A IPlEATE AMIIE
REAI? STORIES FROM THE MFBOF AMTEyENTUB,
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COPYMGHrBY Ttf- KUfflVAT CO.
Editor's Note Capt. Gorga B. Boynton died a
few months ago In Brooklyn. He served, all told,
under eighteen flags and his life has furnished
much material for Action. This Is a story of some
of his adventures told by himself for the first
Urn.
T was In the summer of 1874
that I made my first plunge .
into piracy, for, with all of the
trimmings and aids to decep
tion stripped away, that was
what it really amounted to. I
did not know into just what I
was being led when I em
barked In this new enterprise,
but I am frank to say that It
would have made no difference,
for a free translation of the
word "piracy" la "adventure of the first order."
and that was what I was looking for.
Frank Norton, who had Interested me In the
China sea, said we would need the Leckwith
and two ships to carry on the business to the
best advantage, so I selected the Surprise, an
American brig, and the Florence, a topsail
schooner, both stout, fast ships. I put Loren
en on the Leckwith as sailing-master, George
Brown on the Surprise, and old Bill Heather
on the Florence. The Surprise took on a gen
eral cargo for Japan and was ordered to ren
dezvous at Hong Kong, while the Florence
loaded for Singapore. Norton and I followed In
the Leckwith.
We reached Singapore more than a month
ahead of the Florence. Our scheme was to
prey on the pirates who Infested the China
sea, and particularly that part of It lying be
tween Singapore, Sumatra and Borneo, which
wan dotted with Islands and beautifully suited
by nature to their plundering profession, and
many were the good ships that ended their
cruises there, along with their passengers and
erswa. The British government had been try
ing for years to put an end to their operations,
but the undertaking was a gigantic one. It was
not until years after that It was officially an
nounced that piracy had been suppressed, and
piracy Is still being carried on, even to this
day, though In a small and desultory way.
The chief of a large section of the Chinese
pirates was old Moy Sen, a rich Chinaman who
lived in a handsome home in Canton and posed
aa a peaceful trader.
Norton argued that the pirates were bound
to keep on robbing and burning and murdering
In spite of anything we could do, and that we
could derive plenty of excitement and large
profits by robbing them. Incidentally, he con
tended we would put a lot of them out of busi
ness for good and all, thus contributing to the
end desired by all nations.
It waa arranged that I should pose as Dr.
Burnet, a rich English physician who waa cruis
ing In his private yacht for his health. The
Florence) and Surprise were to carry some
general cargoes from port to' port among the
Islands, but were so to shape their cruises that
we could keep closely in touch with them.
They were to be given large crews and so
heavily armed aa to be safe from piratical at
tacks. The Leckwith was to do all of the prey
ing on the pirates, and the loot we took from
them was to be turned over to the other ships
at the meeting-places. It was arranged that
the bulk of our loot should be sent to a firm of
Chinamen at Singapore, who dealt largely In
dishonest cargoes.
With the Leckwlth's bunkers stuffed with
coal, we headed for the islands in search of
pirates
Our first experience was a profitable one. When
near the "hunting grounds" we lowered the
smokestack, got up our canvas and sailed
along, awaiting developments. We were get
' ting In among the islands when we met a big
, Junk which had Just looted and scuttled a rich
ly laden Brazilian barkentine. We made a pre
tense of trying to get away, but in reality we
' 'eased our sheets to hasten matters along. When
the was close astern of us, with the wind
'abeam, we luffed up, got out guns ready for
action in a Jiffy and, as we crossed her bows,
raked her fore and aft with our carronades.
which were loaded almost to the muscle with
lugs and nails.
Taken completely by surprise and with more
than half of their number Uttering the red
; idened deck, the pirates were panic-stricken.
. Before they could regain their senses we came
1 ! about again and gave them another broadside.
' 1 which put them at our mercy. As we ranged
t alongside, keeping up a rifle-fire, but disdain
j ing any further use of our guns, they managed
' to launch a couple of boats, and all who could
' get into them pulled for the nearest island.
I We took out of the Junk fully one hundred
thousand dollars' worth of specie, silk, tea,
porcelain and drugs, and then, set fire to her,
i leaving her to bury her own dead.
After that easily won victory we trapped
and and sank half a dozen proas and feluccas
In the same way, though with more spirited
' resistance in some cases.
