The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1892-03-31

ED in common. They now proposed to
ispOs snss all holders not strong enough
beat them off.
Suppose l refuse t. join you?' 1
sked.
Then you will be set af,oat with the
aptain."
Il prefer that to piracy
Very well; you have made your own
hoice. Men, get ready the gig, and
ut in water and provisions for week.
re don't owe them aiv grad re.
1t was folly to think of resistance, but
The Captain would have his say. He
abused each and every onh 81 them in
good, round English. nd predicted
that he would be pre- 1t Wien each one
Ian lei at the end OF II 70 @. They
simply laughed at EtHI, an in the
curse Of half an hour We We're 5 t ssiloat.
The gig was furnished W tt a sal and
J." = If OARS, ten gallons of va er, Il bag
Tread, Il few cans of neat. and fruit.
Et'-!i of Ms was allowed to MAKE 10 bag
II cIptliin2 but were refused a comp =.
chart or anything els w;iic'i might AID
u in steering course. Both OF us W.Io
robbed of our money and watches. ;;.l1
the Captain was even dispOSsessed Of a
! finger ring. The men who had S Ii *
for their "rights had no care for the
r ,yhtS of others.
1t was about an hour before sunset
when we were cast adrift. We had n de
| good 800 miles to the southwest sin e
leaving Bombay, and We're at least 80
from the Indian coast. As the breeze
was fro,:, the east We headed TO tie
| south, Vile the ship, which had been
hanging in the wind for an hour, stood
to the north, her crew cheering over
and over again as she laid her new
course. It was !: long half hour before
| either one of US broke the silence. One
e,ent had followed so swiftly upon the
| heels of another that it was hard to
| realize all that had oc. uIred. l Steered
the boat, and the Captain sat with his
| face in his hands for Il long time. ElncE-
| ly he looked up and around to exclaim:
"D-m such Il crew! If they had
mutined in the regular way. having
some reasonable excuse, I Shouldn't feel
half 50 mean over it. To be beaten out
of my ship by a hair-brained fool OF Il
mate, and that by talk alone, makes me
want to kick myself"
We stand good show to be picked
up" | suggested.
Yes, fairly good, but as soon as the
| wind will allow l want to head to the
southeast We are not over 200 miles
fl m the Malabar Islands"
The Malabar group extends for 500
miles along the coast, and comprises
such large islands as Lakadivh, Aucutta,
Minikoi, and Horsburg. Then begins
the Maedivh rOup, and extends for an
other so miles, many Of the islands
being thirty, forty and /. " miles in
length, with straits OF channels between
them. But few of them were inhabited
at that time, and those only by fisher
| men and shell hunters.
In an hour the ship was lost to Our
view. I minded the boat for the first
half of the night, steering by the stars
and the feel Of the breeze, and then turn
Ell ! while the Captain stood watch. AS
| the sun came up next morning the wind
hauled to the west and became fresh,
and while we had t, look sharply after
| the boat, she flew ahead at pace which
gave us an extraordinary run for the
| day. Only one sail was sighted, and
that wGs toO'far away to give us any
hope. The Captain had the watch from
| 5 to y, and had been Oh about an hour
when l heard the roar of breakers, and
knew that our run to the islands was
! finished. Having aroused the Captain,
| we decided to stand off and on until day
light appeared and when it came he rec
| USlllZtU the lSidlu DelOIc US as UndU OF
Aucutta, the next largest OF the Mala bar
group. We had made a safe landing be-
| fore sunrise, and when we had eaten
breakfast We started out together to in
vcst;gate. We walked UP the southern
shore about ten miles and back without
| finding any trace of inhabitants. After
| dinner we headed to the north. and q
tramp of six miles brought us to the linz
its and resulted in a strange sight at the
same time. The Lady Bliss was stand
| ing down for us from the northwest, and
when seen was hull above water. We
| found Il hiding place in the bushes and
watched her as she stood on. There was
deep water to within a cables length of
the beach. Her anchor was hardly down
when we saw and heard q row on board
"a free fight in which all seemed to be
engaged. The result of this was that
five men lowered the yawl and pulled
ashore. We heard Hall and others call
after them and make threats, and they
| replied in kind. When they had landed
| they declared their intention to remain,
and each one spoke bitterly Of the way
Hall and his favorites had used them
They had not left the ship for good, but
were prospecting to see il the island
| suited them. They had brought with
them the Captains revolver AID the only
two muskets aboard the ship.
1t did not take us above ten minutes to
find out how the land lay, and we then
exposed our presence and besought the
men to aid US in recapturing the ship.
There was but little hesitation On their
part. Hall had no sooner got possession
than he lOrded it over the sailors in
great style. 1t wasn't two hours before
he had mutiny on his hands, and one
half Of the crew insisted on his heading
for the islands, that they might be put
ashore. There had been half a dozen
fights between the two factions, and two
Of the men aboard were laid up with
broken heads.
Capt. Berry promised the five men
Immunity from all punishment if their
future behavior was satisfactory, and
the seven of us then pulled aboard. A
fight was even then going on in the cabin
between Hall and his mate, and we were
on deck before they knew it. 1t wasn't
five minutes work to secure Hall and the
| two men who had been most prominent,
| and the others then went down on their
knees and begged for mercy. It was
granted on conditions, and the ship was
1t once got under way and her course
| laid for the Mozambique Channel and
the Cape. Hall alone was tried by the
authorities and he was publicly hanged
for his crime. He was, perhaps, more
Of q crank than criminal, out Britisb
lev stands no nonsense from any sub