The Indianapolis journal., 1893-03-05

hours an interval of freedom from pain
occnrs before dissolution, the doomed man
has called his companions around 10 drink
and gamble. and have even known man
TO die with curse on his IDs aud the cards
In his hand.
Among this reckless crew there were none
more reckless than i. yet. strange to say.
though / ran every risk and danger
escaped illness the stilettO of the assassin,
the jaws of sharks. and was ever furtunate
at cards. winning sums of money that
mention them.
SO fortunate, so lucky was in the esti-
nation of my associates. that at last they
were fam to account for it by the fact that
i was a hereto. and had sold myself TO the
devil. who. sure of me. body and soul when
ever he chose TO make good bis claim, al
lowed me In the meantime such fortune
as never man had enjoyed before. and
nlckDamed mo in consequence the devlls
son. which soon was shortened into the
devil and right proud was of the name,
trying In every way 10 act up to IT.
AT last Wilmshurst reported TO me that
the Alligator was ready for sea. and only
waiting my orders to sail. Besides the
gang of black guards | had shipped at
Fort Royal. we now carried dozen even
greater ruttaDs than they and the ALI
gator. when she sailed from Havana fOr the
Congo. was IN the opinion of all. we'll
manned and equipped SLAYER as ever had
left that port.
Amongst such men discipline and order
than ever was seen in any ship that flew
the pendant. Men were logged for the
smallest fault that interfered with our
efficiency. av have seen n man shot and
his body chucked overheard before the
breath was out of IL for O crime againgt
our rules that was but venal in itself. We
were for our size we'll armed. and the men
were daily exercised at the guns and sail
drill and our Rmartness was Incredible
Crimes which did not initiate against our
efficiency were never noticed. and In our
fOrecastle there was sin committed daily
and hourly enough to have called down
upon us the Judgment that fell upon the
cities OF the plain.
When we drew near the African coast q
vigilant lookout was kept for the sails of
the British cruisers, which tried yalnly
for many years TO stop the accursed trtlic
| in human flesh. but we were able without
| interference TO reach our goal Enbomma,
| on the Congo. where we found large barra-
coons filled with slaves. but two other
| slavers were there before us. and the
| Portuguese half-caste who owned the bar
| racoons. seeing his opportunity. stood out
| for prices which would have rendered our
venture profltless.
In this Quandary Wilmshurstproposed to
| me that we should ally ourselves with one
| of the other slavers. and lay violent hands
upon the otner. and upon the slaves In the
| barracoons. The suggestion was no sooner
made than i agreed to act upon 1t.
| In order to carry out our plot l invited
the Portuguese owner of the barra-
| coOns and the two captains of the other
| vessels on board the Alligator TO supper. an
invitation they were nothing 10th TO ac-
| cept, for my Havana reputation had
| cOmpanied me. and all three were fiattered
| and delighted by an invitation from such
| past master IN vlllainy as the Devil was
supposed. and rightly. TO be, as vel! as TO
| be witnesses of the luxury in which lived.
| Luxury l could afford, and always had; my
| wines and my cook were the best that
| could be found In Havana: the latter had
Arx. n,x.ar lrxan n fhaf1o a
| doubloons from his owner, who was re-
puted to be the greatest bon vIvant there.
and certainly Pedro had learned his trade
| we'll The after part of the deck was
flags. and here the table was laid. lighted
| lamps throwing their CLEAN on plate, china
| and glass.
About in the evening we sat down. and
| after meal worthy OF Luculius. ] passed
| the wine around "A a rate that soon began
| TO tell on the Portuguese and on one of the
| captains. who was Spaniard: the other,
| who was an American, though he drank as
| hard or harder than the other two, showed
less signsot intoxication. This was fortu-
nate for him, for In my original plan, he
! had been selected as the VICTIM. and the
Spanish captain as the accOmplice In my
| treacherv.
! At12 O'clock we were still on deck. and
though lin those days wine took no effect
on me-wss sitting still at the ia ble my
| Portuguese and Spanish guests were help
| lessly drunk and the American was becom-
| ing demOnstrativelv atfectiOnate i heard
Wllmshurst, outside the screens, moving
| about and giving orders to some men. and
| knew that the time had arrived to put our
plot into action. / had intended 10 kill
two of my guests and then have coerced
| the third into joining me, but now j
changed my mind and determined to take
| advantage of the state of mind the Amer
| ican was in. and make him the willing ao-
complice from the very tlrst.
H. \ l. .s..f-
this would be good opportunity to get rid
| OF those two drunken pigs and till our
holds with the slaves ashore! The Spanish
schooner We may either sink or take. as We
| mateY He said to me- Nv aal, they call you
| devil" and they're about right, too. |
reckon / never heard man propose TO cut
the thrOats of two men he had made drunk
at his own table on board his own snip,
anti that AZ cOOlly as II he were telling his
| cook TO kill q couple of fowls for break
| fast admire You, sirree aud what you
order I'll do, you bet. You're the wicked
| est man i ever met; wickeder even than
the minister Pm deacon to when to home
| in Old VlrGinny"
| "Wby, what did he d0?" asked, willing
to bumor him.
| "Waal. the old woman was kinder un-
| fortunate about his pie-and he were great
| on pie were the minister-and he reproved
her with q hatchet he'd been choDpng
| kIndllng-wood with. and che died. Waal,
he reckOned the boys would about lynch
| him for that business. so he emptied out
| the pickled pork cask. and. after choppng
| her M in chunks, packed her In, and fill
| ing up the cask with brine headed it MP.
| and then hid the cask-ay, and where did
| he hide iti why. under the pulpit in chapel;
| and many q sermon have l heard him
preach standing on Sarah Jane, and she
| salted down."
| Finding him disposed to be talkative I
| told him he could tell me the rest of his
story another day. and. giving the signal |
| had agreed on. WIlmshurst came in with
| four men, and in less time than it takes to
write these lines the two drunken men
| were stabbed TO the heart and passed over
board, with o couple of shot slung to their
heels.
| This was the first time had ever taken
| part IN n murder deliberately planned and
| carried out In cool blood. At the Havana,
| and in ports on the Spanish main had
been mixed up in prawls and fights In
| which blood had been shed aud human life
| taken. bnt never before had | actually
| plotted and planned the death of a fellow
creature. Strange TO say | did not even
| feel a uualm at the cowardly act so oom-
| plerely had my moral tone been blunted,
and was not even disgusted by Captain
| Warmers saying, II reckon, devil, that
| that job neatly done: you and your
| men would be handy In q slaughterhouse.D
only thought now how the rest of our
| plot was to be carried out. The American
captain was in no fit state to 20 on board
his ship and give orders while. of course,
| in SouZa's $50 was the Portuguese named)
| ort ha