. We had turned our cargo over to the Flor
ence, along with a number of wounded men.
' and were back among the Islands, when early
; one evening a full-rigged ship hove In sight.
. She passed us, but was not moro than six
' miles away when we saw flashes that told us
she had been attacked,- and we lost no time In
' going to ber assistance.
As we closed in we saw a Malay felucca on
each side of her and the pirates swarming on
her decks, with the crew putting up a brave
' fight Running the Leckwith up on ber star
,1 board quarter, we threw our men aboard and
- they went at the pirates savagely from the
rear. I led the boarding party.
The Malays outnumbered us more than two
', to one. but we went at them with a fury tbat
was new to- them and were slowly forcing them
', back toward their one good boat we had
, smashed the other one to bits when we
' slammed alongside when a beautiful white
yacht came tearing up on the port quarter and
sent three boatloads of men to our assistance
.' in smart style. They clambered over the bows
under command of a stocklly built young officer
wearing what looked like the uniform of a
naval captain, and we bad the pirates be
tween us.
I understood later, when I learned who and
what they were, why these re-enforcements,
instead of discouraging the Malays, caused
tbem to fight with renewed desperation, but
re- s v .--.:,-' 4 . .. V PS. V?51-35K
YOUNG MEN DREAM DREAMS
they could not withstand
our combined rush, and
the last them soon went
over the side into their
proa, which drifted away
Into the darkness when
they cut her loose. How
ever, in the last few min
utes of fighting, the
young British officer, as
I took him to be. sus
tained a savage cut In
his right shoulder, and
after we had laid aside
our dead and given our
wounded rough attention
I was surprised to
ceive an inquiry from
him aa to whether we
had a surgeon on board.
Taking him aboard the
Leckwith. I dressed his
wound on the cabin table.
I then saw that his uni
form was that of a captain, but not of a naval
officer. He told me his name was Deverell. but
when I asked him the name of his ship he an
swered evasively, and I had learned the ways
of the China sea too well to press the question.
At Singapore, where we discharged our cargo,
our agents reported that Moy Sen waa vowing
vengeance on na for the loot we had wrested
from him and the havoc we had spread among
his fleet. We worked our way back to the
rendezvous and, after consulting with Norton, I
took my Interpreter, Ah Fen, who was half
"Chlnkle" and half Malay, from the Leckwith
and went to Hong Kong on the Surprise to see
Just what waa going on.
"The Beautiful White Devil," a woman pirate,
whom I at first regarded as a purely fanciful
being, came Into my life on this visit to Hons
Kong In the early day of 1876.
White waiting for Ah Fen's report I lounged
around the hotel. Soon I began to hear weird
stories of a woman pirate who, while never mo
lesting honest merchantmen, preyed merciless
ly and successfully on the Chinese and Malay
pirates, Just aa Norton and I .were doing.
It occurred to me at once that If such a wom
an really did exist it might have been ber ship
whose captain I had attended, but I could not
make myself believe the. tales that were told
me.
Then a man called at my hotel one evening
and asked If an English physician was stopping
there, and I recognized Captain Deverell, but
he was as formal as a stranger, and I did not
Indicate that I knew him. He asked If he could
consult with me and I took him to my room,
where be assumed a much more cordial air.
"I called." he said, "to invite you take a
cruise with me so that we may get better ac
quainted and I can show you my appreciation
of your kindness."
I packed my bag and turned it over to a man '
whom Deverell summoned from the street.
I waa given the cabin of the surgeon, who
had died recently. Deverell took me to his
room and we talked until midnight.
It waa considerably after eight bells before
I retired, but my sleep was not long or heavy.
At breakfast time DeverelL wearing a smart
uniform, escorted me aft to the private quar
ters of the queen.
In a moment the queen appeared. As she
parted the curtains and paused in the doorway
with an air of diffidence. I waa transfixed by
her marvelous beauty.
"I already know Dr. Burnet." she said, aa
she swept toward me with superb grace and In
finite charm of manner and extended her hand,
email and soft.
"We are headed for my retreat." she explain- '
ed. "I should like to have you stay with us as
long as you can. I will put you down in Hong
Kong or Singapore on three or four days' no
tive." I assured her the prospect was delightful.
