Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1905-07-19
A CLOSE CALL
FOR LIFE
IOrixinal.l

wes sitting IN the engine room whit
Ing to Ceiie@e him he told me this stnry.
In 1892 while in the lava sea. haginS
Quarzs4ed with my cap4ain. I left the
ship at Borneo. I found an English
man who wanted to take ting to
HoQGxp0g and agreed to 60 With him,
we two being the sole Crew. The ting
proved to be a tnb, and we eDCn- fps1nd
something the matter With the cpnnec-
tipns between the FIRE box and boiler.
We lay to. put out the fires. then clean
ed oat the fire box. which 1t WIS neres,
sary to enter.
While was hunting for the trouble
with a lighted Candle the Engilshman
was keeping watch ON deck. Presently
be called for me to cpms up and show
ed me suspicious looking craft on the
starboard quarter. She didn't fly any
Tag. set low In the water and appeared
| to have no especial purpose.
"She's pirate" he said.
Nonsense" replied; there are no
p1TuteS uONdutyS.
Don't you believe It, These waters
are full of them. They're not the reg
ular thing they used to be. They're
robbers and murderers In a small way.
but 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
box, 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 prize. but there
was no expectation that we would eS-
cape with our lives anyway. We cast
a wistful glance at one Of the Anambas
islands, not more than FIVE miles away
on the port side.
"I'll 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?"
Zone chance in thousand, but We'll
take 1t. There's nothing else to do"
Well, we waited till we were salts
fed there was murder aboard the CON-
ing craft, then went down, got into
the fire box and pulled the door to-
The latch came down with click.
Then for the first time / remembered
there was no means Of opening the
door from within and we must meet
death in one of two forms. If the pi-
rates didn't find us and murder US
we must remain in the box and go
down with the tug II they scuttled II.
and If they didn't we must starve to
death. 1t was Hobeon's choice.
1t wasn't long before we heard
voices, then bump, then the sound
Of people jumping on to the deck.
There was perfect babel of voices
that neither Of us understood. Then
heard quick step coming down. and
In another minute the furnace door
was thrown open.
Inst1nctively we crouched on either
sidp of the opening. After hasty
glance the door was closed with
bang. It had been opened to see II
the fire was out hadn't counted on
not being discovered. had supposed
that If they opened the door they
would surely see rs.
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 pistol shot. After that one of
the two voices was alone heard, and
made up my mind that the leader had
asserted his authority and would set
tie the matter to suit himself. Some
one went down into the hold, and In
moment I heard the boring of an au-
CUR. The tug was being scuttled. The
man below came upstairs; the foot
steps above grew less frequent, then
ceased altogether. The pirates had de-
parted and left us to sink slowly to the
bottom.
There was one chance. Perhaps the
latch ON the fire box door hadn't fallen.
1 gave the door push. but 1t didn't
move. That settled the matter. We
were fastened in, and within an hour
all would be over. can't conceive Of
a more horrible fix to be In, and 1t
takes the starch out Of me even now
to think Of 1t. This Is the last time I'll
ever tell 1t.
How long we had been Gagged don't
know-I had no idea Of time-when
heard something outside like a groan.
I listened and heard 1t 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 1t
up.
Some time passed, during which there
was no sound except the plash OF the
waves against the sides of the tug.
when we heard the latch lifted and the
door moved ajar. My companion thrust
an arm through. and I forced the door
wide open.
A copper colored man covered with
blood had crawled to the door and
opened 1t. 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. Suppos-
Ing 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 difn-
Guilty with our connections and patch
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