The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1894-03-28

last reckoning with the blood Of fellow
creature on your head.
hoped that the man whom had Sc
lately and so desperately striven to kill
might live, even were it only TO finish me.
And l sure should have smiled namely,
who knows but may have beamed i'm wei.
come, If he had suddenly appeared, sword
in hand, and intimated that my time was
come. No doubt my mood of Christian
meekness and charity was due to the cir.
cumstance that nature was perilously neal
yielding in any case ! suspect the worst
of US are pious when lacking the pith tC
be anything else.
Reviving a little presently, i began t.
think of my own life (since no one else
seemed to desire il specially just them and
exerted all my surgical skill and ingenuity.
They were not much. and they were left
unaided. Lying there in the midst Of q
crowd, no one inquired about my hurts; nc
one offered help: no one. in fact, cared q
straw whether lived or died. The plum
dering went on with much noise and not a
little quarreling, and if the plunderers
came near IL was only to curse at me for
being in the way
Perhaps they could not have adopted
lethargy. There are times when kick,
literal or metaphorical, is the very best
tonic that can be administered. The rough
behavior of the pirates pricked me to Wig
orous self interest that no process of sooth-
ing or doctoring could have induced. The
savage oaths and savager looks were to my
spirit what the grindstone is TO the knife
they turned listlessness and dullness to an
fvff fv haA aAU of md
some possibility Of retaliation. The first
result of this new found energy was the
thought that to crouch there and bleed to
death was most assuredly not the part of a
man. So watching my opportunity, for the
companionway was mostly blocked with
thieves, l went below 20 finish my dressing.
Fortunately my wounds, though making
90 CORY show, were neither deep nor dan
gerous But it was wonderful IL how many
points Abran, ben Aden mac touched me-
more wonderful still that having succeeded
30 far he had not succeeded farther.
Returning on deck presently, swathed in
handkerchiefs and stray pieces Of cloth, aud
strengthened by 90 grains of Mr.. Watson's
quinine, / discovered we were within
sight Of land. A stretch Of shallow, blue
green water ran away 20 a sandy beach that
ended abruptly In iron cliffs, which sug-
gested hardness and barrenness beyond
what Is the landy" | asked one of the
corsairs, pointing shoreward.
Thou shalt know soon enough" be
snarled, and concluding that perhaps the
fellow was right put no more questions
Meanwhile the unloading OF the brig
went ON aprcc. A score of small boats lay
round her 10 receive the plupder, and some
30 or 40 men swore on her decks and raw
aged her hold. They quarreled incessant-
ly, shouting, pushing, kicking, brandish-
ing knives and cutlasses and pouring out
curdling msledictions and threats that to a
less fervid race could mean nothing short
Of an instant intention 20 revol in blood.
but never staying the main operations to
settle personal disputes.
Islam has a Koran which straitly forbids
thieving, yet the Arab is by instinct and
example thief A pattern OF piety when
there happens TO be no chance OF profitable
roguery. sanity in his observances Of pre-
scribed ceremonisls inside mosque or
when he has leisure for prayers outside, a
loud talker about the duty OF obedience TO
God and the prophet, he Is the very flower
OF brigands and bandits when he can se.
curely lay hands on another mans goods
Nor does be heed discipline more thar re-