On the afternoon of the third day out from
Hong Kong we ran into a group of islands, off
to the eastward of the regular course to Sing
apore. Just as dinner was announced a flag
was waved from the bridge and I made out an
answering signal on the steep side of a small
Island Just ahead of us. but could see no sign
of either a landing or an opening. Then a mes
senger brought word that the queen was wait
ing dinner for me. The ship slowed down
while we were at dinner and finally the screw
stopped. Immediately the queen led the way
to the deck.
"This." she said, "is my kingdom without
a king. Isn't it beautiful?"
I assured ber that It was the most beautiful
place I had ever seen, wherein, when day
dawned. I found I had not exaggerated. We
were at the head of an oval lake, perhaps a
mile and a half long, with mountains rising
crescent-shaped around it. There was a small
village of English cottages and native huts. On
three sides of the lake was a narrow beach;
the fourth side, toward the sea. was a perpen
dicular bluff, sixty feet or more high. I search
ed It for the passage through which we had
entered the lake, but nothing could I see but
a bare wall of dark rock. The queen smiled
at my perplexity. "Walt until tomorrow," she
laughed. "We will go ashore at sunrise."
She appeared with the sun. accompanied by a
Dyak woman whom I had not seen before, and
we landed at a little stone dock In front of the
village. All of the inhabitants, consisting of
about fifty English and Scotch men and women,
some with silvered locks and bent backs and
some bf them crippled by the pirates, and near
ly as many natives, crowded the pier to meet
her, their manner one of the greatest affection
and deference. We walked through tit vil
lage, which waa a model of neatness, and on
up a winding path for nearly a mile, when a
sharp turn around a flank of the mountain
brought us to a large bungalow the palace of
the queen.
While breakfast was being prepared she
made herself more beautiful by changing her
dress of European style for a native costume
of flowing silk so becoming that I wondered at
her ever wearing anything else. After break
fast she looked down at the little town and far
out to aea in silence for a long time and then
told me the story of her life.
Her name, ahe said, waa Katherine Crofton;
her father one of the younger branches of a
family headed by a baron. Her father was a
Ileutent-commander In the British navy, and
to prevent an accident he dlsoboyed the order
of an Incompetent and arrogant superior officer.
In a quarrel that followed, her father knocked
his superior down and otherwise abused him,
for which he was court-martialed and dis
missed. "My father waa a high-spirited man," she
continued, "and his disgrace embittered him
against England and everything English. He
soon left home, and when we next heard from
him he was In Hong Kong. When I was about
fifteen, he wrote mother and me to take a P.
ft O. ship for Singapore, where we would find
further Instructions. When we got there father
was waiting for us on a handsome yacht, the
Queen. I am still using her. He brought us to
to this island, where he had established a small
settlement and built a warehouse and a ma
chine shop for repairs. He had taken great
pains to make his rendezvous secure from dis
covery. "When I waa not much older than nineteen
father and mother were taken desperately 111,
and he called me into his room and made a
confession. He said that in his hatred of the
British he had turned pirate and had been for
all those years preying on ships flying the flag
he despised. He had also, occasionally, waged
war on the native pirates and taken their loot
from them, which explained why he had fre
quently come In with wounded men on board,
and be made me swear that if he died I would
continue the work he had begun. He told me
I could rely on Frank Deverell. his chief officer,
whom he said he hoped I would some day mar
ry." this last with Just a trace of sarcasm.
"My father died the next week and my mother
three months later.
"That was four years ago. I have kept the
oath, but the fulfillment has brought me In
creasing misery- My attacks on the British
flag have been few in fact, I have given timely
assistance to many more English ships than I
have robbed, and hundreds of their passengers
- and crews ewe their lives to me. but I have
preyed on the natural pirates of these waters
as ardently, perhaps, as did my father."
After luncheon the queen and I set off toward
the mountain-top, nearly one thousand feet
above us. but we did not reach it for the heat
was intense.
"Well, what do you think of us now?" she
asked, on our way down, after I had told her
how I had spent the forenoon.
- "I think enough of you to devote my whole
life to your service!" I quickly replied.
When I came back to dinner she was waiting
for me In her bower. As she came to meet me
and extended her hand she said, earnestly and
, almost sadly: "J believe you were honest and
sincere In what you said this afternoon, but I
can only say 'Thank you.' What you suggested
is impossible."
In the three weeks that followed I urged my
love upon her with all of my determination, but
she refused to change her decision and ap
parently was a firm in it as she was at first.
