The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1885-06-12
QUELLING A MUTINY.
EY II. II. BALLARD.

Capt. Morrison, who told me the story
last summer, as we were sitting by the
seaside, shall repeat it to you in his own
words I had asked him whether he had
ever encountered n mutiny in his expe-
rienee as captain OF whaler lie said
No" Then, after a pause he added,
q Yes, come to think of it, l did have
little trouble once, up in the Arctic We
were just above Behring's Straits. The
ship was lying at anchor. There was n
big field O ice little north OF us, and
great pieces Of ice began to break of, and
come crashing down on us. II I'd had the
ship headed towards the floating ice, these
pieces would n glanced of the prov, and
done no damage, but as il was, they came
down so hard amidships that no ship
could n stood it long ! saw that we
must get out % that at once, and as we
were pretty full OF oil, anyway, | decided
10 hcavc anchor, and return to San Fran
cisco right of. So ordered the mate to
go forward aud tell tho men to get out the
boat and take up the anchors In about
n minute he came hack, looking pretty
fiustered, and says he, The men refuse
to go What's that says |, bringing
my foot down hard on the deck. The
men refuse To obey orders says he.
d" Then I went forward myself. What
does this mean , said l.
THE nutincerS were led by n burly
Fngljshmau. who had been sort o. sullen
for several days. They had all gone be-
low, leaving leir posts. They had taken
Rll the provisions with them, and it was
plain they were ready for long fight.
In answer to my question. the big Eng
lshman stepped to the foot of the hatch
nothin, aga nst you says he. Thinks /,
4 guess it don't make any difference
whether you have or not, that anchors
got to come up If you will land us at
the Sandwich Islands, continued he, in
stead o san Francisco, We'll so right to
work III give you just ten minutes to
start for that anchor, said !. aud turning
OIL my heel, | walked back aft. ! knew
they meant fight, 50 says to the steward,
who had remained faithful, Go down to
the cabin. and fetch me about two pounds
o powder, half pound o them big nails,
half a-pound o birthstone and all the red
pepper we can spare from the cooking
" lie was gone about q minute. | took
the powder and pepper and birthstone,
and mixed 'em all up with little water,
just enough to kind o dampen en-, same's
you've seen boys wet o fire cracker, SOS t
made it up into two balls. sharpened at
one end like a pineapple cheese. / gave
one to the mate. and taking some matches,
l walked with t'other back to the hatch
way. I'd ought to a, said that [ buckled
on belt with couple o pistols in IL. and
Slipped on u pair o brass knuckles.
Well said !, are you ready to come up
now and get out them boats,'
They wasn't no answer to this but a
loud laugh o. scorn, and volley o. swear
words. Then an old dirty broom. soaked
with the nasty sweepinRs Of the hold
come flying up the hatchway, and took
me right on my clean shirt bosom and
always was rather particular about my
personal appearance says / To the mate
Nail her down In an instant he had
the-wcll, what you'd call the trap-door.
nailed down on the mutiueers, and for
n minute or two he kept a-putting ten
penny nails into Il fast as he could
drive. The men only jeered at this say
ing, Nail away, YOU old down-east land
lubbcr. We kin stand il. We've got the
pervisions.' I'd noticed, as had come aft
the FIRST time, that they was just putting
a fresh hod o. coal on the fire lit was
pretty cold weather mp there. and now
was standing right by the stove pipe that
come up through the deck. With sud
den kick ! sent that stovepipe flying down
amongst em, and while they were consid-
ering the taste o coal gas. lit one o.
those powder an pepper pills i told you
of. and chucked il right down through
the pipe hole. had told the steward TO
stand by with the other and as soon as
mine had got out o my hand he had his
a-sizzling, and chucked il in for company
Well, sir, sueeZing l.ordy Massey. You
never heard such II wheeling and snortin9
in your life. They couldn't no living mau
stand it a minute; In less'n ten seconds,
hot tfrlN fiN-rVa ,ufTo ~ oil
Desperation don't care anything about
ten-penny nails. The Englishman wasn't
long coming up after the hatch. The
devil was a-looking right out o.. his eyes.
There wasn't room for only one to q time,
and was ready for him. / stood at the
batchway, and the minute his head
showed above the deck, let him have the
full benefit o the brHss knuckles between
his eyes. You've seen a butcher strike a
critter well, that's the way that fellow
dropped. / reckoned I'd killed him. 1
leaned over the hatchway, and says I, adj
dressing the meanest man of EN-, says l
Williams, you come up. If two of You
come, you're both dead men, There
wasn't much hesitation. Up he come r.
wheeling and a-sneeZing. Put your
hands out, says ], as he got even with the
deck. put 'em right out The mate
clapped the irons on his wrists, and sent
him forward to take his seat on long
boom that was lying along the deck.
Then / called five more of 'em mp the
same way, and set 'em along in ROW on
the boom.
80 Now, said l. leaning over the hatch
way, the rest of you come up on the rum
Up they come, without a second invita-
tiOn. As they cometto the fresh air, each
one Of 'em took long pub at it, same's IL
IL had been a whisky bottle. They hadn't
tasted anything bali so good on the voy-
age. j set 'em all along on the boom,
and there they set, gasping, and looking as
foolish as q row o. wet chickens. / forgot
10 say that we had been obliged to send
do yn and have the big Englishman hoisted
up hy n rope. He couldn't a. got up
alone Then / laid aside my pistols, and
placing my hand quietly in the breast o.
my coat, says | TO the mate. Take the
irons of o. them men, This surprised
EN-, l can tell you. But / wanted to
show 'em that / wasn't afraid of 'em.
The mate, he undid the irons, and as soon
as all the men were free, ! stepped right
up close to 'em, and looking 'em right in
the eyes, says ], NOr-get into your
boats and take up that anchor F"
" Did they do it - | asked
' Do it ~ said the captain. Well, SIR,