Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1889-06-12
A JUST RETRIBUTI0N.

was busy among my maps and charts at
the cabin table when dull, heavy sound,
twice repeated, came through the open win
dowA Dropping everything hurried up on
deck
The marines were gathered along the rail,
booking % to the right bank Of tie creek
Was tina; firing / heardf' Inquired ca
gerly
II think 1t was the report Of u gun, cap
tain, said Lieut. Osborne, 1T came from
the shore. and at a distance Of scarcely half
q mile
All listened iptently for moment. and
then came a repetition Of the sourd and min
glsd ~ith it seemed 10 hear Fry
hesitated what course to pursue. An in
vesti yation ought 10 be made, AMI yet 70 ven
turs II INTO the forest with handful OF
men -eeu,d a very risky proceeding, for
these Arab slave dealers are no mean fight
erS, and this firing evidently coald Portend
nothing else than that they were about,
was in command Of gunb)at attached
to the uan-of-war Racer, whi,h was sta
toned on the East African coast, some miles
north Of Zanzibar and which was engaged
In the slave blockade | had been dispatched
some fifty miles up Vannas creek TO investi-
gate a rllmor that the Arabs had slave sta
ton near the head waters somewhere
I'd 10 this time had met With no sue
cess The country seemed to be deserted. or
course we could not recnunuiter far from the
banks for our force was small. and sutii-
Gent guard mist always be left in charge Of
the gunboat
For these reasons hesitated to advance
into the jungle, but two more snots IN rapid
succession removed all doubts ald | ordered
"A boat to be lowered Instantly
landed my little force-a dozen trusty
marines-in a small cove, and we plunged at
once into the forest.
We moved with great caution, and soon
struck rude path that bore traces Of recent
travel We continued along this in a south
erly direction, and had marched nearly
mile when the two men whom | had sent
forward an advance guard hurried back
at full speed and reported that number Of
natives and two white men Were only "a few
rods distant and creating a 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 wa gained the
euse Oh the pusn anu obtalhe'i II ciehi We"
Of the open
Some fifty or sixty stawnrt negroes were
dancing about and making strange gestures,
while few yards away, at the base Of
small hillock stood two swarthv men They
were on the defensive, evidently, ioi they
held rifles IN their hands, and three dead ne
grots lay PROSTATE ON tue ground IN front OF
them
Thor, I saty hing .lsa fn,. IN th. can
ter Of the open lay one great mass Of glitter
ing white ivory, tossed carelesSly in a 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 tn do 50, for
Of II sudden the negroes dashed forward with
fierce shout The men must have been over
powered in SPITE OF their lucessant and deadly
fire; but just at the critical moment we
swept out from the bushes, and the negroes
fell back in amazemeut
The rescued men came forward with out
stretched hands, aud | saw on closer view
that they were Portuguese.
"Seuor, you have saved our lives - said the
leader. in tulerably good English. lie was
an intelligent booking man Of thirty or thirty
five These scoundrels we're determined TO
kill us Nv name is Torres he continued,
"''l 'N'1' P'"r''7 w. us O''''la''iou'
h'S a. ""''' l'''' are N'H u"Neis'
unu nav " '"su' '''''r i'a'''s rom Tue III
"''' a. p'e'77i Gun 9,INeS
S'"'i ''''i nun "a ou' 'i'e looiS
Su''I,i'' ''''''' Wy mn minus ,''"' We pro
F9," '''",s '''"' 70 '"o ~ aus anu i'pi
WIN ray '''' "'''''9 'A'' Su''"e' "t'acN On
us,
never una l'"' ''"'" 'ai,n III 'ortushtse'
'n""eu '"'s '''',' W. -, " "cl'el TYPE thah
n'niif "''' 'N'~ Jun "e might "e Speaking
NV II va"
h'S''aI"' "ot kHo"us WHAT course to
pursue ne negroes were grouped together
az a i''l'' 9'N,oice' su"ehiy Watching our
movements oHu tnaNlhS no hostile demon
'tratonH
3""usnt ,he III 'ueih eei'e i"i ward a hlg'
s'al"a't 'e'3"' WIN a le"iari skin about
us WAIST ana N,"pl'i I'll front "i me
lie nt-ah 10 la"uer our mixture OF bad
hnglish ana nhtiVe African and more from
us gestures 'hah from ms Sp'rch, coihpre-
nend'i "uat h' sii,l ne declared 'hat the
PORTUGUESE intended toselI them INTO slavery,
and affirmed that he mad seen Torres lurking
behind on the previous DAY to talk toan Arab
that had come out OF the forest
lie told me that his name was Iuba, that
he was a head man in his tribe, and that he
had picked up hIs English at FAMILIAR, where
he had been on several occasions. He knew
that ! was English, and that the English
hated the Arabs SO he hoped that would
protect his friends from the Portuguese and