The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, February 26, 1905, Page 6

THE SAN FRANCISCO SUNDAY CALL. et hold of we got others, me to enough with ‘this old , about y, an it we light there’ll b this one coffin n well ye'd like x is for the next 1sl r than to stave my conch se stretchers under your just what I'm here to I don’t st ye and if one a8 makes a shady move lighten ship pronto! Moreover, we've grub and water for one day, and it's a long way to the next roadhouse. I'm the only one that knows where the island bears, so if any chance I was to t sick and croak the rest of ye'd be in bad shame TWhen we steik vou take your boat.and go— to wait until we do Now you can go to say your prayers; on to jawtackle - wind a white-ash ST gave an turned ting whine. TI r backs and lit thei 't a cheer my spirits ris r the gale is over. g 1 begar could not eemed to me that we r rapped off at least eighty d them for a while, let- the other two 1d then at length the and one by one the ned my e t the sink , when n the sun 258 sky and showed p into a cloudl d in sight ient 1 was staggered, for s & high one and should en seen thirty miles away. Then the cursed currents that those treacherous secas ugh and wondered how far we could be out of our courst. The men seemed as eager as I was, and the bow man was standing on his thwart studying the sky line ahead. But nothing came of it, and he turned and looked at me ex- pectantly, as did the others. Thén the trap .was sprung. The stroke oar suddenly rose to his feet and pointed over. the starboard quarter. “Land-0!"” he growled. T =wime'around in the stern, with a, I quick tug at my heart. The next mo- the boat and my lashed to a for- ment a great bulk crashed down on me, ward and my feet to an after thwart, and two great paws like a gorilla's fas- 80 that my back was bent like a swung tened on my throat. Something flashed hammock. -Some-one-sitting right over in the air—the sun rushed to the zenith my amidships section was giving a lec- at one leap—and then the light went . ture, ‘and once in'a ‘while would drive out. % 3 - - "his“words home by landing the toe of I wasn't adrift very long. The next his boot against my ribs. thing that reminded me of my troubles .~ ¥Vy tr-r-row him oudt?” sald a voice was the nasty feeling of my arms and that I .recognized as belonging to the legs being asleep. I woke to find my- Scandinaviah:misfit. “I dhink ve mide self flat on my face in the bottom of make 'im ‘r-r-row.” ' “I soy, as we knocks ‘im in 'is bloomin’ ‘ead an’ chucks his bleedin’ karkis in the —— hocean. 'E ain't no ®ood to we. Wot's the use in keepin’ uv im?” “Dutchy right-a. Make-a de Yankee pig-hog pull-a de boat. Suppose he no pull-a?—knock-a de face back!” For & fgw moments there was an ar- gument tfat was a whole course in deep-sea dialect, but as the majority were in favor of sending me to do a trick at the oars, while they sat around and encou e by a few ingenious devices of their own, my serious-mind- ed friend was overruled, and finally, with an oath, he whipped out his knife and made a slash at the lanyard around my ankles. Incidentally, the knife bit quite a way into my leg, but I seemed to be the only one that noticed it. The Bcandinavian cut the lashing that bound my hands to the thwart. This freed me, but what with the numbness of my limbs and the thump that I got on the head, I was, for the time being, paralyzed. “Come oudt!" says he; ‘“vat's de madder ohf you? You dond vish to vor-r--rk, you —" He got a good fist- ful of my hair and began to drag me out from under the thwarts. The dago was doing the mahout act along my back with the point of his knife. I've got some of the scars yet. They had got me sitting on the sec- opd thwart, and the dago shoved one of the big, heavy sweeps into each hand. The Scandinavian had thrown another lashing around my ankles and made it fast through one of the lim- bers, and not satisfled with that he passed another around my waist. The dago was trying to get up a forced draught by jabbing me in the ribs with the hilt of his knife. At first I was as stiff as a two-year- old after the day of his first run, and I came in for more mauling than I've ~had to take in all the rest of my life put together, but the pulling was the best thing I could have done to get my hinges in working order, and pretty soon I could feel the strength coming WL LT/ TEL R Z il A b oS / SAT NG LT TCH L T/ SUBBLES COMIN G /2 O K)5E 4" SSO—— > < ck and the blooa beginning to cir- ‘ata again. The island lay right abeam of us when I was howled over, but was hid- den in a light haze on the horizon. As I twisted my head around to look at it I could see that it was a long pull to get there, but that didn’t bother me any—my only worry was about getting there at all. The crew being pretty well used up from pulling all night long, had dropped off /to sleep one by one, but the hairy brdiser in the stern sheets lolled back against the tiller, and once in a while would give me a grin that put me in mind of a colt with his ears back, it was so full of cuss- edness. There was still a great blue swelling over his eye where I had plant- ed my fist two days before, and once in a while he would rub it gently and look first at me, then over the side. Whether it was to trick me into bringing things to a head or not, I am sure I don’t know, but pretty soon he pretended to be asleep. I was watch- ing him out of the tail of my eye, pull- ing away evenly all the while, and at the same time overhauling my brain as a machinist goes over his running gear with a hammer, looking for a flaw. The difference was that I found some flaw at every rap. Then sud- denly, just as I was about to give it up in disgust, and was making up my mind to try to take what was com- ing the way ‘a captured Malay pirate takes the Chinese New Year, my heart gave a leap into my throat that almost strangled me. Dead astern and hull down over the horizon I sighted a sail. Of course, I managed