Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1898-03-06
DON M'DONALD'S OATH. , Copyright fs96 BY CHARLES B. LEWIS {

having cargo for Australia, she was admired by all men. She was a new ship, fitted put in the best manner, and Don McDorald, her captain, was also her full owner. He was then man about 50 years old, and had been cap tain for many years. He had good reputation among owners and sailors. It was said that no man aboard one of his ships had ever been struck blow in anger, and he fed his crews so well that he could always have his pick of the best sailors in port. He sailed away on his long voyage with the good wishes of all, and for weeks all went well with the Highland Chief" She had got down below St. Helena when there came a calm.
 The brig ran into the calm one night at midnight, and it was not until she had been delayed three days that Capt. Mcdonald began to lose his temper He had been hopeful of quick pas sage, and the heave of the ship and the looks of the sky told him that he had been caught in what sailors call a smooth A man sent aloft with a glass could see ships passing far away, and when the smooth had lasted five days the captain indulged in such lan- guage as had never been heard from his lips before. He ordered his boats down to tow the brig beyond the calm, and though the crew responded cheerfully enough she was so deeply laden that they could make but snail's progress. This aroused the captains temper still more, and on the morning of the eighth day of the calm, as the two boats start ed in to tow again he ordered a bag of bread and breaker of water into each boat and said to the men:
 Not one of you shall step foot on board again until we have a breeze. I take my cath that I will shoot the first man who tries it!"
 He was left on board with only the cook and cabin boy, and all day long the crew of the boats tugged away at the brig with no more result than to move her three or four miles. When night came they gave up and wanted to return aboard, but Capt Mcdonald menaced them with pistol and so frightened them that they set off to the east and were picked up by trad ing craft three days later. Thus the brig was left without crew, and that was the beginning of long adventure. On the eleventh day the calm was broken by q gale from the north. The Chief went scudding away before it, but after run of 100 miles was dis masted and left wreck on the tum- bling seas. The cook was of no account as a sailor, and the boy of little help, but the wreckage was cut loose. and four days after the gale the hulk was riding high and dry and as tight as q bottle below. This was when she was sighted for the first time after the de- sertion of the crew. I was one of the crew of the English bark Hawthorne, homeward bound from India. and one morning we sighted the wreck and bore up for it. Our mate was sent aboard, and from Capt. Mcdonald he got the particulars l have given yon. Finding the hull sound and the cargo valuable, the mate offered to send men aboard to rig jury-masts and sail her into port, but the captain would not allow it. Neither would he consent to be taken off the wreck. If the cook and the boy wanted to go he had no objee- tion, but he had started on a voyage to Australia and he would finish it or sink with his craft. The cook, who was a relative of the captain, decided to stay, but the boy had had enough of it and was brought aboard of us We lay by the wreck for three hours. hoping the pair left aboard would change their minds, but as they did not we finally sailed away.
 1t was two weeks before the High land Chief was spoken again. In that time she had drifted $50 miles to the south This time she was overhauled by the steamer Congo Prince, India bound, and boat was sent aboard. Capt. Mcdonald was found at dinner. He had weathered another gale and the hull was still sound. The steamer offered him a tow to Cape Town, but he rejected the offer. The cook had tired of the situation and wished to be taken off, but the captain had made up his mind to stick and no arguments could dissuade him. The cook went aboard the steamer and the man was left alone on grooming hulk in mid ocean. It was 31 days before she was boarded again, and the wreck had drifted over 500 miles, though not alto gether to the south. She was in the highway of commerce, however, and had probably been passed by a score of crafts which failed to make her ont. One morning she was sighted by the American tea ship Flying Scud, home ward bound, and as usual a boat was sent aboard. Capt. Mcdonald was in good health and the hulk sound as a dollar. He admitted that he was bit lonely, but was more determined than ever to stick to his craft. What he wanted were spars and few men, and if so happened that the Scud could ac- commodate him with both. Then he raised the question of price and re fused to pay what was asked, and he finally fell into temper and ordered i, o, I1,,.- f0 1,,~-.. ,..,., r4