The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1884-01-29
NEW SERIES vOL.tXIX.--NO A.

| the whole home voyage, aud we was feel
ing pretty jolly>gou can bet, with the
idea Of being on land in two days and
having more money to get ria of than we
ever had before. know IA laid nv
course for rattling sail with them T,ret,
little Spanish girls, and allowed As how ]
| wouldn't draw sober breath for at
least two months if my cash held out that
Tong hut Frnust wear ship and come to
the point. -. 'o.! '-.stt - -.
IL was on q Saturday morning and had
| just struck eight BELLS l. MAS ,goipg, up
the companion way to attend "a the mig
| gers when Lepsis come out Of his rodm
with the keys to the masaziht' IN Kis hand
see he had been drinking more than he
could carry, and he wAs smok iny a. usual
big cheroot and it had quite long ash
on the end Of it. AS l got to the head. Of
the Companion I heard him call the stew
ara to bring him burket r,r the pow.
desr, then he unlocked she ma gcaz;nc door
&nd Al steHPeI IN deck. Some of the
hands were taking III the fore,tppn'st
stays'l and had let the sheets drag ia the
water 80 walked for'arl to cusa them,
when all of sudden there was thun-
dering big explosion aft, and was
chucked on deck slap under the tops'
bits. AS soon as | could pick myself up
| hurried alt, but saw the whole stern of
the bark split open and in flames; it was
an awful sight, the quarterback, mzzen-
INST with all it's top hamper, the wheel
and all the after fixing, were in the sea,
and there floating among EN- | see the
blackened bodies of Lepsis and the skip
mar Tho Nkn anH Hauao w,aS :, int
pouring from the cabin, and knew that
no power could now save the poor old
barky, but | wasn't going to let them
poor nIggers be roasted wthou: at least
giving them show for their lives As
was the only one of the aftcrguard left
the command of course come to me- 80
yelling to the men who were getting the
launch off the house and over the side to
avast heaving," | caught hold Of the
boats hoisting tackle and tried to stop
them from getting her in the sea. All
this time the nigyers in the hold was
Keeping up the most awful kind of
noise their cries and howls filled the air,
while the smoke and flames arising from
the burning ship made scene like, | be-
licve, hell Ia. The men were mad with
fear and wouldn't mind me, and while
trying to enforce my commands one Of
them, fellow named Pedro, knocked me
down with a handspikc Chats where |
got the scar that gives me my nane)
That got my blood up and in twinking
had my revolver out and there was one
less Spaniard alive on the bark, and in
another minute | sent another one, who
sprany 1T me with his knife to i"in Pedro
in puryat"ry. This brought the rest to
their senses, and with few haS;v com
mands had them ut work cutting away
the fore and mainm'sts; of these, with their
top hamper, the howsprit, jbboom and
our spare sparS, we soon made \ big raft,
and breaking open the door of the store
room we put what barrels Of p"rA, rice
and water We could find on it., Il mast and
sail was soon rugged. our own boat put III
the water and provisonvI anl the men in
her, when S.'iz,'1 an a\, and with few
blow. Splntercd the mninhAtch gratin"-,
anl a. the struggling mass Of blacks burs.
from the hold | Jumped in ihc boat and
We pushed oft. Rowing around TO lh-
Oth her side OF tho bark we saw them pump,
some on the rough raft, som- in the VA
ter and some crazy with irar INTO tn"
blazing stern OF the ship. tric,l by
signs to make those wh" gained the raft
understand which wav to steer t. reach
land, but doubt if | was unlcrsto"d
Amy way | did my best for them. W"
-tad by until the bark burned t" the wa
tcr'> edge aud sank then We set our s.,il
and left the raft, for II would have been
w"rs" than madness To stay by those
crazy niggerS who would have killed lis
in their frenzy If they conld have LAID
hand, on us.
Welt, mates, We reached lanl, thanks
in a large boat, plenty of grub, such as it
was, calm weather and an castrrv wind
As We were all dead broke of course We
separated, shipping in different vessels,
some for t" You starboar,l bulir>
there take a pull on the weather main
brace -" from the mate of the Norway cut
short what was left Of my yarn