, 1889-07-13
a STORY OF PIRATES.

1 had run away to sea on a vessel
bound from Liverpool to Shanghai, and
had left her on arrival found that
the captain of the Silver Crown, one of
the company's traders. was an old friend
of my fathers, and so it came about that
/ took service in the company under
him, with the rating of cabin boy. The
schooner carried a dozen muskets, a lot
of boarding pixies and half n dozen cut
lasses as an armament, but everything
was boxed up and stored away if not
forgotten. Capt. Wharton had been in
the service for six years and had
met with any trouble.
When we got away it was with orders
for the Philippine islands, among which
the company had many resident agents
who collected products. Our course was
to the southeast, to pass between For
mosa and the Loo Choo Islands, and we
had made the run Illus far without Incl
dent when one day about noon a junk
rugged native craft, which doubtless
came from some port in Formosa, inter
cepted us TO the eastward of that island.
We were about thirty miles Off shore
when she hailed us. She claimed to be
short of water, owing to an accident;
but this, as we afterward came TO know,
was only an excuse. When she learned
that we were bound to the Philippines
she had three passengers to transfer.
They were three natives of Formosa,
who were going down there to found q
colony. and would pay literally for a
passage by the schooner.
am only giving you the gist of what
was urged in excuse. We lay to for n
couple of hours, and l heard only n part of
what was said. 1t did not seem to strike
Capt. Wharton or Mate Williams as
queer or suspicious, and after haggling
over terms for n while the three natives
were transferred to our decks and the
vessels separated. Then 1 had time to
look the strangers over, and / was not
long in concluding that l did not wish
for an intimate acquaintance. They
were n tough looking trio, and the cook
had scarcely set eyes on them before he
declared hat we had made n great mis-
take in taking them aboard. We had no
accommodations for them aft, and as tho
schooner was in ballast they had agreed
TO occupy the hold.
took an early opportunity of com
municating my suspicious to the captain,
but he laughed at me in n good natured
way. l tried the mate, but he saw moth
ing to arous distrust. 1t was singular,
however, that every man of the crew
outside of the two officers was satisfied
that there was something wrong with
the trio. While their excuse was rea-
sonable enough, the looks and actions Of
the men were suspicious, and it was
plain toall that they were sailors. They
let us all severely alone except the cap
tain and tho cook, and Icalled it to mind
afterward that while one interested the
former the other two were occupied with
tho hitter. l could "chin-chin" n hit
md the cook could speak a little En-
glish, and so we managed to understand
each other pretty well. Three days
after the men came aboard ~''Slop1Slip,"
rs we called the cook, assured mo with
very serious face that the strangers were
evil minded men, who had planned to
capture the schooner. They had asked
him TO join them, n he had refused. i
posted off to the captain with this news,
and he greeted it with contempt.
We were getting well down toward the
northernmost island.of the group, when
something happened which should have
opened the captains eyes. The leader of
the three borrowed the glasses and went
up to the crosstrees of the mainmast and
took a long look around. We saw tho
sailor in his every move, and he had not
been down an hour when a native craft
came creeping up from the south, bows
On TO us. She had q free wind, while
we had been beating down all the fore
noon. We were at this time forty or
fifty miles to thdnorthward of the group,
with n beautiful afternoon and a smooth
sea Half an hour after the native craft
had been sighted, one of the natives and
the captain retired to the cabin. Five
minutes later tho native showed his head
above tine deck and called to the mate,
who had just come on watch, He dis
appeared down the companionway, and
at the same time / entered the f~orecastle
to look for something wanted. / was
down there about five minutes. / heard
no particular row on deck, but when /
~reappcared / was struck dumb by the
spectacle. One of the natives was at the
wheel, and vas bringing the schooner
into the wind to lie to. The decapitated
DONANS " hhO t"O OSlAA III IN
cook were lying amidships, while the
two Swedes were at the foremost cross
trees. Not n shout had been raised nor
a cry uttered. The work had been done
with terrible rapidity and in silence.
AS l reached the deck one of the ma
tives came forward with n bloody creese
in his hand and called me ''good boy"
and said / should not be hurt. He left
me sitting on the windlass so scared and
weak that l could not stand, and then
assisted his companions Il lower the
sails. When this had been accomplished
they called to the Swedes to come down.
The poor fellows began crying and
lamenting and refused to descend. The
natives picked up the bodies from the
deck and tossed them overheard, and
then descended to the cabin and brought
up the bodies of captain and mate and
served them the same way. Both had
been killed by the one native who en-
ticed them down. About the time the
last body was flung over the rail the ma
tive craft drew alongside. She had
thirty men on board, all of whom seemed