The Washington critic., 1889-01-26

Below, there want word wit
you !"
What is it?' demanded the captain
THE schooner is ours. as you. {
course, know. We don't want you
lives. You can have boat and start o.
as soon as you please"
But we don't propose to go %
Don't get cantankerous, old man
We've got the schooner and we kno,
enough TO keep her. We don't want vo
here. III you accept our offer, all right
If you want to fight it out. then look OH
Tor yourselves ~
That's what we propose to do re
piled the captain, and then all was quiet
crept to the head of the companion
stairs and heard the mutineers convers
ing In low tones, and while / sought {,
catch what they said, man aft to th,
wheel and others began to make sail
The calm was broken, knew the cours,
they would make without seeking Il 81 gh
OF the cabin compass. They would heat
10 the west, probably for King Island
ana while between the south coast OF
Australia and the north coast of Var
Dleman's Land, a stretch of over 20(
miles, there would be no fear of meeting
with any craft larger than coaster
owing to the numerous shoals and shal.
lows. The breeze came up lively, and
the schooner went dancing away as lively
as If all had been ut peace.
They won't try to get at us for time,
and perhaps not until morning" said the
captain, "and we must make ready"
we first made u barricade at the door of
the main cabin, using the sofa. table and
chairs. Then we got out and loaded five
muskets. placed three cutlasses handy.
and, in addition, each had revolver.
we worked in the dark, but we knew
where everything was TO be found. You
might have looked for the girl to break
down, but there was never a sign of il.
Indeed, she expressed hope that the
men would not give in too soon, and
seemed to desire an attack. When we
had done all we could, we sat down and
waited for the night to pass away.
The schooner reeled off the miles at n
lively pace for the next four hours, and
morning came without our having been
disturbed. Then sail was shortened, the
craft laid to, and, as soon as the men had
had bite to eat, the leader summoned
us with:
Below, therep'
We'll, answered the captain.
we VIII give you another chance to
leave. You can have boat, oars, sail,
water and grub, and no one shall hinder
your going"
Suppose we refuse to go2"
linen your blood be upon your own
heau! rather than surrender the
schooner we'll burn her, and you with
her! Ill give you half an hour to think
it over"
We didn't want two minutes. We
were determined not only not to leave
the schooner. but to recapture her. We
expected to be attacked first by the sky
light, but this was a small affair. and
dld not command but portion of the
cabin. And, as we afterwards ascer.
tained, the only fire.arm among the mu-
tineers was double-barrelled pistol.
which had already been discharged. and
could not be reloaded for want of am
munition. They would also batter in
the doors of the companion, but we
hoped to hold them at the barricade.
They could not come at us by the wav
OF the hold, for that was full.
We got bite to eat from the pantry,
had glass of wine, and by that time
were hailed for our answer. The can.
tain replied that we would not 90, and
defied them to do their worst. We
heard them moving softly about and at
her own request jess was allowed to pull
away q portion of the barricade and
creep upstairs to listen, while the cap.
tain and | stood with our guns ready TO
repulse any attack by the skylight. Jess
was returning to report when battering-
ram drove in the doors, hardly an arms
length away, and the men who had
welded the spar raised yell at sight of
her. Not one person in ten thousand,
man or woman, would have done as she |
did. Instead OF springing over the bar
rlcade, she leveled her revolver and shot |
one of the men, the leader of the mutinv.
through the head as he stood above her. |
AS he drew up his arms and fell she |
shouted to us to come up, rushed up the |
stairs, and we heard her fire twice more |
before we got over the barrcade.
When we got on deck no one but Jess |
was to be seen erect. Two dead men
and one wounded unto death were living
on the deck, and the other three had |
led to the TO castle, Two minutes later
hey were begging for their lives, and
hey crawled like ours as they came up
% be bound jess had killed two of the
lew men and mortally wounded the
negro cook, and the mutiny had been
'ut down and the craft retaken before
you could count hundred. Her move
nents had been so swift and her aim
vas so fortunate that everything had
o 60 before her.
1t would have made our hair stand
lp to listen to the confessions of those
ascals. The seizure of the schooner had
ong been contemplated, and part of the
'lan was to get hold Of the girl. Had
We accepted the offer of the boat we
would have been killed as soon as we
cached the deck. The leader was an
x-convict named Ike Reese and he pro-
'osed to turn the craft into a regular
'irate, strengthening his crew from such
mall craft as he might overhaul. The
egro died within an hour and we hove
he three bodies overheard without cere.
lony. During the forenoon we worked
he schooner to the east and about noon
ot couple of hands from an English
lerchantman and put into Melbourne to
eport and deliver up our prisoners. One
'as hanged for the crime, but one died
efore the trial and the other escaped
nd was shot dead by the officers in pur- =
lit n Y Suh