Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1901-06-05
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The Daily Short Story
THE CAPTAINS WIFE.

OF u men was made up OF four or FIVE
nationalities. / remember there were
two Kanakas or Sandwich Islanders, one
lascar, n negro or two, and the others
were American, English aud Dutch. We
had scarcely left Bombay when the cap
tain was taken sick with fever. His
name was Aldrich. and his wife, who was
woman of 80, always sailed with him.
She now took command in a general
way, and this TO the satisfaction OF both
mates, though both were thorough sailors.
/ heard one of them say that she could
take an observation or work n dead
reckoning, and j saw from the orders she
gave that she knew all about ship.
We had good weather and made good
progress until after we were above Mus
cat, in the bay OF Ormuz. Then one fore
noon we got a squat which did not last
10 minutes but which brought down our
fore aud maintop gallant masts and car
ried away a sail or two. There was only
n light breeze after the squat had passed,
and we were lying TO and hard at work,
when an Arabian dhow of about 200 tons
burden came stealing down the coast.
We were within four miles of the rocky
and mountainous shore, but she was two
miles inside OF us. She was no sooner
made out than the first mate became
very anxious, and Mrs. Aldrich was sent
look at the stranger through the glass
and queried to the mate:
"Can we depend on the crew to fightP
II hope so, ma am" he replied.
"Have them come aft"
All moved aft, and I can remember
through all the long years just how she
looked and every word she said. She
had a worried, anxious look, and no won
der, and there was n trembling in her
voice as she said:
"Men, you know that your captain is
very sick. Yonder comes a pirate, IL
there ever was one. IL he captures us,
those who live through the fight will
go into the interior as slaves or worse.
If we all agree to fight. we can beat them
off. What do you say?"
We'll fight to the Iastp' shouted one.
and the cry was taken up by all.
THANK God" she fervently exclaimed.
GIVE him n brave fight, and no one can
be blamed il we are defeated. Sooner
than fall into his hands will blow the
old ship sky high and all of us with her"
We had no cannon. but we had u
muskets, lot of cavalry sabers, and the
captain had not lodged about those
waters with his eyes shut. He had two
or three years before purchased a dozen
hand grenadcs. or stink pots. such rs are
used 10y the Chinese. These were brought
up with the rest and found To be fused
and in good condition. They weighed
about two pounds apiece. and each was
inclosed in Il net. so that il could be
tossed quite a distance We loaded our
muSkcts, took our stations and were rs
ready as we could be. The captain
wife alternated between the deck and the
cabin. He was out of his head. which
was the better for him. as she had his
revolver for use.
The dhow sncaked along until nearly
opposite us. All work had been sus-
pended aloft. and she must have known
by this time that we were ready for her.
but she came on just the same. And no
wonder. One OF the men went alOft
with the glass, and he made out two guns
on her deck and a perfect swarm OF men.
She was trying to do bold thing-run
us aboard in broad daylight. She would
not use her guns. fearing that they would
he heard and bring us assistance, but if
that mob ever gained our decks, we were
gone. We lay with our head TO the north
west, so she would pass our port first.
Here two of the strongest men were
placed with the grenades, and two of us
with muskets were between them. The
others were placed TO fire over the stern.
Down came the dhow foot by foot, with
never cheer from the crowd of cut
throats on her decks. There was men
ace in their silence, but ii had no effect
upon us. We were determined to fight
and to fight to the last. / got the first
shot and knocked over man on her fore
castle, and then all began to blaze away.
She did not fire in return, but forged up
on our quarters, and / could see 80 Arabs,
each one with creese, crowding against
the rail to be ready to board
Snow heavep yelled one of the sailors
with the bombs, and both lighted the
fuses and heaved away.
Before we could tell what damage had
been done the dhow was alongside. She
threw her grapnel. but did not catch, and
she rubbed her whole length and went
ahead. As we saw her failure we blazed
away again with the muskets. and every
ball found a man. She sailed like a
witch and before she could be checked
was a cables length ahead. She had just
put her helm over when there was an ex-
plosion, followed by great sheet OF
fame, and we saw that she was hard hit. |
Confusion reigned from stem to stern
in a moment, and we added to it by pep |
pering away at fair range. All ablaze |
within FIVE minutes, she fell off, headed |
for shore and was run on a reef about |
mile away
We saw some save themselves by boats
and RATS, being swept in to the shore by |
the tide, but it was afterward learned |
that upward of 40 men were killed or
drowned and that the loss of the dhow |
broke up a bad gang of pirates. Mrs. |
AIdrich was on deck through it all, emp |
tying the revolver into the crowd as the |
dhow passed US, and when all was over |
she went down to her husband with face |
only little whittier and mouth more firm |
ly set. She did not betray her womanly |
weakness until she came to thank us. |
Then she broke down and cried like al
well, Just like a woman.-Hartford Cou- |