Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1906-08-04
FOILINC PIRATES IN
THE RED SEA

great cream.colored pier shed lies
a Draw steamship There's nothing
visible about the vessel that wasn't
made In Scotland She was HERSELF
so was her name. and her caata'u
and officers are Scots. Clan Masiach-
Ian IN red letters on black ham am
nounces her christened appellatious
on each side Of the bows. Capt. Gray
commands her and when the third Off
ficer. James Robertson put bis head
into the engine room hatch To call
the second assistant and yelled
Mac -four men answered Sir
Steve McCosh the extra fourth Of.
tlcer. says the why of the attempt OF
the boarding party In the Red sea IL
that the old ship was hauled on the
LondonCalcutta route, where She has
snored along for many years, and
was sent off across The north Allan
tic in a new lane This Is the story
of Mr. McCosh. Incredible as Il seems
in these days OF twiA screws and tri-
pie expansions
Wed coaled M at Alden the day
before and the next mornin saw tho
ship in the Bab-el,Mandeh straits. tho
Gate o Tears, as the young ladies In
the Peninsular and Oriental boats
like TO call It. We had just got
abreast O Perrin and saw the loom o.
Ii over to starboard. when ahead o.
us and on the port bow wee bit we
raised the tall mast o native dhow.
thArasa -
boats that trade along the coasts and
across the Red sea, carryin' dates
ard figs and pal moil and filled wi
Arabs like an ant heap. So we paid
no more heed to the craft till we over
hauled her and then when she lay
not half mile to windward OF us she
hoisted bucket at the masthead.
Now the auld mans no siccan fool
as to slow down his ship for boat
load o lazy blacks. but no sailor can
pass thirsty crew, so what does
Captain Gray do but set the tele-
graph at dead slow. and then in an
other minute the dial read stop.
For the empty bucket at the mast
head could only mean that there was
hR Nhh'N abpAtA hAu tttG AGAt hAAht1
a small boat put off from the dhow
and pulled over toward us. The men
at tho oars looked to be weak lot.
as If half dead with thirst. and the
heart OF every man aboard went soft
and opened up at the skinny arms OF
the black folks In the boat.
And so. as they pulled closer and
closer, slowly and wi great pain, even
the Calcutta Mohammedans on board.
twistin' their white cloths about
them, looked sorry like for the poor
brutes below. They splashed WI the
oar blades and tumbled over the seats
| like they was more than half dead,
and the chief officer had just hat a
EN- when Cap'n Gray let oat big
boot and skipped over the port side.
| ''All the rest of us stood huddled
under the bridge deck iookin' an
lookin' over at the Twin skulls below
and most of us didn't hear the auld
man sing out till we saw him skitter-
In up the pilot house ladder and
heard the jingle In the engine room.
Then we looked t'other way, and
tilG tJtc iht utfti aaW tDt lAA0s
For there was the great dhow comm
for us like turbine man O war I'M
der the enormous hoist OF her lateen
sail, and every black GRIMM soul In
her. full rs o. the lyin sons o Mo-
manned, armed wi a gun O. some
sort or else spear as long as the
gan OF a Wivenhoe cutter These
MI ~ ~ Iv-
Ing in three points o the wind and
the big black hull was alongside In no
time.
Sheer off. you niger houndsl'
shouted the capn. while the black
guards twirled their javelins and
barred their spiked teeth and steered
the black shell so as to come along
side at the lowest freeboard. There
was whirr 1 the air and the voice Of
the chief. Mind YOURSELF as Crap
plin iron few over the side and took
a grip O. the iron rail jamie Rob-
ertson cast 1t of just as the heathena
got turn around cleat, WI score
O. guns leveled at his head And still
the big dhow held u.s. We couldn't
shake her off
"Why they didn't blaze away at us
wi the guns | dunno. Maybe they
had no ammunition. Boardin' was
their little game and II they had ever
gained the main deck those rs pop
eyed rascals. every beastie o. them
Mohammedan. what chance would us
IL white men ha' stood when our
own natives turned and shifted over
to their ain kind? Ma, ma. don't
care about thinkin too much ont
even now, a month after. But just
as the air seemed TO get thick wi the
iron hooks the engines got under full
way and we shot out ahead o. the
dhow and the niggers shoutin' like
souls T. the pit as the screw churned
up the foam banks and the lofty mast
10 the pirate dropped gradually as
tern
Persons ashore have no idea of
what goes on even in these latter