, 1890-08-08
THE CAPTAINS GRIP.

1HE CAPTAINS GRlP.
An old California friend-John Will
son, let Us call him for convenience-had
been strolling about New York, refresh
ing his memory, visiting new points of
interest and generally taking in" the
sights. In plotting him round the city /
naturally stumbled upon the Eden Mu-
see, and took him in to zee the grisly
groups and tableaux in the crypt. He
was very much interested in them and
repeatedly expressed surprise and admi-
ration at the skill of the workmanship
and the artistic and realistic effects of
the grouping and attitudes. Having
worn the blue during the civil war he
was especially attracted by the repre-
%sentation Of Clusters Last fight; but I OBJ
served that he could hardly take his eyes
off n group of figures in oriental cos
tunes, and that for some minutes after
examining that group he continued
grave and absent minded. Presently, at
luncheon, l asked Jack what particular
memory that oriental tableau had slim
ulated. / put the question advisedly,
because l knew that my friend had seen
men and cities and experienced many
and strange adventures, and all his sto-
ries were good, while most Of them were
apt to be new. So 1 deliberately angled
for a yarn, feeling that it would har-
monte better with n cigar than a fresh
descent into the streets. Jack, on being
questioned, fell once more into his abb
stracted mood, and, after a minute Of
silence, said slowly:
II was thinking of a group l once saw,
not composed Of wax figures, yet rs rigid
and motionless, in which an Oriental
bore q conspicuous part"
After this beginning, of course, l did
not let Jack go until he had told his
story, and what he said is now repro
duced here:
After the close OF the war l found
it impossible to settle down again to
humdrum work, but 1 soon found that
i'll was in search of adventure it would
be necessary to try some other country
than my own. The United States was
at that time bound to make up for lost
time. All the business and money max
ing tendencies of the nation seemed
stimulated to the uttermost. Specula-
ton was booming; the war spirit had
put unheard of audacity into all kinds
of commercial enterprises, and. gener-
ally, the hour of the capable had come.
/ did not happen to be Of these. / had
a little money, enough to live upon
comfortably, and l felt no inclination to
go a-grubbing for more. Action, excite
ment, picturesqueness, the unexpected
were what / desired, and / began look
ing over the world for some situation
containing n promise.
SAT last / got tired of waiting and
tried to compromise with myself by a
course Of drifting. / drifted to the Pa
cific coast; Their to the Sandwich Islands;
from there to Japan, and after a stay of
several months in one OF the most in
teresting countries and among the most
delightful people l know l found my
way to Canton. This was some time
after Horatio E. Lays hasco. You re-
member about that? No? Well, this
Lay was a blue blooded English diplo-
matte fellow, who thought he could do q
stroke Of business for himself by under
taking to organize a fleet for the Chinese
government wherewith to put down
piracy, at that time very troublesome,
especially in and about Kwangtung.
Lay obtained some sort of authority,
went to England, bought or built a lot
OF gunboats, fitted them out for service
and engaged Capt. Sherard Osborne, O
gallant naval officer, to command the
squadron.
But this was not what the Chinese
wanted. Their idea was to man the
vessels with their w people, and give
them native officers, too. OF course,
this would have resulted in one Of two
ways; either the pirates would have cap
tured the gunboats promptly, or the
commanders Of the gunboats would have
gone into partnership with the pirates.
That, however, was nobody's business
but that Of the government, whose sub
jects were cutting one another's threats.
Lay was r~epudiated; the contracts made
by him were rejected. and, finally, Sir F.
Bruce solved the difficulty by taking
Osborne's hotilla off the hands of the
Chinese government. Most of the gun
boats were sent back to England, but
one at least remained, and the under
standing was that the government
would buy her if she proved up to her
guarantees.
Now, to test such q boat, it was
clearly useless to send her to sea with
Chinese officers; and even a Chinese
crew could hardly do her justice in the
engine room and stoke hole. So it was
determined to make a trial trip with a
scratch crew of white men; and when l
heard that they were looking about for
somebody to command her Jumped at
the opportunity, and hastened to offer
my services. You know / was in the
navy before the war, and l had passed a
good examination in steam, so felt my
self competent to manage this gunboat.
which was only a small craft. calculated
for shallow watars. md carrying a crew