Hutchinson gazette. [volume] (Hutchinson, Kan.) 1895-1902, 1899-02-09
DICK RODNEY;
Or The Adventures of
a@ An Eton Boy.
.sb4.y RY JAMES GRANT.

az JAMEs ORANT.

Congo river. She missed stays and
got sternwaY 30 you see, sir, II was
soon all over with her after that"
How'll do not understand
Don't you know what sternway lsY
What do they teach folks ashore? She
was taken abhck In the hurrlcQne--the
most dangerous thing that can happen
TO any yessel-a sudden shift OF wind
threw her on her broadside In the
trough Of tho sea, and with her deck
toward the storm, 80 her matches were
soon beaten mall the sooner that
she was driven on q coral reef near
the Sharks Nose whore the sea was
like q sheet of foam around her.
give poor fellows were washed
away and drowned; but when day
broke, and the storm abated little,
the captain, six men and got ashore
In tho long boat, Just aB the poor Ar
row began to break up, for we could
see the waves beating into her and
rendlng asunder tho decks, the inner
and outer sheathlng, as II they couldn't
scatter the cargo fast enough far and
wide.
"Well, there we were, shipwrecked
In wild place on the west coast OF
Africa, ut q part of the Congo river
where the mangrovo trees grow into
the water and have their lower
branches covered with oysters and bar
nacles.
1--WE could see high blue hills In the
distance when the sun came up from
the cane swamps and the wild woods
which bordered the river, and VIC sat
on the beach for while looking rue
fully at the wreck, Of which little now
remained but few tlmbers, TIL the
increase Of the morning heat drove us
for shelter into grove Of oil-palms,
and there, Master Rodney, We found
tulips, lilies and hyacintbs growing
Wild, and six times larger than you
ever saw In England
Some of our men proposed that we
should repair the longboat-she was
partly stove inland put to sea, or
creep in along the coast until we were
picked up. We were without carpen-
ter's tools; but the captain had case
of surgical instruments, and the first
use we made of the saw was to cut into
halves an iron buoy which had fioated
| nahnra from tho wreck
"Thus we had two kettles, In which
we boiled some seabirds and their
eggs, and made mess whereupon we
breakfasted. Exhausted by the late
storm, the birds were easily knocked
down by stones as they sat with droop-
ing wings upon the rocks near the sea;
but scarcely was our miserable meal
over when we heard loud yells, and,
attracted by the smoke OF our fire,
down came whole gang Of ugly dar-
ltles, all Mussolongos Wild and naked,
with rings or flshbones In their long
ears and fat noses-an streaked with
war-palnt and shouting like madmen
as they brandlshed their muskets and
spears.
"They fred a volley, which stretched
on the earth the poor captain and all
my shipmates, dead or dying. The lat
Ter they soon dispatched with their
knives and spears, and left them to be
eaten by wild animals; but on finding
that I had escaped their bullets, they
supposed that their fetish had pro-
tected me, and so for time l was safe.
For q whole week was forced to
help these savages in the work of taxi
ing all that remained Of the wreck to
pieces, though hundreds came from
the interior, and they wrought hard,
some men using even their filed teeth
to get all the iron and copper bolts,
which they priced more than the car
70, sails or spars, as they could fash
ion them into weapons and the heads
of spears and arrows But with every
thing they could lay their dlngy hands
upon, myself included, they made off
inland, Just as vessel, which proved
to be kings ship, came round the
Sharks Nose, and thus, with help,
protection and liberty at hand, was
more than ever prisoner.
al was in very low spirits. you may
be sure, fearing they only intended to
fatten me up, like stall-fed OK, or a
turtle in q tub, before cooking and
eating me, or making me sacrifice to
some idol carved Of wood; for many
times saw the whole 'tarnal tribe on
their knees before the fgure-head Of
the Arrow, which had been washed
ashore, and was pronounced to be a
fetish.
"For three days we Travelled among
deep and sllmy-green swamps, thick,
wild woods and immense painless
canebrakes, where In an hour saw
more tree leopards and zebras, howl
ing jackals and antelopes, grinning
monkeys and chatterlng paroquets,
than ever were seen in all the shows
at Greenwich fair, till we arrived at
kraal Of hundred huts, for all the
world like pigsties, surrounded by a
high palisade Of bamboos, and situated
In a forest Of palms.
1T was now the slave Of chief,
whose rigging was rather queer, for 1t
consisted only Of deep fringe, or kilt,