It was agreed that we should both give up
piracy, but all of our arguments ended there
until finally, one afternoon, as we sat looking
out over the sea and talking of the ordinary
affairs of life, she said, slowly and emphatic
ally, "Deverell was my father's right-hand
man. I am going to take the next ship for
England, lay my case before the home secretary
and ask him for a full pardon. I will confess to
him that I have taken from the pirates what
they had stolen from others. To offset that
offense I have hundreds of written statements
from people whose lives I have saved from the
pirates. I believe I can secure a pardon, and
if I do I will meet you with a clear conscience
and become your wife!"
There was nothing to do but fall in with her
plan. ' -
I knew about where to find the Florence. We
picked her up in a few days and I boarded her
made sail to meet the Leckwith at the ren
dezvous. Kate went on to Singapore, where
ahe took the next ship for England. Six
months later I received word that she had died
suddenly there, before she had applied for a
pardon, and the course of my life waa changed
When I rejoined the Leckwith, I told Norton
simply that I had been away on strictly private
business. A day or two later I told him I had
decided to sell the Florence and Surprise and
quit the business we were in. Norton, dum
founded, advanced many arguments against
such a course, and finally he lost his temper.
"It may be," he suggested sneeringly, "that
this is due to the fact that Moy Sen has
threatened to exterminate us. If you don't
want to fight the old scoundrel why don't you
say so?"
That dart struck a tender spot I would be
the last one to quite under a threat or nnder
fire, and Norton knew it "Far from running
away from a fight of that kind," I told Norton.
"I should much rather run into It We will
cruise around awhile to see whether the Chink
ies really mean to give us battle. But It is the
sport bf it that I want and nothing else, for If
it comes off it will be a great fight"
Nothing happened for ten days or two weeks.
We saw several junks which we could easily
have stood up and robbed, but I would not per
mit it Then, late one evening an enormous
junk appeared suddenly from behind an island.
She appeared to carry only a small crew, but
when we came together it seemed to me for
a moment that she bad more Chinamen on'
board than I had ever seen before at one time.
Suddenly she swung to starboard and would
have smashed into our bow if we had not gone
full speed astern. As she passed under our
bowsprit she threw a grappling-iron which
caught on our port bow.
We lit our battle-lamps so tbat they illu
minated our deck, where we preferred to fight
because we knew every foot of it
It was such a fight as one gets into only in
years, perhaps only once In a lifetime. The
butchery was dreadful, but the excitement of
It set one's blood ablaze. There was not a
pirate left alive on the junk or on our own
deck.
Before we had time to congratulate ourselves
or count noses, we discovered a big steamer
almost en top of us. It was the Ly-ce-moon, the
flagship of Moy Sen's fleet, and, though we did
not know it, the old pirate chief himself was in
command of her.
The result was a repetition of what had oc
curred with the crew of the Junk, but It re
quired much longer to accomplish it
Gradually, but slowly at first we got the
upper hand of them.
It was broad daylight by the time we had
thrown overboard the last of the dead China
men and washed down the decks, after giving
our own badly wounded men such attention as
was possible under the conditions. We thought
for a time that Moy Sen had escaped, but we
found him, almost chopped to pieces, close to
the after-wheelhouse, with three of our men
beside him.
On the Ly-ce-moon were two teak chests,
filled with gold and silver coin and Ingots, sil
verware, jewelry and precious and semi-precious
stones of the Oriental variety, apparently
representing the most valuable portions of sev
eral stolen cargoes, and these I allowed to be
transferred to the Leckwith, In preference to
throwing them overboard.
It then became a question as to what we
should do with Moy Sen's ships. We com
promised the difficulty by scuttling the junk
and putting a crew aboard the steamer. We
went to Singapore, arriving there in the early
part of 1876, as I remember it to close up our
business, and sold the pirate ship to our
Chinese agents for a third of what she was
worth. We also s6A to them, for a small part
of its value, the loot we had taken from her,
but" all of that money was divided up between
Norton and the crew. I held to my promise
and touched none of It
I left the China sea behind me and never
have returned to It
After a fruitless expedition after buried
treasure in Corea, we sailed for Shanghai and
from there for London.
Their Invention Is More Lively Than
That of the Aged, Says
Bacon.
' A man that Is young In years may
be old in hours, if he has lost no time.
