The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1894-02-21
AN ACT OF pRovlpENce.
How Briggs Grew Was Miracuiousiy
Saved From the Malays.

"''N hNoni thc Malhya,
We We're standing up the gulf Of siam.
with the Malay country not over 10 miles
away, when the wind died out and left as
heaving and falling on the CLASSY ground
SVEN; was the merchant brig Fear
naught, with crew OF II men, and tho
captain had his wife and child aboard. IL
was 10 o'clock In the forenoon when tho
WIND ieit us, and by 2o'clouk inthe after
noon we had drifted to within FIVE miles
oil the land. From noon to . o'clock tho
captain and mate appeared troubled and
anSiona ana frequently swept the coast
nno WIN their glasses. At the latter hour
the captain called us aft and said:
Men, you know what sort OF A const
lies over there, The Malays no longer al.
tack vessels at sea, hut we've drifted in
close, and there's notnnother sail In sight,
ana it'aa greater temptation than they
can withstand, A crowd Of them are puli.
ing out to visit US. II they get aboard not
a man OF uswill be alive lomlnutes later.
WIN you stand by TO beat them offfu
aye, sirl' anawered one man for All
OF us, "but what ara we 60 do IL withf,t
In almost every house In the land there's
a fircarm OF some sort but shipowners 10
this day will send craft to the oannibal
1.-THE Malaysattackedu us, our only weap-
ons would be oapstan bars and Delaying
pins They were pulling out to us in d
sort OF galley, with as many as 10 oars on
side, and we could figure that there
would be nj least 40 of them and all well
armed. 1t did not take MS Ave minutes TO
get ready. II did not take any man flys
seconds TO figure out what would follow
an attack. The Malnys never left Wit
ness Of their crueltics alive behind them.
You see men turn pale and SILVER as they
go into battle, When You see men Quiet
ly arining themselves TO make a hopeless
fight, YOU mark the contrast, Their faces
flush, their eyea glare, and they bite their
lips without feeling the pain. They raoye
on tiptoc, they speak In whispers, they
look around them as II taking farewell
OF earth. When the galley was vet two
miles away, our ship was as silent "a tho
grave, though this silence was broken nt
intervals by Eohs from the cabin. The
captain had told his wife OF the danger,
Nomanlike, she uttered sob OF despair
now aud then, but even Rs sho did so she
was welghting her clothing aud that OF
her sleeping child with bars OF lead. IL
tho Malays boarded us, she would take the
child In her arms and lenp overheard.
That was settled from tho very first,
Did the fellows pull lazy stroke TO do
oeivo MS into the belief that they were COM
ing ont on some matter OF no great Inn
portanoof The mates glass made ont ~
men IN the boat, aud their weapons caught
and reflected the rays OF the sun MS they
came along, We swept the sea for sight
OF sail or steRmer'a smoke, but we wera
alone. We uttered bitter curses aA we re-
allied our helpless situation, but we must
let them scramble aboard OF the brig be-
fore our weapons would DO OF any uae. 1t
was positively maddening to witness their
slow and careless approach It was az if
they felt SO suro OF victory that they need
put forth no particular exertiou. Tho gal
ley was steored for our port broadside, and
she was within 200 feet OF us, and we
could look into the evil eyes of her ,lesper-
ate crew when herway was checked, Then
her captain stood up, made us a profound
bow and in fairly good English observed;
Captain, trust you are loaded with
English goods for Bangkok
Our captain bowed, but did not speak.
Because" continued the other .'that
is just such a cargo as want, and your
brig also pleases me very we'll. Do you
"Nol MOI NoP' yelled half dozen
voices in reply.
"Ah, You do mott Do yon wish to jump
overheard and drown. or shall have 10
kill you and throw your bodies to the
iharkas am In no hurry. will give
you three minutes In which TO decidep'
About 10 Of the natives had English
lilies, probably purchased at Singapore,
md the others were armed with hlowguns.
PISTOLS and swords They needn come
DOT nearer TO pick of every man Of us
I'he oaptain and mate convegaed for min.
lte and then the former quietly said 70 us.
MEN, we have all got 20 meet death
light here and now. but let us show them
hat the brig carries no oowardsl Be readi
or them when they dash inl'
! think their first idea was TO usc their
lies, but they abandoned IL for fear the
ring might hetray thom, though, as
aid before there was nothing IN sight.
hose who had their guns raised now low
red them, the rowers lifted the oars,
nd tho long sweeps had just dropped into
he water when we beheld singular spec
lclo The galley suddenly lifted itself
ut Of water and went mp and mp until II
cached point 80 feet high and then turn
4 over aud came down so broken aud
iuNtHTtu lHhl IL lIhluHNl1 htlllk from
ght. Right under the boat was the head
whale, and IL followed II up for at
INST 10 feet Then the monster fell on
is side, gltve his tail flirt or two and dis
ppeared from view. IL WAS like a ma
lcian'a trick. The time construed was
OF over 10 seconds. We snw the boat
ows ON TO us. We saw her high In the
h. We saw few ct her plaDks dashinR
bout on the waves kicked up by the
hale. That was all But for tho half
ozen Malnys who reached our bows and
ere killed there, but for the racing 10
nd fro of the sharks, allo us would have
ondered ii IL was moi horrible drean.
he vito sat in the cabin weeping and
ating. The child slept on without NOV
x hand. We looked into each others
ices; wa looked from sea TO shore and
,wn at the splintered planks floating
,out. Then we heard the captains voice
iietly saying
''phere comes an offshore breeze, Mr.
erwin, and you can swing the yards aud