The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-10-29

sel. A dozen of the prisoners had matched it before they came aboard. Prendergast was the leader. and his money was the motive power
 I'd a partner said he "a rare good man, as true as stock to barrel He's got the dibbs he has, and where do you think he is at this moment? Why, he's the chaplain of this ship-the chaplain, no less He came aboard with a black coat and his paper right, and money enough in his box to buy the thing right up from keel to main truck. The crew is his body and soul He could buy em at so much a gross with cash discount, and he did it before ever they signed on. Hes got two of the warders and Mercer, the second mate and he'd get the captain himself. if he thought him worth it. "'"what are we to do, then?" l asked.
 "s"What do you thinlx?" said he. well make the coats of some of these soldiers redder than ever the tailor did.'
 But they are armed" said l.
 "."And so shall we be, my boy. There's brace of pistols for every mothers son of us, and if we can't carry this ship, with the crew at our back, it's time we were all sent to a young misses boarding school You speak to your mate upon the left tonight, and see if he is to be trusted"
 "I did and found my other neighbor to be a young fellow in much the same position as myself, whose crime had been forgery. His name was Evans, but he afterwards changed 1t, like myself and he | is now a rich and prosperous man in the south of England He was ready enough to join the conspiracy, as the only means | of saving ourselves, and before we had crossed the bay there were only two of 1 the prisoners who were not in the secret. One of these was of weak mind, and we did not dare to trust him, and the other was suffering from iaundice, and could not be of any use to us.
 rfo1.i tae beginning there was really nothing to prevent Us from taking pos i session of the ship. The crew were a set i of ruffans, specially picked for the job. | The sham chaplain came into our cells to l exhort Us, carrying a black bag, supposed i to be full of tracts, and so often did he i come that by the third day we had each ] slowed away at the foot of our beds a l file. a brace of pistols, a pound of powder and twenty slugs. Two of the warders 1 were agents of Prendergast, and the sec ond mate was his right-hand man. The l captain, the two mates, two warders, l Lieutenant Martin his eighteen soldiers and the doctor were all that We had i against us Yet, safe as it wsa. we de- termined to neglect no precaution, and to ] make our attack suddenly by night. It
  pected. and in this way.
 1 " One evening, about the third week after our start. the doctor had come down to see one of the prisoners who was i'll, and putting his hand down on the bottom of his bunk. he felt the outline of the pistols. If he had been silent he might have blown the whole thing, but be was a nervous little chap, so he gave cry of surprise, and turned so pale that ha mi knau what " 1T n n n ipcta m and seized him. He was gagged before he could give the alarm, and tied down upon the bed. He had unlocked .Le door that led to the deck, and we were through It in a rush The two sentries were shot down, and so was a corporal. who came running to see what was the matter. There were two more soldiers at the door of the stateroom, and their muskets seemed not to be loaded, for they never fsrd upon us and they were shot while trying to fix their bayonets, Then we rushed on into the captains cabin, but as we pushed open the door there was an explosion from within. and there he
 lay with his brain scattered over the chart of the Atlantic which was pinned upon the table, while the chaplain stood with smoking pistol in his hand at his elbow The two mates had both been seized by the crew and the whole busi- ness seemed to be settled
 ''The stateroom was next the cabin. and we flocked in there and Topped down oa the settees, all speaking together for we were just mad with the feeling that we were free once more. Tlsre were lock CTS all around and Wilson. the sham chaplain. knocked one of them in. and pulled out a dozen of brown sherry We cracked off the necks of the bottles, poured the stuff out into tumblers and were just tossing them off when in an instant without warning there came the roar of muskets in our ears, and the sa loon was so full of smoke that we could not see across the table. When it cleared again the place was a shambles. Wilson and eight others were wriggling on the top of each other on the floor and the blood and the brown sherry on that table turn me sick now when l think of it. We were so cowed by the sight that l think we should have given the job up if 1t had not been for Prendergast He beloved like bull and rushed for the door with all that were left alive at his heels. Out we ran, and there on the poop were the lieutenant and ten of his men.
 The swinging skylights above the saloon table had been bit open, and they had fred on us through the slit. We got on them before they could load. and they stood to 1t like men; but we had the up per hand of them. and in five minutes it was all over. My God was there ever slaughter house like that ship! Prem dergast was like raging devil and he picked the soldiers up as if they had been children and threw them overboard alive or dead. There was one sergeant that was horribly wounded and yet kept on swimming for a surprising time, until some one in mercy blew out his brains. When the fighting was over there was no one left of our enemies except just the wardens, the mates and the doctor
 /" Ii was over them that the great quar- rel arose. There were many of LIS who were glad enough to win back our free dom. and yet who had no wish to have murder on our souls. It was oneathing to knock the soldiers over with their mus kets in their hands, and 1t was another to stand by while men were being killed in cold blood Eight of us, five convicts and three sailors, said that we would not see it done. But there was no moving Prendergast and those who were with him. Our only chance of safety lay in making clean job of it, said he, and he would not leave a tongue with power to wag in witness box. 1t nearly came to our sharing the fate of the prisoners but at last he said that if we wished we might take boat and go We jumped at the offer, for we were already sick of these bloodthirsty doings and we saw that there would be worse before it was done We were given a suit of sailor togs each. A barrel of water, two casks, one of funk and one or biscuits. and a compass Prem dergast threw usk over a chart told us that we were shipwrecked marines whose ship had foundered in latitude 15 de- grees and longitude 25 degrees west, and then cut the painter and let us go
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