The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1879-05-08

hatch, which | secured. The others,
thoroughly frightened, did as All Wing,
not bad sailor himself, told them.
Manson put the helm hard down, and in
moment we had come about, the sails
were drawing, and we were well to wind
ward, and under full headway. l 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 l asked him
was then told (and to this day, I 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 duee" (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 revo yer and replied:
"Alla lightee Gall right! Mi can do"
"At your leisure" said cool voice,
perhaps you will tell me what this is
all about" and Manson lighted fresh
cheroot. l 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. l 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 y
CHEEKY voice, wholly unlike his ordinary
one:
"All right, old fellow, we'll 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 rest) volunteered his
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 gdatlian certd,nt1,ts than our old
used-up, bored member of the class of
1856. Could we keep those junks out of
| iingal range until we reached place of
safety? 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 l succeeded
in drawing a bead" on n 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.
am afraid | can't do as well 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
breech-loaders missed fire several times.
The iunks 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 | 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
from the Cinnamon, and never fired a
second before his aim was perfect.
We rested n short time ut last to take n
survey of the situation, and could not
disguise from ourselves that it was SER
ious. The junks were nearer, and we
were still quite long way from Paou-
shan. There was nothing for it but to
20 to work again, and we did. For ten
minutes OF 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 heal
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.
Il believe there is foreigner there, y
said he, "who is directing and inspiring
them. He has escaped us thus far. Il
| can get sight Of him and can hit him
| believe we shall get rid of this junk
Since YOU picked off that last steersmar
of the hindmost one, she has fallen of
decidedly. Well, that is not so bad,
he continued, as jingal ball struck the
mast. He asked All How to let him
load the Kentucky rifle himself, an6
measured out the powder, wrapped the
ball in scrap of buckskin and rammeC
it carefully home. Then he knelt dowr
and watched his chance. All this tim'
All Wing had kept his eyes and the re
volver on the steersman, and our boa
had done her best. The jingal ball
were getting uncomfortably frequent
and it was only "a small satisfaction t,
me to have sent an Enfield bulle
through the head of one gunner, just n
he was getting his sight. All at once
heard the report of Manson's rifle an,
the quiet remark from him:
"Habetw
l saw the junk fall off, saw manifes
confusion on board, saw an opening 70
two or three good shots, and had seize,
fresh gun, when l heard All How
Master, hab got steamer, well
near"
Hardly one of us had glanced ahea
for half an hour As for the steersma
and the crew, they had clearly but on
thought, and that was-to save thel
, heads. 1t was with strange feeling
relief and satisfaction that | saw ii. M
J gunboat Petulant putting along towar
us. In five minutes she was alongside
/ and | saw my friend Lieutenant Gra
t hams Jolly face over her rail.
"What the deuce is the row, old fe
/ lowp" he asked in a perplexed way.
a axnlainad nc briefly as possible, and tOl