The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1900-10-26

You don't think it joke, do YOU"
! asked rather hrusquely.
oh. no, no"' he replied. smiling and
chuckling mt the same time NO; its
no joke. There will be no laughing
over it"
His tones We're sarcastic. ana for an
instant there was look of triumph in
his eyes. Then he turned away, and
gave the brig my attention We ran
down To within half mile Of her bc,
fore our engines were stopped. Only
three men were visible ON her decks,
and she hadn't a boat in sight. The
trio heckoncd and motioned that we
should send boat, and the captain
gave orders that one should he lowered.
1T will be n case Of fever" he said,
with all the officers and most OF the
men down." and the surgeon was sent
of with the boat. which was in charge
of the second mate. Eight Of our crew
We're thus taken. The boat had pulled
half the distance to the brig when we
had something nearer home to attract
attention. The sleek. slick little Jim
my suddenly held a cooked revolver
to the captains ear and marched him
into his Statcroom. Fourteen of the
railroad" men from the stcerage, each
armed with a pistol and knife. sudden
~ appeared among us and it wasn't
three minutes before the whole crowd
of us were in the cabin and n guard
over us. The engine room was taken
possession Of at the same time, and
the Ocean Queen had been taken pos
session Of without n shot being fired.
The brig was lying broadside to us.
She had two boats down on the far
side with II men in each boat, and
as soon as they had pulled around and
captured our yawl one boatload of the
rascals came aboard the Queen, and
the steamer was worked down along
side the brig. The sea was smooth,
and the fellows could lash the craft
together without fear of disaster.
We had been taken completely by
surprise and had no show. They had
the gold out and transferred within an
hour. 1t is to the credit of the rascally
gang TO say that they were under good
control and insultcd no one. After
the gold was disposed Of they robbed
the ship of lot Of bedding and pro-
visions. and at the last the sleek, slick
man came down into the cabin to say
few words. He was smiling and
good natured He patted the children,
bowed to the ladies' and waved his
hand to the men.
''My dear friends" he said in that
soft, silky voice Of his, 81 hope that |
have given you no trouble Rather let
me hope that you will look upon it as
an incident to break the monotony Of
the voyage l do not wish to search
you one by one, like a footpad or n
bushranger, but will trust to your hon
esty to hand over your money and
jewels l have figured on about the
amount | should get. If | get it. no
one will be further disturbed If |
don't get it, there will be room aboard
the brig for most of the ladies'"
gave up half my possessions. and
presume the other passengers retained
n share rs well, but the money, watch
es, rings, brooches, etc, laid on the
table before the pirate had Il good
round value and seemed to satisfy him.
He swept everything into n sack, babe
us fond adieu and within ten minutes
was sailing away in the brig. The en-
gines were disabled before they left,
and the crew Of the mates boat was
sent back to us, and as no one had been
killed we We're fain TO think we had
come Off fairly well. We lay rolling in
midocean for four days before the en-
glneer had made repairs and by that
time the brig was several hundred
miles away. Even had we known her
course and position. it would have
awaited nothing. We made a slow run
for the remainder of the voyage, and il
was three weeks before n man-of-w;r
started out to look for the pirate craft.
1t had been job put up in Australia,
and it had worked to perfection. 1t
may be that the brig returned to that
coast and landed and divided the swag,
but as she had a dozen different places
to choose from she had no fear of cap
ture. SO far as | have been able to
learn she was never heard from, though
the search was kept up for year or
more. There was enough plumber TO
set each one up handsomely, and l
have always thought Of Jimmy the
slick one as touring about in the finest
raiment, drinking the rarcst wines and
making himself favorite wherever he
stopped for a week.
Copyright. 1900, by c. b. Lewisl