Year: 1876

ness of the attack to accomplish his pur-
pose. 1 struggled violently, holding on
by my hands to the rail, and letting fly
right and left with my feet and in the
end I was successful. The Chinaman
tripped, and lay upon the deck in my
power. Without thought, without a
moments hesitation, j laid hold of him
by the trowsers with one hand, and took
a couple of turns of his pigtajl by the
other, and threw him overheard. After
/ had accomplished this, / made for the
cuddy. Arrived there, at once went to
Mr.. Spencer's cabin I; but upon trying
the door, found it locked l gave one
or two kicks, at the same time calling out
to him TO open the door. He sprang
from his berth, and called ont in reply
that it was locked from the outside. /
told him to stand clear, and with a good
one, two, three, from the shoulder,
burst the door in. There is no doubt /
must have looked very pale and very
excited, as his first question to me was


"'Why, Mr.. Topham, what i'll the
name of goodness is the natter You
look as pale as death.


81 told him all that had happened,
and likewise my suspicious that we had
not seen the end of the affair, and that
orir best plan would be at once to arm
ourselves. L told him to dress himself,
whilst went on deck to rouse our two
English sailors, whom we could depend
upon, and bring them aft to the CABIN.
l had planted one foot in the saloon, the
other being still in Mr.. Spencer's cabin,
and had my eyes directed to the stairs
of the companion, when, i'll the shade, /
thought / deserted Chinaman. Think
ing that it might be the steward, / called
out to him by name, a Tong; but no
reply came, when [ felt pretty certain
that it was not the steward-in which be-
lief I was not long left in doubt. l had
turned my head into Mr.. Spencer's
cabin, to tell him of my suspicious,
when thought heard steps stealthily
approaching me. gave rapid glance,
and there, not four feet from where /
stood, were some five or six as villainous
looking Cinnamon as had ever beheld,
armed, some with bamboos about ten
feet long, and others with swords. In
an instant L had sprung into the cabin,
and closed and bolted the door. With a
yell, the whole of the gang made one
simultaneous rush toward the door, but
they had missed their mark by second.
l had planted my back against the door,
and, thanks to my weight and the bolts,
il resisted their combined efforts to force
it. Other measures, however, L knew
must be at once resorted to, and that
instantly. Calling upon Mr.. Spencer to
move his chest of drawers against the
door, and placing two trunks on the top
of them, we patiently waited the coming
events. Spencer very fortunately had a
couple of Colts revolvers in his chest of
drawers, with which we armed ourselves.
The gang outside were evidently in deep
consultation as to their next mode of
attack. One voice / heard raised above
all the others, and that one voice was,
without doubt, A Tong, our much-re-
spected steward! From the little Chi
nese was acquainted with, l gathered
that they were bent upon the treasure,
which had come on board from the Ori


entail Bank only that afternoon. 1t had
been slowed away in the Captain g
cabin, and was safely lodged in one of
Miners fire and thief-proof safes.


"They proceeded to the Captain s
cabin {; but in a very short time returned
and, knocking at the door with their
bamboos, demanded it to be opened. At
first they used threats, then entreaties,
promising us that not hair of our heads
should be hurt. But, though we feared
their threats, we had no faith in their
promises, and fully determined that, if
the worst came to the worst we would
sell our lives dearly. Oh, how we longed
for IL o'clock, for Capt. Wilkes return.
How patiently and eagerly we listened
for the splash of the oars of the six stall
wart boatmen We heard four bells
from the different ships in the harbor,
some not a couple of hundred yards
away; but it was impossible to reach or
signal them. Instead of large port
hole, there was only the small headlight,
through which we could not even man
age to thrust our heads, much less our
bodies. Well, sirs, when they found
that neither threats nor promises would
avail them, they at once commenced their
work. / was standing on camp-stool,
endeavoring to see what they were do
ing, by looking through the iron grating
on the top of the door, when l saw one
of them with spear, ut what, in mill
tary phraseology, would be termed
"shorten arms that is, with the spear
drawn back to its fullest extent, ready
to thrust through the door. gave one
spring from the stool, and lucky indeed
l did so; for the next moment the point
of a spear grazed my cheek. Another
inch to the left and would have been @
dead man. We both then retired to the
further end of the cabin, so as to keeI
out of harms way. We knew that they
dared not use firearms, for fear of attract


ing the attention of the ships in tn,
neighborhood; and no doubt this was
our salvation. Spear after spear was
thrust through, some almost reaching us
as we crouched down on the floor Of the
cabin, when all at once we heard crash


and, on looking up, to our horror saw
that one of the panels of the door haC


been forced in sufficiently for man tC


thrust his body through. We both i'm


mediately sprang upon our feet graspinf


our revolvers more firmly, expecting
that, in desperation, some of them would


be hardy enough to try aud force then


way into the cabin. But they were fal
too cunning for that. Two of them nov