Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1897-03-16

"Your words are fair. but your heart,
are black enough"
ed. The excitement Of the situation
kept her fever going, and We had been
anchored in the bay just week, when
one night she breathed her last almost
without warning. Ii was shock to all
Of Us and hard blow to husband and
children. We made her coffin out oi
tho best material at hand, and while
two of us stood guard OH the shore with
our rifles the others buried her in o
grave just above high water mark.
The almost immediate result OF thii
sad even, was o written communication
from all the passengers, which was q
protest and III appeal combined. They
wanted the captain to abandon the bark,
take to the boats and seek to reach AIDE.
laide He answered it by calling as all
together in the cabin and pol
first, that owing to the bad
voyage would be one Of suchN
and peril that he would not undertake
it except as last resort; second, tc
abandon the bark as she stood simply
meant 10 turn her over to the mutineers,
who would pursue and destroy us;
third, il she was scuttled or set ON fire,
he and lost every dollar we had i'll the
world, and. under the circumstances, II
was doubtful If insurance or charter
would hold good. Itcould not be shown
we were in sufficient peril to justify
such proceedings, and he should respect.
fully but firmly decline to accede to the
wishes Of the passengers.
There was bitter disappointment and
some strong talk. but in the course OF
"a hours better feeling prevailed. In
talking it over among themselves they
had come to get q clearer view OF the
ins and outs Of the situation. 1t would
have been very bad move to abandon
tho craft and take to the boats, not only
as to what the government and insur.
ance companies and owners of the lump
of cargo in the lower hold might say,
but there would not have been one
chance in five Of bringing the boats safe
into harbor. There was steady west.
erly gale, with showers at intervals,
and q single day of exposure would have
done for the women and children.
The mutineers kept wonderfully quiet
after playing their cards as described
above. The fact of the matter, as you
can plainly see, was that they had nj
show whatever to get possession Of thu
bark. Except for about half an hour al
low tide, the sharks patrolled the bay
as IL they had an understanding with
Us, and we took care to encourage them
in this by feeding them at intervals.
No one could swim of to Us, and, as fol
building raft. the mutineers woulc
have had to labor right under the muz.
zles of our guns. They had no weapons
to fire ON us; none Of US ever went
ashore. And so what could they do? W.
did not relax our vigilance. however,
Knowing that we had desperate lot to
deal with, we took no chances Every
hour of the day. rain or shine,a man
was aloft with glass to survey the is-
land. and in this way we kept quite fairly
posted rs to the movements Of the mu-
tineers. Two or three days after the
death of Mrs. Saunders it was discovered
that the two parties had reunited under
the leadership of Ben johnson, apd that
they had given more attention to the
comforts of their camp. 1t was further
discovered that they had erected tall
signal staff on the west side Of the island
and were flying flag from it Their
hope was to entics some craft which
might have strayed into these waters to
sending boat ashore in answer to that
signal. II they could get possession OF q
boat, they would try hard to get posses-
sion Of the ship which sent it Ashore.
That we might checkmate them in this
we watched the sea as well as the land.
II help came to as, 1t would be from the
south, while their hope lay in the ar
rival Of some whaler or coaster making
Q course along the coast.