Year: 1876

into the berths the next, and, at last,
under the bottom of them, where We
were for some time comparatively safe.
But, emboldened by their success, they
now faced the broken paneling and
we could plainly see that, in another
minute or two, the matter would end by
our both being speared like wild boars.
/ whispered to Spencer to fire at the first
head that showed itself at the paneling,
and would do the same-he to take the
right, and the left, so that we should
not waste ammunition through both of
Us firing at the same person. / remem-
Der as if it happened only five minutes
ago, two heads suddenly appearing, and
myself and Spencer in the act of present
ing our revolvers at them, when, as n
flash of lightning, two spears were sud
denly thrust through the aperture, and
the next instant i felt twinge IN the
right side"


E9re the narrator paused for a few
moments, and after good stiff pull at
his punch, continued


81 remember no more until six weeks
afterward, when was lying i'll bed in a
strange room, very weak and very faint
There was my servant keeping me nice
and cool with large fan, whilst on my
forehead was a cloth stepped in vinegar.
BY degrees, some slight recollection
came back to my mind Of the events that
had happened on that fearful night but
when / interrogated my Chinese nurse,
/ could only obtain from him such re-
plies as -" Me no sabby doctor berry
angry me talkee that pigeon" BY which
he meant that he knew nothing about the
matter; and that, if he did, he was en-
joined by the doctor to silence. other
wise he would be very angry with him.
However, with a good constitution and
careful attention, l was soon able to
leave my room and then, and not be-
fore, gathered from my old friend,
Charles Lawrence, one quiet afternoon,
the following rather rambling account
of the affair


"' have no occasion, said Charley,
to ask You to remember the 9Th of
March, for that you will do TO the end of
your days; but have also reason to re-
member it; for on that day, as learned
by letter from home by the last mail,
an only brother was killed on the Great
Western Railway, in the collision that
occurred near Reading. Well, if you
remember that evening, we were to have
great spread at Douglas. Thompson,
Wilkinson, and some twenty others were
invited, including Capt. Wilkes. Of
course, you know what jovial fellow
Wilkes IS, good for story or song, and
can take his part in an argument with
the best of them. Everything went off
ya,~p xvoIl ,Iu,-ipO 1innor. onH aRfar tba
cloth had been removed, and one or two
songs had been given, the call was fer
Wilkes. He, however, who is usually
so ready and willing to oblige, mede
some excuse about hoarseness, which,
however, was so palpably fictitious that
we all burst cut laughing; and upon be
ing pressed again by some of lis, includ-
ing old Douglas, he positively refused,
and intimated his intention of going on
board.at once. We could see that some
thing had occurred to irritate him, but
for the life of us none of lis could guess.
Before leaving the room, however,
Douglas called him to one side, and
asked him the cause of his going away
so early. He replied that he was uneasy
in his mind; that depression of spirits,
such as he had never felt before, had
come over him within the last half hour,
but for which he could not account: and
asked Douglas kindly not to detain him,
as he wanted to go on board to see that
everything was ali right; and if he felt
better, they might expect to set him in
the course of an hour or so. And in an
hours time he did return, not to join
our party, but TO horrify us with the de-
tails of what had occurred on board the
Wild Dayrell. DR.. Anderson, who was
one of our party, went on board imme-
diately to attend to you, and Capt.
Wilkes and two or three of us proceeded
to the police station to report the mat
ter. The police took the matter up Wig
orously; and, thanks to a large reward
offered by the Owrars, one of the gang
turned Queens evidence, and in the
course of three or four days the whole
gang was safely lodged in the Victoria
Jail. They were brought up before the
magistrate, and remanded until YOU are
able TO appear against them.


"But asked: What time did Capt.
Wilkes arrive on board the Wild
Darrelll 1t was some time after ten
oclock-of that am sure.


les, ne repHeu L DelleVe 1t was
just half-past ten when he pulled along
side, for five bells were struck from all
the other ships lying alongside of him,
bit not from his oo7l, which at the time
he noticed as very singular. As he APP
preached the ship he saw two boats com
ing from the direction of her, but at the
time he took no notice of them but
there is no doubt, he thinks, that these
very boats contained the gang


60 But did they succeed in obtaining
any of the treasure 2 l again asked.


mo, not cent of it, thanks to
Chubb. They had tried to pick the
lock; and when they found that they
could not succeed in that, they tried
gunpowder, but with the same result.
The two English seamen were found
tied in their hunks, and quite drunk.
They acknowledged that the steward had
| given them three bottles of brandy early
i'll the evening, as present and they
made good use of it, for they were hall
drunk the next morning. The rest OF
| the crew were too much afraid of theiI
own necks to offer any resistance Oh
give the alarm. The Wild DayrelI
] r e..