Generally youth is like the first cogi
tations, not so wise as the second, for
there Is a youth, in thought as well
as In ages; and yet the invention of
young men is more lively than that of
old, and imaginations stream Into
their mind better, . and, as it were,
more divinely. Natures that have
much heat and great and violent de
sires and perturbations, are not ripe
for action till they have passed the
meridian of their years; but reposed
natures may do well in youth.
On the other side, heat and vivacity
in age is an excellent composition for
business; for the experience of age in
things that fall "within the compass
of it, directeth them. The' errors of
young men are the ruin of business;
but the errors of aged men amount to
but this, that more might have been
done, or sooner. Toung men, in the
conduct and manage of actions em
brace more than they can hold, stir
more than they can quiet; fly to the
end, without consideration of the
means and degrees; pursue some few
principles which they have chanced
upon absurdly; care not to innovate;
use extreme remedies at first; and
that, which doubleth all errors, will
not acknowledge or retreat them like
an unruly horse, that will neither
stop nor turn. ,
Men of age object too much, con
sult too long, adventure too little, re-'
pent too soon; and Beldom drive
business home to the full period; but
content themselves with a mediocrity
of success. Certainly it is good to
compound employments of both, for
that will be good for the present, be
cause the virtues of either age may
correct the defects of both; and good
for succession, that young men may
be learners while men In age are ac
tors. And lastly, good for extreme ac
cidents; because authority followeth.
old men, and favor and popularity
youth. But for the moral part, Touth
will have the preference, as age hath
for the public. Frem Bacon's Essays.
Work a Watch Does.
. It Is a matter , of every-day occur
rence for a person to say to his
watchmaker:
"Here la a watch which yon sold
me some ten years ago. It has al
ways gone well until Just lately, when
It has taken to stopping without any
apparent cause."
The people who speak In this way
little think of the amount of work a
watch has performed in this space of
time and might be astonished at the
following figures:
In ten years, which Includes two
leap years, and consequently a total
of 3,652 days, the hour hand has mad
7,304 and the . minute hand 87,648
revolutions. The end of an average
minute hand travels more than 10,820
yards more than six miles. The sec
ond hand has made 5,258,880 revolu
tions, and Its extremity has traversed
on the dial a distance of upwards of
123 miles. The escape wheel has
made 52,588,800 revolutions, and as It
has fifteen teeth, it has come 788,832.
000 times in contact with each pallet
The balance has made 1,577,644,000
vibrations, and any point on the out
side of the rim has covered a distance
of about 50,000 miles, and that Is
equal, to twice the circumference of
the earth.
What Alaskan Dogs Eat.
Dogs In Alaska, when on the trail,
are fed once a day, after the day's
work Is done. They are never fed la
the morning, for If they were they
would be lazy all day, or, what Is more
probable, would vomit up their break
fast soon after they got on the trail.
Dogs to work wel, must be well fed,
and It Is false economy to underfeed
a dog. They are fed on a variety of
foods. Including rice, tallow, cornmeal,
and fish. If rice or cornmeal forms a
part of their food It must be cooked.
Some men prefer to feed their dogs on
bacon or fish, thus doing away with
cooking. Cooked food Is cheaper and
more fattening than raw food, but
the question as to whether dogs can
work better on cooked or uncooked
food is one tbat will never be settled
so long as there are "mushers" to
argue the questionThe Wide World
Magazine.
Man Hat Dog.
On a very windy day a man Is walk
ing along the street with bis dog. ' An
extra fierce gust of wind takes off the
man's hat and sends It rolling; and
skipping.
"Hey! Rover!" shouts the man to
the dog, and the dog bounds after the
hat
A fine, intelligent animal that; In re
trieving the hat he saved his owner a
lot of work and trouble, you think; but
wait a bit
Now that Rover has got the hat a
playful streak strikes him and before
he brings it back he rolls the hat
around on the sidewalk where he has
nailed It and gets it pretty dusty and
he winds up by slamming a big dent
in the crown.
Nice dog, intelligent, very, but the
man thinks hell recover his hat him
self hereafter New York Sun.
Educator's Long and Useful Life.
Prof. Arminius Vambery, professor,
of languages at Pesth university, at!
Budapest has just entered bis eight
ieth year, with no diminution of the
Vigor which has characterized bis tons;
and; active life.