Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1888-07-26

/ ry Cne aboard had been called mp TO view
the monster. His length was estimated u
| thirty-fve feet, and be could have bitten
| bullock in two at a snap. l fought on al
| thoughts Of nv peril knowing that if l go
| ratified l should soon go under. and ia abOu
| half an hour felt sure that / heard th'
| noise OF waves breaking on shore. 1t WASH
| I'VE minutes later when was driven over Z
coral reef outside of Penang Island, and il
| 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 oce IN
| The storm still held. making the afternoon
| as dark as evening. and, though had care
| fully husbande1 my strength, and had beer
| in the water only half an hour, crawled VI
beyond the run Of the waves, and lay on my
| back long time before could walk about
| By that time night had set in, and there was
little danger of my being discovered unless
| ran against somebody. At this point the
! forest came down almost 10 the waters
| edge, and ny first move was to get under
| cover | had hardly moved back into the
| woods when heard voices. and knew that
severaImen were Tatrolling the sands. Had
been three minutes later they would have
| found one.
The loss Of foremost hand to a ship with
| a full crew i of little nseq1ence-nOthlng
| 10 be compared TO the loss of a sky-rOyal Oh
| a few fathOms Of A new rope. In his case he
| is logged as gone overheard, and his effects
are sold at auction. In a week he is forgot
! ten. and the chances are that no one ever
receives the back pay due him. If sail Is
lost, the money to replace ii comes out OF
the owners pockets. and they may crltlclse
the seamanship OF the captain. l would be
missed BIZ the mate after 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 OF
nv having reached it. The ship would pro-
coed on her way as soon as possible, and
Whatever was done for me must be done by
myself.
About eleven O'Clock that night the storm
abated, the sky cleared up, and light wind
came out of the northwest 10 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 off to make my voice
heard, even had dared to raise it. AS soon
as the rain and wind ceased heard voices
plainly enough all around me, and shout
or two from RE would certainly have result
ed in my discovery. Bedraggled, chilly anc
disconsolate, wore the night away, and at
the first signs of dawn / crowded further
back into the woods. The island to-day is
mostly cleared. having been burned over
several times but at that date 1t was solid
forest. The tropical vegetation was needed
by the pirates as cover. They had erected
several barracks and stOrehOuses, and these
were in 4 natural opening about half mile
below the SPOT where l 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 get 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 so dense that 1 could
hardly penetrate it. l 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, l
stood good chance of escaping them as
long as 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 had picked up breakfast | sat
down to plan L had been through the
Straits several times, and | 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.
If was to get Of by way of a ship, must
find and steal 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. and finally went to sleep,
aud though the monkeys and parrots chat
tered in nv ears, and dozen snakes may
have crawled over me, slept like log for
many hours, and awolxe To find the day
nearly gone. | therefore hunted about for
supper, hid myself away i'll 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 a tree to get at
some wild fruit. when ! heard a person
making his way through the forest, and
soon thereafter Malay passed directly be-
Meath me He was fancifully dressed, heav-
lily armed. and without doubt one of the
pirates Re was moving cautiously, but not
like one in search of an, body, and after q
minute ] dismissed the fear which had
arisen at sightof him. | had not been seen,
and it was hardly possible that my presence
on the island was suspected. As may be
supposed, kept very quiet until the fellow
had passed out of hearing. What troubled
me most was the fact that he disappeared
in the direction L intended to take, thereby
giving rise to the fear that there were set
Elements 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
thicl1ets, had to cross some ravines which
tried MY legs exceedingly. When 1 had
crossed two descended into third, and, as
it seemed to trend TO the east. which was
very nearly my direction, | followed it in
stead of clanbering out. At the bottom was
q rivulet. which probably became u river
after a lon" spell of wet weather | kept a
sharp lookout around nc, but there was not
the slightest evidence that any one had ever
passed that way before. After walk OF
half a mile the ravine 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 my
self up about fifteen feet, when a bowlder or
which stepped sank under my feet into the
earth. aud as went over backward heard
a smothered yell from the earth. 1 was ter
ribly scared for moment, and as [ picked
myself NJ listened for q minute or two to
see il the sounds would be repeated. All
was quiet. however, and 1 seized bush and
pulled myself up to where the stone mad
sunk. There was a hole in the earth as large