Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1879-05-06

L
thoroughly frightened, did as All Wing,
not a bad sailor himself, told them.
Manson put the helm hard down, and in
a moment we had come about, the sails
were drawing, and we were well to wind
ward, and under full headway. i gave
my revolver to All Wing, with directions
as to what he was to do; and no "Cau-
casian could have obeyed more prompt
ly and intelligently We dragged the
lowdah aft, and pinioned hands and feet,
in anticipation of his coming to himself.
Manson had the helm, and / asked him
to give it to one of the crew. All Wing
was then told (and to this day, re-
member how curiously the pidgeon Eng
lish contrasted with the grim nature of
the communication to make it clear to
the helmsman, that if the boat went one
inch to leeward of her course, and to the
two sailors that if they moved, except
under orders, from the positions in which
they were placed-covered by the revOl-
ver-they were dead men.
"You sabe due?" (you perfectly under
stand) asked All Wing.
He was one of the few Cinnamon who
have what the plainsmen happily call
sand, or dogged grit, and saw it in his
eye as he cooked the revolver and replied :
"Alla lightee (all right! Mi can do"
g At your leisure" said cool voice,
perhaps you will tell me what this is
all about" and Manson lighted a fresh
cheroot. / explained to him that we
had barely escaped destruction by treach-
cry, and were even then in dire strait
We could not expect to sail as fast as the
pirates, and our only hope was in their
being SO far to leeward, and in range of
our rifles. / was perfectly sure of my
man. and there was positively none in
my whole acquaintance whom | would
so readily have with me as my old friend,
the 6ldse, Indifferent, dilettante Manson.
He shook me by the hand and said in a
CHEEKY voice, wholly unlike his ordinary
one:
"All right, old fellow, wen beat
them"
A more impetuous though equally
brave man would have been far less eff
cient. Indeed, nothing could have been
finer than his behavior. The rifles, six
in number, were brought up and laid side
by side on the top of the cabin. All How
told me that he "sabe loadee that gun"
and to my great surprise, our old fat
cook Buddha," we used to call him,
as his countenance expressed the idea of
eternal silence and resD volunteered his
services in this line as well. Then we
settled down to our work, no old Paladin
or Viking ever more collected and delib-
crate. and at the same time showing more
of the gIatdiaun ceTtd1a571is than our old
used-up, bored member of the class of
1856. Could we keep those junks out of
jingal range until we reached place of
safetyP They had high sterns, and the
steersman could be plainly seen. Man
son took his Kentucky rifle, knelt down
away aft and aimed Slowly and careful
ly. Almost simultaneously / succeeded
in drawing bead " orsa large man in
the bow Of the junk nearer to us. Just
as the rifles cracked she fell off visibly
and lost way before the dead steersman
could be replaced nor was the large man
again visible.
g ] am afraid l can't do as we'll with
the elephant rifle" said Manson, " but
can try. Let us both fire continually at
the s-eersmen." We did so, with vary
ing success. All How and the cook
loaded rapidly and well, but the rifles
were soon somewhat heated, and the
breech-loaders missed fire several times.
The junks were heavily manned and
could quickly fill the places of those
whom we shot. They also arranged
some kind of protection for the helms
men, although we pierced it more than
once. / began to feel terribly wolfish,
and so filled with rage at our antago-
nists that l could only with difficulty
control myself sufficiently to aim delib-
erately; but my friend never showed
signs of an acceleration of his pulse. As
regular as clock-work he took the gun
ha
second before his aim was perfect.
We rested short time ut last to take a
survey Of the situation, and could not
disguise from ourselves that it was SER
ious. The junks were nearer, and we
were still quite a long way from Paou-
shan There was nothing for it but to
go to work again, and we did. For ten
minutes or more we kept up an inces-
SAINT fire, and, although we evidently
did much damage, the distance between
us and them had been perceptibly les
sened. We must soon expect to hear
the report of jingals. 1t came in a
moment more, and the clumsy ball fell
but little short of us. Manson turned to
me, still CHEEKY and cool.
81 believe there is a foreigner there, y
said he, ''who is directing and inspiring
tilCIl. liz lids CoOdpCu US Oilu5 1dl Ii
| can get sight of him and can hit him,
| believe we shall get rid of this junk.
Since you picked off that last steersman
of the hindmost one, she has fallen off
decidedly. Well, that is not so bad, u
he continued, as jingal ball struck the
mast. He asked All How to let him
load the Kentucky rife hirself, and
measured out the powder, wrapped the
ball in scrap Of buckskin and rammed
it carefully home. Then he knelt down
and watched his chance All this time
All Wing had kept his eyes and the re-
volver on the steersman, and our boat
had done her best The jingal balls
were getting uncomfortably frequent,
and it was only a small satisfaction to
me to have sent an Enfield bullet
through the head of one gunner, just as
he was getting his sight. All at once /
heard the report of Manson's rifle and
the quiet remark from him:
Habet!'
/ saw the junk fall off, saw manifest
confusion on board, saw an opening for
two or three good shots, and had seized
fresh gun, when I heard All How
cry:
Master, hab got steamer, welly
near.n
Hardly one of us had glanced ahead
for half an hour. As for the steersman
and the crew, they had clearly but one
thought, and that was--to save theil
/ hoadc If ruitb cf,-o r, fro foa1,r, ~ ~,