The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-03-19
TRUE STORY OF THE TRAG
EDY OF FLOWER LAND"
BY A CONAN DOYLE.


front of the high-masted bafk-rigged
clipper. With her fresh painted giistening
back sides, her sharp sloping bows and
her cut-away counter she was the very
picture of a fast, weI-found ocean goins
sailing ship, but those who knew anything
about her may have made her the text
of a sermon as to how the British seaman
was being elbowed out of existence. In
this respect she was the scandal of the
river. Cinnamon, French. Norwegian,
| Spaniards, Turks-she carried an epitome
of the human race They were working
hard cleaning up the decks and fastening
down the matches, but the big burly mate
Tore his hair when he found that hard
ly a man on board could understand an or
der in English.
Capt John Smith had taken his younger
brother George Smith, as a passenger
and companion for the voyage, in the
hope that it might be beneficial to his
| health They were seated now at each
side of the round table, an open bottle of
champagne between them, when the mate
came in answer to a summons, his eyes
still snV lldering after his recent out
| bursts.
| "Weu MIR. Karswell" said the captain,
I'VE have long six months before us, l
dare say before we raise the light of Sing
| apore, l thought you might like to join
us in a glass to our better acquaintance
and to a lucky voyage"
He was a jovial, genial SOUL this cap
tain with good humor shining from his
red, weather-stained face. The mates
gruffness relaxed before his kindly words,
and he tossed off the glass of champagne
which the other had filled for him,
How does the ship strike you, Mr..
| Karswen?" asked the captain.
There's nothing the matter with the
ship. sir.
Nor with the cargo, either" said the
| captain. champagne We are carrying-a
hundred dozen cases. Those and bales of
Goth are our main lading. How about
the crew, Mr. Karswell?"
The mate shook his head
They'll need thrashing into shape, and
that's a fact sir. I've been hustling and
| driving ever since we left the pool Why,
except ourselves here and Taffer, the sec
ond mate. there's hardly an Englishman
| aboard The steward the cook and the
boy are Chinese, as 1 understand. An
| derson, the carpenter, is a, Norwegian.
| There's Early, the lad, he's English. Then
| ,
| Turk, one Spaniard, one Greek and one
| negro. and as TO the rest don't know
what they are, for l never saw the match
| of them before h.a
'They are from the Philippine Islands,
half Spanish, half Malay" the captain
answered 1--WE call them Manila men,
for that's the port they all hail from.
Youn find them good enough seamen, Mr..
Karswell. I'll answer for il that they
work we'll"
''TH answer for it, too said the big
mate. with an omlnons clenching of his
| great red fist.
Karswen was hard put to it to estab-
Iish any order amongst the strange ma
terial with which he had to work. Taft
fir, the second mate, was a mild young
| man. and a pleasant companion, and hard
Iy rough enough to bring the unruly crew
| to heel Karswell must do 1t, or 1t would
never be done. The others he could man
age but the Manila men were dangerous.
| 1t was a strange type, with fiat Tartan
noses, small eyes, low british foreheads,
and lank black hair like the American
Indians. Their faces were of dark eof-
| fee tint and they were all men of power
| full physique. Six of these fellows were
on board, Leon, Blanco, Duranno, Santos,
| Lopez and Marsolino, of whom Leon spoke
| English WELL and acted as Interpreter for
| the rest. These were all placed in the
mates watch together with Watto,
! handsome young Levantine, and Carlos,
a Greek. The more tractable seamen were
allotted to Taffir for the other watch. And
SO on a beautiful July day holiday max
ers upon the Kentish downs saw the
/ beautiful craft as she swept past the
Goodwins-never to be seen again, save
! once, by human eyes.
The Manila men appeared to submit
| to discipline, but there were lowering
| brows, and sidelong glances which warn
! ed their officers not to trust them too far.
! Grumbles came from the forecastle as to
! the food and water-and the grumbling
was perhaps not altogether unreasonabl
| But the mate was man of hard nature
! and prompt resolution, and the malcon-
| tents got little satisfaction or sympathy
| from him. One of them, Carlos, the Span
lard, endeavored to keep his bunk upon a
plea of Illness but was dragged on deck
! by the mate and triced up by the arms
| to the bulwarks A few minutes after
! wards Capt. Smiths brother came on
| deck and Informed the captain what was
! going forward. He came busting up, and
| having examined the man, he pronounced
him to be really unweH and ordered him
! back to his bunk, prescribing some medi-
| cine for him. Such an incident would not
tend to preserve discipline, or to uphold
| the mates authority with the crew. On a
| later occasion this same Spaniard began
| fighting with Blanco, the biggest and most
brutal Of the Manila men, one using a
| knife and the other handspike The
! two mates threw themselves between them
| and in the scuffle the first mate felled the
| Spaniard with his fist In the meantime
the bark passed safely through the bay
| and ran south as far as the latitude OF
! Cape Blanco, upon the African coast. The
winds were light, and upon the 10th OF
! September, when they had been six weeks
| out they had only attained latitude 10
| degrees south and longitude SO degrees
west. On that morning 1t was that the
smouldering discomfort burst into most
| terrible fame.
The mates watch was from one to four,
during which dark hours he was left alone
with the savage seamen whom he had
| controlled. No llon-tamer in cage could
| be in more imminent peril for death
| might be crouching in wait for him I'm
| any Of those black shadows which mot
| tied the moonlit deck. Night after night