply that it was locked from
the outside. ! told him to stand clear,
and with a good one, two, three, from
the shoulder, I burst the door in
There is no doubt must have looked
very pale aud very excited, as his first
So WIS
'.Why, Mr. Topham, what in the name
Of goodness is the matter? You look
as pale as death"
! told him all that had happened,
and likewise my suspicious that we had
not seen the end Of the affair, and that
our best plan would be at once to arm
ourselves. j told him to dress himself,
while l went on deck to rouse our two
English sailors, whom we could depend
upon, and bring them aft to the cab
in. 1 had planted one foot in the saloon,
the other being still in Mr.. Spencer's
cabin, and had my eyes directed to the
stairs of the companion, when, in the
shade, thought described China
man. Thinking that it might be the
steward, I called ont to him by name
a Tong, but 70 reply came, when l
felt pretty certain that it was not the
steward, in which belief I was not left
in doubt. had turned nv Lead into
Mr.. Spencer's cabin, to tell him of nv
suspicior $, when l thought I heard
sters stcalthily approaching me.
gave n rapid glance; and there, not four
feet from where 1 stood, were some
FIVE or six as villain GUS looking China
men as ! had ever beheld, armed, some
with bamboOse about ten feet long, and
others with swords. In an instant, I
had sprang into the cabin, and closed
and bSited the door. With veil, The
whole of the gang made one simuita-
neous rush toward the door; but they
had missed their mark by second. I
had planted my back against the door,
and thanks TO my weight and the bolts.
it resisted their combined efforts to
force it. OTHER measures, however.
knew must lie at once resortcd to, and
that instantly. Calling upon Mr.. Spen-
Ger to move his chest of drawers against
the door. and placing two trunks on
the top of them, wera;iently waited the
coming events. Spencer very fortu.
nately had a couple of Colts revol-
vers in his chest of drawers, with
which we armed ourselves The gang
outside were evidently in deep CONSUL
tion as 10 their next mode Of attack
One voice / heard raised above all the
others, and that one voice was without
a doubt. A Tong, our much respected
steward I! From the little Chinese
l was acquainted with, gathered
that they Were bent upon the treasure,
which had come on board from the
Oriental Bank only that afternoon. 1t
had been slowed away in the captains
cabin, and was safely lodged in one
of Miners fire and thief proof safes.
They proceeded to the captains cabin;
but In = very short time returned, and
knocking at the door with their bam-
hoos, demanded it to be opened. At
first they used threats, then entrcaties,
promising us tha: not hair of our
heads should be hurt. But, though we
feared their threats, we put no faith in
theirpromises, and fully determined that,
ifthe worst came to the worst, we would
sell our lives dearly. Oh. how We long
ed for IL o'clock, for Capt. Wilkes's
return. How patiently and eagerly
We listened for the splash of the oars
of the six stalwart boatmeu! We heard
four bells from the different ships in
the harbor, some not couple of hun
dred yards away; but it was impossible
To reach or signal them. Instead of
large port-hole, there was only the
small headlight, through which We
could not even manage to thrust our
heads, much less our bodies. We'll.
Sirs, when they found that neither
threats or promises would avail them,
they at once commenced their work
/ was standing on a camp-stool. endeav-
oring to see what they were doing, by
looking through the iron grating on the
top of the door, when saw one of them
with a spear, at what, III military phrase
ology, would he termed shorten arms
that is, with the spear drawn back 10
itsfullcst extent, ready 10 thrust through
the door. gave one spring from the
stool, and lucky indeed did so; for the
next moment the point of spear grazed
my cheek. Another inch to the left, aud
! would have been a dead man. We
both then retired TO the further end of
the cabin, so as to keep out Of harms
way. We knew that they dared not
use firearms for fear Of attracting the
attention of the ships in the neighbcr-
hood; and no doubt this was our saliva
tion. Spear after spear was thrust
through, some almost reaching Us as
we crouched down on the floor Of the
cabin, when allat once we heard a crash,
and on looking up. TO our horror saw
that one of the panels of the door had
been forced in sufficiently for q man
to thrust his body through. We both
immediately spnag to our feet, grasp