, 1890-08-08
ABSOLUTELY PURE

Of course indicated a 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 1t was.
The white smoke showed above the trees
about four miles of in a straight line Is
nearly as I could judge, but how far that
meant by water IL was quito impossible
to tell My delta pilot, who had pricked
up his ears like an old charger on hear
ing the firing, told me he knew where
the fighting was going on and could take
me to it. but it would require a 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 a queer spasmodic
way, and at intervals the rattle of the
matchlocks was punctuated by q much
clearer, sharper sound, which 1 felt sure
was that of a rife or a revolver. This
made the case more serious, for 1t looked
rs though the pirates were attacking a
foreign chat is. European) vessel.
at was tiresome work crawling
slACoC Paooa6Cot auQ Was dlIdlQ
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 a 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 a 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 ven they were not visi-
BILE. The attacking junks were SO occu-
pied in batting poor Winsar hat 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.
81 suppose I ought to have armed my
boats and chased the rufians, but I was
feeling uneasy about Winsar, whose rifle
l 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 a dozen
junks ashore / drew alongside of the So
Riang, piped away the cutter and went
aboard her. The first thing I noticed
was that tho deck was deserted. The
next sign l 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 1 went down the com
panionway into the cabin. There was
no sign of life there. 1 of course knew
the position Of the captains cabin and
hastened toward 1t. 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 zee well enough,
and the scene that met melon the thresh-
old brought me to a dead halt.
This is the tableau 1 there saw: On
the standing bed place lay the body of
Mrs. Winsar. the face white, still, fixed.
with horror in the wide open eyes. A
thin stream of blood had trickled down
her breast. Over her. in the act of
striking, leaned Tin-Ling, his right arm
extended, with a long knife in the hand,
and the point of the blade suspended not
two inches above Mrs. Winsar's heart.
Holding the assassin in an iron grip, one
tremendous hand enveloping his throat,
the other clasped about the wrist of his
knife arm, stood Capt. Winsar. His
form was drawn to its full height;
his eyes literally blazed from a face
white as death, and he stood as If turned
to stone. His steward was as notion
less. There were the three actors in this
frightful scene, apparently all paralyzed
or petrifed; and 1 seemed myself to be
~stiffening into the same ghastly rightly
as I stood there looking on.
Eat last I reused myself and stepped
into the cabin. My movement broke
the captains trance of horror. He gave
a deep sigh, recognized me and said
YEARLY: Take this devil, Mr.. Wilson;
he has killed my WIFE With that he
relaxed his hold upon Tin-Ling's throat.
/ looked at the Chinaman, whose head
fell Imply on his shoulder, and saw at
ono that he was dead. His neck was
broken, and, in all probability, in the
very moment Winsar set his grip upon
it. How long the captain had stood
there, holding the corpse. we never
knew, but it was at least ten minutes.
AS we raised our eyes from the black
ened features of the traitor a faint sigh
caught my ear, and, turning to the bed,
l saw that Mrs. Winsar's eyelids were
quivering. 'Captaini' l cried eIcitedly,
i don't think your wife is dead, after
allr
And, to cut a long story short, she
was not dead; she was not ever danger
ously hurt. She had caught Tin-Ling
rushing in upon her with bis knife, per-
haps bent only upon plumber at the mo-
ment; but she shrieked, and the steward
sprang upon her. Her husband had
heard her scream, and rushed below at
the very instant Tin-Ling's knife was
descending. Its point had cut just deep
enough into the flesh to draw blood,
when those iron hands gripped him; and
l am inclined to think that the death Of
Tin-Ling could not have been more
sudden and painless had the agent been
electricity, instead of bone and muscle.
This was the tableau the figures in
the crypt of the Eden Musee recalled to
my mind" said Jack Wilson, as we