The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-07-25


cover. Ihad hardly moved back into the
woods when heard voices, and knew that
several men were patrolling the sands
Had been three minutes later they would
have found me
The loss Of foremost hand TO ship
with full crew is of little consequence
nothing 10 be compared TO the loss OF q
sky royal or few fathoms of new rope.
In his case he is logged as gone overheard
and his effects are sold at auction In q
week he is forgotten, and the chances are
that no one ever receives the back pay
due him. If a sail is lost the money 10
replace il comes out of the owners pockets,
and they may criticise the eeamanship OF
the captain. would be missed by the
mate after a few minutes, and he would
report that ! had been shaken into the
sea and drowned No boat would be sent
out after the storm abated, and no boat
would coast Penang Island on the chance
If nay having reached IT, The ship would
proceed on her way as soon as possible,
and whatever was done for me must be
done by myself
About II o'clock that night the storm
abated. the sky cleared up. and light
wind came out of the northwest to help
the ship on her way through the straits.
| distinctly heard them weighing the
anchor and but for fear Of sharks would
have swan out to her She was too far
Of 10 make my voice heard even had |
dared 10 raise it, As soon as the rain and
wind ceased heard voices plainly enough
all around me, and q shout or two from
la a Mo ba1~. paet1Ifa Tod IN
discovery. Bedraggled. chilly and discOn
solate. | wore the night away, and at the
first signs of dawn / crawled further back
into the woods The island today is
mostly cleared having been burned over
several times but at that date it was a
solid forest The tropical vegetation was
needed by the pirates as a cover. They
had erected several barracks and store
houses, and these were in natural open
ing about half mile below the spot where
was washed ashore At that spot was
an opening in the reef, with a natural
harbor Before moving | looked for the
ship and found her gone, and then ! knew
that | must depend solely upon myself to
ret out of the scrape.
went back into the dense woods for a
mile before coming to halt. There were
parrots, monkeys and snakes in plenty,
and the vegetation was 50 dense that ]
could hardly penetrate it. saw from the
hIst that there was an Abundance of wild
fruits and cOcoanuts, and in going the
milo came across two fine springs No
matter how many people there were on
the island. | stood good chance of es-
l,l. 70 ,, ,,sr,Ie
for there were no bca,cn paths and the
tamcncss of the birds and monkeys was
proof that they had not been much dis
turbcd The sun came ont hot after a
while and dried my clothes, and when
had picked up breakfast ! sat down to
plan had been through the straits sew.
eral times. and knew that the narrOwest
part was at least 200 miles below me
There. opposite the islands OF the north
coast Of Sumatra, the straits were not
over twenty miles wide, and the channel
ran within five miles of the Malay coast
If was to get oil by way Of a ship, !
must find and steal a craft of some sort,
and either put to sea or reach the main
land and follow the coast down. | how
ever, failed 10 settle fully on any plan.
and finally went to sleep. and though
the monkeys and parrots chartered
in my ears, and dozen snakes
may have crawled over me. | slept like
log for many hours. and awoke to find
the day nearly gone. | therefore hunted
about for supper. hid myself away in
lot of vines. and put In another night,
Next morning had narrow escape. !
vas moving about in search of breakfast,
being now very sharp set, and had climbed
a tree 10 get at some wild fruit. when
heard q person making his way through
the forest. and soon thereafter a Malay
passed directly beneath me. He was
iancifuily dressed heavily armed, and
without doubt one of the pirates he
vas moving cautiously. but not like one
IN search of anybody. and after a minute
dismissed the fear which had arisen at
sight of him had not been seen, and it
was hardly possible that my presence on
tle island was suspected. As NAV be
supposed | kept very quiet until the Eel
low had passed out of hearing. What
,r0ublcd me most was the fact that he
disappeared in the direction | intended ~
take thereby giving rise to the fear that
there were settlements on both sides OF
me However, after about an hour |
headed down the island. and when | had
gone couple Of miles and found no break
in the forest ! was somewhat treasured,
The country soon became very rough
and stony. and, although this rid me Of
the thickets. had to cross some ravines
which tried my legs exceedingly When
| had crossed two descended into third,
and. as it seemed to trend to the east,
which was very nearly my direction.
followed it instead of clambering out.
At the bottom was a rivulet which prob
ably became river after long spell of
wet weather kept sharp lookout
around NE, but there was not the slight
est evidence that any one had ever passed
that way before After walk of half
mile the rayine bore off to the left, and
selected spot to climb out. 1t was
right among the thick bushes, in order
that the noise | should make would
brighten away any lurking serpents, and
| had drawn myself up about fifteen feet,
when bowlder on which stepped sank
under my feet into the earth, and as
went over backward heard smothered
veil from the earth. was terribly scared
for a moment, and as picked myself up
listened for a minute or two 10 see if the
sounds would be repeated All was quiet,
however, and seized a bush and pulled
-.s1t . ,o I0I u