The Portland daily press., 1890-07-04

nese fiuently, and they gave q favorable
account of the people.
"They had special pet in q Chinese
steward named Tin-Ling, a burly, round
faced fellow, who would have passed
muster anywhere for an honest man but
for his eyes. They struck me as treach-
erous from the first. He never looked
anybody squarely in the face, or en-
countered a steady glance without
squirming. | concluded, however, that
his employers understood him, and, any
how, it was no affair of mine My ac-
quaintance with the Winsars lasted
until the captains vessel, small bark
named the So Kiang, was ready to sail
on one Of her regular coasting cruises.
She would be away some three months,
and would visit number of little ports.
| expected to get away about forty-eight
hours after her, and the evening before
she left took supper aboard her with
the skipper and we drank a farewell
glass. AS | was going away happened
to see Tin-Ling leaning over the side
talking in low tone to some rough
looking men in sampan alongside, and
in half joking way said:
Winsar, don't you think you trust
that fellow too much? If We're in your
place, with nobody about me but Chi
nese, should keep pretty sharp eye
upon a fellow with eyes as shifty as his.
'The captain laughed carelessly, and
merely said something about Tin-Ling
being all right, and so we parted.
I'm due time l got away on my gun
boat, and down the river we went, the
machinery working smoothly and the
boat answering her helm smartly. We
were armed with two Armstrong guns
of small caliber and couple Of Gatlings
for close quarters, besides the usual small
arms, rockets, etc.-quite enough to keep
off any number of Chinese pirates, or to
give good account of them in square
set-to. 1t was my intention to begin by
exploring the hooks and crannies of the
Pearl river delta, and l had taken
pilot ian old pirate) who knew those in
tricate waters thoroughly.
eve reached the mouth Of the river,
| anchored for the night, and next morn
ing at daybreak hove up and began to
| thread the creeks and estuaries Of that
region, of course with due caution and
the lead always going. The first day
brought no grist to my mill, and that
evening l brought up between two islets,
| and, being doubtful of the neighborhood,
l kept boats crew rowing guard all
| night, for it was so dark in there that
| the pirates might have surrounded us
| without being seen, provided they were
| quiet enough. However, we were not
disturbed, and the second day opened
without much prospect of excitement
P,ieal bly, the pirates bad get wind Of
our expedition and had made themselves
scarce. In any case there was nothing
to do but to go on, and on we went.
The scenery was interesting enough if
had cared for that, but | was fidgeting
to try the guns on a mob of pirate junks,
and the idea of being fooled was not
soothing.
eve were steaming slowly along,
lodging and turning to avoid the nu-
merous shoals, when suddenly peculiar
ripping, creaking sound broke the silence.
at once recognized the noise. 1t was
the report Of a match lock volley, and it
of course indicated fight somewhere
and in all probability an attack by the
| pirates on some vessel. I waited for the
smoke to rise, and thus ascertained the
scene of the difficulty, whatever it was.
The white smoke showed above the trees
about four miles off in straight line as
nearly as / could judge, but how far that
meant by water it was quite impossible
to tell. My delta pilot, who had pricked
up his ears like an old charger en- hear
ing the firing, told me he knew where
the fighting was going on and could take
me to it, but it would require full hour
to get there. There was no help for it,
of course. We could not straighten or
shorten the winding channel, nor could
we clap on full speed. The firing mean
time continued in queer spasmodic
way, and at intervals the rattle of the
matchlocks was punctuated by much
clearer, sharper sound, which / felt sure
was that of rifle or revolver. This
made the case more serious, for it looked
as though the pirates were attacking a
foreign THAT is, European) vessel.
sit was tiresome work crawling
through these passages, and / was afraid
we should be too late for help in rescue
after all. But at last we rounded a
bluff point and came suddenly into a
sort of lagoon, three times as wide
as the average passages, and then we
saw what all the fuss meant. There
lay my friend Winsar's bark the So
Kiang, fairly surrounded, at a distance
of hundred yards, by vicious looking
| junks, which were peppering her at
leisure, but not yet venturing to board
her. Probably they had suffered from
Winsar's fire and concluded to keep on
shooting from distance until they had
killed or wounded him and the boat
swain, they being the only white men
on the trader. Winsar's Chinese crew
seemed to have taken no part in the
| fight; at all events they were not visi-
BILE. The attacking junks were so occu-
| pied in batting poor Winsar that they
| did not see the gunboat for a few mo-
ments, and I had time to give them one
| smashing discharge from both the Arm
| strongs and both the gatlings before
they recovered their scattered wits and
sprang to sweep and sail in desperate
hurry.
II suppose ought to have armed my
boats and chased the ruffians, but was
feeling uneasy about Winsar, whose rifle
had not heard for several minutes, and
l remembered, too, with fresh misgiv
ing, the sinister looks Of the pet steward,
Tin-Ling. So after driving half dozen
| lunks ashore drew alongside Of the So
Kiang, piped away the cutter and went
| aboard her. The first thing | noticed
was that the deck was deserted. The
next sign | looked for was marks of
blood, but there were none. This seemed
to indicate that the crew had not risen
upon the captain, and perhaps also that
he had not been wounded. But, if alive,
where was he? Silence reigned through
out the vessel went down the COM
| panionway into the cabin. There was
no sign Of life there. of course knew
the position of the captains cabin and
fastened toward it. Coming out Of the
glare of the sun my eyes could not in
stantly adjust themselves to the semi
darkness of the cabin, but by the time
| reached the door l could see well enough,
and the scene that met me on the thresh-