Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1889-07-07

QueSllOnS; Out bnen, WIHn an linltatlenI geS-
ture, as If throwing it aside, and a careless
laugh at his own fears, he replied:
1.-THE Acasta was her name, and Hello!
here comes Bill and Jim. Step in, young
teller, and Wen settle this business"
Before could recover from the astonish-
ment that the name produced, the two men
joined us, and l followed them into the saloon,
receiving as entered the door a nod from
the detective, who had been a witness from
across the way.
As we entered heard tremendous racket
in an adjoining room. There were unintel-
igible yells, preceded by loud hammerings
on the door.
'We've gots Fem, blast 'en," said one of my
villainoHs friends, with a significant leer and
jerk of his thumb toward the room from
whence the noise proceeded.
''Got whatF' innocently inquired.
"What?n he replied, in coarse POPULARITY.
"Why, them Chinee what you wanted. Eigh-
teen of 'em, and all dyin' to go Don't you
hear 'ems' and the rascal grinned at his own
humor.
''Well," said our host, ''let's get to business
Have you got your money with you, young
feler?''
81 have, butt
''Wen, hand it over" he gruf1y interrupted
81 will when you put the men on board the
Vallejo steamer, quickly but firmly replied.
What inspired me to revive the subject Of
the fgurehead l know not. Perhaps it was a
feeling that the ta,nt might strengthen my
nerve for the encounter which | felt sure was
to follow The attitude that the three men
assumed when | showed determination to
be treated fairly In the matter was MUIR
derous one. That the whole thing was trap,
l saw at once. That no servants had been Sc
cured, and that the coumotion IN the next
room was the work of confederates, to lead
me to believe that the Cinnamon had really
been corrailed, flashed across me in an instant.
| might have made dive for the door. have
given some signal that would have called In
the detective, and thus escaped, but one Of
those impulses that come to us az times and
bid us do the most foolish things took posses
sion of me- and with the effrontery of mad
man | remarked: "Eou said the name of the
bark was the Acasta, I believe, my friend
Perhaps, then, you knew Robert Harley and
Charles Bennett and Miss Gardners'
remember hearing one of the men say, as
all three rose: "By -, | thought SO! He's
on to us. l knowed it would come" And
then everything swan before me, and I only
awoke when in my room at the Occidental.
Anxious friends were standing about. They
told me of the events that TRANSFERRED after
my injudicious remark that l had been
knocked senseless with a blow from the fist
of one of the ruffians, and would have I'M
doubtedly been murdered had the detective
not entered at the noise Of the scutfie In
deed, the man with whom had talked about
the fgurehead seemed determined to kill me,
and the detective had to put bali into him
before he would give over his nrurderous de-
sign. All three were now in custody, and
the police were delighted, for they had long
been the terror of Chinatown. I recovered
quickly, and that night was about to join
theatre party, when hurried card from my
friend the detective called me to the Office
''That fellow that shot this afternoon is
dying" he said, "and he wants to see you be-
fore he goes off. Can you come with me to
see him little while?'
Certainly" replied; "Tll go at once"
Excused myself from the party and re-
paired with the detective to the City hospital
The wounded man lay on a couch. The pallor
of death had spread over his face.
'EHe is strong now and can talk well
enough" the surgeon said; ''but he is bleed
have told him that he had better make his
peace with God before he dies He says that
he has something to confess to you, so we
sent for you. Here's the gentleman you
wished to see" he said, turning to the dying
man do you want any one presents"
YES he replied, II want the sky pilot
and no one else" So the Rev Mr.. - and
were the hearers of the following remarka-
BILE story:
young feller," he said, IN voice that
trembled with fear and excitement. Show
you come TO know anything about the bark
Acasta don't know, but argues that you
does, cause you spoke Of Robert Harley,
Charles Bennett and Hadassah Gardner.
Robert Harley war the master of the Acasta
and Charles Bennett war one of the crew
that's me- My names Charles Bennett, and
I killed Robert Harley. He loved Hadassah
Gardner and she loved him. l loved her too.
Them war days when 1 was better than I am
now, though not much, cause l killed Robert
Harley. It come about in this way: 1t wal
in 1S49 that the Acasta left Sag Harbor for
whalin' in the Pacific.
~ knowed that Haddie and Robert war tc
be married when he got back, and made uI
my mind that he never would come back. Sc
l shipped as carpenter on his bark. / made
myself solid with the crew. They all swore
by me, but they had nothing agin the old man,
and 1 couldn't get no cause to pick "a row
with him We catched a few whales in the
Atlantic, got around the Horn, and stood W
for the islands with the southeast trades. II
war somewhere about twenty-five degrees
south latitude that we spoke big American
ship bound for Frisco We boarded her, and
learned of the diggin's in Californy, and how
every one was bound for that country. When
we got back to our ship | said to the boys,
Let's ask the old man to go TO Calforny.' So
we come aft in body, and asks him to let
tho whales go, and TO stand up for the land of
fortune He refused to do so, and ordered us
forward. That night I worked up the crew
to take the ship away from the old man, and
Offered to lead them Enough agreed to do
the work, 50 the next day we took the ship. ]
killed the old man with a windlass brake, and
we dropped him ont Of the cabin window. |
Nobody saw me. and nobody asked no ques-
tons The mates guv in, and all hands was
glad that we was goin' TO the land Of gold |
We ran across an island, and l got up plan |
to fool anybody what happened to land there |
II got t.ss mate 70 write a letter sayin' as |
how he war Robert Harley, sole survivor of |
the bark Acasta. what vas knocked down by |
a squal and all hands lost, and as how he |
loved Miss Gardner, and a lot of other stuff, |
and then | cuts notice on 8 capstan bar to /
look under a stone, and 1 PIT the paper in
tobacco box under it. Then the mate steered /
US for Frisco. We got there all safe, and |
the first night in the bay everybody but me |
and my two chulns-the same what you seed |
this afternoon-jumped the ship and put for |