The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-04-04

| deck hands, a fellow who hard joined
| from New Orleans when | did. lingering
Il nickel-plated revolver.
"Hullo,' said |. what does this
mean!"
1T means" says Blake. from behind
me, that you've got to stay right here
on this ship, Mac, and be her chief en-
gineer. whether you like it or not Now
| I've got knife in my hand this min.
ute, and it would annoy me very much
to kill YOU I've no time for long argu-
ment. Will You stay alive, or will You
stay deadT'
! I've got to save my life" | said.
| you're sensible man. Mac. Just sit
beside Chips. on the sofa there, and talk
to Mr.. Lcgrand. Oh. | forgot to intro
duce YOU. Legrand is the new mate.
And now | must be off. to see that all
the members of this ships company l
don't want go off cruising sociably to-
gether in the life-boats'
| lie went out in the dark. closing the
door OH his heels. and | found myself
sitting beside the carpenter looking at
the big sallow-faced Creole who held the
revolver.
MAN" said. the shippers gone
mad. I've just come from below myself,
and | know what it's like. She'll swamp
in half an hour. Yc're just holding us
here to drown"
"ShuckS!" said he. That's only part
! of the game to get the ship to ourselves,
and to scare off those we didn't want"
! What do You mean|'
: Why. there have been couple of sea
cocks opened. that's all: and if you want
to know who did there's the man stand
ing before you. | did another thing, too;
it was me that smashed the bilge pump"
And who's going to work the ship
when the crew have gomez"
{ "Oh. we'll have eight of a crew, all told,
counting in You and me and Chips here.
and the skipper Two of them slowed
away in the forehold and two signed on
as coal trimmers.
I'm shipmate with some very clever
, Scoundrels," | thought, and wished my
self far enough away. But as there was
no means of getting clear. | thought it
was hest to save my throat by doing as
, was bid. Legrand seemed to guess
what was passing through my mind.
BE a sensible man, Mr.. MacTodd," said
he, land do as we want you, and draw
your f30 month. and then go ashore
and spend it when the time comes.
AUoul lnc GISlt duu NEOlle Oh Tie uuS-
mess you have no concern; that lies be-
tween us and our consciences; you have
been forced into it against your will
''Weel." | said, Mr.. Legrand, yon's a
very sensible way of putting it, You'll
go to hell when the time comes; /
shalln't-and f3O Il months very pleas
ant wage TO finger"
''Bonny Scotland" SAYS Legrand. with
I,,lln $40 eli;
again. Well, sir?''
I Blake came into the chart-house, his
face glistening with the wet. They're
off" he said. "all in the starboard life
boat and they blew out of sight in Il
dozen minutes. Knowles is steering,
and the old chief has manned the bailer.
They expect that the balance of us are
/ following them in the port boat to
rendezvous at Key West, and as we
shan't turn up by tomorrow or the next
day, we Shall be reported as lost. Moth
ing could have happened better. That
crowd will be ready to swear all of them,
that they saw the Shah founder before
they had left her neighborhood, and so
the lot of us can start fresh with pur-
ser's names on a fine new steamboat
which hasn't cost us a cent"
And being withour / said
''you won't be able to get into Il single
port to sell her, or to look for freights, or
to do anything
MY dear Mae" said Blake, ''do give
me credit for a child's sense. OF course
, this ships got papers, brand new set
of papers and she's got to he altered to
suit them Her names the Gorge NJ.
Washington, her engines were built at
Liverpool her port-but you'll hear all
that afterward. At present there's work
to do, and | guess all hands have got to
sweat this night as they've never sweated
before. Come out now and bear a hand
to get the water out of her"
1t was difficult to stand on deck, for
every roll sent her down to the rail, and
the foredeck was atloat half its time. OF
course the steam pumps below were use
less, but by mercy she had hand
pump on deck, and we manned that,
watch and watch about, for half hour
spells. and picked the water out OF her
by gallons to the minute. The sea cocks
had been turned off. so we'd no further
leak and we got the trysails and the
two topsails on her and shaped a course
almost free for the Cuban shore We
hadn't got her clear by daylight, or any
thing like it, for the hand pump had its
limits, but we'd pulled the water down
below the firebars of the furnaces, and
were able to get lit up again and see
The steam rise in the gauges.
1t was an anxious time then. If any
other steamers saw us drifting about
there under sail alone they would come
up to offer assistance, find out who We
were, and the game would be up. The
spot was likely to be crowded, too, be-
cause we were in the ship track be-
tween the gulf ports and the Florida
channel But the thieves luck held. and
we got her under steam again, kicked
out the balance of the water with the
bilge pumps, and stood across for a
lonely bay in Cuba, where we could alter
the poor old Shah's appearance undis-
turbed.
We were at anchor there by early af-
ternoon, and a rough, wild place it was.
walled in with tropical trees and closed
from all view to seaward. Sea fowl
were the only living creatures which
met the eye, unless one could count the
sharks and the sawfish which cruised
around us in the water. AS a pirate s
harbor no better spot could have been
found in all the world, and that is what
we were then, just pirates; all, that is,
except Chips and myself, who were
forced into the business against our will.
The work began at once. Stages were
rugged over the side, and the black paint
was changed to gray. The names on the
boats and the lifebuoys were altered.
The funnel was turned from red and