to not let on that I'd sighted anything and pretty soon the devil in the stern dozed off again, and this time I think that he ‘was really asleep for a few minutes, for he woke up suddenly with a quick start, and the way his hand flew out to the rifle at his side, as well as the startled look that he threw my way, gave him dead away. I pretended not to notice it, but swung away at the sweeps and directly his eyes closed again. But somehow I suspicioned that this nap was all a fake. Now and then I looked past him as indifferent- 1y as I could and saw that the vessel 'way astern was bringing a fresh breeze. Pretty soon the dark blue patch showed distinctly on the thin edge of the hgrizon. After that first pang of hopefulness my heart sank again bit by bit, just as the lead line crawls slowly over the side where the water is very deep. I Eknew that the breeze was bound to reach us while the vessel was still a long way off, even supposing that her course would have brought her close aboard us, and at the first puff my hand would be played out. Besides this there was the chance of one of them waking up and casting a weather eye along the skyline; but still they slept and soon I was able to raise the hull of the vessel, which appeared to be an island schooner—but the blue, dimpling water had filled half the distance between us. The watchdog in the stern was evi- dently asleep again, for an uncomfort- able sounding gurgle was coming from his. hairy throat with every slow breath—evidently the genuine article this time—and suddenly, from the sheer knowledge that for the mo- ment no one’s eye was on me, a thought shot across my brain like the flash of a meteor through the black night. Behind me, right within the reach of my arm, the Scandinavian was calked off, and I could see the hilt of his knife sticking out under the skirt of his dirty cotton jumper. It didn't seem possible that I could slip it out, cut my lashings and clamber aft over all that crowd in time to reach the big fellow before he woke; still if I falled there was still a chance to put up a bit of a fight, and although it would b> an uphill game it was a sight bet- ter than being butchered in cold blood. If I did miscue, at any rate, I could pes out with my dander up. Softly dropping the oars, I halt turned on the thwart and, reaching be- hind me, fumbled gently at the waist of the sleeping man. My fingers found the hilt of the knife by instinct, and with an easy tug it slipped from the sheath, and quick as a flash I twisted back, shoved it under my thigh and swung forward on the sweeps again, but my touch had roused him, and with a sleepy grunt he dug his knuckles into his eyes and yawned with a creak like a rusty gate. The others stirred a bit and the helmsman woke with another start. Then my heart stood still, for the Scandinavian ~suddenly straightened himself, shaded his eyes with his hand, and took a long look astern. The man in the sterm, curious from the intent- ness of his gaze, twisted around and looked over his shoulder. My time had come. With a yell I sprang suddenly to my feet, and, swingjng with all my strength, landed my fist on the side of the Scandina- vian's jaw, knocking him clean across the gunnel. The sudden list of the boat threw the others to the same side, and before they could right themselves I leaped square on to the gunnel and clung there, while the green water came pouring into the boat. The next moment we were all struggling in the sea. Of course I was the only one expect- ing it, and, besides, the others were sort of loggy and thick with sleep. Quick as a cat, when I found myseif in the water, I gripped the stem of the boat and swung myself up across hen Once astride the keel, I reached down, grabbed up one of the long oars, and, swinging it slantwise, brought it down on the ugly head of the thug that tried to shoot me, who was struggling along- side. He gasped once, then sank, and I sat and watched the bubbles coming up and waited for him to rise again and give me a chance for another crack. All at once, most likely from the sud- den reaction that came of knowing that the trumps were in my hands, all of the fight oozed out of me. It would have dead easy for me to have finished off the others one by one, and they knew it, and there was something sort of pitiful in the scared faces that they turned up at me. A little way off from the boat the old squarehead was swim- ming for all he was worth, his shoul- ders humped up like a box turtle. He was a poor swimmer, and his strokes Were getting shorter and quicker and his breath came like a grampus when he breaks. “Grab the side if you want,” I yelled; “I'll not harm ye; but as you love your life don’t try to climb up!™ 1 doubted that he'd ever reach the boat, but he made it and clung there, eyiLg me like a bear in a trap. Then ‘we waited in silence. Soon the edge of the breeze struck me, and behind it came the schooner, tripping along like a girl going to mar- ket. Straight down they came, and soon I knew that we were sighted from her decks, for she shifted her course a bit and bore down directly at us. ‘When close aboard she luffed into the wind, and In a minute over went a surfboat and came bouncing along the rising sea. Then, he drew near, I knew that I was safe, for in the stern sat O’Connell, whom I had met in Ma- nila not long before we stajted for the islands. An hour later, in the cabin of the schooner, I told the whole story over a stiff glass of grog. Although Captain McCree was a good sort enough, I could not persuade him to go back for Boles and the others, as the weather had charged, the glass was falling and it was at the breaking up of the mon- soon. So I did not press it, knowing that my mates were well found in grub, and that I could soon get them taken off. The schooner was bound for Pulo Anna, and when we reached there I left her and not long after sailed by another vessel for Yap. On the way we touched at the island, but the others had gone.