The Red Cloud chief., 1888-07-27

bottom Of them. was in the water before
1feali1ed thss I haa bssEo4yAaAA.z 4 Was
raining and blowing tremendously hard,
and if I cried ont, which / have no recoliec-
ton of 1oing. no one on deck heard it. I was
swept away from the ship In an instant In
deed, when I fought my head above the
foam and spranS mp in the water to look
around. the rain and spray had hidden the
ship from sight.
had no doubt that I was driving straight
out INTO the Indixn Ocean. but l do not re-
call that I was frightened Or in despair
Sailors take more close. shsves than any
other class Of men in the world, and, as q
rule, they depend more on luck to bring
them safely through. turned ON my back.
being . good swimmer, shipped as little
water As possible aud thanked my stars that
tho uprOar had temporarily driven the
sharks to deep water. In almost that very
location, q year before, l had seen q shark OF
such dimensions alongside the ship that eve
~ one aboard had been called up to view
the monster. His length was estimated at
thirty-tive feet, and he could have bitten a
bullock in two at a snap. l fought O6 all
thoughts of my peril. knowing that il l got
ratified l should 500 60 under, and in about
half an hour l felt sure that l heard the
noise of waves breaking on shore. 1t wasn't
i've minutes later when l was driven over q
coral reef outside of Penang Island, and in
five minutes more was on the beach OF the
island itself. The last of the tide, aided by
a current. had carried me to the pirates,
headquarters instead of out into the ocean.
The storm still held, making the afternoon
as dark As evening. and, though l o care
fully husbanded my strength, n had been
in the water only half an hour, l crawled up
beyond the run Of the waves, n lay on my
back . long time before l could walk about.
By that time night had set in, d there was
little danger Of my being discovered unless
l ran against somebody. At this point the
forest came down almost to the waters
edge, and my first move was to get d
cover. l had hardly moved back into the
woods when l heard voicss, and knew that
several men were patrolling the sands. Had
l been three minutes later they would have
found me.
The loss Of q foremost hand to . ship with
. full crew is Of little conseQue-ce-nOthing
to be compared to the loss Of . sky-royal or
q few fathomsof q new rope. In his case he
is logged as gone overheard. and his effects
are sold at auction. In = week he is forgot
ten, and the chances are that NO one ever
receives the back pay due him. II q sail is
lost, h money to replace it comes out OF
tho owners pockets. n they may criticise
the s~eamanship Of the captain ! would be
missed by the mate after . few minutes, and
he would report that I had been shaken into
the sea and drowned. No boat would he
sen: out after the storm abated. and no boat
would coast Penang Island on thec chance Of
nv having reached it. The ship would pro-
coed on her way As soon as possible, and
whatever was lone for me must be done by
myself.
About eleven o'clock that night the storm
abated, the sky cleared up, and a light wind
came out of the northwest to help the ship
on her WA through the Straits. distinctly
heard them weighing the anchor, and but
for fear of sharks would have SWAN out to
her. She Wa too far Oh to make my voice
heard. ever had I daredto raise it. As soon
- the rain and wind ceased l heard voices
plainly enough all around me, and . shout
or two from me would certainly have result
ed in my discovery. B~edraggled. chilly and
d~isconsolate. I wore III night away, and at
the first signs of dawn I crowded further
back into the woods. The island to-day is
mostly cleared. having been burned over
several times. but At that date it was q solid
forest The tropical vegetation was needed
by the pirates As Q cover. They had erected
several barracks and st~orehouses, and these
were in . natural opening about halt q mile
below the spot where 1 was washed ashore.
At that spot was an opening in the reef.
with q natural harbcr. Before moving l
looked for the ship and found her gone, and
| then / knew that I must depend solely upon
I myself to get out Of the scrape.
went back into the dense woods Tor a
mile before coming to a halt There were
parrots. monkeys and snakes in plenty, and
the vegetation was so dense that / could
hardly penetrate il. I saw from the first
that there was an abundance OF wild fruits
and ~cocoanuts, and in going the mile | came
across two fine springs. No matter how
| many people there were on the island. !
! stood . good chance Of escaping them as
long as I held to the woods, for there were
| no beaten paths, and the tameness Of the
birds and monkeys was proof that they had
| not been much disturbed. The sun came
! out hot after awhile and dried my clothes,
| and when I had picked up a breakfast I sat
Il GOWN 10 pl8us ! AoA OOSh SnAVu6A suo
| Straits several times. and l knew the mar
rowest part was at least two hundred miles
| below me. There. opposite the islands OF
| the north coast Of Sumatra, the Straits were
| not over twenty miles wide. and the chan
| mel ran within five miles of the Malay coast.
| II l wa to get OF by way Of a ship, l must
| find and steal a craft Of some sort, and either
| put to sea or reach the mainland and follow
| the coast down.. /, however, failed to settle
| fully on any plan, n finally went to sleep,
and though the monkeys and parrots chat
! tered in my ears, and a dozen snakes may
have crawlej over me. I slept like a log fol
many hours. and awoke to find the day
nearly gone. l therefore hunted about for
supper. hid myself away in a lot of vines.
and put in another night. Next morning ]
had a narrow escape. was moving about
in search Of breakfast, being now very
sharp set. and had climbed q tree to get al
some wild fruit. when l heard a person
making his way through the forest. and
soon thereafter q Malay passed directly be.
meath me. He was fancifully dressed. heav.
ily armed. and without doubt one of the
pirates. He was moving cautiously. but no,
like one in search Of any body. and after
minute l dismissed the fear which had
h.-n had not hoor aoon