The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-06-05

in the night the positions Of the two boats
were exchanged and the fatboat moored
in front Of the station. AT. noon the next
day, with BATHS and four men aboard
and its three-cornered sail set. the fiat
boat, trailing a light skln at the stern,
set out on its dangerous errand.
The water was high the current swift,
and, as the wind was fairly favorable, the
boat made good progress, despite its
clumsy build. 1t was loaded nearly to the
waters edge, and from the shore. piled as
it was with the light and spurious bales,
no eye could have detected the build OF
the craft
BY shutdown the boat was many miles
below the blockhouse and now its crew
with BATHS at the steering oar keenly
watched the wooded shores and the sweep
of the river in front.
BATHS believed the attack would come
that night, while passing the dense belt
of timber which stretched for fifty miles
or more along the south side of the river.
Purposey, he ran the boat as close in
along that bank as the waters of the cur
rent would permit. The men ate a supper
of 'doughboys hard dry biscuits-and
dried venison. The night wore on with
all hands at the oars and eyes strained
and watching. The mouth of the Jim river
was passed, morning close at hand, the Big
Sioux river and the Omaha towns not
many miles in advance, and no sign of
and sleepy, wanted to run the fatboat
ashore, take a rest and go back. They ex-
pressed the belief that Harke and his men
were a thousand miles away not nearer
than the Yellowstone. at least and final
~, in disgust at the fruitless journey,
shipped their oars and threw themselves
upon their blankets spread upon the
bales.
BATHS alone stubbornly remained at his
post. He held the sailrope in one hand
and the steering oar in the other The
wind had gone down and the boat 1oated
idly, drifting along the shore, almost
within the shadows Of the great elms and
cottonwoods, which threw into deep gloom
every curve and point of the bank.
Keenly on the watch, while his comrades
snored, BATHS, at length, in approaching
a point Of timber, became aware of sew
eral dark objects lying out from shore
upon the current, and dimly outlined
against the dense shore line. Watching
them in sharp excitement and suspicion
these objects took shape and motion as
he drew near.
Beyond doubt they were canoes, a half
dozen or more, with men in them. They
were less than a hundred yards distant
when BATHS, as had been prearranged,
yelled Indians! Indiansw
His men jumped out of their blankets,
electrified.
THE pirates close at hand! Get into the
boat quick!' Kissed the young leader
sharply.
Then while the men scrambled to the
rear, sprang into the skiff with their
weapons and cut loose from the fiat boat.
amid an uproar of shots and yels from
the coming canoes. BATHS knelt hidden at
the bottom of the hatboat He uncovered
the ends of the fuse scratched a match
and lighted both under the cover of his
cap. Then quickly covering the fixing
ends by mufiiing them with a pack of
WORKOUT blankets, Wetted hours before he
hastily crawled to the stern, keeping close
down behind the pled-up bales, dropped
into the water and swan up stream for
dear life. The four men in the skiff one
of them with a bullet-a chance shot in
the darkness-through his wrist brought
their boat to a stand dangerously near to
the scene of action and watched eagerly
for BATHS. They saw the canoes-five of
them-each containing three or four men.
approach and swarm around the fiatboat
Finding their prey abandoned, the robbers
ceased firing, and most of them scram-
bled hastily aboard the larger craft, fas-
tening their canoes alongside.
The men in the skiff watched the reced-
ing group breathlessly. Both pieces of
fuse had been cut to burn about two min
utes. The waiting seemed an age, though
the fatboat and it's miscreant crew were
not hundred and fifty yards distant,
when the powder barrel blew up Then
a great sheet of flame burst up, and in
the glare of it men and missiles were seen
thrown mp and outward. There was a
heavy boom, like the distant explosion of
thunder-a splashing of water, sparks and
tongues of fire from a burning and dis
mantled wreck in the light of which sew
eral overturned canoes were SEEN, and in
two or three of the nearest of them men
climbing upon their upturned bottoms.
Curses and yells were heard from wretches
struggling in the water.
BATHS had been little more than able to
hold his own against the current. Luck
lily he had escaped from the falling stones
and missiles, and now shouted to his men
to row down and get him. He was soon
picked up.
Fearing an ambush on shore, the survi-
vors of the wreck were left to save them
selves as they could, and the plucky Bat
tbs and his crew pulled up the river two or
three miles and landed on the opposite
shore. They made forced march out
upon the prairie, hid in a ravine and slept
the day out They returned to the block
house by a circuitous route, hiding in day
time and pushing on at night
The trappers were satisfied that effective
work had been done in furnishing the "fur
pirates as they were called, and, in fact.
no further attacks from this particular
gang were ever heard of afterward.
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