The Southern herald., 1912-07-26

revolt that was being hatched had broken its
she'll The Government was promptly turned
over to him by Alcantara.
The Costa Ricans were, found, in the midst
of one Of their periodical but always quite
futile efforts to depose their President, General
Tomaso Guardia, and l had no difficulty in dis
posing of my arms and ammunition, which l
exchanged for a cargo of coffee
With the cargo of coffee we headed for New
Orleans where sold it.
While the coffee was coming out stores were
swiftly going in, and we were out of the river
again and on our way to Hayt in record
breaking time. Though | had good cause to
remember Santo Domingo never had been in
the BLACK Republic" and as had heard there
was probability Of some lively times there,
l determined to visit it before l returned to
New York.
But the crankiness Of the Richards inter-
fered with my plans. When We were about
one hundred miles west of Key West the old
ship committed suicide by burning herself to
death. The fire started in the hold amidships,
but we could not even imagine what might
have caused It, 1t was so unexpected that II
had good start before we discovered It, We
fought it, Of course, but We might as we'll have
tried to quench volcano in eruption. The
strange craft had made up her mind to 60 un-
der. and there was nothing for us to do but
take to the whaleboat, which was large enough
for all Of us, as ! had only small crew
After we had showed off We returned at con-
siderable risk to rescue big black cat which
was on the ship when bought her We had
christened him John Crox"
Our humanity was we'll rewarded, for John
saved our lives, or at least saved us from a
lot Of suffering. Eventually we drifted among
the islands to the westward Of Key West and
we headed for the largest one in sight. In the
heavy sea that was running we made bad
mess Of the landing Our boat was overturned
and stove in, the bung came out of the water
cask and all of our supplies and most Of our
instruments were lost.
Early in the morning the cat awakened me
by rubbing against my face At first
thought he was only depressed, like the rest
OF US, and wanted company, but he pestered
around until got up and followed him. Call.
ing to me over his shoulder, he led the way
to clump of mangrove trees, whose roots
overhung the bank three feet above high tide
John trotted under the mass Of roots and be-
gan to purr loudly. l started to follow him
and then backed out. but the cat yowled 80
loudly that got down on all fours again and
followed him. I crawled along for ten or
twelve feet until found John standing over q
rivulet of fresh water about as hig az nv
finger.
drank my hI from It and then awakened
the others and told them Of Johns discovery
They hailed him as our savior. and when h.
came trotting into camp a couple of hours late,
with an oyster in his mouth they were ready
to beatty him
Strengthened and encouraged. we patcbed II,
our boat and, when the storm had blown itseI
out. put to sea again, and encountered lIttI,
schooner from st. Johns, Fla, which tool, II,
to Key West. where we soon got sbip %,
New York ''
| returned to Melbourne In 1895 after a,
absence of about four years, and went IN Men
zies' Hotel which was not the one ba,
stopped at before-when was James stuor
Henderson
When Nourse and Wilson were reIeaso,
from prison the former scurried across DO :
Strait to his old Ta ,manian home with ~
money had paid him for SO successfullv ~,
ptrsonating me He considered that he ha
been well compensated and expected In inves
MS capital In some small business to which a
fluent position under ordinary conditions h
never could have asplred with any derrea !
confidence.