The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-05-09
THE EvENING sToRY.

. u amp steamer. one morning Wnen 1
was sitting in the engine room waiting
to relieve him he told me this story:
In 1892 while in the Java sea, having
quarreled with my captain, I left the
ship at Borneo. I found an English
man who wanted to take a tug to Hong
AOng and agreed to go with him, we
two being the sole crew. The tug
proved to be a tub and we soon found
something the matter with the connec-
tons between the fire box and boiler.
We lay to, put out the fires, then clean
sary to enter.
While was hunting for the trouble
with lighted candle the Englishman
was Keeping watch on deck Presently
ne called for me to come I'D and show
ed me suspicious looking craft on the
starboard quarter. She didn't fly any
nag, set low in the water and appeared
10 nave no especial purpose
She's a pirate" he said.
Nonsense replied; there are no
pirates nowadays"
Don't you believe It. These waters
are full Of them. They're not the reg
ular thing they used to be. They're
foppers and murderers in a small way,
out they're pirates all the same
While we were talking the craft
Veered and came toward us What
could we do? There was no fire in the
Dox, and if there were we couldn't
make more than six knots an hour,
while the pirates-if they were such
could make ten or twelve. OF course
we were nothing of a prize, but there
was no expectation that we would es-
cape with our lives anyway We cast
a w1stful glance at one of the Anambas
Islands, not more than five miles away
on the port side.
III tell you what Wen do" I said.
We can't swim ashore, but we'll
make believe we've tried. There's one
chance for us here. We can get into
the fire box, and if they don't happen
TO open the door they won't know
we re aboard. What do you say 2"
zone chance in a thousand, but
Wen take it. There's nothing else to
Well, we waited till we were salts
ned there was murder aboard the
coming craft, then went down, got
into the fire box and pulled the door
to. The latch came with a click. Then
for the first time I remembered there
was no means of opening the door
from within and we must meet death in
one OF TWO forms. If the pirates didnt
md US and murder us we must re-
main in the box and go down with the
tug If they scuttled it, and If they
didn't we must starve to death. It was
HobSon's choice.
It wasn't long before we heard voices,
then bump, then the sound of peo-
pie jumping on to the deck. There was
a perfect babel of voices that neither
OF US understood. Then I heard a
quick step coming down, and in anoth-
er minute the furnace door was thrown
open.
InstinctiveIy we crouched on either
side of the opening. After hasty
It had been opened to see if the fire
was out. I hadn't counted on not be-
ing discovered. had supposed that If
they opened the door they would surely
see US.
The jabbering on deck was kept up,
and I was sure a promiscuous lot of
dark skinned devils were debating what
to do. Presently two voices rose above
the rest in hot dispute, and there was
a pistol shot After that one of the
two voices was alone heard and I
made up my mind that the leader had
asserted his authority and would settle
the matter to suit himself. Some one
went down into the hold, and in a. mo-
ment I heard the boring of an augur.
The tug was being scuttled The man
below came upstairs; the footsteps
above grew less frequent, then ceased
altogether The pirates had departed
and left us to sink slowly to the bot
tom.
There was one chance. Perhaps the
latch on the fire box door hadn't fallen
I gave the door a push, but it didn't
move. That settled the matter. We
were fastened in. and within an hour
a more horrible fix to be in, and it takes
the starch out of me even now to think
of it. This is the last time I'll ever
tell it.
How long we had been Gagged don't
know had no idea of time-when I
heard some thing outside like a groan.
I listened and heard it again. Some
one was there and suffering I beat
with my fist on the door. We shouted
made noise enough to wake the
dead. There was no reply. Then we
gave it up.
Some time passed, during which
of the waves against the sides of the
tug, when we heard the latch lifted
and the door moved ajar. My com
panion thrust an arm through, and
forced the door wide open.
A copper colored man covered with
blood had crawled to the door and
opened it. He couldn't say much, and
we couldn't understand what he did
say, but in time we learned that he
was one of the pirates and his captain
had shot him for differing with him
about the disposal of the tug. Sup
posing him to be dead, they had left
him to go down with her.
The first thing we did was to plug
the bottom. Then, having found the
difficulty with our connections and
patched it, we fired up and proceeded
on our course. We put the pirate
ashore on Great Natuna island and
lied like pirates ourselves by telling
the people there that he was a good
man. He had saved our lives, and we
did not propose to give him away.
s. MARSHALL PHELPS.
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