The daily Alaskan., 1905-06-24
A CLOSE GALL
 FOR LIFE

| was Situng ln tue cnEhc IWoid NUif ing to relieve him he told me this story;
 In 1892 while .n the Java sea, having euarreled with my captain, l left the ship at Borneo. I found an English man who wanted to take a tug to Hongkong and agreed to go with him. we two being the sole crew. The tug rroved to be tub. and we soon found something the matter with the connec- tions between the fire box and boiler. We lay to. put out the fires, then clean ed out the fire box, which ,t was ncccS. sary to enter
 While was hunting for the trouble with a lighted candle the Engiishman was keeping watch on deck. Presently he called for me to come up and show c,l me a suspicious looking craft on the starhoari quarter. She didnt ny any flag. set low in the water and appeared Co have no especial purpose
 shes a pirate" be said.
 Nonsense" | replied; there are no pirates nowadays
 Don't you believe it. These waters arc fuu of them. They're not the reg ular thing they used to be. They re rob,ers and murderers In small way, but they're pirates an the same. While we were talking the craft yeered and came toward us, What could we dog There was no fire in the box. and 1T there were we couldn't make more than six knots an hour, while the pirates-if they were such could make ten or twelve. or course we were nothing of a prize, but there was no expectation that we would es- cape with our lives anyway. We cast a wistful glance at one Of the Anamhas Islands. not more than five miles away on the port side.
 ~Tu tell you what we'll do" l 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 inc fire box. and if they don't happen to open the door they won't know were aboard. What do you sayJ'
 "One chance In a thousand, but we'll take 1t. There's nothing else Co do.' Well. we waited tin we were satis- fed there was murder aboard the com ing craft. then went down, got into the fire box and pulled the door to. The latch came down 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, lf the pi- rates didn't find us and murder us | We must remain 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 HohSon's choice.
 It wasn't long before we beard voices, then a bump, then the sound of people jumping on to the deck. | There was a perfect babel of voices that neither Of us understood. Then ! heard quick step coming down, and | i'm another minute the furnace door was thrown open.
 Il Instinctively we crouched on either | side of the opening After a hasy Il glance the door was closed with a bang. It had been opened Co see if the fire was out. I hadn't counted on moi being discovered. had supposed that if they opened the door they would surely see us,
 The jabbering on deck was kept up, and was sure promiscuous lot ot | dark skinned devils were debating what Co do. Presently two voices rose above the rest tn hot dispute, and there was a pistol shot. After that one oi the two voices was alone heard, and made up my mind that the leader had asserted his authority and would set tle the matter Co suit himself Some one went down Into the hold, and In a moment I heard the boring of an au gur. The tug was being Scuttled. Tho man below came upstairs; the foot stems above grew less frequent. then ceased altogether. The pirates had de parted and left us Co sink slowly Co tht bottom.
 There was one chance Perhaps thC
 
 latch on the fire box door hadn't fallen I gave the door a push, but it didn't move. That settled the matter W' were fastened In, and within an hou all would be over. I can't conceive oi more horrible fN to be In, and it takes the starch out of me even now to think of it. This is the last time " ever tell it
 How long we had been caged | don, know-I had no Idea of time-when heard something outside Ike a groan listened and heard it again. Some one was there and suffering | bcai with my ast on the door. We shouted made noise enough to wake the dead There was no reply. Then we gave | up.
 Some time passed, during which ther' was no sound except the plash Of th' waves against the sides ot the tug when we heard the latch lifted and thD door moved ajar. My companion thrus an arm through. and forced the doo wide open.
 A copper colored man covered wlu blood had cra$led to the door and |N - HrH