The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1899-06-28

we were in port at st. Eustatius.
Where's that? Well, it's little island
off southeastard of Cuba, one of the
Windward group, and belongs to Den
mark. Twas there we run foul of q
pirate vessel"
ooh. grandpar' "Real live piratesl"
"Do tell us about them!" These
were some OF the exelamations which
| greeted the old man from the youngest
of his grandchildren.
"Well, / rather think they we're
alive" he returned, smiling, 'they
come pretty near being too lively for
us, and-well, Ireckon / shall have to
tell you all about il"
SO, with mutual satisfaction, the
young people drew nearer, while
grandpa settled back in his chair and
began: ut must have been way back
in the '30s when it happened. Brother
Sam was captain of the Fleetwing. and
j shipped with him as mate for cruise
from New York to st. Eustatius. The
island is not much more than the top
of an extinct volcano, seven or eight
miles square, aud one queer thing
about 1t is that there is no running
water there; but we found il pleasant
place enough, as such ports go, with
here and there the green of palm
tree showing off against the deep-blue
sky of the tropics. We had been in
port day or two when vessel came
alongside and hove to, close by us.
1t wasn't long before the captain
boarded our vessel and asked IL Sam
could let him have barrel of beef.
We had good supply, so we let him
have it, and in exchange he gave Sam
keg of wine and sack OF wool. You
recollect that blue and white portiere
out in the other room, the one made
of your grandmother's bedspread?
Well, that, the blue. was made out of
the pirates wool. Ny mother and
sister Betty spun aud colored it, and
then had it woven into bedspreads.
''After the trade was made Sam he
says to me: Somehow, Dick, ] don't
like the looks of that ere craft
What's the matter? asked.
Don't mention it,, SAYS he, but
it wouldn't surprise me if she some-
times carried the black flag,
You know what that means, Bert?"
said grandpa, pausing in his story,
'if you've ever read Treasure Island"
Bert nodded comprehendingly, and
grandpa continued. "You can well
believe we kept pretty good eye out,
after this, for the actions of the sailors
aboard the Ocean Gem-that was the
vessels name-but nothing very un-
usual happened till one night l was
walked up by someone shaking me by
the shoulder and saying. Get up;
pirates boarding the ship! 1t didn't
take me very long to get into my
clothes-or few of them that came
handiest--and to get up on deck. 1
half expected to see fierce looking men
slashing around, right and left, but
instead of that everything looked
about as usual, till went around to
the side OF the vessel next our neigh
Dor, aud then 1 found that men from
the Ocean Gem had been piling things
over on to the Fleetwing; they had
worked pretty smart, too"
"What for?" asked Bert
"What for?" grandpa repeated.
"Why, they must "a got wind that they
were looked on suspiciously. Some.
thing had frightened them, anyway,
and there they were, piling their ill
gotten goods, boxes, bales. sacks and
l don't know what, onto our deck, and
the way the Fleetwing was being
| loaded up was caution. That put us
in bad fix, you see, for il our vessel
was found with such assorted cargo
aboard, We were likely to be taken for
a pirate craft ourselves. Meantime,
Sam had gone up into the town to find
the governor of the island. He had
started as soon as he got wind of what
was going on, and in such hurry that
he did not even stop to put hat on.
The governor told him that the goods
were his if he dared to keep them,
and Sam told him he would rather not
run the risk, so he sent teams down,
and we loaded them up as quick, I
venture to say, as ever they were
loaded before or since. But before
Sam came back was clearing the
decks in the quickest way. and throw
ing everything overheard that cOuld
get my hands on, wools, silks, wines,
spices, and I can't tell what; away
they went over the vessels side. l
recollect one little case that looked
like iewelry box, but 1 was too ex-
cited to think of keeping anything for
myself till after Sam came back, then
whenever l run foul of some little
things that would go into my pockets
put them in.
"No doubt we might have kept a
good deal more than we did, though
Sam saved some things; but for the
most part we showed things right and
left. have confused idea of earthen
ware and little pretty boxes and
heavier bundles, whose contents we
could only guess at, all going over in
to the water, or to the teams after
they arrived.
"When we reached home, we did
have few things to show our friends
as relics of our adventure, a few pieces