Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1908-05-14

the worst comes to the worst, you
have d revolver
"Yes,' said Christobal.
1T VIII suffice for two, but not for
hundred.
The two men, united by the very
bond which threatened to bring them
into antagonisn, looked into each 9th
er's eyes.
rs that your last wordg' asked
Christobal
ut is
II feel sure that you are right. Good
by!.
They shook hands. They were near
er a real friendship then than either of
them thought possible. and the bond
which held them was love for the
same woman.
Courtenay, using his glasses again,
saw that a number of Indians were
launching the canoes simultaneously.
He counted nine small craft. each
holding five or six men or men and
women. At the distance, nearly three
miles, he could not be certain whether
or not they all wore the Distinguishing
headdress Of feathers. Against wind
and current they could not possibly
reach the ship under half an hour, and
the snallness of the fleet surprised
him.
The news that the Indians were adj
yancing ran through the ship ike wild
IRE. Including Mr.. Boyle, Frascuelo
and those among the Chileans whose
wounds were not serious, there were
fourteen men available for the de-
Tense. Unfortunately the supply Of
firearms was inadequate. A shotgun
and five revoIyers constituted the ar
mory, and one of the pistols was In
Christobal's pocket. The supply of
ammunition was so small that tue re-
volvers could not be reloaded more
than three times, but Courtenay had
200 shot cartridges, and against naked
men an ounce of shot is far more eff
fective than a bullet.
The captain hoped to terrify the In
dams before they attempted to scale
the ships Sides If various ruses fail
ed and the attack was pressed, he had
decided not to split up his small force
In the effort to repel boarders. A seat
tered resistance would surely break
down at one point or another; there
would be rush of sayages along the
decks, a panic among the Chileans, and
all would be ended On the other hand,
when fighting collectively under Euro
pean leadership and well aware that
the Indians would kill and spare not,
the half breeds might be trusted to ac-
quit themselves like men.
The canvas awning constituted
fimsy citadel in the center of the YES
sell Six men were stationed on the
starboard side of the promenade deck
and six ON the port side. Tollemache
and Chilean who said he could shoot
well were told to illustrate any at
tempt to climb the after part of the
ship, while Courtenay, with his fowl
ing piece, would have the lions share
of this work from the spar deck, as he
undertook to keep the rails clear for
ward and help the revolver practice il
necessary. With him was SuareZ, who
knew what was expected of him, so
the language difficulty offered no APP
parent hindrance once the fight began.
Finally, if the Indians made good their
footing, the defenders were to rally to-
ward the salon companion, where
steam jets were ready to squirt with
ering blasts along the corridors.
1t was a good plan and might have
kept at bay an enemy of higher valor
than the Alaculofs, provided they were
not armed with rifles Against mod
ern weapons of long range nothing
could be done. If Suarez did not exag
gerate, therein lay the real danger
Courtenay wished to make sure at the
outset of the number of guns carried
by the savages. 1t was also important
TO know whether their marksmen were
distributed or crowded together in one
or two canoes. If the latter, he would
give those warriors his special atten-
ton.
His binocular glasses were notstrong
enough, so he walked back toward the
chart house TO procure telescope.
Catching Joey under his left arm, he
climbed the short ladder leading to
the spar deck and pulled it up after
him, the bolts having been already re
moved to permit of that being done.
Walker was screwing tight the door
of the engine room in order to safe
guard the fireman in attendance on the
donkey boiler. Now that the screw
driving was actually in operation il
very unpleasantly reminded Courtenay
or the fastening Of a coffin lid. Mel.
ther Walker nor the man inside could
guess the grewsome notion which held
the captain in its chilly grip for an In
slant. Indeed, the engineer looked up
with a grin.
al suppose it's twue, sir, the-aw's
goin' to be a fght?" he asked.
"There,s d fair cbancn of one wal