River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1876-11-09
The -Four Spaniards.

and we made ready to sail for home.
In the mean time there came on board
four Spaniards, who wished to engage a
passage to the North, and being able
to accommodate just that number, we
accepted them. They were all sinister
looking fellows, and one in paticuldr
so much so, that wondered why Cap
tain Hillman entertained so little dis
trust of him.
Neither myself or the chief mate
liked the arrangement for IN those
DAYS every sailor had the dread OF
pirates pretty deeply impressed upon
his mind. And. indeed, we had only
few months previous been chased by
the murderous scoundTels off the Isle
of Pines.
We set sail, and must confess that
/ passed the first night i'll some uneaSi-
ness. The passengers spoke but little
English, and their conversation was,
therefore. mostly between themselves.
During such colloquies, it seemed to
me that | could detect in them the
manner of guilty men-a constant look
of distrust and watchfullness but as
the second day wore on, and | became
accustomed to the appearance of their
well-dressed figures at my side, my
anxiety abated.
Toward the evening of this day how
ever my attention was drawn to a slight
alteration between the cook and the
Spaniard, Bacalardo, the man whom
had remarked as the most VillianOus.
looking of the four. Drawing near
them, | asked what had happened.
"Why, SIR" replied the negro cook,
swhile | was out oh de galley dis
Spanish gemman sprinkle something
on de meat. | scrape it off the best
way | could. | doesen't want no in
terferunce in de fairs oh my galley
The faithful old negro looked angry
nor was this all-his glance and tone
told me that a grim and dreadful suspi
cion had entered his mind. The Span
lard, however, remarked that he had
merely intended to season the meal
with kind of pepper highly esteemed
in Cuba but, upon my expressing
curiosity to see it, he regretted thai
he had none remaining. / was about
to order the cook not to produce the
meat at supper, when the captain
approaching us, made light of the af
fair, laughing at the old negroes jeal
ousy of encroachment upon his pc
culiar province and as the mysterious
substance seemed to have been wholly
removed by the cooks knife, ] hoped
that no harm might result.
The captain ate freely of the meat
the mate was evidently affected a
what had transpired, yet his appetite
prevailed. | avoided it entirely; anC
as to the Spaniards, the circumstance
of their leaving it untasted seemed no
remarkable, as we had learned on thu
day previous that they were not in The
habit of eating animal food at supper
Shortly afterwards, the captain
mate, and three of the crew became
dreadfully sick. | felt a terrible
presentiment of the worst, yet wha
was | to do! The captain was helpless
in his berth the mate lay in agon.
upon the tranSom the only foremas
hand able to come on deck was at thu
wheel; the cook was paralyzed will
fear and my ideas of what could OF
ought to be done, were confused by The
suddenness and appalling difficulty OF
my position.
Should arm and attack the villains
Whom should | arm, ana how com
mence! Were the helmsman to stil
from his station, knife would be al
his heart; and were the cook to leave
his galley, he would not walk to the
end of it.
went to the cabin where the cap
tain and mate were vomiting in great
distress and while overhauling the
medicine. more from the sense of rest
lessness which we all feel in the pres
ence of sickness, than from any hope
of affording relief, the companion
doors were shut upon me, and the
slide showed to its place. At the same
moment there was slight struggle on
deck, a groan and fall; the next
came heavy splash in the water I'm.
der the stern. | had felt that | could
as easily defend myself in the cabin as
elsewhere, for upon deck | had been
entirely at the mercy of the pirates,
momentarily expecting them to strike
but reason for their not doing so soon
became evident.
Bacalardo came to the slide and or
dered me to come on deck. | refused,
and expressed a determination to de-
fend myself.
1--WE no kill you," lie said, "we want
you for navigate"
sWhat have 'you done with the
cook q then asked.
1--WE stab him he is overheard /; so
is other man. All men in the fore
castle dead We stab them all.
Then knew that the three villains
had killed the three men whom the
poison had rendered helpless, and that
only myself and the two fearfully sick
officers remained. The latter were
already at the point of death.
told Bacalardo that / would come
on deck when the captain and mate
should have passed all suffering. 1t
seemed dreadful that the impatient
wretches should murder them with
knives; and hence / could not bear to
leave them. My refusal TO do so, how
ever, availed nothing, for crowding in
TO the cabin, the pirates at once dis
patched their victims, and passed the
bodies out of the windows.
The pirates divided the money
about ten thousand dollars; and they
then informed me that must navigate
the vessel to South America. They
were all sailors, and the brig being
easily managed the task would not be
very difficult. But to think of heading
ing for distant seas, with that sieken-
ing horror upon my heart I! There
were blood stains upon the deck, in
the cabin, and in the forecastle-and
how could remain in such a vessel /!
But no one knows what he can do I'M
has taught him.
We were now becalmed. and with
the full strength of the Gulf Stream
were drifting northerly at the rate of
four n lies an hour. The ignorant pi-
rates, whose operations had never
brought them much to the northward
of Cuba, had no idea that the current
was thus bearing us along, while it
was upon this fact that built almost
my only hope.