Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-01-19

want to fight us; they want
their chief. Lego the anchor"
The Lady swung in the tide
and Frazier called Two Fathom.
Duke was lying under the rail,
scared of his wicked old life.
Call your village heads" COM
manded the captain. We'll sort
out that oil and trade 1t All ship
shape and Bristol fashion"
Two fTathom bellered like a
bull and Duke started screaming
on his own account. Canoes
darted over the river like bugs.
Tell 'em that if they start
war palaver I'll fire into he lot
of EN-. And if that oil amt
ready for trade the first thin
In the morning. I'll sail and yen
have no more trade wi the whi
men"
All that night they screechec
and hollered like lost souls. IN
the licht Of the fires native
worked like beavers sorting ont
the great puncheons of oil BY
the-ba FFt4iis- we're sorted
in groups. each under guard Of
spears-en Up went the tad
flag and that meant that ih'
first canoe eeHft4i come aiongside
Two Fathom handled the palavei
and in two weeks those 10
puncheons were under matches
tire natives were happy a.
TTUufarKs-aI except Duke
who'd not made any more than
he was entitled to, the old rip.
The Lady started down-river
without spelling an awning But
they hadn't finished yet Old
Oleko Of Benin had heard of
those guns and before the Lady
reached Bonny Bar there he was
with 80 war canoes. The crew
were taking in boarding nets
when the first war boats ran
alongside from under the bushes.
There Was no NOISE, just a cloud
OF arrows and savages climbing
in through The gun ports like
morkevs.
Before Mad Frazier knew
whore he vas they were al over
the snip and the bosun lying on
his back with spear u1rough
his throat They fired two guns
and four canoes We're smashed
to splinters. The crew manned
the arms rack and stood them
off from the poop break They
loosed fire arrows to burn the
running gear and the quarter
master got ar arrow in his arm
and dropped from the wheel
The Lady paid off and stuck
her jib-boom into a mangrove
swamp. And there they were
stuck slantways across the chan
mel with branches in their rig
ging and savages all over the
place. Frazier stood with the
sfterguard and fired into them
fast as he could grab musket
but they came those as
didn't die. Luckily the guns and
powder were in the lazarette
under the poop, but spears and
arrows came fast and there welv
four men lost and eight wounded
in less than an hour.
The mate loaded the signal
gun and loosed a charge Of pot
leg through EN-. but it did more
harm to the Lady's running gear
than it did to the natives. There
must have been over 40 dead on
the clean decks and more scram-
bling over the side. Others were
skullSing astern in the swamp
and their arrows slid aboard like
flying serpeuts
Then 1t got dark sudden like
il does i'm those waters. Frazier
couldn't see damn thing but he
kept firing at torches in the
canoes. Then spear came Whis-
perfng aboard and caught him
in the shoulder He pulled it
out and prayed it wasn't pois-
oned
Suddenly there was a rattle of
drums, firing and a devilish
racket astern.
What the hells that ?" shouts
the mate shooting at it.
Keep your head down. wei
know in minute" growled
Frazier
He lit a lantern and swung 1t
from-a ballard on the mizzen
yard It'll it gave a weak light
over the deck and the bushes