Centre Democrat. [volume] (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1848-1989, 1879-06-05

were five men in the crew. One was
steering, two ! pitched down the little
hatch. which | secured. The others,
thoroughly frightened, did as All Wing,
not n bad sailor himself told them.
Manson put the helm hard down, and In
n moment we had come about, the sails
We're drawing, and we were well to wind
ward. and under full headway. ! gave
my revolver To All Wing, with directions
~ To what he was to do; and no "Cau-
casian could have obcycd more prompt
ly and intclligently. We dragged the
TO wdah AFT, and pinioned hands and feet.
in anticipation Of his coming 10 himself.
Manson had the helm, and / asked him
TO give il to one of the crew. All Wing
was then told (and To this day, re-
member how curiously the pidgcon Eng
lish contrastcd with the grim uature Of
the communication to make it clear To
the hclmsman. that If the boat went one
inch to lecward of her course, and to the
two sailors that if they moved. except
under orders, from the positions in which
they were placed-cOvcrcd by the rrvol
vcr-thcy were dead men.
" ou sabe duePh (you perfectly under
stand) asked All Wing.
He was one of the few Cinnamon who
have what the plainsmcn happily call
land, or dogged grit and | saw it In his
eye rs he cooked the revolver and replied:
"Alla lightce (all right, Mi can do"
" At your leisure said cool voice.
perhaps you will tell me what this i
all about" and Manson lighted fresh
chcroot. explained To him that we
had barely escaped destruction by trcach-
cry, and were even then in a dire strait.
We could not expect To sal ~ fast as the
pirates, and our only hope was in their
being So far tn lccward. and in range of
our rifles. ! was perfectly sure of ms
man, and there was positively none in
my whole acquaintance whom | would
SO readily have with mo rs my old friend,
the bidsc, Indifferent, dilcttantc Manson.
He shook me by the hand. and said in "A
CHEEKY voice, wholly unlike his ordinary
one:
An right. old fellow. wc'u beat
them"
\ more impctuous though equally
brave man would have been far less eff
cicnt. 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 "sahc loadrc that gun"
and Ia my great surprise. our old fat
cook {" Buddha,' We used To call him.
as his cuuntenancc expressed the idea of
eternal silence and rcsO volunteered his
services in this line ~ well. Then we
settled down "a our work, no old Paladin
or Viking ever more collected and dclib-
crate. and nj the same time showing more
of the grHiiHm ccTidDiiJus than our old
uscd-up, bored member Of the class of
80. Could We keep those iunEs out of
Iingal range until We reached a place of
aufgf, fIlHsr I1I l,ty.I, 4 ii.
strcrsman could be plainly seen. Man
son took his Kentucky ride. knrlt down
away aft and aimed slowly and careful
ly. Almost simultaneously | succeeded
in " drawing bead on a largr man in
the bow of the junk nearer Ia u-. Just
~ the rifles cracked she fell Of vi-ihly
and lost way before the dead strrrsmau
could bc replaced. nor was the large man
again visible.
" am afraid can't DO rs we'll with
the elephant rifle" said Manson. " hut |
can try. 1t rs both fire continually nj
the s'ccTsmcn. We did So. with vary
ing success. All How and the cook
loaded rapidly and well. but the ri;le-
were soon somewhat heated and the
brccch- leaders missed fire several times
The iunks were heavily manned and
could quickly iii th" plasc- Of those
whom we shot. They also arranged
some Kind Of protection fpT the helms
men, although We pierced II more than
once. began to feel terribly wuiiish.
and so filled with rage ri ouI. antago-
nisis that | could only with difficulty
control myself sufficiently to aim dclih-
cratciy; but my friend never showed
signs Of an acccl"ration of his pulse. As
regular as cl"ck-work hc TOOK the gun
RON ltss q / ts.s a.
second before his aim was perfect.
We rested short tinr ut last Ia take
survey Of the situation. and could not
disguise from ourselves that il was ser
ious. The iunks were nearer. and we
were still quite 2 long way from paou-
shan. There was nothing for il hut to
go to work again. and we did For ten
minutes or more we kept up an inccs
SAINT fire, and. although we evidently
did much damage. the distance between
us and them had been pcrccptibly les
scncd. We must soon expect to hear
the report of jingals. II came in
moment more. and the clumsy ball fell
but little short of us. Manson turned To-
me. still CHEEKY and cool.
g believe there Is foreigner there"
sa,i he, who is directing and inspiring
them. He has escaped us thus far. II
! can get a sight of him and can hit him.
] believe we shall gct rid of this junk.
Since you picked csf that last stccrsman
Of the hindmust one she has fallen off
decidedly. Well. that is not SO bad"
he continued. rs a iingal ball struck tho
mast. He asked An How Ia let him
load the Kentucky rifle hir self. and
measured out the powder. wrapped the
ball in n scrap of buckskin and rammcd
IL carefully home. Then he Lnelt down
and watched his chance. All this time
All Wing had kept his eyes and the re-
volvcr on the stecrsman. and our boat
had done her best The iingal balls
were getting uncomfortably frequent.
and II was only small satisfaction to
me to have sent an Enfield bullet
through the head Of one gunner. lust ne
he was getting his sight. All nj once |
heard the report of Manson's rifle and
the quiet remark from him:
"Habetw
saw the junk fall off. saw manifest
confusion on board. saw an opening for