The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1896-12-08

moved the barricade from the door, and
l was about to slip out, when Mary Will
iiams lodged past me and was back in
minute with guns and axes. She would
have returned for some of the wicked
looking knives which had dropped from
the hands of the sailors as they fell, but
l seized her arm and pulled her into the
cabin. 1t was high time, too, for con-
vict armed with inusket had hoisted
himself out Of the forehatch and fired
at her. and the ball struck the casing of
the door beside her head.
The position now was curious one.
We held the cabin and by means of the
portfolios could sweep the decks clean
to the eyes of the ship, and yet we were
prisoners. If we had been a few men
stronger, we could have overcome them
while they were still in their panic, but
even to have stood guard over that
gang of villains running loose between
| decks would have demanded the services
| OF a dozen men. 1t was no doubt the
wiser policy to be content with our adj
vantage, though no man could predict
how the affair would terminate. For an
hour everything was quiet and not a mu-
tineer showed his head. Then a white
| flag was hoisted above the forehatch,
and York hesitatingly came aft to de-
liver a message. We had hoped that
some Of our bullets had found him or
they were untouched. 1t was noticeable
that York had lost his jaunty air and
| looked very much worried as he ap-
preached us, and his voice had lost all
its impudence as he said:
Captain Clark, am sent to ask for
a truce of half an hour, that we may
| clear the decks of the dead. At the end
of that time we shall have something
| further to say to you. F"
AS we wanted the bodies disposed of
as badly as they did, no hesitation was
made in agreeing to truce. Three sail
ors and seven convicts came up, and
with many foul word and bitter curse
| they proceeded with their work. Per-
haps it would have been expecting too
much to suppose they would give the
bodies burial in the regular way, but
we were terribly shocked to behold
them lift up corpse after corpse and
heave them over the rail until the last
was gone. When this work was COM
pleted, one Of them went aloft to search
the sea for sight Of sail, while the re-
mainder. with the exception Of York,
dived below. When the man came
down and reported and disappeared,
York came aft to say:
Captain Clark, the blood Of every
man killed here today is on your head.
II you figure that one defeat will turn
US from our plans, you are mistaken.
We will have full possession of this
craft if we have to fight you for a
month, and sooner than be defeated in
our object we will set her ON fire and
all perish together. now renew you
the offer to let you go off in the boats.
1t is the last time. 1t is for you to say
whether you will save your people or
| let them stay to be killed. / will re-
turn in 10 minutes for your answer"
He had scarcely turned his back when
Smith, his wife, the two single women
and Marys mother all cried out in
chorus that we should accept the offer.
/ must admit that on the face it looked
reasonable enough, and at first thought
| it appeared to be the easiest way to es-
cape our peril. But those who had cried
out had given no thought as to what
might happen. After bit tho captain
spoke to us. In the first place, be de-
clared, the mutineers were not sincere
in their offer. 1t was against common
sense to suppose they would let us get
away to fall in with some craft or reach
some coast, to put man of.war on their
track. If they did not seek to overpower
us by sudden rush while we were
busy at the boats, ,they would afterward
run the boats down with the Hindu,
and that without risk to themselves. AS
to setting the craft on fire, their lives
were as precious to them as ours were
to us, and the threat was simply blus-
ter. When he had finished, all saw the
sense of his remarks so plainly that no
one had protest or argument. had
missed Mary while he was speaking.
Just as he had finished, she came into
the main cabin to say:
"The mutineers have made their way
aft to the bulkheads and will try to
come at US from that direction. have
been listening and can hear them quite
plainly"
That was proof enough of their
treachery in all things. Knowing that
we were all in the cabin to discuss the
offer of the boats, number of them had
begun work at the bulkheads in hopes
to make an opening. But the brave and
quick witted Mary, without hint from
any one, had given us warning in time.
Haskell and l hurried along to the
bulkheads, to find at least half dozen
men working on the other side with
axes and chisels. We fired two shots
apiece through the loopholes. There
was fall and scream, followed by a
rush of feet, and we felt sure they would
not try that trick again for some time
to come. We returned to the cabin just
as York appeared OH deck for his an
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