Feliciana sentinel. [volume] (St. Francisville, La.) 1877-1892, 1891-05-23

hundred miles instead of voyaging
through the landlocked Flores and


| through the landlocked Flores and
I Java seas. While open piracy was un-
known, there were many suspicious
| craft in those seas and at brief inter-.
| vals traders were plundered or captured
! outright We had no cannon, but our
crew of eight men had muskets and
cutlasses. and could be depended on to
fight We stood off the coast under tho
land breeze after landing our men at
night, and by daylight had an ofting to
twenty-five miles. Then we headed 70
the west. We had just done SO when
we noticed u craft rugged like an Arab
dhow coming up astcrn of us. She was
nearly of our size but could sail three
fest to our two in any sort OF wind
Such craft confinc themselves to the
c,asting trade, and seldom make long
voyages. We could not see why this
fellow should be SO far from the coast
unless on our trail, and we soon felt
! assured that his business was with US.
lie shortened sail to keep about n mile
astern of us, and hung right there all
day.
Ills plan is to creep xp to us and lay
us aboard at night" SAD the captain,
as VIC talked the matter over. while
! can't make out over four or Grc men
on his decks, am satisfied that he has
twenty or thirty hidden away"
We should have been prepared as
we'll as VIC could when night came. but
late in the afternoon gale came up
from tho northwest, driving us out to
sea. and VIC knew he'd have all he
could do to manage his craft, even il
he dared keep up the pursuit That he
! dared was soon settled. Indeed, his
craft was as seaworthy as ours, but the
| Of tel, lie
upon as efficient navigators we were
driven away into the darkness, the
seas pitching us like 4 cork, and when
we lost sight of him astcrn VIC sheltered
our lights, broke a point off the course
we were heading and felicitatcd our
selves that he would not be in sight
when morning came. What was on.
astonishment and disgust to find hin.
holding his old position as daylight
came. 1t did not seem as if he had
changed by ten feet. How he could
have kept it was marvel to us, as the
night was SO thick from the time it
shut in that our night-glass could not
locate him. The gale still held, and we
still driftcd away into the Indian ocean,
and if he meant us harm wc had
plenty of time to prepare for him.
The second night came on bright and
him by any trick at midnight. The
gale had blown itself out and an hour
later we had sail on the schooner and
were heading up to the northwest under
a change Of wind. The dhow followed
our example as promptly as if siCnalca
to, but there was still Z heavy sea
running, we had no fear of her for sew
cral hours to come. When morning
came she was sticking like burr in
the same old spot, and her grim per-
sistency began to unncrvc u.s. Some Of
the men insisted that she was a spirit
ship" sailed by dead men, and that her
hanging in our wake was an omen tf
disaster and death.
1t was "A real relief to sec her. about
nine o'clock in the forenoon. forge ahead
to windward of us. This move was
doubtless made to enable them to in
spcct us. We could make out four or
five men aboard of her, but no more,
and she did not sit low enough in .hc
water to prove the presence of much
cargo in her hold. y glass or two was
no dot: bt lcvcllcd in our direction, and
anxious to make a big showing of
strength we kept the men dodging
about rs br!silfy rs possible. The
stranger must have concluded that we
had from fifteen to twenty men to de-
fcnd our decks, and after running 4
parallel course of two or three hours he
dropped back into our wake and hung
there like wolf in chase.
The breeze died out with the sun, SO
that when night had fairly come we
were not making over n knot an hour,
with full moon to light up the sea until
you could have made ont n ships yawl
a mile away. There was no use trying
| 70. Il tl,, ct, n irrllt
and both watches were kept on deck,
with guns aud cutlasses at hand for
instant use. At about midnight the
dhow crcpt up on us until his bowsprit
was not more than two hundred feet
from our ruddcr post, and every man
kncIt at the butwarks with mustlet in
hand. We tried our best now TO make
out how many men he had on his decks,
but we could see no one, not even one
, figure. They were either hidden by
the sails or sheltered by the bul'varlis-
lie had Il better sight of us, and, per
= haps seeing that we were ready. he
.. gradually dropped back to his old
position, and there we found him again
at daylight.
To show you how the presence OF
) this unknown told on the nerve of the
men, let me say that after breakfast
the men sent Il spokesman aft to re-
quest the captain to luif up and have it
: out with him, and if we were all to
; have our throats cut to have i. over and
done with. This he refused to do, how
} ever, telling the men that we were head
ing straight for Suuda, and the nearer
we cot to the coast the less darCer there
: was of an attack. We had only mod
crate breeze during the day, and the
= dhow kept her place as on the previous