The herald., 1896-03-29

Ten minutes after Mr.. Jackson's ap.
pearaice three OK the barrels had been
wheeled aft on trucks, and lifted upon
the gunwales. where they were firmly
secured with lashings to the rigging on
the port side. -Four more barrels, in the
Eopen eangway forward, were tilted On
the sides and held there. A few blows
from mallet on spike drove In the
bungs. So fixed that their bung holes
were hung over the sea outside the ships
rail each barrel Immediately began to
discharge q good-sized stream OF oil In
to the water. As fast as barrel was
emptied full one was put in Its place.
Within an hour forty barrels Of oil had
flowed into the sea. Then Mr.. jackson
called halt. The deck and. rail were
carefully mopped up, and wiped with
cotton waste; the donkey engine gave
a pull on the anchor chain, and the Val
entine lay twenty fathoms ahead Of her
former position. Mr.. Jackson saw
fresh supply of full barrels put In posi-
tion ready to be used as the first had
been. Then the watch was set ana Az
lights which would show were doused.
The captain and mate took their places
on deck. The men had been instructed
what to do when the time came.
The stars gave just enough light to
show the sea. Its glimmering surface
near at hand had a strange look, for ,
coating of oil several acres in extent was
spread over it on the port side Of the YES
sci. The oily space was widening every
minute though very slowly; for the set
Of the current was slight An hour Ia
ter, half dozen more barrels of oil gurgs
led their contents into the sea. At mid
night the same number were again emp
tied over the ships side.
| From the bridge Captain James and
his senior officer closely scanned the sea
in the direction of the Islands, but no
sign Of a canoe was visible. The cap
tain had begun to think that, after all,
his mate was wrong, when jackson laid
hand on his arm. "There they come"
he said.
Stealing into sight, though as yet very
indistlnct, both men could see half .
dozen specks, which, as they looked,
grew larger. They were almost abreast
Of each other, seemingly, and were ad-
vancing fast The captain had scarce
ly noted the absence Of jackson, who
Slipped silently from his side, when, be-
hind the first group Of canoes, he made
out second. Though the nearest were
too far off, as yet,to be seen clearly, he
knew that they were crammed with the
yellow skinned savage rascals. When
they struck the edge Of the expanse of
oily water, the captain noted that they
stopped; for couple Of minutes they re-
mained motionless. lie could not dis
tinguish the men in the canoes, but, he
was sure that they had remarked the
curious condition of the seas surface.
and were examining It; but plainly they
were satisfied with their inspection, for
they shortly came on again.
| Presently they were within hundred
yards of the ship. There the first group
| waited for the remainder. When the
latter had come up, the captlan counted
fourteen long canoes in all. They were
made of large followed logs, and held
a dozen men each.
Then the little fleet separated and
swung out in two wings, one making for
the bow of the Valentine, with the in
tention of rounding the vessel and re-
peating the tactics of the first attempt,
the other sweeping toward the stern with
a similar end in view. Captain James
impatiently awaited a move from his
crew. But nothing happened until two
of the foremost canoes were with fifty
feet of the vessel.
Then spark appeared close to the
bulwarks; another glowed from further
art moment later two buckets of cot
ton waste, saturated with oil and blaz-
ing furiously. were pitched overheard.
AS they touched the sea. twenty feet or
more from the side of the Valentine.
flame shot up from the water, not high,
but of prodlglous fierceness. Swiftly it
spread over the sea in every direction
but one. a low wall of fire sweeping on
ward from the ship. In few seconds
it had completely enveloped the fleet of
canoes. Then a dire yell Of terror burst
forth from the Malays. In the weird
light of the burning oil. their dark forms
could be seen confusedly moving about.
But this lasted for so short a time that
those watching on the Valentine had