The Odessa herald. (Odessa, Del.) 1888-1892, 1889-03-02

.suuoen as bne captain paceu the quar-
ter some one in the fo'castle shouted
''Murderl" There was scramble and a
rush, followed by splash, and chok-
ing voice from the water gasped out;
'Its mutiny, captain, look outl"
1t was the voice Of Needham who had
been stabbed and flung overheard.
Next moment the captain saw every
other man before the mast advancing aft
armed with capstan bars and Delaying
pins. The cook was with them, and the
old man was not long in realizing that
something worse than mutiny was on
Instead of ordering, or arguing, or wait
ing for explanations, he leaped down
into the cabin and bolted the heavy doors
behind him. had heard the row, and
was now dressed, and so it came to pass
that the captain, Jess, and myself were to-
gether aft, and all made prisoners at once.
'It's mutiny, Mr.. Loringln shouted the
captain as / entered the main cabin.
"Arm yourself and we'll teach the ras-
calls lesson not to be forgottenp
He had scarcely ceased speaking when
bullet struck him in the right shoulder,
and shot fred at me grazed my head.
One of the mutineers had fred through
the open skylight. The captain stag
gered to the sofa, and in jiffy had the
lights out. Then / pulled the heavy sash
down and secured it, and we were safe
for the moment. 1t needed no explana-
tion to satisfyme of what had happened.
The crew had seized the schooner, and
Needham had been murdered because he
would not join the conspiracy. had a
revolver, and l started for the deck, but
the captain stopped me:
"Come back, Mr.. Loring. You have
no showl They would kill you before
you got on deckl"
"But we must get the schooner back |"
I said.
Certainly; but we can't do it by
throwing our lives away. We are safe
for the present. Help me off with my
coat and attend to this wound. Jess,
you take my revolver and stand in the
companionway to guard the doors"
Igot at the wound as soon and as
II
carefully as / could, and was rejoiced to
find that the bullet had struck the bone
and glanced off. Indeed, it fell out Of
tho tleFh as I washed away The bland : Il
was illus painful but not a dangerous
wound Isoon had it attended to, and
the captain thought he would not be
prevented from handling revolver.
had just got him fixed up when some
one raped at the doors, and voice ex-
claimed:
"Below, therel want word with
youp
',What is it9" demanded the Cap
tain.
t'The schooner is ours, as you of
course know. We don't want your
lives. You can have boat and start of
as soon as you please
''But we don't propose to go!"
'tDon't get cantanlSerous, old man.
We've got the schooner, and we know
enough to keep her. We don't want you
here. If you accept our offer, all right.
If you want to fight it out, then look
out for yourselvesp
"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 l sought to
catch what they said, man ran aft to
the wheel and the Others began to make
sail. The calm was broken. / knew
the course they would make without
seeking sight of the cabin compass.
They would head to the west, probably
for King Island, and while between the
south coast of Australia and the north
coast of Van Dieman's Land, stretch of
over 200 miles, there would be no fear
of meeting with any craft larger than a
coaster, owing to the numerous shoals
and shadows. The breeze came up live
ly, and the schooner went dancing away
as lively as if all had been at peace.
''They won't try to get at us for time
and perhaps not until morning." said
the Captain, t'and we must make ready"
We first made barricade at the door
of the main cabin, using the sofa, table
and chairs. Then we got out and load
ed five muskets, placed three cutlasses
handy, and, in addition, each had re-
volver 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 WIS never
a sign of it.
The schooner reeled off the miles at a
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 sum-
moned us with:
"Below, therel"
''Well, answered the Captain.
"We will give you another chance to
leave. You can have boat, oars, sail,
water, and grub, and no one shall hinder
your going"
"suppose werefuse to goa"
"Then your blood be upon your own
head Rather than surrender the
schooner we'll burn her and you with
herl I'll give you half an hour to think
it over"