The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1892-12-03
of Luzon island. How could it be pos
Sihln that the DrpadnamUht ever nnt so

of Luzon island. How could it be pos
sible that the Dreadnaught ever got so
far north in the China sea when she
was sailing for Singapore? For this
reason Willis preferred to make the
island of Mindanao the center Of his
operations, which island, lying in the
southern part of the archipelago. must
necessarily have been passed by Capt.
John in order to reach the Java sea.
Molly's steamer was now anchored In
the port of Xamboansa, the residence
of the governor, to whom and to whose
subordinates Capt. willis first applied
for information of any vessel wrecked
on the coast of Mindanao, but so far as
the Spanish authorities were concerned
they reported that no such disaster had
taken place within five years.
But these reports did not cover the
independent portions of the island In
habited by savages against whom the
charge of cannibalism had been sub
stantiated and who would naturally
make every effort to conceal the facts
of any such disaster on their coast.
Many of these Malays follow the avoca-
! ton of corsairs, and are ready to pursue
any lucllless merchantmen driven into
/ their waters to escape the gales. Whom
they capture they destroy, and whether
such had been the terrible fate of Capt.
John and his companions was some
| thing which would never come to the
ear of the governor Capt. Willis didn't
hesitate to penetrate into these won-
derful forests of tamarind, bamboo,
mangrovc, ebony, mahogany and iron
wood in order to reach the interior viii
lagos in the hope of finding some bit or
shred of proof that the Dreadnaught
had gone TO pieces on these reefs or
that some one or more of her crew had
fallen into the hands of these islanders.
The exploration of the Philippine
archipelago lasted two months and
half, after which Willis made search
through the Bassilan group to the
south of Zamboanga, and then sailed
for the Sooloo archipelago, which he
reached February 25, 1880.
This is a veritable nest of pirates, and
the jungles of the many islands lying
between Mindanao and Borneo are alive
with savages. But one port is ever fre-
quentcd by vessels crossing the China
SEQ and aIalaysian basins, and that is the
. pOh Va A'N'pSbAi' AiNiS oAAS %'AOAAJ AAOPN
cast anchor. Willis scattered presents
with lavish hand among the inhab-
itants OF these islands, but nothing that
was brought to light served in the
slightest to clear up the mystery OF the
Dreadnaught Although the steamer
had coaled at Mlndanao, yet at the end
OF this cruise her bunkers were pretty
well emptied, However, there was ap-
parently enough left to enable her to
cross the Celebes sea and make the port
of Banjermassin in the southern part
of Borneo.
In spite of the fact that the Celebes
sea is shut in like lake, it is visited by
terrible wind storms, and in the night
I OF February % to 20 gale of great i'm
i 4pes0esity overlook the steamer, rolling
4 llp d N Sseal and emptying hundreds
Of f,iis Ter npou hertdeek and
\ fie1i1 A. E'i.fils !; 1s5.f soInpart-
meflfs res lesi /; Sc <<1: S<ld b. q 4
water from reaeh izIS {le >i;{1,< i1z f<3E<ls<.
piece of great good f0ffane. for her
fires once extinguished and screw ren-
dered useless she would have been pow
erless to make head against the gale
Neither captain or crew lost their
self-possession for a moment during the
long hours of this terrible night. On
the morning of March the staunch
steamer. Molly's Hope. sighted the Mar
atoubas islands off the coast of Borneo.
fortnight was devoted to ransack-
ing these waters for some proof that
the Dreadnaught had perished in lust
: such gale as had overtaken the steam
er; but although rich presents were dis
tributed among the chiefs nothing was
Forthcoming.
''It is very possible" said Capt. Willis
to his mate one day, ''that the destruc-
ton of the Dreadnaught was due to a
sudden attack of number of piratical
craft, and this would account for our
not having been able to discover any
trace of her These pirates make no
boast of their exploits, and when ves-
sci disappears they have but to lay 1t to
the fury of the gale"
''You are right, captain" replied the
mate. These waters swarm with
pirates, and we must redouble our vig-
lance in passing through Macassar
strait"
Very true" answered Willis, "but
there's no chance of their being able to
overtake us. Not SO a sailing vessel.
WITH irregular and shifting winds a
sliilng vessel Is more or less at their
mercy. But SO long as our engines are
in working order we shall have nothing
H.