The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1898-06-06
LOOTING OF THE LY CHEZ
CONTINUED from Tenth Page.)

Continued from Tenth Page)
shoes and spelling them But, all at
once, there fell on my ears a sound
that made me raise my head, and sent
wave of life and hope pulsing
through every artery in my body in re-
Spouse to the regular thump, thump of
a steamers screw. Twisting my head
round, l saw both her lights coming
right down upon the Ly-chee, and dis
tant bare mile. AS she approached I
could distinctly make her out to be a
long, low, double-funnelled boat going
through the water at a great rate. Sud-
denly lost the green light. She was
keeping away! Then the red one disap-
peared. She was passing. Thumpi
thump! thump hammers beating on
my heart; and the stream of sparks
from her tunnels flying into my brain.
Impotently as I realized the full mis-
cry of the thing, 1 groaned and painted
forth hoarse noises, audible, perhaps,
yard away. Impotently / writhed and
struggled till the tautened ropes reach
ed the bone on legs and wrists But
ever fainter and fainter came the
thump of the screw. And as despair,
utter and complete, settled once more
into my soul, my head fell on my
breast, and once more I entered the
dark valley of the shadow, from which
I had emerged only to partake of the
bitterness of a new death.
Sitting there, scarcely conscious, and
with my eyes shut, suddenly felt that
some strong, strange light was beating
on their lid. Looking up, J. saw that
the whole ship and the sea round about
it We're enveloped in a bright white
glare that seemed to dart into and rest
on every part of the Ly-chee. In my
first surprise imagined that this per-
haps was but a blaze preparatory to
the explosion I had been so long ex-
pecting, a notion as instantly dismiss
ed, as 1 heard, almost alongside now,
the loud humping of a screw, and saw
the steamer, not two hundred yards
away playing on the Ly-chee with her
searchlight. Then as if thoroughly to
bear into me the blessed truth, voice
hailed, Steamer ahoy!" But / could
give them no signal And during few
minutes of such agonized suspense as
1 know I shall never be permitted to
pass through again-God being too
music the world then held for me, the
swift cheep through their blocks of a
boats davit-falls. Then it seemed but
| a second or two until hearty, whole
some English faces were looking into
mine, and ready hands cutting away at
my bonds and removing the gag, while
there came to my ears, as If from a
very far distance across the sea, eX-
pressions of wonder, execration, and
pity. They told me afterwards that be-
| fore I swooned, as / did directly they
assisted me to my feet, l muttered the
| one word, "Boilers!"
When I came to myself again it was
| sunrise, and I was lying on mattress
| spread on the after skylight of H M
gun boat Psyche, my wrists and ankles
| sWathed in bandages, and the taste of
strong brandy in my mouth.
THE Internal villains!" exclaimed
| the captain, as to him and his officers
| told my story, brokenly and with long
pauses, for l was weak and feverish
but, if we have any luck, we may
punish them yet; the winds been
against them all night. Where'l they
be, Mr.. Courtenay?"
"Off Tin-ko Point, sir" replied the
first lietenant, "by my reckoning"
Exactly the place 1 had in my
mind" said the captain. I'VE can fix
them up yet, l do hope and believe.
Now" he went on, addressing me.
don't exert yourself. The doctor, here,
says you'll he all right in a day or two
There's the Ly-chee just astern of us.
| Her captain and one OF the mates we
| found dead, stabbed and-shot, thrown
off the bridge, as you told us, among
| the deck cargo. Another white man
lay in his bunk with his head smashed
to pieces. The engineer was lying
across one of his cylinders, shot
through the heart. AS for the boilers,
| well, my chief tells me that as they
were worn to the thinness of brown
paper, and liable to go at any minute,
| it was simply miracle how they stood
the extra pressure, and with the valves
wired down into the bargain. We bur-
led all the dead at daylight. And I
hope" continued he, looking very grim
as he gave the order, Full speed
ahead!'--"that We'll be able to do more
burying, but of another sort, before
night"
By breakfast time it fell calm, and
our hopes rose as, keeping so close in
shore that we at times could almost
have thrown a biscuit on the rocks, we
flew along the coast, leaving the Ly-
chez with her salvage crew to come on
at her leisure.
The Psyche was one of the new tor
pedo gunboats, with engines of nearly
5000 horsepower, drawing only ten feet
of water, armed with quick-firing guns
and five-barrelled Nordenfelts. And as
| I looked ahead and saw the mounds of
white water rising from her bow, and
| felt the decks quivering underneath me,
and knew that she must be doing a
good eighteen knots, there filled my
soul, for the first time, savage long
| ing for vengeance on the bloody and
murderous authors of all my sufferings
throughout that past but never ODE
| forgotten night