Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1912-03-07
CRUISE OF THE
YACHT HILDA
Why Her Disappearance Re-
mains a Mystery.


Of you might get me into trouble"
promise OF secrecy was made, ant
che yarn was spun.
THE Hilda had the newest thing IL
engines, and as soon as she had beer
tested her owner, Mr.. Chippindale
started In her for a trip around the
world, with me as engineer.
"A great many people think the days
OF pirates are past and gone. Don't
you believe it. Ships go out and are
never heard from gone down in a
storm; more I,:cly their crews are
murdered and the ship Is plundered
and scuttlcd. We'll, we were steamng
westward somewhere between Hong
kong and ManiIn when we met sailer
wearing British colors coming through
the water, turning the white before
her. heading right for us and signaling
us to slow down. Thinking she had
something important to communicate,
we stopped the engines, and boatload
OF men came aboard. AS soon as they
were on orr deck the ship they came
from hauled down the British flag and
raised the skull and crossbones.
''I'm not going over the doing away
with every man Of us. That's what
keeps me from sleeping
Weren't you one OF the yachts
crow"
Sure. But I was the engineer. and
not one Of the pirates could run an en-
CINE. Coolidge. their captain. said to
me: Run them engines, and so long rs
you run them right you live. When
you run them wrong
81 knew what he meant without his
finishing, and you bet ! ran the en-
gines right. This was the time when
the Spanish war was coming on. and
we'd learned all about It from speak
ing an American cruiser, especially
that Dewey was soon to sail from
Hongkong. Besides. all the nations
were sending men-of-war to the Phil
appines to see fair play. Coolidge had
been lodging vessels that were cal
eulated to give him this information
and did not know anything at all
about It, He came to me and asked
me what kind OF craft we'd been meet
ing, and concocted n story. told
him that a couple OF hundred miles
east Of Manila we'd passed small
steamer. capable of making eight knots
and no more, that carried express mat
ter. Coolidge suspected that money
safe belonging to the express compa-
mics might be aboard and was itching
ITO get Mt It. We would have to go
back between Hongkong and Manila
to reach the steamer and were likely
to fall In with cruiser.
Sure enough, one morning we saw
n black line on the horizon to the
northward, then another ana another.
1t was Dewey's feet, but we didn't
know II.
AS luck would have It, we were
bteaming across the line OF scout
ship. looked out and saw the smoke
north by northeast and made up my
mind that the stranger would pass
astern Of us ! kept an eye out the
portfolio. and when she came within
sight | saw n signal dying for us to
heave to. Coolidge didn't dare risk
AN inspection and paid no attention to
It. The cruiser came on, but was only
two knots better than us and gained
slowly. didn't know that she was
ordered to overhaul everything she
met, ana | was afraid she'd get tired
Of the chase 40 I contrived to loosen
screw and let go rod, then called
Coolidge and told him I'd have to stop
tha A fa,r ,I a,
the thing would break us up. If
hadn't been necessary to him he would
have killed me right there, but instead
he told me he'd give me Just five min
utes to fix It after stopping and held
his watch In one hand and n pistol In
the other.
II kept asking him the time. hlundcr
Ing as well rs ! could without his sec
ing me do II, until he called four min
utes Then | screwed her up and
started on, hadn't more than done
SO when n shot went skipping before
our bows, and | made up my mind
we'd be ovcrhaucd. heard Coolidge
come below aud go into MIR Chlppn-
dale's stateroom, which he'd appropri-
ated to his own use. and In Il few min
utes there was the report of pistol.
] went to the room, looked In and saw
the pirate giving his last gasp.
II hurried on deck, and there in the
distance was n fleet OF war vessels,
and the cruiser that had been follow
ing us had turned to join them, Seiz-
ing Gooledgc's glass lying on one of
the quarter deck wicker chairs, | lev
eled 1t and saw the flagship OF the
fleet signaling the cruiser to come in
when 1t was known that the cap.
tain had blown out his brains, two of
the crew came to me and said they
had been taken when Coolidge was
short handed and had Joined to escape
walking the plank. They said they
would have hard work to get clear r.
taken, The others were tired of the
business. They proposed that II
would run the yacht ashore and de-
stroy her might 20 free, AS there
was nothing else To do and was In
the same boat with the others. | con-