The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-03-24

ana pretty enough, with It's silver shore
stretching in a gentle crescent and its
tail palms waving lazily in the scented
WIND. II was hard to imagine pirates
living there One would rather expect
to flnd dream-eyed, indolent, amiable
lotus eaters in that soft and sleepy
land.
But even while I was looking, three
tall sails upIifted behind a palm-clad
point. Swift and straight they came.
like the triangular fms Of sharks. I
wished they had been sharks. It was
most unlikely that the natives would
come out in these big craft If they
were bound On a peaeeable mission.
Soon they cleared the point and with
the glass I saw that there was abund-
ant reason to be apprehensive. for the
men. hurried below, loaded my four
guns and disposed my ammunition so
that I could get at it easily.
In the brief time the proas had ap-
preached near enough for the Chinese
to see them and they turned stern at
once and made for the open sea. The
boat we had was a good one, having
been built in Singapore by a New Bed
ford whaier- She was fast and when
she turned to run for the open, she
got the wind on her beam which was
her best point of sailing.
It was noon when We started to run.
The beautiful tropical sunset burned
the sea when at last the race was over,
and the proas overhauled US inch by
inch, so that We knew that they would
soon be able to run on top of US and
aboard.
During the whole long race not a
sound had been uttered on the proas.
It was all done in grim, oppressive 81
lence- MY Chinese were not the timid
type of cooIie. but hard-faeed fighting
men. whose occupation, I suspect, was
the smuggling of opium. I had been
searching the sea all around with my
glasses, hoping to spy a sail or smoke,
out IN vain. Nothing was to be seen
except the great level. lonely horizon.
I knew that We would have to fight for
our lives.
dropped below and came up with
my guns and ammunition. The first
weapon that used was a seven-shot
repeater carrying a long 44-caliber
ball The sea was smooth as glass I
had to allow merely for the very slow
steady roll. I threw the sights for a
observation-disclosures elevation, which was
the distance of the nearest Droa and
hailed the captain in Spanish, warning
him to sheer off. The reply was a
shot from an old fashioned musket. 1t
fell short.
motioned to my helmsman to keep
her steady and fired. The tail brown
captain leaped spasTn Odically and tum-
bled back to the deck dead. The proa
imm ediately fell away. and while her
sail was Tapping / dropped the man
that huddle on the deck of the prOa
was like firing into a target just in
front of ones nose. Tt was terrible
work and I would have given anything
if 7 could have escaped it. But there
was nothing else to do, so I picked my
shots and fired steadily until I had
emptied the magazine. And when I
fired the last shot, seven men lay on
the Droa.
Meantime the other two vessels had
come close and were being fought off
by the Cinnamon, who were well
armed themselves. But they were
poor shots, like all Chinese, and vast
ed ammunition frightfully.
7 loaded again and got in four more
shots, dropping a man each time, be
fore the proa drew away. Then I
turned to the next one and fred three
shots into it. But the end had come.
The two proas doomed down on us
with the wind and crashed into our
side
Men began to pour on our decks. I
jumped up to fire point blank at them,
when q. whirling spear drove at me, and
though it's point missed me. its shaft
swung so powerfully at me that 1t
knocked me overheard.
There was a howl from the proas and
a rush to the side. I knew what that
meant. They were waiting for me to
come up so that they could spear me.
Therefore, / diVed deep, came up under
my vessels keel and hung to her rud-
der. where I could not be seen from the
deck.
AS 1 rose to the surface heard the
sharp, high-pitched cry Of a Chinaman.
Others followed. I knew that each
meant the death of one of my crew,
and then, when there were no more
cries, a series of dull splashes told me
that the drama was ended.
After awhile the pirate proas drew
off Then the vessel to which I was
clinging squared away to follow them,
It was dark then, and I raised myself
cautiously and peered on deck. Five
figures were there. They evidently