Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-05-12
CHAPTER xxx.
OUR PROGRESS TO THE CHANNEL.

this part you would have had enough OF the
sen. Let me now, then, be as brief as pos
siblc.
Tho melting of the ice and tho slowly in
creasing power of the sun were inexpressibly
consolng TO me, who had had so much Of the
cold that do protestjf Elysium We're bleak,
no matter how radiant, and the abode of the
fieads as hot as it is pictured, would choose
to turn my back upon the angels. l cannot
say, however, that the sooner was properly
thawed until we were hard upon the parallels
of the Falkland Islands, she then showed her
timbers naked to tho sun, and exposed a
brown solid deck rendered ugly by several
dark patches, which, scrape as we might, we
could not obliterate. We struck the guns
into the hold for the better ballastng of the
vessel, got studdingsail booms aloft, over
hauled her suits of canvas, and found great
square sail which proved OF inestimable i'm
portance in light winds and in running.
After the ice was wholly melted out of her
frame sho made a little water, yet not SO
much but that halfshours spell ut the pump
twice u day easily freed her. But, curiously
enough, at the end Of fortnight she became
tight again, which attribute to the swelling
of her timbers by their direct contact with
the water.
We were a slender company, but we man
aged extraordinarily well. The men wero
wonderfully content; / never heard so much
us a murmur escape from one of them; they
never exceeded their rations nor asked for
a drop more of liquor then we had agreed
among us should be served out But, as had
ANTICIPATED, our security lay in our slender
ness We were too few for disaffection The
negroes were as simple as children, Wilkinson
looked to find his account in happy arrival /;
and if was not, strictly speaking their cap
tain, was their navigator, without whom
their case would have been perilOus as
mine was on the ice.
1t was on the 9th of December that We
sighted the Sicily Isles. / guessed what that
land was, but so vague had been my naviga-
ton that burst not be sure, until, spying u
smack with her nets over, stcered for her
and rot the information | needed from her
people They answered us with an uir of
fear, and, in TRUTH the fellows had reason, for,
besides the singular appearance of the ship,
the four of us were appareled in odds and
ends of the antique clothes, and have little
doubt they considered UP lunatics of another
country, who had run away with u ship DO
longing to parts where the tastes and fashions
were behind the age.
Now, as You may suppose, by this time
had settled my plans; and as we sailed up
channel | unfolded them to my companions.
i pointed out that before We entered the
river it would be necessary to discharge our
iAding into some little vessel that would
Jmuggle the booty ashore for us. The figure
the schooner made was so peculiar that she
would inevitably attract attention; sho would
instantly be boarded in the Tharles on our
coming to anchor, and if told the truth she
would be seized as a pirate, and ourselves
dismissed with a small reward, and perhaps
with nothing.
"My scheme" said |, ''is this: have rel
alive in London to whom | shall commune
cate the news of my arrival and tell him my
story. You, Wilkinson, must be the bearer
of this letter. He is sbrewd, active man,
and | will leave it to him TO engage the help
we want. There is no lack of the right kind
of serviceable men at Deal; and if they are
promised substantial interest in smuggling
our lading ashore, they will run the goods
successfully, do not fear As there is sure
to be Il man-of-war stationed in the Downs,
we must keep clear of that anchorage l
will land you at Lydd, whence you Will
make your way to Dover and thence to Lon
don. Cromwell and Pitt will return and
help me to keep cruising. My letter to my
relative will tell him where to seek me, and
shall know his boat by her flying n jack.
When we have discharged our lading we
will sail to the Thames, and then let who will
This" continued 1, ''is the best scheme
can devise, The risks of smuggling attend
it, to be sure; but against those risks we
have to put the certainty Of our FORGETTING
our just claims to the property if we carry
the schooner to the Thames. Even suppose,
when there, that we should not be immedi-
ately visited, and SO be provided with an OPP
portuity to land our stuff, whom have we to
trustl The Thames abounds with river
thieves, with Jumpers scufiie hunters, mud
larks, glutmcn, rogues of all sorts, to hire
whom would mean to bride them with the
value of half the lading, and to risk their
stealing the other half. But this is the lesser
difficulty; the main one lies in this: There
are some 900 men employed in the London
custom house. most of whom are on river
duty as watchmen; thirty of these people are
clapped aboard an East Indaman, five or six
on West India ships, and a like proportion in
other vessels. So strange a craft as ours
would be visited, depend ont, and smartly,
too Dye see the danger, ladsi What do
you say, then, to my schemeP'
The negroes Immediately answered that
they left it to mel knew best; they would
be satisfied with whatever did.
Wilkinson unused a while, and then said:
Smuggling was risky work. How would
it be if we represented that we had found
the schooner washing about with nobody
aboardf"
"The tale wouldn't be credited" said l.
"The age Of the vessel would tell against
such a story, even if you removed all other
evidence by throwing the clothes and small
arms overheard, and whatever else might go
to prove that the schooner must have been
floating about abandoned since the year
1750r'
Mustn't lose de clothes, massa, on no ac-
countn cried Pitt
"Well, sir" says Wilkinson, after another
spell of reflection, 81 reckon you're right.
II so be the law would seize the vessel and |
goods on the grounds that she had been a |
pirate and all that's in her was plumber, why,
then, certainly, don't see nothin' else but |
to make smuggling job of it, as you say,
sirn
This being settled (Wilkinson's concurrence
being rendered the easier by my telling him
that, providing the lading was safely run,
would adhere to my undertaking to give
them 81 600 each for their share), l went
below and spent half an hour over letter to |
Mr. Jeremiah Mason. There was no ink, |
but l found a pencil, and for paper used |
the fly leaves of the books in my cabin. l |
opened with sketch of my adventures, and |
then went on to relate that the Boca was a |
rich ship; that, as she had been a pirate, l |
risked her SEIZURE by carrying her to London; |
that stood grievously in need of his counsel |
and help, and begged him not to lose a |
moment in returning with the messenger to |
Deal, and there hiring boat and coming to |
me, whom he would find cruising Off Beachy |
Head. That l might know his boat, babe |
him fly jack little below the masthead |
"As for the Boca del Dragon / added, |
"Wilkluson would know her II she were in |
the middle of a Thousand sail, and indeed a |
farmers boy would be able 10 distinguish her |
for hnr uncommon nddtra-. III n....r.. I'LL.