Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1895-02-15
AN ACT OF PROVIDENCE.

We were standing up the Gulf of Siam,
with the Malay country not over ten miles !
away when the wind died out and left us |
heaving and falling on the CLASSY ground |
swell. 1t was the merchant brig Fear
naught, with a crew of eleven men, and the |
captain had his wife and child aboard. 1t
was 10 clock in the forenoon when the |
wind left us, and by o'clock in the after
noon we had drifted to within five miles of
land. From noon to , o'clock the captain
and mate appeared troubled and anxious
and frequently swept the coast line with
their glasses. At the latter hour the cap
tain called us aft and said
men, you know what sort of coast
lies over there. The Malays no longer at
tack vessels at sea, but we've drifted in
close, and there's not another sail in sight,
and it's greater temptation than they can
Withstand. A crowd of them are pulling
out to visit us. If they get aboard, not a
man of us will be alive ten minutes later
Will you stand by to beat them off?'
AYE, sir answered one man for all of
us, "but what are we to do it wth?'
In almost every house in the land there's
a frearm of some sort, but ship owners will
to this day send a craft to the cannibal is
lands without even an old musket aboard.
If the Malays attacked us, our only
weapons would be the capstan bars and
Delaying pins. They were pulling out to
us in sort of galley, with as many as ten
oars on side, and we could figure that
there would be at least forty of them and
all well armed. 1t did not take us five
minutes to get ready. 1t did not take any
man five seconds to figure out what would
follow an attack. The Malays never left
witness OF their cruelties alive behind
them. You see men turn pale and shiver
as they 60 into battle When you see men
quietly arming themselves to make a hope
less fight, you mark the contrast. Their
faces flush, their eyes glare, and they bite
their lips without feeling the pain. They
move on tiptoe, they speak in whispers,
they look around as if taking farewell of
earth. When the galley was yet two miles
away, our ship was as silent as the grave.
though this silence was broken at intervals
by sobs from the cabin. The captain had
told his wife of the danger. Womanlike
she uttered a sob of despair now and then.
But even as she did so, she was weighing
her clothing and that of her sleeping child
with bars OF lead. If the Malays boarded
us, she would take the child in her arms
and leap overheard. That was settled
from the very first.
ceive us into the belief that they were COM
ing out on some matter of no great impor-
lance? The mates glass made out forty
three men in the boat, and their weapons
caught and reflected the rays Of the sun as
they cam along. We swept the sea for
sight OF sail or steamers smoke, but We
We're alone. We uttered bitter curses as
we realized our helpless situation, but we
must let them scramble aboard of the brig
before our weapons would be of any use.
1t was positively maddening to witness
their slow and careless approach. Il was
as if they felt SO sure of their victory that
they need put forth no further exertion.
The galley was steered for our port broad
side, she was within 200 feet of us. and we
could look into the evil eyes Of her desper-
ate crew when her way was checked. Then
her captain stood up and made us a pro
found 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 cargo as | want, and your
brig also pleases me very well. Do you
surrender"
NO! No! No. yelled half a dozen
voices in reply.
"Ah, you do not? Do you wish to Jump
overheard and drown, or shall | have to
kill you and throw your bodies to the
sharks? l am in no hurry. | will give you
three minutes in which to decided
About fifteen OF the natives had English
rifles, probably purchased at Singapore,
and the others were armed with blow
guns, pistols aud swords. They needn't
come foot nearer to pick off every man
of us. The captain and mate conversed
for minute, and then the former quietly
said to us:
"Men, we have all got to meet death
right here and now, but let us show them
that the brig carries no towards Be ready
for them when they dash in -
think their first idea was to use their
rifles, but they abandoned it for fear the
firing might betray them, though, as | said
before, there was nothing in sight. Those
who had their guns raised, now lowered
them, the rOwers lifted the oars, and the
long sweeps had just dropped into the
water when We beheld a singular spectacle
The galley suddenly lifted itself ont of the
water and went up and up until it reached
a point thirty feet high, and then turned
over and came down so broken and shat
tered that it instantly sank from sight
Right under the boat was the head of a
whale, and it followed it up for at least
fifteen feet Then the monster fell on his
side, gave his tail a firt or two and dis
appeared from view. 1t was like a ma
gician's trick. The time consumed was not
over fifteen seconds. We saw the boat bows
on to us. We saw her high in the air. We
saw few of her planks dashing about on
the waves kicked up by the whale. That was
all. But for the half dozen Malays who
reached our bows and were killed there,
but for the racing to and fro of the sharks,
all of us would have wondered if it was not
a horrible dream. The wife sat in the
cabin weeping and wailing The child
slept on without moving a hand. We
looked into each others faces; We looked
from sea to shore and down at the splin-
tered planks floating about. Then sc heard
the captains voice quietly saying:
"There comes an offshore breeze, Mr..
Merwin, and you can swing the yards and
make sail. Tell the steward to serve out
grog and see if he can't loosen the tongues
of the lads and get up cheer or two"