The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1903-10-09

hantle o pirates that's for
ever hangin' aboot the islands,
Mr.. Menzies, who was the speaker,
was standing beside me on the poop
deck OF the Crusader on her voyage
from China TO London with tea, and at
the moment we were running along
the windward side of large tropical
island to the south of the Philippines.
The first mate of the Crusader was a
tall, powerfully built man, with the
high cheek bones and hard features of
the lowland Scot, which were not sef-
tened by bushy whiskers of dull red
color, crowned by Il tangled mass of
brighter red ON his head that seemed
to defy every attempt to keep it in Or
der. He had shaggy red eyebrows, un-
der which there looked out pair of
keen gray blue eyes, occasionally light
ed up By a passing CLEAN of sardonic
humor, which, however, never went far
enough to move the hard lines of his
face to anything like a smile. His
shayen upper lip and chin showed a
square jaw and determined mouth
which never opened unless for speak
ing or eating and then closed again
with as little delay as possible.
"Why, there's no danger from pi-
rates at this time of day, Mr. Menzies,
is there?" l replied, little startled.
mae danger?' he said thoughtfully.
"Weel, Am no sayin' but they're
scarcer noo-the Lord be praised for
that same-but Am thinkin' even ane
or twa may be plenty for quaet folks.
There!" he added suddenly in differ
ent tone as he gripped me by the arm.
''See till yon noow
looked, and, as if by intuition, l
understood what he meant. 1t was a
low vessel with two masts and square
lateen sails that had just made it's ap-
pearance from behind a high wooded
point of the island. There was some
thing easy and graceful in the way she
skinned the water and she might
have passed for fairy ship in the yell
low glow of the evening light, and yet
she gave an impression of danger.
There was something threatening
about her black hull, something
stealthy and treacherous in her swift,
gliding motion.
'What is she?" 1 asked, looking at
her with suspicion of danger.
"Weel." the mate answered slowly,
"Ah Gamma jist say, but All misdoobt
she's no vera canny by the looks O. her.
All jist gle the skipper a bit ca" he
added as he turned away.
don't know that l ever saw q love-
lier evening or more beautiful piece
of island scenery, but already that
creeping black spot had spoiled it for
me. AS l stared at it my mind ran
over the tales l had heard of the fe-
rocity of the barbarous pirates of the
eastern archipelago. Till then indeed
they had been as unreal to me as the
adventures of Ali Baba, but now, as
looked at the broad sails fiattened
against the masts and the low, snaky
looking hull that crept out from the
shore, | shuddered. In q few minutes
the mate came on deck again with the
captain, and the first anxious glance
the latter cast at the schooner was not
reassuring. He had a glass in his
hand, however, and after he had ex-
amlned her for a minute he turned to
his companion with half laugh.
'Oh, she's all right" he said, a little
impatiently. 'There aren't a dozen
men on her. You shouldn't alarm
yourself about trifles, Mr.. Menzies."
"Ah dinna ken what ye may consid-
er tritle, sir" and l noticed a cold
CLEAN in the mates eyes as he spoke
but Am thinkin' there may be mair
haun's aboord than ye can see through
that gless, an if it doesna please the
Lord tae gle us a breeze she'll be
alangside in half an 'oor An may the
Lord hae mercy ON oor sinfu' sauls!
he added in lower tone.
The skipper shrugged his shoulders.
"Ive often heard about these pirates"
he said contemptuously, "but in eight
cen voyages in these seas never met
with one. My education must have
been neglected, suppose"
"Weel, captain" the mate answered
coolly, "Ah wudna wonder gin that de-
fec micht be remedied the moo, for it
wudna surprise me if ye were tae meet
wi twa this time. Div We see yon?"
The captain started as his eye fol-
lowed the mates hand and caught
sight of a second schooner, hardly dis
tinguishable from the first, coming in
to sight from behind another point
farther along the coast. AS near an ap-
proach to g smile as l had vet seen
lighted up the depths of Menzies' ewes
as he watched the skipper's startled
expression, but he only added in the
same matter of fact tone:
"An'. as III was sayin', captain, it's
no a'tegither unlikely that ane or bath
o them III be alangside in half an
'oor"
Heavens. manw the skipper ex-
claimed in quite new tone. IF it
should be, what's to be done?"
Menzies glanced coolly up at the sails.
"Weel," he said composedly, "Ah
hinna see that we can pit ony mair
canvas on her the moo, sac Am think
In we micht be gittin' oot the guns an
cutlasses, for it wudna be jist becom-
in tae gi' in wthoot bit fecht"
stared at the man. but a look was
enough to convince me that he was
speaking seriously. | fancied there
| was even an unusual look of interest