The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1912-06-13

There was nothing to do but talI IN Win he1
plan
knew about where TO find the Florence We
picked her up in a few days and boarded her
made sail to meet the Leckwith at the rem.
devious Kate went on TO Singapore, where
she took the next ship for England. SIX
months later received word that she had died
suddenly there before she had applied for Il
pardon. and the course OF my life was changed
When reJoined the Ieckwith | told Norton
simply that had been away on strictly private
business day or two later told him hau
decided to Sell the Florence and Surprise ana
quit the business We were in, Norton, dum'
founded. advanced many arguments against
such n course, and finally he lost his temper
ut may be-" he suggested sneertnEly. that
this 10 due to the fact that Moy Sen has
threatened TO exterminato us. II you don't
want TO fight the old scoundrel why don't you
say so?"
That dart struck a tender spot. | would BIO
the last one TO quite under threat or under
fire. and Norton knew It. Far from running
away from fight OF that kind" told Norton
II should much rather run into It. We Will
cruise around awhile to see whether the Chink'
les really mean to give us battle. But II is the
sport OF It that | want and nothing else. for II
II comes of It will be n great fight
Nothing happened for ten days or two weeks.
We saw several junks which We could easily
have stood up and robbed but would not per
NIT It. Then. late one evening an enormous
junk appeared suddenly from behind an island.
She appeared to carry only small crew, but
when We came together It seemed to me for
n moment that she had more Cinnamon on
board than had ever seen before at one time.
Suddenly she swung to starboard and would
have smashed into our bow II we had not gone
full speed astern. AS she passed under our
hnw bp which
caught on our port bow.
We lit our battle.lamps so that they illu-
minated our deck where We preferred to fight
because We knew every foot of 1t.
1t was such fight as one gets into only IN
years perhaps only once In u lifetime The
butchery was dreadful. but the excitement of
1t set ones blood ablaze. There was not a
pirate left alive on tho Junk or on our own
deck
Before we had time to congratulate ourselves
or count noses, we discovered a big steamer
almost on top of US 1t was the Ly.ce moon, the
flagship Of Moy Sens fleet. and, though we did
not know 1t. the old pirate chief himself was in
command Of her,
The result was a repetition OF what had oc
CURED With the crew OF the junk but it re
quired mgch longer to accomplish It.
Gradually, but slowly at first, we got the
upper hand of them.
II was broad daylight by the time we had
thrown overheard the last Of the dead China
men and washed down the decks after giving
our own badly wounded men such attention III
was possible under the conditions. We thought
for time that Moy Sen had escaped. but We
found him, almost chopped to pieces, close t.
the observation-disclosures. with three of our mel
beside him.
On tho Ly-ce-moon were two teak chests
filled with gold and silver coin and ingots, sill
verware, jewelry and precious and semiprecl
GUS stones OF the Oriental variety, APPARENT!
representing the most valuable portions OF sew
eral stolen cargoes. and these allowed to b.
transferred to the Leckwith. In preference Il
throwing them overheard.
II then became n question az to what W.
should do with Moy Sens ships. We CON
promised the difficulty by scuttling the junl
and putting crew aboard the steamer w
went to Singapore, arriving there in the earl
part OF 1876, as remember It, to close up on
business, and sold the pirate ship to on
Chinese agents for third of what she wa
worth. We also sold to them. for q small par
OF its value the loot We had taken from hei
but all OF that money was divided up betwee
Norton and the crew. | held to my promis
and touched none of 1t.
left the China sea behind me and neve
have returned to It,
After a fruitless expedition after hurie
treasure In Corea. we sailed for Shanghai an
from there for London.