Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1894-05-11

and was heading for the San Pedro.
Both the men were intently regard
ing her through their glasses and the
passengers were crowdlng upon the
deck.
To their surprise they saw that the
San Pedro was moving in the same d.
rection as themselves and throwing
heavy cloud of smoke.
Run, you bloody little scoundrel?'
said the captain.
Scarcely had he got the words out of
his mouth before there was another
puff of smoke-this time from her
stern, and almost Immediately there
came a crash and hundred voices cried
out in alarm and Indignation.
The shot had struck the Corinthian
Just abaft the bridge; torn away about
ten feet of her upper works and gone
through the stern tafrail. Three men
were knocked down by the splinters.
Capt. Jamison was livid with honest
rage and he stamped his foot and swore
terribly. by the God of nations" he
said, ''are we living in the days of Capt.
Kidd or in the nineteenth century?"
''Id come to, if were YOU" said his
mate ''That fellow will hull us pres
emily. We never can catch him"
"Come top" exclaimed the sturdy
British captain. "I'll break his back.
Do you think an English steamer goes
down on her marrow bones to every
tramp she meets?"
The vessel was now racing through
the water at an increased speed and
the action of the engines made an
audible throb
There was intense excitement among
the passengers, many of whom were
calling up to the captain to stop the
vessel
lie looked over the brass rail of the
bridge at them with indignant con-
tempt AS he did so, one man pulled
pistol and shouted: "Look here, we
don't want to be sent to the bottom on
account of your ID gold. Stop
here where she Is. We can defend our
want to be sunk"
70 the captains utter amazement
twenty other passengers shouted:
"AYe, aye, shut off your steam"
Even then some horrible suspicion Of
the truth must have flashed upon the
wretched officers mind as he looked
down upon this group. He caught the
rail moment with both hands, then
wheeled round and, folding his arms,
said to his companion on the bridge:
"Stop her!"
AS if in anticipation of this, the San
/ L.,
now blowing white cloud of steam.
For ten minutes everybody on the
| Corinthian watched the vessels ap-
proach each other and, when they
were less than thousand feet apart,
every one could see the line of heads
along the smaller vessels taffrail.
The sea was unusually calm and
| CLASSY, and presently boat manned
| by six men put off from the San Pedro.
When the young man who repre-
sented the pirate had reached the deck
| Of the Corinthian he found himself
facing a crowd of men and women in
every condition of alarm and anxiety.
He was dressed in a blue shirt and
common duck trousers and glazed cap;
in his belt he carried a regulation navy
revolver He saluted the captain po-
litely and said, in a pleasant voice:
81 am instructed, sir, to ask you to
order your people below. We will
come alongside and remove your spe-
Gle No harm will be done and no in
dignity offered to your crew or passen-
gers"
Damn your impudence, STRIP re-
torted Capt. Jamison. ''I've great
mind to chuck you into the sea myself.
Go back and tell your buccaneer that
British captain sinks with his ship
and cargo. He doesn't hand them over
! to the first cowardly rascal he meets. u
"As you please, SIR" the young man
replied 'Itwould be n cruel necessity
to send this vessel and its people to
the bottom"
He turned to go TO his boat after
making another salute and one of the
passengers again interfered
'We object to the arrangement" he
said, ''and are not going to be mur
dered on the high seas to save your
gold
Whereupon twenty other passengers
armed with revolvers stepped out and
repeated: "Aye, aye. Take the gold,
but we want to reach our destination. y
The upshot was that the captain and
his officers were locked in the cabin,
the passengers ordered below and the
San Pedro lashed alongside. 1t took
seventy-five men two hours and half
to transfer the gold from one vessel to
another, and a sharp lookout was kept
for approaching steamships. When
the task was accomplished, the en-
gineers were ordered on deck and
three of the Pedro's crew went below
and effectually disabled the ma
chinery of the Corinthian. This took
another hour.
The last thing the pirates saw was
the white hair of Capt. Jamison blow
ing in the wind that had sprung uI
from the northeast, as he shook his
fist at them. And the last words they
heard were "Ill hang every dog OF
you before die"
CHAPTER VII
No one knew SO well as Hendricks