The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1889-07-17
A JUST RETRIBUTION.


deck.
The marines were gathered along the rail,
looking Off to the right bank OF the creek.
WAS that firing | heardF' l inquired ca
gerly.
II think it was the report of gun, cap
I tain,n said Lieut.. Osborne ut came from
the shore, and at distance of scarcely half
a milen
All listened intently fer moment, and
then came a repetition of the sound, and min
gled with it we seemed to hear a cry.
hesitated what course to pursue An in
vestigation ought to he made; and yet to ven
ture off into the forest with handful of
men seemed very risky proceeding for
these Arab slave dealers are no mean fight
ers, and this firing evidently could portend
nothing else than that they were about
| was in command of gunboat attached
to the man-of-war Racer which was sta
toned on the East African coast, some miles
north of Zanzibar, and which was engaged
in the slave blockade. l had been dispatched
some fifty miles up Vannas creek to investi-
gate n rumor that the Arabs had slave sta
ton near the head waters somewhere.
Up to this time | had met with no sue
cess, The country seemed to be deserted. OF
course we could not reconnoiter far from the
banks for our force was small, and a suffi-
cient guard must always -left in charge of
the gunboat.
For these reasons hesitated to advance
into the jungle; but two more shots in rapid
succession removed all doubts and | ordered
boat to be lowered instantlys
| | landed my little foree-a dozen trusty
marines-in small cove, and we plunged at
once into the forest.
| Va witt ut.ffo
struck rude path that bore traces of recent
travel We continued along this in south
erly direction, and had marched nearly
mile when the two men whom | had sent
forward as an advance guard hurried back
at full speed and reported that number of
natives and two white men were only few
rods distant and creating considerable dis
turbance.
This information staggered me. What
white men could be doing here was more
than could understand
We advanced slowly, with rifles in readi-
ness Before us was break in the forest,
and without any difficulty we gained the
edge of the bush and obtained clear view
| of the open.
Some fifty or sixty stalwart negroes were
dancing about and making strange gestures,
while few yards away, at the base of q
small hillock, stood two swarthy men. They
were on the defensive, evidently, for they
| held rifles in their hands, and three dead ne
groes lay PROSTATE on the ground in front of
| them
| Then / saw something else, for In the CEN
ter Of the open lay one great mass of glitter
ing white ivory, tossed carelessly in heap.
1t was an ivory caravan from the interior;
for these negroes belonged to no coast tribes.
What the dispute was about could not
even guess, nor did have time to do so, for
of a sudden the negroes dashed forward with
a fierce shout. The men must have been over
powered In spite of their incessant and deadly
fire; but just at the critical moment we
swept out from the bushes and the negroes
fell back in amazement.
The rescued men came forward with out
stretched hands, and / saw on closer view
that they were Portuguese.
Senior, you have saved our lives said the
leader, in tolerably good English. He was
an intelligent looking man of thirty or thirty
five. "These scoundrels were determined to
kill us. My name is Torres he continued.
''and this, pointing to his companion, SIS
my friend, CASTILLO. We are ivory traders,
and have brought these natives from the in
terror at great cost. We pledged ourselves
to send them home In safety, but the fools
suddenly made up their minds that we pro-
posed selling them to the Arabs, and mad
with rage, they made this sudden attack on
u.s."
never did put much faith In Portuguese,
though this man was of better type than
many had met. Still, he might bespealxing
the truth.
l hcsitated, not knowing what course to
pursue. The negroes were grouped together
at a little distance, sullenly watching our
movements, but making no hostile demon
strations.
Suddenly one of them came forward, big,
stalwart fellow, with leopard skin about
his waist, and stopped in front of me.
He began to jabber out a mixture of bad
English and native African, and, more from
his gestures than from his speech, / compre-
hended what he said. He declared that the
Portuguese intended to sell them into slavery,
and affirmed that he had seen Torres lurking
behind ON the previous day TO talk toan Arab
that had come out of the forest
He told me that his name was Ziiba, that
he was head man in his tribe, and that he
had picked up his English at Zanzibar, where
he had been on several occasions He knew
that | was English, and that the English
hated the Arabs, SO he hoped that l would
protect his friends from the Portuguese and
the slave hunters
Torres swarthy face grew darker as Zuha
poured out his appeal.
1.-THE hound lies, he exclaimed, angrily.
when they take the ivory to the coast they
will be paid and sent back home.'i
sBut see here, Torres" interrupted, for
was beginning to get an inkling of the state
Of the case. ''YoH know well that these ma
4.
the coast 1t looks to me as though you had
deceived them, whether you intended to sell
them TO the Arabsor not. They are certainly
ignorant Of their real peril"
The Portuguese grew confused, and tried
to stammer out some explanation, but made
up my mind at once that 1t was clear case
Of treaehEy.
1t was IAN extremely perilous situation all
round, and one that called for prompt action.
at once ordered the arrest OF the two Portu-
gnese, and before they could think of resist
ance my marines had disarmed them and
pinioned their limbs.
The delighted negroes crowded round Us
with cries of gratitude, but i soon convinced
them that their danger was by no means
over. / could not liberate and let them go,
for the bands Of slave hunters that roamed
| the country would soon have seized them; SO
my only course was to take them on board
the gunboat and let the authorities of the
Racer decide their fate. now had no doubt
at all that Torres and CASTILLO had intended
to sell them into slavery, and felt highly
elated at my capture Of these Portuguese
slave hunters.
/ At my command, Zuba and biz dusky
friends took up their burdens at ivory, and
we started back along the rough trail, Tor
res and CASTILLO marching sullenly between
| two marines
| noticed that they turned their heads aside
| from time TO time in q strange manner, and
| my suspicious were aroused.
| Zuba was watchful and uneasy, and crept
] along srn,o distance ahead ~ tho column.