Wichita eagle., 1886-09-02

II caught the idea at once We were to be
held for ransom. Sailor men use the pen sc
little that none of them can boast of their
scholarship in that direction, but ct the end
of half an hour had finished letter to the
captain, telling him all the circumstances
and entreating him not to leave US to our
fate. It was no sooner placed in an envelope
and directed to him than a native seized il
and hurried away, and Keys and myself
were taken back to our separate huts. This
was about s o'clock in the morning. By
noon the fellow was back with en- answer,
which read:
"You must try TO escape | have DC
authority to trade OF tie goods. How much
do they want: Could beat load OF the men
| release you?
"TEa chief and his interpreter were watch
ing me S read the letter, and they were
quick to discover that had bad news. The
Interpreter could not read writing, and they
must therefore, take it as | gave it. l e1-
planned that the captain had only few
goods left, and that he advised them to con-
duct us to the nearest outpost down the river
and make bargain with the authorities 1t
was plain to be seen that they were disap-
pointed, and after a confab the interpreter
was ordered to say to me:
"You try one time again. Captain give
canoe full, we let you go. He no buy. we Kill
you. We no take you down the river
Il wrote another letter to the captain Civ
ing the above information and appealing to
him not to leave us to perish. For the wages
which would be due us upon our return to
Georgetown he could probably ransom Us. ]
at least hoped he would make the offer and
the effort. AS subsequently appeared, lie did
make the offer and good deal more. He Of
fered four muskets and large quantity o.
other barter for our safe return, but the stick
was the natives wanted the goods in advance.
They were suspicious lot, and would not
trust the captain to stand to his bargain. On
the other hand he had no faith that they
would keep their promise to him, and thus the
messengers were returned empty handed.
Great was the rage of the people thereat l
was brought out of my hut and kicked and
cuffed about until l fell exhausted, and the
same treatment was likewise served out to
Keys. 1t was Only after they had thus NAL
treated US that the captains letter was shown
to me- lie expressed his willingness to pay a
fair ransom, but wanted me to make the
natives understand that they must act fairly
in the matter. This | tried to explain to the
chief and bis interpreter, but they either could
not Or would not understand. l think the
killing of Price wss also a i;notty point in the
transaction. They probably expected the
captain would seek revenge for that, and that
if he got the opportunity he would force them
to release US without ransom.
Il went to bed sore and supparless to pass a
wakeful night. Early the next morning
al - ;,.1 1of+ <O <l,o
captain While /, OF course desired to save
my life, had pretty fully made up my mind
that the natives had no intention of giving us
up. wrote to the captain to that effect,
telling him to give them nothing until we
were brought down the stream to a point
where we could be exchanged. The fact that
the village was full of stuff for barter, and
that the tribe had fought shy of trading with
the schooner, was proof to me that they were
in a hostile mood. His firmness would result
in either our death or liberty, and that proba-
bly, before night
THE morning was very hot and close, and
before O'Clock / observed that the birds
about us were in a state of alarm. The ma
tives soon exhibited restless and uneasy
spirit. and finding that little or no attention
was paid to me, l walked over to where Keys
was cor ined. AS soon as we put our heads
together we became satisfied that some terri
bic storm was brewing. The air continued
to grow more hot and sitting, and at about
10 o'clock there came an earthquake shock
which nearly threw us down The first was
speedily followed by second and third, and
as the huts began to tumble and the trees to
fall, everybody ran away. Keys and myself
took path leading to the east and ran for
life, both of us having noticed that the forest
was more open in that direction. We were
neither hindered nor pursued. 1t came on to
blow heavy gale soon after the shocks, and
during the first hour of our wanderings we
were in constant fear OF death. After going
seven or eight miles to the east we came upon
a sparsely wooded plain, and it was only then
that we made up our minds to escape We
found plenty OF wild fruits and fresh water,
and during the whole day we did not meet
with native. It was long after dark before
we lay down to rest, and it was scarcely day
light before we were afoot again.
"Not to weary you with uninteresting de-
tails, may say that for seven days we held
to the cast, sometimes having close shave
from meeting natives, and sometimes SO
beaten out that we would willingly have sur
rendered. Toward evening of the seventh
day, when we had made fully 40 miles, we
came upon the river which divides British
from Dutch Guiana, and providentially at
the camp of some Dutch military officers who
were on q hunting excursion. 1t was months
after this before l reached Georgetown, while
Keys never got there at all, being carried OF
by jungle fever. I hunted up Capt Larkins,
who had long ago given me up for dead, and
l was rightly treated in the matter of wages.
and aided to secure berth on brig about
to sail for Liverpool He had refused to give
the natives any ransom in advance, and after
waiting for three days, without hearing any
thing further from me, had begun the home
ward voyage"-New York Sun.