The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1905-03-17

discovered and added to the list Of the
| captured in the saloon. The mutineers
having thus become masters of the
| ship, a posse of them invaded the
| furnace room and scared the stokers
away, Next they set upon me with
knives and sticks. But this time they
met with repu!se, for | discharged
the pistol in self-defense and shot one
of my assailants in the leg. This seemed
20 Geek tie crdor and quell the i'm
petuosity of the rutfians, and they with
drew, dragging their wounded comrade
with them, and remained quiet for an
interval.
Meantime the fires had been stealth
lily kept up by the stokers and the man
at the wheel had stuck to his post
through thick and thin, so that the YES
sci was still making some Roadway. At
length, however, the engines stopped,
the fires having run very low Forum
ately, the season being favorable, there
was little sea on, but as we drifted in
to the trough, the Arabs began to real
ize that they were powerless to keep
the machinery in motion or to navigate
their prize. The sheik poked his head
under the skylight and began to par
ley with the incarcerated Britons in
the saloon below. Through the ven
tilating funnel leading to the engine
room l could hear the soft voice Of
Zuleika as she tried to pacify her
father
after protracted negotiations it was
arranged that some of the officers
should be liberated on condition that
that they take the ship into the Arab
port Of Linga and there abandon her.
Though Captain Sargent made some
show of protestation to this condition
he was secretly overjoyed to accept it,
as he we'll knew that Her Majesty's
gunboat Redbreast was ahead of him,
she having left Bushire for Linga
shortly before the arrival of the Kill
wa.
Steam therefore was soon cotton up
and the course resumed. Not long af-
ter daybreak, about five leagues off
Linga, we sighted the Redbreast and
when we had nearly come up with her
Captain Sargent ran up the signal for
assistance. Commander Scott R. NJ,
of the Redbreast, promptly manned
pinnace and boarded the Kilwa with
a squad of marines, and the mutineers,
much to their horror and disaDpoiDt-
ment, found themselves prisoners on
board an English man-of-war. The
injured man. was taken care of, his
would not having been fatal after ALL
and the rest of the party were deprived
of their coffee and tobacco-the worst
punishment an Arab can conceive of.
You will naturally ask how it was
that a handful of these barbarians
managed not only to defy the whole
crew of British merchant vessel, but
to drive the officers before them into
the saloon like sheep into a pen. But
the attack was made in the dead of
night without the slightest warning,
the officers were practically defenseless
and the Lascar crew were intimidated
into perfect submission at the first on
set. 1t is a favorite ruse with Chinese,
as we'll as Arab, pirates to take passage
on vessel in the guise of casual deck
passengers, and then when once
aboard, to watch their opportunity to
murder the officers, loot the vessel, and
make good their escape. For this rea-
son, it is usual for vessels trading
coastwise in these Eastern waters to
keep stand Of arms in the saloon
against emergency, but this time, as it
often happens in such cases, the pro-
vision was lacking just when most
needed. A pistol, handed down as
relic of the Peninsular war, is hardly
an adequate armament for a large YES
sci under such conditions.
THE Kilwa proceeded on her way
down the gulf, and we arrived at Kur-
rachee in safety three days later. The
RedDreast reached there little time
after us, and the culprits were handed
rachee. 1t was represented at the hear
ing that the horse dealers were in real
ity gang of freebooters. | was pres
ent, and being familiar with the Arabic
language volunteered to state their
defense to the magistrate. They urged
that they had not premeditated the as
sault, that they had been provoked to
it, and that they did not appreciate at
the time the seriousness of their Of
tense. Still their action was piratical,
according to the letter of the law, and
an example has occasionally to be made
Of these restless, lawless gentry, else
the gulf would become once more
for cut-throats and sea rob-
bers, to the great hazard Of trade and
travel. | appealed to the mercy of the
justice, and the sheik and three of the
were let off with a months
Imprisonment, while the rest were not
detained.