Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1898-01-16


 men. He said he had tried to use them in accordance with the "new Aght
 which had come to him, and that the Lord would punish them for their ln- gratitude. He hoped, however, thatthe punishment would not be too severe and that he would hear of them as humbly repenting the error ot thelr ways. His remarks were received Wlth ridieule and contempt, and some of the men were overhauling the cabin as we showed off. No sooner were we clear of the bark than night fell, and the breeze died away, and as the captain stretched himself out to sleep, taking the affair as if it were an everyday occurrence, Shields suggested plan to me. It was to hover about the bark un- til midnight and then take possession. If we had to kill two or three men Tn so doing the circumstances would pear us out. Each of us had revolver, while none of the men had trearm, and at least half of their number would be drunk and incapable of resistance The plan was duly laid, and would no doubt have succeeded, but that squall came up as we were edging down onthe bark, and the squall ended in stiff breeze.
 All night long we ran before the gale, which came from the westward, and Capt. Gordon slept the hours away until the sun came up. He was then for making for the Azores, to the south ward, but Shields announced his deter imitation to follow the ship to the coast of Brazil, if need be, to recover possession. His nautical instruments, clothing, books and quite sum of money-eyeryt be was possessed of had been left behind, and he cared more to regain his own than to recover the Hopewe1 for her captain. For quarter of an hour Capt. Gordon lee tured him on the sin of profanity, ill- temper, desire for revenge, etc, and was still at it when Ar. Shields jumped up and began raying and eursing in an awful way He called the captain a coward, imbeci1e. idiot and other names, and wound up by threatening to drown him if he interfered farther This eursing seemed to wake the man out of dream, and it wasn't an hour before he was berating his soft7hearted- ness and expressing desire to get aboard the bark and teach the nut tineers a lesson. We carried the gale for 24 hours, and then for the next day and night we had light airs. This fact enabled us to come up with the Hope we'll. though as to having followed in her wake there was one chance in fifty, as she had altered her course by many points. We sighted her soon after sunrise. and our plan was to sail bold iy on and board her. In this Capt. Cor don was agreed. and we might have possessed her before neon had not one of the strangest things happened to de- feat our plans, We were within five miles of the bark and stealing along on a dying breeze when a whale suddenly rose under the boat and sent her a dozen feet into the air. All three of Us came down amidst the wreck 10 find the whale lying at full length. and as we foated beside him he turned ou his side and died. The fish was about 65 feet long and had two harpoons and l great quantity of line made fast to him. Our boat was complete wreck, and no sooner did we realize that the 1 monster was dead than we caught hold of the lines and scrambled to his broad back. We were safe there for the time being, but our position was desperate "a T and even if the weather held fine and the big body did not sink we must be espied by some passing ship within three or four days or the end would come. We were scarcely aboard of the whale when the breeze died out alto gether and the sea became as quiet as a pond. By the use of a knife 10 cut holes in the hide of the leviathian we stretched the life-Iines along his back until we felt that we should be fairly safe if a considerable sea got up When that was finished we could only wait. The bark was in plain sight of us. lying becalmed. and it was two o'clock in the afternoon before we discovered that we were drawing nearer. I can't tell you whether the Hopewell drifted down upon the whale or vice versa, but the distance certainly decreased and con tinued to decrease, and when we saw this we lay down at full length for fear we would be seen.
 By four o'clock in the afternoon the ship and whale were only half mile apart. It turned out that about half the crew, taking advantage of the calm, had drunk themselves stupid, and the remainder were by no means watch ful. Thus it came about that we were not seen until we could have hurled a stone across the strip of water between. We were drifting together broadside on, and rothing could be done by the mutineers to prevent. Shields and I 1 had our revolvers. and the captain had dug out one of the harpoons, and thus when the ship and whale came together at last the mutineers saw that the game was up and made no resistance. We sprang from the body of the whale to the rail of the bark and in a trice were her masters again, My story. as thus far given, has often been set down as a | sailors yarn. but unfortunately for the dO11bfinC TboTnoSns +bere ora rooo,1~