The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1889-06-26
A JUST RETRIBUTION.
BY WILLIAM NJ. GRAYDoN.


was busy among my maps and charts
at the cabin table when a dull, heavy
sound, twice repeated, came through the
open windows. Dropping everything I
hurried up on deck.
The marines were gathered along the
rail, looking off to the right bank of the
creek.
"Was that firing I heard?" I inquired,
eagerly.
~ think it was the report of a gun,
Captain, said Lieutenant Osborne. sit
came from the shore, at distance of
scarcely half mile"
All listened intently for a moment, and
then came repetition of the sound, and
mingled with it we seemed to hear cry.
l hesitated what course to pursue. An
investigation ought to be made; and yet
to venture off into. the forest with a
handful of men seemed very risky pro-
ceeding, for these Arab slave dealers are
no mean fighters, and this firing evident
ly could portend nothing else than that
they were about.
I was in command of gunboat at
tached to the man-of-war Racer, which
was stationed on the East African coast,
some miles north of Zanzibar, and which
. was engaged in the slave blockade. I
had been dispatched some fifty miles up
Vannas Creek to investigate rumor that
the Arabs had slave station near the
head waters somewhere.
Up to this time I had met with no sue
cess. The country seemed to be de-
serted. Of course we could not recon-
inter far from the banks, for our force
was small, and sufficient guard must
always be left in charge of the gunboat.
For these reasons Ihesitated to advance
into the Jungle; but two more shots in
rapid succession removed all doubts, and
I ordered boat to be lowered instantly.
landed my little force-a dozen trusty
marines-in small cove, and we plunged
at once into the forest
We moved with great caution, and soon
struck the rude path that bore traces Of
travel. We continued along this in a
southerly direction, and had marched
nearly mile when the two men whom I
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 disturbance.
This information staggered me. What
white men could be doing here was more
than I could understand. We advanced
slowly, with rifles in readiness. 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 small hillock, stood two swarthy
men. They were on the defensive, evi-
IDENTIFY, for they held rifles in their hands,
and three dead negroes lay PROSTATE on
the ground in front of them.
Then 1 saw something else, for in the
center of the open lay one great mass of
glittering white ivory, tossed carclessly
in a heap. It was an ivory caravan from
the interior; for these negroes belonged
to no coast tribes.
What the dispute was about I could not
even guess, nor did l have time to do So,
for of sudden the negroes dashed for
ward with fierce shout. The men must
have been overpowered 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
outstretched hands, and I saw on closer
view that they were Portuguese.
"Senor, you have saved our lives, :"
said the leader, in tolerably good Eng
ish. He was an intelligent looking man
of thirty or thirty-fve. ''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
interior at great cost. We pledged our,
selves to send them home in safety, but
the fools suddenly made up their mind:
that We proposed selling them to tho
Arabs, and, mad with rage, they made
this sudden attack on u.s."
I never did put much faith in Portu'
guese, though this man was of better
type than many I had met. Still hi
might be speaking the truth.
I hesitated, not knowing what course
to pursue. The negroes were grouped
together at little distance, sullenly
watching our movements, but making nc
hostile demonstrations.
Suddenly one of them came forward, ;
big, stalwart fellow, with leopard skin
about his waist, and stopped in front O.
me.
He began to jabber out mixture o.
bad English and native African, and
more from his gestures than from hi
speech, comprehended what he said
He declared that the Portuguese intended
to sell them into slavery, and affirmed tina
he had seen Torres lurking behind on th'
previous day to talk to an Arab that hac
come out of the forest.
He told me his name was Zuba, that h
was a head man in his tribe, and that h
had picked up his English at Zanzibar
where he had been on several occasions
BE knew that was English, and that tn