Elmore bulletin. [volume] (Rocky Bar, Idaho) 1889-1906, 1892-02-20

pirates on some vessel. 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 a straight line ~
nearly as could judge, but how far that
meant by water 1t was quite impossible
TO tell. Ny delta pilot, who had pricked
up his ears like an old charger ON hear
ing the firing, told me he knew where
Che fighting was going on and could take
me to it, but il would require a full hour
to get there. There was no help for il.
of course. We could not straighten or
shorten the winding channel, nor could
we clap ON full speed The firing mean.
time continued In qieer spasrnoslio
way, and at intervals the rattle Of the
matchlocks was punctuated by n much
clearer, sharper sound, which felt sure
was that of rifle or a revolver. This
made the case more serious. for IL looked
as though the pirates were attacking .
foreign that is, Europeanl vessel
1T 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 distance
OF hundred yards, by vicious looking
junks, which We're 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 iunks were so occu-
pied in batting poor Winsar that they
did not see the gunboat for few mo-
ments, and 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 rnffians, but was
feeling uneasy about Winsar, whose rifle
| had not heard for several minutes, and
| remembered, too, with fresh misgiy-
ing, the sinister looks of the pet steward,
Tin-Ling. SO after driving half dozen
junks 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 We're 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 hey Silence reigned through
ont the vessel went down the com
panionway into the cabin. There was
no sign of life there. Iof course knew
the position Of the captains cabin and
hastened toward it. Coming out of the
glare of the sun my eyes could not in
stan.ly adjust themselves to the semi
darkness of the cabin, but by the time I
reached the door could see well enough,
and the scene that met me ON the thresh-
old brought me to dead halt.
This Is the tableau | there saw: On
the standing bed place lay the body Of
Mrs. Winsar, tho 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 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 enveloning 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 blaxed from a face
white as death, and he stood as IL turned
to stone. His steward was ms motion
less. There were the three actors in this
frightful scene, apparently all paralyzed
or petrifed; and seemed myself to be
stiffening into the same ghastly rigidity
rs ] stood there looking On.
''At last reused myself and stepped
into the cabin. My movement broke
the captains trance of horror. He gave
a deep sigh, recognized me and said
wearily; 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
once that he was dead. His neck was
broken, and. in all probability, in the
very moment Winsar set his grip upon
II. How long the captain had stood
there, holding the corpse. we never
knew, but 1t was at least ten minutes
As we raised our eyes from the black
ened features OF the traitor faint Sigh
caught my ear. and, turning TO the bed,
| saw that Mrs. Winsar's eyelids were
quiyering. Captain! cried exciteily,
I don't think your wife is dead, after
allp
"And. to cut long story short, she
was not dead: she was not even danger
ously hurt. She had caught Tin-Ling
rushing in upon her with his knife, por-
haps bent only upon plumber at the mo-
ments 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 10 draw blood,
when those iron hands gripped hims and
! 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.
'sThis was the tableau the figures in
the crypt OF the Eden Musee recalled 70
my mind" said Jack Wilson. as we
passed out into Broadway again.--G. II.