Pawtucket tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 1890-189?, 1892-03-22
A STORY or PIRATES.

had left her Oh arrival. found that
the captain Of tho Silver Crown. ono OF
the company's traders. was an old friend
of my fathers. and so il came about that
] took service in tho company under
him, with the rating Of cabin boy. Tho
Of boarding pixies and half dozen cut
lasses as an armament. but everything
was boxed up and stored away. II not
forgotten. Capt. Wharton had been In
the service for six years and had never
met with any trouble.
When we got away 1t was with orders
for tho Philippine islands. among which
the company had many resident agents
who collected products. Our course was
TO the southeast, TO pass between For
mosa and the Loo Choo Islands. and we
had made the run thus far without Incl
dent when ono day about noon a junk
rugged native craft. which doubtless
came from some port In Formosa. inter-
cepted us TO the eastward of that island.
We were about thirty miles Off shore
when she hailed MS. She claimed to DO
short of water. owing 10 an accident
but this. as we afterward camo to know,
was only an excuse. When she learned
that we were bound to the Philippines
che had three passengers TO transfer.
They wero three natives OF Forrnosa,
who wero going down there o fou. 'd
colony, and would pay literally To-. a
passage by the schooner.
! am only giving you the gist OF what
was urged In excuse. We lay 10 for q
couple Of hours. and heard only part Of
what was said. 1t did not seem to strike
Capt. Wharton or Mato Williams as
queer or suspicious. and after haggling
over terms for while the three natives
were transferred to our decks and the
vessels separated Then ! had time to
look the strangers over. and was not
long In concluding that l did not wish
for an intimate acquaintance. They
were tough looking trio, and the cook
had scarcely set eyes on them before no
declared that we had mado great mis-
take in taking them aboard. We had no
accommodation for them aft, and as the
schooner was In ballast they had agreed
to occupy the hold.
took an early opportunity OF COM
municating my suspicious to the captain,
but he laughed ut me In a good natured
way. tried the mate, but he saw moth
ing to arouse distrust. II was singular.
however, that every man Of the crew
outside Of tho two officers was satisfied
that there was something wrong with
the trio. While their excuse was rea-
sonable enough. the looks and actions Of
the men were suspicious, and 1t was
plain toall that they were sailors. They
let us all severely alone except tho cap.
tain and the cook, and called II to mind
afterward that while one interested the
former the other two werc occupied with
the latter. could "chin-chin" bit
and tho cook could speak little En-.
glish, and so we managed to understand
each other pretty well. Three days
after the men camo aboard "Slop-Slip,"
as wo called the cook, assured mo with
very serious face that the strangers were
evil minded men, who had planned to
capture the schooner. They had asked
him to join them. and no had refused. l
posted of to tho captain with this news.
and ho greered it with contempt
We were getting well down toward the
northernmost island Of tho group. when
something happened which should have
opened tho captains eyes. The leader Of
the three borrowed the glasses and went
up TO the crosstrees Of tho mainmast and
took long look around. We saw the
sailor In his every move. and he had not
been down an hour when native craft
came creeping up from tho south. bows
on to u.s. She had free wind. while
we had been beating down all the fore
noon. We were at this time forty or
fifty miles to the,northward of the group.
with beautiful afternoon and q smooth
sea. Half an hour after the native craft
had been sighted. one OF the natives and
tho captain retired TO the cabin. Five
minutes later the native showed his head
above the deck and called to the mate,
who had just como on watch. He dis
appeared down the companionway. and
at the samo time entered the forecastle
TO look for something wanted was
down there about five minutes. heard
no particular row on deck, but when
reappeared l was struck dumb by the
spectacle. One Of the natives was at tie
wheel, and was bringing the schooner
into the wind to lie to. The deoapitated
bodies of tho two Americans and the
cook were lying amidships. while the
two Swedes wero at tho foremast cross
trees Not shout had been raised nor
n cry uttered. The work had been done
with terrible rapidity and In silence.
AS reached the deck ono OF the ma
tiyes camo forward with bloody creese
ia his hand and called me good boy"
and said should not be hurt. He left
mo sitting on the windlass so scared and
weak that could not stand, and then
assisted his companions to lower the
sails When this had been accomplished
they called to the Swedas to como down.
The poor fellows began crying and
lamenting and refused 10 descend. Tic
natives picked up the bodies from the
deck and tossed them overheard. and
then descended to tho cabin and brought
up the bodies Of captain and mate and
served them the same way. Both had
been killed by the ono native who en-
ticed them down. About the time the
last body was flung over tho rail tho ma
tive craft drew alongside. She had
thirty men on board. all of whom seemed
to know our three passengers and their
plans. There was great rejoicing over