The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-08-29

There were representatives in that mob
from half the Mahometan peoples of
northern Africa. There were lean Arab
camel breeders of the desert, jet black
farmers from the Great lakes and the
upper Nile, Hausas from the western
Soudan, limp fellaheen from lower
Egypt, an Egba who had served in the
British police force at Lagos, merchants
, from the back of the Barbery states
workers in metal from Sokoto. and
weavers from Timbukhtu. They were
not all holders of the title Of hadji, for
though by the Mahometan law every
male must make the mecca pilgrimage
, at least once in lifetime, unless de-
! barred by poverty or lameness, it may
be done by deputy. And these deputies.
fierce, truculent ruf6ans, who had lived
| their lives amongst incessant wars and
travel, were perhaps the most dangerous
of all the lot.
They listened to their late associate
with momentary hush of surprise. He
spoke to them in fluent Arabic. He did
not appeal to their better feelings: he
knew his audience. He said it was writ
ten that if they tried this thing, if they
attempted to capture the steamer, they
should surely fail; that all things were
prepared to give them battle. and that
horrible death awaited those who per-
sisted in their design. And then he tried
to point out the nature of the Saigon's
defenSes, but there he failed 1t is i'll
! work to explain the properties of high
pressure steam to sayages. A murmur
rose among them, which grew. They
rOared defiance. And then the great
black mass of them rushed for the iron
ladder.
Capt. Kettle clapped a whistle to his
lips and blew it shrilly. ''Now. then.
Mr.. Cortolvin," he cried, "away with
you aft to help McTodd. These cattle
here want something more than talk,
and I'm going to give it them.
In answer to his whistle, steam had
been turned on from below. The second
engineer unhitched his thumbs from his
waist belt, took lump of waste in each
grimy hand, and lifted the iron pipe. 1t
was well jointed and moved easily, and
he turned the nozzle of it to sweep the
ladder. In that baking air the steam
did not condense readily; it Travelled
three yards from the nozzle of the pipe
before it became even thinly visible
and it infringed upon the black, naked
bodies and burned horribly without be-
ing seen.
At first they did not finch. With a
dreadful valor they faced the torment
and fought with each other to be first
upon the rungs, and then when those in
front would have held back the mob be-
hind pressed them irresistibly EDWARDS.
Tn, hn wet
to go down before that whitening blast,
and then others trod on them and fell
Also till the hill of writhing black hui
mainly grew to half the height of the
iron ladder. And in the meantime 9TH
ers of the pilgrims were trying to storm
the bridge deck at other points, but on
the port side, the gray-headed old mate
fighting baresark with an AK, and to
starboard Capt. Kettle with pistol and
knuckle buster, battled like wild cats to
keep the sacred planking inviolate.
What was going ON at the after end
of the Saigon they could not tell. From
behind them came the roar of the fight
ing Hausa, and the savage war cries of
the desert just as they rose up from be-
fore their faces. but in its first flush
the fight was too close for any mans
thoughts to wander from his own i'm
mediate adversares.
1t seemed, however, that the battle
was over first in the after part of the
steamer, and whether this was because
the attack there was less heartful, or
because Mr.. McTodd's artillery was the
more terrible, cannot now be known
The question was debated much after
ward without coming to decision But
anyway, by the time Capt. Kettles
adversaries had ceased to rage against
him, Cortolvin was free to come and
stand by his side as interpreter. The
wounded lay sprawling and writing
about the iron decks below them; the
survivors-and scarcely one of these
was without his scald-huddled against
the forecastle; and the grimy second