Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1897-03-23

n r.
I sdw them all running dOpn TO the Dest
shore.
kets, and for a couple Of minutes our
assailants had il all their own way. As
we were driven TO shelter the lieutenant
was struck on the head and rendered
senseless, while none o6 the others Of M
escaped injury. As soon as the marines
opened fire the mutineers retreated, but
even with muskets leveled at his breast
Ben johnson stood up and de6antly
said:
"You may land your whole crew. but
you cannot take US alive! Well die
fighting before you shall ever lay hands
ON one Of us!"
When the officer recovered, he was
for going on a man hunt at once, hut as
he went of to the Endeavor to make his
report the rain began to pour down
ngain, and nothing could be done. Tho
wind was fair for getting the Hindu oct
OF the bay, however, aud after dinner
four more sailors were sent us, and we
lifted her anchor and sailed out and
around to good anchorage on the east
side. Then Captain McComber OF the
man.of-war came aboard in person. he
had met the merchant vessel at sea, and
he was on his way TO Adelaide, but had
been obliged to make that port. and had
also been delayed by heavy weather. A
full and circumstantial account Of the
mutiny had to be written out and at
tested by every passenger, survey held
to ascertain damages to ship and cargo,
and the legal proceedings were not fin
ished for four and twenty hours.
Everything depended on Captain Nc
Comber's report to the government au-
thorities, and you can well believe that
at least Captain Clark and | were on
the ragged edge until he had finished
his business and was pleased TO say that
under the circumstances. Had the ships
doctor been living, he would certainly
have been held legally answerable for
the outbreak. but he was gone, and the
best thing to do was to recapture such
prisoners as were alive and make our
way into port Before making move
against the mutineers we fixed up
wooden cages or partitions to hold the
convicts, and il was proposed to give us
plenty Of marines to guard them ON our
passage down the coast Two men were
detailed from the Endeayor to act as
cooks on board the Hindu, and after we
had got washed and scrubbed and had q
few regular meals j, seemed like living
again. Captain McComber was so dila-
tory about moving against the mutineers
that 1 spoke of it to Captain Clark, who
turned on me with wink and replied :
Never you mind. Ralph. II it be so
that they build raft and all go of to-
gether and get drowned, we shan't
have no more bother with them. and II
will be good riddance to bad rubbish.
Invent aloft with the glass for the
first time in three days TO take look at
them, but they were not raft building.
There was plenty Of timber on the
island, and the sailors among them
could have made stout raft without
trouble, but to put to sea in such
weather on anything they could con-
struct meant disaster before they were
clear Of the land. saw few Of them
lounging about the tents as cool and un-
concerned as il their necks were not en-.
circled with halters, and greatly Won
dered what would be the outcome Of the
affair.
You would have thought that among
90 many men ut least one Of them would
have played the sneak Oh his compan-
ions and come down to the shore and
made terms for himself by furnishing
all the information he could. Not one
Of them appeared. however. II any one
was so minded, he was doubtless de-
TERED by the threats Of the others. They
were watching one another, and had
any one attempted to slip away he
would have Jared badly.
think Captain McComber had an
idea that the men would revolt against
johnson and bring him to US tied hand
and foot, thus throwing themselves on
the mercy of the court which would try
them when we reached port, but moth
ing Of the sort came topass. They were
sullen and defiant, and it really seemed
az IL they might have some plan in view
by which they hoped to escape the hunt
which they could reason out would be
surely made for them.
I told you in one Of the opening chap
tiers that Mr.. Williams, Mary's father,
was an old man. He was over 60, and.
though hale and hearty at the beginning
Of the voyage. and even up to the date
of our first trouble. the mental and phys
ical strain pulled him down very fast.
He held himself almost by will power
until the arrival of the man-of-war, and
then there was callapse. On the Sec
ond day we had the surgeon Of the En-
deavor aboard, but he had little encour'
agement to offer. Just at night on the
| fourth day, without even his wife OF
daughter realizing how near his end ht
was, he died in his bed, passing away
90 quietly that they still thought he
slept