Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1900-02-14

chronicle my OWN strength, Lle DfOW was a L
fearful one. 1t lifted him clean off his feet; |
the pistol and spyglass went spinning into |
the larboard scupper, where he followed |
them, falling with a crash. the blood spurt- |
ing from his ears nose and mouth. l had |
little doubt that / had killed him. and as /
little care, but with natural instinct fol- |
lowed and bent over him.
At that instant the fresh wind from the |
south struck us. Possibly we had lain in a |
calm for a space while the breeze veered |
from the east, but of that have no knowl- |
edge, only, as we presented full beam to |
the blast. it lurched us to larboard, and |
caused me to straighten myself to get bal |
ance.
It was well did, and have since looked |
upon that gust as an interposition OF the |
Almighty to save me from the knife of an |
assassin, for as I lifted myself | caught
glimpse of the bare feet of negro making |
toward me. He was on me in breath. / |
saw the glitter of his knife, and wheeled in
time to catch the descending blade in my
left arm just above the elbow. With a
mighty wrench / twisted about, breaking
the steel in my flesh, and, catching the fell
low by the throat, held him for one instant,
then, lifting him, flung him clean over the
rail into the sea. From first to last he ut
| tered no sound, and if ever he came to the
surface 1 saw him not.
| In the maddened fury possessing me my
wound felt no more than the prick Of
needle, though found the steel was through
and through the flesh. Plucking it out, | ran
| forward with the determination of taking
| the status of the remaining hand, but could
not find him at first, for both galley and fore
castle were bare of everything human. As !
| came up from the latter l saw him astride
| the starboard spreader of the foremost with
pistol in his hand. l doubted not that he
would have shot at me as l passed under
him on my way forward, only that the helm
| being relieved of pressure the vessel had
gone into the wind, and the violent motion
of the headsails and tremor of the mast un.
der the thunderous thrashing of the foresail
made an aim impossible. His attitude and
the pistol told the story of the part he was
expected to play in the mutiny which had
probably been Matched before leaving Nor
folk. But the cowardly cur had either
skulked at the last moment or l had been
too rapid for him, and he had swarmed up
the shrouds to be out of reach, and there
sat looking down at me. passed no words
with him, but, running back on the lar
board side, fetched my rifle from the cabin,
and, standing by the break of the poop,
drew a bead on him and commanded him to
drop his pistol and come down. At first he
demurred, then whimpered, and, finally
dropping the pistol, swung himself to the
halyards, down which he slid to the deck,
where falling to his knees, he began begging
for his life, his black face turned to a sickly
green through abject terror.
The blood was losing from my arm land
it was a sight took it from my head, and
my temper was a trihe less murderous by the
time the fellow had come within my power
| had traded on his ignorance, as, had he but
known my gun was unchanged matters
might have taken different complexion.
Sternly ordering him below, drew the slide
over the hatch, and then, feeling my life was
safe from him, fetched deep breath and
took look about me.
The ships were in fair sight by this, the
one eastward doubtless troop ship bound
for New York with reenforcements for Sir
Henry Clinton, who had already begun his
call for help, and kept it up through his adj
ministration. The ship to the west looked
to be man-ofwar, Judging by her size and
rig, but twas the third that caused me the
most uneasiness-a fine, large schooner com
ing down before the wind, and now about
four miles away.
That the Phantom was her object nowse
doubted. To pass myself as a royalist bound
from Savannah to New York with lead for
his majesty (that being the gist of my forged
napers) would hardly do in the face of one
dead man lying in the scuppers and single
black hand driven below. But | saw nothing
else to be done, for to have my true colors
known would be to lose liberty and property
at once. To fight was impossible; to run,
as far out of the question.
Be the upshot what it might, my arm de-
> : handed my first attention, and passed into
the cabin, where l made shift to stop the
: flow of blood, bind it up and get it into a
sling. Owing to the twist of the knife twas
an ugly cash, though, fortunately, no artery
: was severed, and in the end it served me a
good turn instead of being source Of great
{ trouble.
. My next step was to get my papers into
proper shape by destroying the regular clear
ance, and twas here l discovered the cause
= of the tone of my mate, for, though there
had been taken nothing of value besides, the
locker showed itself to have been rihed oil
the false documents To be without creden
tials showing my business on the high seas
were as damning as to openly sail under the
flag of the colonies and the discovery OF the
theft left me for the moment high and dry
Bethinking me, then, of the bare possibility
of Lounsbury having carried the matter will
him, jumped to the deck for the purpose
of overhauling his body.
A glance seward showed the schooner
straight for me. 1 could easily imagine the
perplexity that possessed them at sight o
the actions of the Phantom, for, as the helm
was still free and all plain sail made on her
, she hove into the wind for space, and there
hung in irons with a thunder of canvas over
head; then filling on the opposite tack sh'
staggered off, until, rounding up again, TIL
entire performance repeated. For al
the world she was like man we'll slewet
with liquor, using the width of the road il
Is his journeying.
Or That which lay before me to do must |,
n done quickly. Lounsbury sprawled on hi
ID back, so that access to his pockets was al
n easy matter. There was nothing in his pea
jacket save the junk carried by seaman
y, though / soon discovered that around hi
id body was a belt stuffed full of papers Blu
/ the stolen ones were not among them, and
IL felt a sense of hopelessness come over m
ar as the certainty of their loss was forced O.
s. my mind.
But it was not for long. A hasty glanc
er at the belts contents at once opened IN
lie eyes to the character of the man before me
and caused me to come to sudden detcria
a nation regarding my future action. iva
desperate resolve, but, saving some III
toward circumstance, it insured liberty, ol
al- | at least immunity from nresent ir,rrieor