Durango semi-weekly herald., 1904-07-07

soiind to know that the speakers were
Chlnaiiien.
Suddenly something spashed in the
water alongside the boat. and ! could
see bundle of some sort floating in
the water Then another splash and
another and another. hugged close
under the stern and eagerly strained
my eyes to determine what the bun
dies were. All was quiet on deck,
ana after minute of waiting | eau
tlumsly pitt out an oar TO pull one or
the bundles toward me. AS | moved
II little closer noticed that 1t was
fastened to The deck by a line which
prev ehi Ell II boating on. ! made an
other quiet effort. but the sound OF
oars frightened me and | hastily pull
ed back my oar boat passed around
the ship about fifty yards distant, con
tanning three occupants, but as one of
the men lighted his cigar saw blue
coat with bright buttons and beard
ed face. Then the boat passed out OF
sight
Again reached out my oar, but now
| heard voices on deck and thought l
could detect the voice of Purser Nc
C6wan As | waited for another
chance, suddenly the prov OF another
boat came Into sight from the same
side of the boat on which ! had made
my way. and Its owners were pulling
II along As | had done a short time be-
fore. caught word of Chinese be-
fore | gave my boat a push and man
aged to pull around on the port side
ont of sight Stopping minute,
made sure that two Cinnamon were
taking np the packages. which | now
supposed contained opium. Quietly
pushing on. after few minutes hard
rowing | reached the land. To inter
fere with Chinese opium smugglers
would have meant death. l tied my
boat hbtlt notice. and was soon able
To rejoih Mr.. Coler on the street.
In his room that night | told OF my
Siberian trip and of Nelson's story.
and that had a statement from him
in my pocket which l proposed to sell
to the Seattle newspaper, explaining
my grounds for supposing | owed no
allegiance to the company.
The next day while strolling up the
street. was accosted by Captain Arm
strong with the remark, You're Just
the man wanted to see"
what is it?'
why. vinyard" he hesitated. as
his eye took In the surroundings over
my head. Il believe you have an or
der on the company for n winters
grub. have you not?"
what's thAt" | demanded In as
tonishment.
you Know the miners were fur
nished with an order on the company
for supplies for the winter, and |
want to secure a copy"
| had never received such an order,
though I knew that the rest of the
men had received them.
at may he wanted for publication" +"
he added. and Immediately | under
stood that Mr.. Coler had informed the
company that | had a statement from
Nelson In my pocket, and that they
wanted possession OF 1t. hoping to side
track Nielsen himself in Nome, and
10 buy me on with an offer of "a win
ters grub"
Captain Armstrong" answered,
YOU must be very well aware that !
was given no such order" and tried
To catch his eye as | looked him
suuafply in Efie face That was my
last experience with any of the Of
fIcers of The Northeastern Siberian
Co, Ltd.
Captain Armstrong. so-ca!led. the
company's superintendent of mining in
Siberia, had had several years of ven
iuresome experience around Alaska
before entering the employment OF the
company. Possibly his title of Cap
tain" comes from the fact that he per-
sunally conducted a mud scow down
the Yukon river at some stage OF ms
various career, Certainly he had
never been a land captain, and aboard
ship he usually displayed his abilities
as sailor after the manner of the
renowned admiral of Pinafore, who
said that in times of stress,
When winds do blow
| go below,
And seek the seclusion
That a cabin will grant"
c'And so do his sisters.
And his cousins and his aunts;
And his sisters and his cousins
And his aunts."D
An Alaskan captain is more COM
mon and Of less worth than a Ken
lucky colonel
On Monday, October 10, the good
ship Senator got away from Nome,
and after a leasant voyage, in due sea
son arrived in Seattle. My story OF
Nelson's treatment | readily sold, al
though | was not fortunate enough to
obtain for 1t "a winters grub"
month after our arrival in Seat
tie the press dispatches contained an
account of the wreck of the Mana
nense ON the coast OF Japan. Doubt
less she was well insured. All pas
sengers aboard escaped,
From OF her miners who had return
ed to Seattle | learned that the com
pany had tried to settle with them for
work done in Siberia for half the sum
that had been agreed upon at the
time of performing the labor, on the
ground that one-half of the earnings