Evening journal., 1891-02-16

again. snC uhu Hftl u smell pump into
the boat. Il had acted as solid shot and
gone through her, killing and wounding
and smashing, and when the smoke blew
away only three men were swimming away
on the surface. These we ordered aboard
and made secure at once The bark dropped
another boat but after coming half way
It returned. About noon she got rifle of
wind which did not reach us, and made off
to the west to be seen no more
When we came to question the prison.
ers, who were lusty looking cut throats, we
found that they belonged to the Maldive
islands, around in the Indian ocean. They
made no bones about admitting that they
meant to capture us, and were surly and
defiant over their repulse. They would not
give us the name Of the bark, and even
after she was out OF sight they boosted that
she would return soon to release them. At
sundown we got the breeze and stood away
on our course. That night, during the
mates watch the pirates disappeared. All
knew where they went, but no one asked
any questions The two boats contained
fully two dozen Of them, and their loss
must have sadly crippled the bark and
changed her plans
About three years later than the date
given at the opening of this sketch. |
shipped aboard Of a British ship called the
Swallow to make voyage from Bombay
up the Persian gulf and back. She was
IN old craft and poor sailer, and her
crew OF twelve men was made up Of four
or five nationalities / remember there
were two kanakas or Sandwich islanders,
one Lascar, n negro or two, and the others
were American, English and Dutch. We
had scarcely left Bombay when the captain
was taken sick with fever. His name was
Aldrich, and his wife, who was woman
OF thirty, always sailed with him. She
now took command in general way, and
this to the satisfaction of both mates,
though both were thorough sailors. |
heard one Of them say that she could take
an observation or work a dead reckoning,
and | saw from the orders she gave that
she knew all about a ship.
We had good weather and made good
progress until after we were above Muscat
in the Bay of 0rmnz. Then one forenoon
we got squall which did not last fifteen
minutes, but which brought down our
fore and man-to' gallant masts and carried
away sail or two. There was only a light
breeze after the squall had passed, and we
were lying to and hard at work, when an
Arabian dhow of about two hundred tons
burden came stealing down the coast. We
were within four miles of the rocky and
mountainous shore, but she was two miles
inside Of us She was no sooner made out
than the first mate became very anxious,
and Mrs. Aldrich was sent for to come on
deck. She took a good look at the stranger
through the glass and queried of the mate:
Can we depend on the crew to ightso
hone so na'am y he ranliad
Have them come aft.
All moved aft, and l can remember
through all the long years just how she
looked and every word she said. She had
a worried, anxious look and no wonder.
and there was trembling in her voice as
she said:
Men, you know that your captain is
very sick. Yonder comes a pirate, il there
ever was one. IL he captures US those who
live through the fight win 60 into the in
terror as slaves or worse. If we are all
agreed to fight we can beat him of. What
do you sayfn
Wen fight to the lastr' shouted one,
and the cry was taken up by all.
'Thank Godr' she feryently exclaimed.
Give him brave fight and no one can be
blamed if we are defeated. Sooner than
fall into his hands ! will blow the old ship
skyhigh and all Of us with her.
We had no cannon, but we had fifteen
muskets, lot of cavalry sabers, and the
captain had not lodged about those waters
with his eyes shut. He had two or three
years before purchased dozen hand gre
nades or stink pots, such as are used by the
Chinese These were brought up with the
rest and found to be fused and in good CON
dition. They weighed about two pounds
apiece and each was inclosed in a net. so
that it could be tossed quite distance. We
loaded our muskets, took our stations and
were as ready as we could be. The cap
tain's wife alternated between the deck
and the cabin. He was out of his head,
which was the better for him, as she had
his revolver for use.
The dhow sneaked along until nearly OPP
posite us. All work had been suspended
aloft, and she must have known by this
that we were ready for her; but she came
on just the same And no wonder One
OF the men went aloft with the glass, and
ne made out two guns on her deck and a
perfect swarm of men. She was doing
bold thing-run us aboard in broad
daylight. She would not use her guns,
fearing that they would be heard and
bring us assistance; but if that mob ever
gained our decks we were gone We lay
with our head to the northwest, SO she
would pass our port quarter first. Here
two Of the strongest men were placed with
the grenades, and two Of us with muskets
were between them. The others were
placed to FIRE over the stern.
Down came the dhow, foot by foot, with
never a cheer from the crowd of cutthroats
on her decks. There was menace in their
silence, but it had no effect upon MS. We
were determined to fight. and to fight to
the last. got the first shot, and knocked
over a man on her forecastle, and then all
began to blaze away. She did not fire in
return, but forged up on our quarters, and
could see fifty Arabs, each one with a
crease, erowding against the rail to be
ready to board.
Now, heaven yelled one Of the sailors
with the bombs, and both lighted the fuses
and heaved away.
Before we could tell what damage had
been done the dhow was alongside. She
threw her grapnel, but did not catch, and
she rubbed her whole length aud went
ahead. AS we saw her failure we blazed
away again with the muskets, and every
ball found a man. She sailed like witch,
and before she could be checked was a
cables length ahead. She had just put her
helm over when there was an explosion,
followed by a great sheet of flame, and we
saw that she was hard hit Confusion
reigned from stem to stern in moment,
and we added TO it by peppering away at
fair range. All ablaze within five min
utes She fell Off, headed for shore, and was
run on a reef about mile away.
We saw some save themselves by boats
and RATS being swept into the shore by
the tide, but it was afterward learned that
upward Of forty-five men were killed or
drn,rnnd md that the loss Of the dhnn