The daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Beltrami Co., Minn.) 1903-1904, 1904-01-15
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F. 4 G. III T
tOriginal.l

not cooking stoves at1oat, as they are
now. l was mate of a sailing vessel,
one of those long craft with masts run
ming against the clouds and canvas
enough to move floating. city. You
don't see 'em nowadays, and you're not
likely ever to see 'em again. There
was comfort aboard such ship as that
no smell of grease, no shaking of the
engine, nothing but motion harmon Gus
with the wind and waves.
zone moonlight night when we We're
in the West Indies-we We're lying at
anchor off the island Of Jamaica-the
captain and most of the crew We're
ashore, and / was sitting on the quar-
ter deck in the captains chair, trying
to keep COOL Casting my eye in the
simmer of the moon, saw black
spot on the water. Watching it, ! dis
covered that it nloved--moved toward
the ship. l thought it was a canoe
coming head on. for could see some
thing like paddle raised with a reg
ular motion, but 1t wasn't a canoe; it
was a man swimming, at each stroke
raising one arm out of the water, 4
fayorite motion With good swimmers.
1t was evident that the man was max
ing for our ship, as there was nothing
else about. When he came under the
stern lie called for me TO throw him
rope. / called some of the watch to
bring rope, and we got him aboard.
He was no sooner on deck than he be-
hi |, iS nj
tation We're going to rise that night,
murder him and his family and take
possession of what movable goods they
could find. He wanted US to send a
force for their protection.
We had but eight men aboard, and l
didn't feel at liberty to send 'em, but
the fellow begged so piteously for me-
to save the lives Of his family that L
consented and sent every man, re-
naming myself to watch the ship. A
boat was lowered, with the eight men
in her at the oars, while the stranger
took the tiller, / watched Fem rising
and falling on the swells in the moon
simmer till they We're well away;
then, remembering that | was alone in
care Of big ship, / began to walk the
deck With q feeling of uncomfortable
responsibility.
"rhe men | had sent had faded in
the distance when | noticed a boat
coming from the opposite point, headed
straight tor the ship. She couldn't hold
any one belonging to the vessel for the
captain and crew would come from the
mouth Of Il small river midway be-
tween the direction Of the boat that
had gone and the boat that was COM
ing. 1t flashed across my mind that
the swimmer had come to decoy what
protection there was aboard the ship,
leaving her free to be plundered. If
this We're so here / was sole defender
Of large vessel against a boat load
of men bent on piracy. | had assumed
the authority for sending away the
watch and determined to die rather
than face the captain after the ship
had been looted.
"By the time the boat came up had
gathered muskets, cutlasses, hand
grenades-in short, every weapon
could find, including six FOUNDER can
non, which l loaded ready to fire AS
soon as the boat came within hailing
distance asked who they were and
what they wanted They ceased row
ing and were inclined to parley, looking
hard at the vessel to size up the crew
aboard. They talked at random till
they were satisfied the ship was with
o1lf o1n 70
ordered them away, pulled forward
pointed my barker and fired. The
shot skipped by them, and they paid
no attention to it except to cease row
ing for a few seconds. Selling mus
ket | shot the man at the tiller. This
produced some confusion, but as they
came on / seized another musket and
dropped the stroke oarsman. This laid
out two of eight men. Some stopped
rowing; others pulled so hard as to
swing the boat in circle. At the same
time there was a babel of voices.
They were now near enough for me
to see that there was one white man.
evidently their leader, the rest being
mulattoes and negroes. fired at the
leader, but missed him, and before |
could seize another musket lie had got
his mem again to their work and they
were pulling forward Before they came
directly under the vessels side | had
shot two more men. reducing their
number to six. Then | dropped a small
hand grenade, which struck the tip Of
the bow and killed or disabled two
more. The leader was still unhurt and,
having provided himself with a rope
laden with hooks at one end, threw
the hooks and caught them on to the
gunwalo. tried to throw them off.
but as soon as they caught he got on
to the ladder and came up the side,
followed by several of his men. |
waited till he came within reach and
dropped him with cutlass. The next
man fired a pistol at me- which grazed
my cheek. Seeing that he had missed
me and that was ready for him with
cutlass, he crowded back on to the
men behind, and they all tumbled into
the boat. Then, selling the oars, they
pulled away, followed by balls from