The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1878-03-08

pOnt, the remaining colored man, the
four seaman and Captain Starkey
They were, however, all speedily EN-.
barked except the captain.
'Can abe bear ancther?' he asked
and although his voice was as firm a
ever, his countenance, l noticed, WAS
ashy pale, yet full as ever of unswerv-
ing resolution.
'We must and will, sir, since it's
you; but we are dangerously over
crowded now, especially with you ug-
ly customers swimming round u.s.
stay one moment; l cannot quit the
ship while there's a living soul on
board He stepped hastily forward
and presently reappeared at the gang
way with the still senseless body of the
Lieutenant's servant in his arms and
dropped it over tile side of the boat.
There was a cry of indignation, but il
was of no avail. The boats rope the
next instant was cast into the water.
Now pull for your lives? The oars,
from the instinct of sclf-preservatiou,
Instantly fell into the water and the
boat sprang of. Captain Starkey,
now that all except himself were clear
of the burning ship. gazed eagerly,
with eyes shaded with his hand, in the
direction of the shore. Presently he
hailed the headmost boat. 'We must
have been seen from the shore long
ago, and pilot boats ought to be COM
ing out, though I don't see anyone.
1t you meet one bid him be smart,
there may be a chance yet All this
scene, this long agony, which has TAX
en- me so many words to depiciE very
imperfectIy from my own recollection
and those of others, only lasted, was
afterward assured by Mr.. Desmond,
eight minutes from the embarkation OF
Sonora Argueilas till the last boat left
the Inflated Neptue.
Never shall forget the frightful
su6limity of the spectacle presented by
that flaming ship, the sole object, save
ourselves, dIscernible amidst the vast
and heaving darkness, if may use the
term of the night and ocean, coupled
as it was with the dreadful thought
that the heroic man to whose firmness
and presence of mind we all owed our
safety was inevitably doomed to per-
ish. We, had not rOWed more than a
couple of hundred yards when the
flames. leaping up everywhere through
the deck, reached the rigging and the
few sails set, presenting a complete
outline OF the bark and her tracery of
m asts and yards drawn in lines OF fire.
Captain Starkey, not to throw away
the chance he spoke Of, had gone out
to the end of the bowsprit, having first
let the jib and foresail go by the run,
and was for the brief space safe from
the flames but what was this but a
prolOngation of the bitterness of
death?
The boats continued to increase the
distance between them and the blaZ-
ing ship, amidst dead silence broken
only by the measured dip of the oars;
and many an eye was turned with in
tense anxiety shOreward with the hope
of discrying the expected pilot. At
length a distant hail-and i felt my
heart stop beating at the souud-was
heard ahead, Justify responded to by
the seamen's throats, and presently af-
forwards a swiftly propelled pilot
boat shot out of the thick darkness
ahead, almost Immediately followed by
another.
what ship is that?' cried a man
standing in the bow of the first boat.
The Neptune, and that is Captain
Starkey on the bowsprit.'
Isprang eagerly to my feet, and
with all the force L could exert, shout
ed: "A hundred pounds for the first
boat that reaches the shipr
That's young Mr.. Mainwarning's
face and voice :" exclaimed the fore
most pilet. 'Hurra, then, for the
priZer and away both sped with eager
vigOr, but unaware certainly of the
peril of the task. In a minute or so
another shoTe-beat came up, but after
asking few questions and seeing how
matters stood, remained and tighten
ed us of our living cargoes. We were
all three too deep in the water, the
small boat perilously so.
Hraof cd ha
all felt while this was going forward.
can scarcely bear. even now, to think
about it. l shut my eyes, and listen
ed with breathless, palpitating excite
ment for the explosion that should end
all. 1t came! at least 1 thought it
di and sprang convulsively to my
feet. So sensitive was my brain,
partly no doubt from recent sickness
as well as fright, that had mistaken
the sudden shout of the boat s crew for
the dreaded catastrophe. The bow
spirit from the end OF which q rope
was dangling, was empty and both
pilots, made aware doubtless of the
danger, were pulling with the eager
ness of fear from the ship. The cheer
ing among US was renewed again and
again, during which I continued to
gaze with arrested breath and fascina-
ton stare at the flaming vessel and
fleeing pilot-boats. SuddeRly a pyra-
mid OF flame shot up from the hold of
the ship, followed by deafening roar.
fell, or was knocked down, 1 know
not which the boat rocked as it caught
in q fierce eddy; next came the hiss
and splash of numerous heavy bodies
falling from great height into the
water, and then the binding glare and
stunning uprOar were succeeded by a
sOundless silence and a thick darkness,
in which no man could discern his
neighbor. The stiffness was broken
by loud, cheerful hail from one OF
the pilot boats. We recognized the
voice, and the simultaneous and raging
shout which burst from us assured the
gallant seaman of our own safety and
how exultantly we all rejoiced in his.
Half an hour afterwards we were safe
ly landed and as the ship and cargo
had been specially insured, the only
ultimate evil result of this fearful pas
sage in the lives of the passengers and
crew of the Neptue was heavy loss to
the underwriters.
A piece of plate, at the suggestion of
Mr.. Desmond and his friends, was sub
scribed for and presented to Captain
Starkey at q public dinner given at
KensingtOn in his honor, a circum-
stance that many there will remember
In his speech on returning thanks for
the compliment paid him, he explained
his motive for resolutely decling to
fight duel with Mr.. Dupont, halt a
dozen versions of which has got into
the newspapers. Il was very early
left an ORPHAN he said, sand was very
tenGerly reared by d maternal aunt,
Mrs.. (He mentioned q name
with which hundreds of newspaper
readers in England must be still famil-
iar.) Her husband fell in a duel the
second month of wedlock. NV aunt
continued to live dcjectedly on till I
had passed my nineteenth year, and SO
vivid an impression did the patient
sorrow of her life make on me, so
thoroughly did learn to loathe and
and detest the barbarous practice that
consigned her to a premature grave.
that it scarcely required the solemn
promise she obtained from me, as the
last sigh trembled on her lips, to make
me resolve never, under any circum-
stances, TO fight duel. AS to my be-
havior during the unfortunate conf1a-
grafton OF the Neptune, which nv
friend Mr.. Desmond has spoken of SO
flstteringly, can only say that did
no more than my simple duty in the
matter. Both he and 1 belong to a
maritime race, one of whose most per-
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