Bridgeton pioneer., 1917-10-04
A Story Of
The Sea
By DONALD CEIAMBERLIN

IN 1897 while. In the Java sea, having
quarreled with my captain, left the
ship at Borheo. | found an English
man who wanted to take tug to
Hongkong and agreed to so with him.
wetwo being the sole crew. The tug
proved to be d tub. and we soon found
something the matter with the con-
nections between the firebox and boil
er. We lay to, put out the fires, then
cleaned out the firebox, which it was
necessary to enter.
While / was hunting for the trouble
with a lighted candle the Englishman
was keeping watch on deck. Pres
emily lie called for me to come up and
showed me a suspicious looking craft
on the starboard quarter. She didn't
fly any flag. set low in the water and
appeared to have no especial purpose.
''She's pirate" he said.
"Nonsense." | replied. There are
no pirates nowadays
Don't you believe it. These waters
are full of them. They're not the reg
ular thing they used to be. They're
robbers and murderers in a small way,
but they're pirates all the same
While we were talking the craft
veered and came toward us. What.
could we do? There was no fire in
the box, and if there were we couldn't
make more than six knots an hour.
while the pirates, if they were such.
could make ten or twelve. Of course
we were nothing of prize, but there
was no expectation that we would es-
cape with our lives anyway. We cast
wistful glance at one of the Anam-
bas islands. not more than five miles
away on the port side.
''11l tell you what We'll do," said
I'VE can't swim ashore, but we'll
make believe we've tried. There's one
chance for us here. We can get into
the firebox, and if they don't happen
to open the door they won't know we're
aboard. What do you say?"
Zone chance in a thousand, but we'll
take it. There's nothing else to do"
Well, we waited till we were salts
fed there was murder aboard the COM
ing craft, then went down, got into
the firebox and pulled the door to.
The latch came down with a click.
Then for the first time l remembered
there was no means Of opening the
door from within and we must meet
death in one Of two forms.
1t wasn't long before we heard
voices, then bump. then the sound
Of people jumping on to the deck.
There was a perfect babel Of voices
that neither of us understood. Then l
heard quick step coming down, and
in another minute the furnace door
was thrown open.
Instinctively we crouched on either
side of the opening. After a hasty
glance the door was closed with q
bang. 1t had been opened to see if
the fire was out. l hadn't counted on
not being discovered. had supposed
that if they opened the door they
would surely see us.
The jabbering on deck was kept up,
and was sure prOmiscuous lot of
dark skinned devils were debating
what to do. Presently two voices rose
above the rest in hot dispute, and there
was pistol shot. After that one of
the two voices was alone heard, and l
made up my mind that the leader had
asserted his authority and would set
tie the matter to suit himself. Some
one went down into the hold, and in a
moment l heard the boring of an au-
CUR. The tug was being scuttled. The
man below came upstairs; the foot
steps above grew less frequent, then
ceased altogether The pirates had de-
parted and left us to sink slowly to the
bottom.
There was one chance. Perhaps the
latch ON the firebox door hadn't fallen.
gave the door push, but it didn't
move. That settled the matter. We
were fastened in. and within an hour
all would be over. can't conceive of
| a more horrible fix to be in, and 1t
takes the starch out of me even now
| to think of it. This is the last time I'll
ever tell it.
How long we had been Gagged don't
know-I had no idea of time-when I
heard something outside like a groan.
| l listened and heard it again. Some
one was there and suffering. beat
with my fist on the door. We shouted
made noise enough to wake the dead.
| There was no reply. Then we gave
it up.
Some time passed, during which
there was no sound except the plash OF
the waves against the sides of the tug,
| when we heard the latch lifted and the
door moved ajar. My companion thrust
an arm through. and forced the door
wide open.
A copper colored man covered with
blood had crawled to the door and
opened it. He couldn't say much, and
we couldn't understand what he did
say, but in time we learned that he
was one of the pirates and his captain
had shot him for differing with him
about the disposal of the tug. Suppos
ing him to lie dead. they had left him
to 20 down with her.