Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-06-12
his feet touched the deck. The other ss.

 fused to come down, and half Q dozen natives ran up the foremast shrouds with knives in their hands. Before they could reach him the sailor made his way hand over hand along the triantic stay to the mainmaSt. His feat was greeted with applause, but others ascended, and there was no longer any hope for him. Tho poor fellow made the best defense possi- ble, but they cut and hacked him until he lost his hold and fell to the deck. His body was thrown overheard, deck and cabins cleansed of blood stains, and about sundown the schooner, with twenty-five men, was headed for the Philippines. The rest of the gang, num- bering seven or eight, followed with the native craft. boiled large quantity of meat and got tho best supper possible, and was glad to find that no one gave mo any attention.
 We had a brisk wind all night and during the next forenoon and at about o'clock we reached an a..chorage on the east side of the main island and within quarter of mile of the beach. The native craft passed us and entered the mouth of river. From what 1 could gather she was going to bring out men and cannon to the schooner. A hunt was made through the schooner for gun carriages, and the discovery of the small arms seemed to put the fellows in
 
 gold aboard in the cabin, and this was counted out and divided pro rata, or in some other satisfactory manner as we lay at anchor. Then 1 was ordered to draw O pailful of wine from cask in Q sort of lazaretto or storeroom, reached from the galley.
 The wine must have tickled their pal ates nightly, for second pailful was soon demanded. It was while I was | drawing it that I noticed the barrel had no bung in it, and l wondered why the ] wine had not soured. I retired to the 1 galley as soon as I had filled the second order, and for half an hour there was | great deal of loud talk and laughter. All of a sudden, while was retlecting on the l situation, and perhaps crying bit in my 1 sorrow and anxiety, it struck me that l things were wonderfully quiet l looked 1 out of the galley to see half dozen fig 1 ures lying on the deck, and later on, I when l had summoned courage to walk 1 the length of the schooner, found every l man aboard apparently sound asleep. l Their breathing was labored, but I SUD- l posed this was tho result of too much l drink. The night had come down dark l and gusty, with the wind directly off l shore and as the sleepers continued to lie quiet some strange ideas came to me- l was tempted to take one of their knives and begin killing them, but
 
 at the davlts, and I planned to lower ! it and let the breeze carry me out to sea. l 1 held to this idea for a few minutes and l then surrendered 1t for another. I would swim ashore and hide in the forest. I l had to abandon that scheme as well, for l l saw at a glance that the tide was run hing out strong. l was wondering if l 1 should not start fire in the forecastle or l cabin when I discovered that the craft l was under way. She had her light anchor out and had been tugging heavily under tide and gust. The chain had ground off | against some sharp-edged rock, or the pin had slipped from a shackle. It was prob ably the latter case, as l heard a splash l as of the end of the chain falling from the hawse hole. She drove off stern first, and then, as she begaa to swing about, l stepped softly back to the wheel, put it over to get her off, and then extidguished the two lanterns on deck and the lamp ill the cabin. I am not boasting of my nerve I in stepping over the sleepers to do this work or of my sagacity in getting the idea. I was working like one in dream and could hardly have identified myself. | What occurred between the time put out the lights and daylight next morning, I never can clearly remember. The schooner took care of herself for any effort of mine, and l think l went into the galley and crept behind the stove. At last I crawled out of that contracted space soon after daylight in response to call. supposed was called to prepare breakfast for the pirates, but 1 was no sooner out of the galley than I saw large ship hove to a quarter of a mile away, while one of her boats, with five men in it, was alongside the schooner. l must have looked and acted like stupid for as couple of men came over the rail ono of them gave me hearty shak- ing and growled out:
 ''You idiot, can't you get your mouth open?"
 There were twenty-five men lying on I the decks and in the cabin sound asleep. No! Dead! Every one of them dead and cold, and I the only living thing 1 aboard That barrel of wine had been ! dosed with some deadly drug. The cook must have done it previous to the attack, or the bung had been let out by another, and some poisonous reptile had crept in to die. No one could tell for l certain, but the drinkers were all dead, and all had died in sleep. The ship was ! English and the schooner was over ! thirty miles off the land. One of H. M. men- of-war, assisted by civil functionary, attempted an investigation, but nothing came of it. Our crew had been slaugh- tered and the schooner captured, but she had recaptured herself and brought of l twenty-five corpSes. Not a living man 1 could ever be found among the islands who would acknowledge that he had ever seen the schooner, much less participated l in her capture.-N. '. Sun.