Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1892-01-29

doubtless made To enable them TO In
spoct us We could mako out four or
five meu aboard OF her but ne more.
and she did not sit low enough In the
water to prove the presence of much
cargo in her hold. A glass or two
was no doubt leveled in our direction.
and anxious to make a big showing oil
strength we kept tho men lodging
about as briskly as possible The
stranger must have concluded that we
had from fifteen 10 twenty men to de-
fend our decks and after running q
parallel course OF two or three hours
he dropped back into our wake and
hung there like a wolf in chase Sc
wore the day away. and so came the
night The possibility that the dhow
was peaceful trader like ourselves
was no longer an excuse with us We
could not say on the other hand. that
she was pirate bent on our capture.
but that was reasonable view of IT.
and one which took firm hold o.
everybodys mind. Had she come
along up and laid 10 aboard and had
done with it, each man would have
felt relieved and given her the best he
could 1t was the waiting-the mys-
tery-the speculation rs to her inton-
tons that took the nerve out of our
men and made them carry pale faces.
The breeze died out with tho sum- Sc
that when night had fairly como We
were not making over a knot an hour,
with full moon 10 light up the sea
/ 4 -.
yawl mile away. There was no use
trying TO dodge the stranger on such {
night and both watches were kept o.
deck with guns and cutlasses at hand
for instant use. At about midnight
the dhow crept UP until his bowsprit
was not more than 200 feet from on,
rudder post aud every man knelt a
the bulwarks with musket in hand.
We tried our best now TO make ou
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
| bulwarks. He had better sight o.
us, and, perhaps, 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 o
/ this unknown told on the nerve of the
men. let me say that after breakfast
the men sent spokesman aft TO re.
quest the captain to lutf up and have
it out with him, and If we were all tC
/ have our throats cut TO have it over
and done with. This he refused t.
do, however telling the mon that We
were heading straight for Sunda anC
! the nearer We got 10 the coast the less
! danger there was OF an attack. We
had only moderate breeze during the
day, and the dhow kept her place as
on the previous one If she meant IL,
evil she would be pretty certain TO at
tack us that night as the morrow
would bring us almost in sight OF the
coast Darkness did not affect the
| breeze which was about a four kno
one and we had the same moon
/ light after 10 o'clock. The bic
silver orb was hardly finger higl
out OF tho sea when the dhow begar
/ to close upon US, ard now we felt Ger
/ tain that the climax had come. Nearer
and nearer she came, creeping like ,
shadow OF evil. and she was only
cables length off our post quarter
and evidently all ready to sheer dowr
upon us and lay us aboard, when she
suddenly luffed up into the wind
hung for moment while her sails
suited and slapped and then went OF
TO the southeast and was soon out o
sight and that without our seeing
soul except the man at the wheel.
was queer enough. as we all agreed
and it was a mystery We were never
tired of discussing. but her object anC
identity we never ascertained. Every
man forward will believe TO the dal
OF his death that she was spirit ship
New FORK Sun.