Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1885-03-19


with heavy knobs at the ends in their
hands, and one of them aimed blow at
me which laid open my forehead just
where you now see that scar. fell to
the floor, stunned for minute, but quick
ly recovering my senses thought Of the
siung shot in my pocket, and grasping
it in my right hand, sprang up and
dealt the man who had hit me terrific
blow on the head which stretched him on
the floor. Then I made for the door,
hitting right and left with my slung-
shot. My companion had fought his
way to the door with fists, but some Of
the Spaniards had drawn knives and !
saw that he was badly cut about the
arms and shoulders. Escaping from the
temple we ran to the river front closely
pursued by yelling mob of Spaniards
and Chinese. As we had intended to
stay ashore all night the boat was not
waiting for us, and there was no way of
escaping from our pursuers butte plunge
into the water. We were both expert
swimmers, and knew that in all proba-
bility the Spaniards and Chinese were
not.
''There was q great stone pier jutting
out into the harbor near where we made
our plunge, and l had noticed in my sew
eral trips to and from the shore that one
of the stones in the northern face of the
structure had been dislodged, leaving a
space into which thought man could
crawl. This came to my mind as !
plunged into the water. stayed below
the surface as long as could and then,
rising, looked anxiously around for Bill.
He was nowhere to be seen. The shouts
of our pursuers had ceased. On shore |
saw the lights in the city, and out in the
harbor the riding lights Of the vessels ly-
ing at anchor cleaned like swaying stars.
But the black surface of the water near
me was unbroken by any human form. I
called out once or twice, but getting no
answer and beginning to feel faint |
swan toward the pier. Poor Bill /
never saw him again. Weakened by the
loss of blood from the many knife-cuts
he had received, he undoubtedly sank as
soon as he plunged into the water and
never rose to the surface. / swan to the
pier and climbed into the place from
which had noticed that the stone was
dislodged. / had to double myself up
like jack knife to get into the hole, and
sat there with my head projecting and
my legs hanging down, so that my feet
touched the water. How long sat there
] do not know. was dazed and stupe-
fed by the severe blow l had received
and weak from loss of blood. The oc-
curTences of the last half hour were
confused jumble, and / felt an intense
pain in my head. By and by l noticed
that the tide was rising. 1 did
not know whether the place in
which I had secreted myself
was under water at high tide or ot.and
my agony of suspense as the water rose
higher and higher was terrible. The
cold waves dashed their spray in my face
every now and then, and revived me so
that I was able to realize fully the danger
of my situation. Slowly the tide rose.
It was up to my waist 1t reached my
shoulders and finally my chin. and then
every wave broke against my face. SO
that half Of the time was covered by
water. I was too weak to leave my
place OF refuge and swim to the shore,
and there sat face to face with death.
Suddenly heard the sound of oars
approaching me. The boat came nearer
and saw that the rover was the China
man who supplied our ship with Yege-
tables. In the darkness he did not see
me and was going by. Mastering all
nv strength | hailed him. He started as
if he had been shot, and then slowly and
cautiously rowed toward me. Well, TO
shorten long yarn, the Chinaman res
cued me, and for five dollars put me on
board my ship. told the captain what
had happened, and after dressing my
wounds he hid me away in the flag
locker, for by this time it was nearly
morning, and he knew that by daylight
the Spanish officials would visit the ship
to apprehend me. Sure enough they
came, among them being the FIRST and
second port captains. They said that
the night before two Americans, ap-
parently sailors, had created disturb
ance in the Buddhist temple, and
severely, perhaps fatally, injured two
Spaniards. They had description of
the men, had searched the only other
American ship in the harbor and had
now come to search the Sea Lion. The
second port captain, whose name was Will
kinson, was an American and the captain
knew he could trust him; so he took him
aside and told him the whole story, in
cluding the place of my concealment.
The Spanish officials thoroughly searched
the ship. Wilkinson himself went to
the flag locker and lifting up the lid
looked me square in the face. Get me
out of this, if you can, | said to him in
an agouized whisper. He put down the
lid and went away.
Before long knew by the motion Of
the ship that we were under way, and
pretty soon the captain came to the
locker and told me that it was safe to
come out. When Preached the deck the
spires Of Manila were fading in the dis
tance Ten years elapsed before l visited
Manila again was then fret r,oa+a ,e