The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1905-11-10
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prevention Is worth pOunu OF cure. !
am practical illustration Of its +,
truth. Indeed, an ounce of fluid once
saved my life. AS II medicine? Well. !
no. l wasn't sick. and l hadn't been
poisoned. Nevertheless that ounce
saved my life.
my father had been an officer in the |
United States navy-not when our .
ships had come 10 be big machine
shops, but light wooden affairs that
skinned the waves libe bird. lie
went aloft just before the struggle be
tween the states. and |. being about
sixteen at the time, preferred To 20 i'll
10 active service atioat rather than to
tho Naval academy. As 1t was. saw
nothing but blockadinG service, and
after the war was doomed to the mer-
chant service.
This is only preliminary 10 what I'm
going to tell YOU. In the last year of
the sixties I was mate of Il lrigantinc.
and We We're picking up goods in ports
OH the China sea. One evening we
were coming down through the strait
Of Malaccu when, after passing one OF
the islands at the southern end. we
saw OH our port quarter and nearly
abreast of uS as queer II looking little
craft ~ ever sat OH the water Sh"
wasn't Il common trader. for she WAS
shaped for speed. She wasn't Il yacht:
she wasn't sleek enough for q yacht
Besides. She didn't carry yachting
fag-or any flag whatever. for that
matter Which set our teeth to chatter
Tn In, ir,n 7 l,1IT
one kind of craft that didn't show
colorS. and when that kind do SHOW
them they invariably hoist the skull
and croSSbOncS.
1T wasn't long before we could see
that she was shaping her course to mar
row tho distance between lis, and we
shaped ours To keep apart. This didn't
suit the suspicious vessel. and she put
her nose closer still and before long
was heading right for us. Then we
could see tho smoke bulging out Of her
stack. and she came through the water
like 4 present day motor boat.
You couldn't get me to 80 over what
followed for the biggest farm OF the
biggest ship in the world After the
crew captain and first mate had step
ped off the plank and it came my turn
one of the pirate crew came up to the
captain and said something TO him.
The captain turned to me.
Where's the treasure box! he
asked.
There was no treasure box worthy
Of the name aboard, but | caught at
straw and pretended to try to remem-
Der.
l,,,, :
dngry Or incsnd1ury urfg5h: The ~
rning of the dwelling oT Church. to3
ect- occupied by Messrs. McGowan s.
d Gregory, both members Of the ! W
lici, fer9cy cyoG want comfortable death
cool water There are hot irons II
people with poor memories.
81 don't really know. captain. but
suspect there's IL lot of money Ill u
ship. and if any one can find il cam
We'll. hunt for it,
Since my life depended on hhdl
money. ] hunted for my life 1T w
dusk when l began. and worked III
till o o'clock, when the captain sc
for me To come into the cabin. lie II
~ fine dinner set before him and W
lust falling 10. lie asked me II Il
found the treasure and ! admitted Il
! had not
".Sit down here and tell me WI
YOU know about it.
II concoctcd Il yarn about sus
cious looking box that the captain
watched while ii was beng Drou
aboard and made the story plausl
let out that | had been III the | III
States navy. The pirate pricked up
ears at this and passed me the bottl
AN idea, Il hope. n straw to eaten
Could | drink the man drunk! l
mcmbcred how my father when III
navy had told me of terrible drihh
bouts between the American anu }
;sh naval officers and how dirty,
low faced, pigtailcd man had put
on TO Il secret whereby he cohiu
tbrourh the worst bibulnr contest
come out perfectly sober lhere
u hottie OF olive oil on the tables
wo had taken in at Lcghorn-that
pirate had used TO make Il potato 81
with clumsily knocked il q
picked il up and with spoon ia
the spilled oil into my WlncS
Then I looked for something 10
il into from tho glass ana, not
ing ANYTHING. drank IL of. My
remark ell that to do such thing w
make him sick as dog. but tool
further notice of my act. As
supposed, he was hard drinker'
we sat pouring down one bottle
another. Now and again would l
hlm by suggesting that he had
enough. whereupon he would call
fresh bottle. and I could see he
bent on laying me out. His origin
tention was to find out If really
ANYTHING about the ships treasure