The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1897-03-13

Its come to US, them The mate
didn't move, so the old mar yelped at
him:
"'Why dye stand there, Mac? Are
you white livered?'
"Now, Mac was a Greenock man,
and he said:
ye, and I'll shoot yer ain brother
Just in a quiet and matter of fact way.
And, Scott, he would! l know them.
"'Shoot anything that comes out Of
the stokehole, said the old man, and
Mac slid along, whistling soft and quiet,
to his station. Yes; that was it, Annie
Laurie but it wasn't for her that he
laid him down and died. Poor Mac!
He got sandbagged at New Orleans over
a chit of a Yankee girl not fit to black
bis boots.
"The old man grabbed me ty the
arm.
Look here, he said, pointing ont
three sails wallowing along between us
and the NOON. That's the little game
your friends Eelow are after. Their
friends are coming to join in. And, by
thunder, so is our stem!' He turned on
the chief mate like a flash:
"'You jump down with Mac into the
Etokehole and make every pigtail heath
en- stoke her up to the blowoff. Wipe
'em out if they've any lip. Scoot!'
HE was tramping up and down like
q terror. / never dreamed that a man
with a wife and family could have
looked such a demon.
"'You, he cried to me. Jump below
and don't let the engines move a hands
breadth till l ring her. Then let her
zip
81 only went below the skylight and
told the chief from there. / didn't care
TO pass that thing on the platform again.
And besides / wanted to see what was
going to happen. was all on the jump,
like a white faced girl, SO I staid look
ing out.
"The steamer was wallowing in the
trough like a lame duck. All the crew
had turned out forward after fixing up
the turned i'll China firemen.
"The three junks came on in. a line
abreast down the wind.
"There was a heathenish feeling about
overything-that red, lopsided moon
making a big, Gravity snake on the oily
water, the three junks sliding along and
,ls laid silent. There were three things
/ remember-the slap of the water un-
Ter our stern, the rattle of tho junks'
sails Tapping against their masts and
our old mans fist. He was pounding
time on the rail.
"Then she began to blow off.
"All at once he roared out:
"'Port, hard a-port!' and rang her
3ull speed, and v began to move. Lord!
In three minutes we had got our pace.
~ "The junks had turned after us at
first, but they seemed to guess something
was wrong, for one sheered off. Pres
entity we'd done the half circle and
headed stem OH to the other two. Then
l reckon they realized.
"The first broke out into lights and
shouts. She was right under our bows,
and you could hear her split like dry
firewood. Her big battened mainsail
ratified on our fo'c's'le head like a shower
of canes. The sea itself seemed to yell
all round us as we steamed through the
cargo o. drowning pirates.
81 looked over the rail. We'd hit the
other and smashed one side off, and as
we pranced by saw her men sliding off
her deck like a split CARLOAD of turnips
us she heeled over. Her masts caught
our after boat and tore it away. Then
she beam ended and slumped.
"After hitting the first junk the old
ina had been ramping UP and down the
deck like q mad fellow
''The third junk had got some dis
lance away, but it was no use. After
her we went, our old man roaring and
shaking his fist at Ter. Then all at once
he quieted and conned us like a Thames
steamboat skipper.
"And we hit that junk clean in the
stern and rode over her from end to end.
1t was sickening to see the struggle in
our wake. | ran and asked him if we
weren't going to save some of them.
"He knocked me clean off my feet. I
was silly for more than ten minutes,
and when I pulled together we were
atill running ahead.
"My chief was binding up my head,
and the old man was staring astern. All
mt once he screamed:
Lord, what have l done?' and
chucked up his arms and fell back. He
never spoke more, but went out next
morning. We made the heathens stoke
us back to Hongkong-and Jail. Invent
to the hospital completely knocked over.
"You know Aberdeen? Yes? Well,
you know that old house against the
town hall-an~ eating house? His widow
keeps that now, and if ever you're stuck
up say as you know one who sailed with
him. And if you're 1ush-''-Blaok
and Whita