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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (May 7, 1905)
t HE story of the elopement of a French officer. T" I the pursuit of his yacht and hie brldo by Mala? I pirates, and their rescue by a French cruiser . Jl I after a chnse of ninny miles through the Islands which dot the stretch of sea between Sumatra and Borneo, Is not set down In the official reports filed with the ministry of the marine at Paris. There ar some things that even French naval records conceal, and n romance is not supposed to have a place In the archives of France. Henri Bcrgerac Vllleneuve, a lieutenant In the customs marine service and stationed at Saigon, the capital of French Indo-Chlna, since May, KXi.1, was In love with Maril Clochet, the daughter of a wealthy exporter and merchant whose coasting steamers and sailing vessels plied the waters be tween Saigon, Bangkok, Tonquln, Singapore, Batavta, and Acheen. Old Clochet was Inordinately proud of his navy, as tie called It. He had his own flag, and he was so wealthy and so Influential that his flag wag accorded a half official salute In most of the native ports where his vessels touched. Clochet has been engaged In the oriental trade for twenty three, years. His agents are in every port. He deals In teak wood from the forests of the upper Mekong river In Slam, silks and tea from Hongkong and Canton, opium from Macao, and coffee, cotton, and sugar cane from Java and Borneo. He Is as secretive as he Is proud and conceals the Identity of his business under a score of names, firms, and corpora tions. Few persons know Clochet. In Singapore, In Bang kok, In Hongkong, In Batavla, his Individuality Is merged tnto a dozen different names. Plans Marriage of Daughter. - It has been Clochefs pmbltlon to retire from active busi ness at the end of twenty-five years and return to France, marry his only daughter, Marie, to a French marquis, settle upon her a magnificent chateau, and live the remainder of X 1 I ''A V 1 - I V a ' ' :aa. PL v ' . mAAUA X 4 in ..'-A I v. v - 1 1 W ' a A,., MM A A . A.-A. ACA&, .A k ; ., W W;A xxx V x a S -;t' n n B l - a aa iv ?X 4Vsi ' v--rfeafcx -iA. v'" iy -Zn&w XV--A i -A: 4W ' :-shi'v rxr,-C afternoon. What was more natural than that the swift rev enue service cutter, commanded by Lieut. Vllleneuve, should be waiting under steam In the bay? Out In the bay, three miles from shore, a signal fluttered to the masthead of the revenue cutter. An answering pen nant flew to the foretop of the yacht's mainmast, and the sailing craft lay to, awaiting a boat from the revenue cutter. I, lout. Vllleneuve went on board the yacht, his boat returned to the cutter, Capt. Mclvor of the yacht made all sail and the elopement began. J J Elopers Start for Singapore. The yacht was headed stcalght across the China sea to Singapore, l.uio miles as the gull flies; but the weather was fine, the breeee a stiff one, and the sea like a bowl of placid, azure cream. Capt. Mclvor declared he would land the lov ers at Singapore, at the door of the French consulate, In three days and nights, and all went well. Back In Saigon old Clochet suspected nothing until even ing; th"n he discovered no one knows how the elopement. By that time the lovers had eight hours' start. It was two hours more before Clochet could get any clew to the possible course taken by his yacht. It was midnight before he left Saigon on the swiftest steamer of his merchant fleet. He knew that the elopers had sailed, southward and guessed that they had started for Singapore. The elopement began on Monday afternoon. Tuesday afternoon Clochet and his steamer were midway between The Brothers Islands, 100 miles south of Saigon, and North Nat unns Island. 400 miles south. Of course, the yaJht had not been sighted. This fact caused but little anxiety, how ever, because old Clochet knew that his steamer would ar rive nt Singapore hours ahead of the sailing vessel In spite of Its twelve hours' start. But Clochet was more anxious about the state of the weather, which was gradually but certainly becoming threatening. Tuesday night the steamer ran through a squall, and by Wednesday morning the wind was Wowing from the north west. With the wind came lowering banks of dun yellow clouds and a driving mist of rain that hid all objects from view. Thursday forenoon the steamer crossd the bows of a Freneh cruiser and checked Its course In response to sig nals thnt an officer was coming on board. When the naval officer arrived he told a story that wrung old Clochefs soul with anguish. J J Lovers Pursued by Pirates. Briefly, this Is what the French officer disclosed: Eight hours before, in the early dawn, while cruising northward through the half gale, the lookout descried a man In the sea clinging to a spar. The man, when taken on board, proved to be none other than Capt. Mclvor. Clochet, In despair for the safety of hH daughter, hurried on board the cruiser to learn Mclvor's story. When he had heard it his despair Increased. Mclvor's story was soon told. The yacht with the lover board had kept pace with the breeze all Monday ana Tuesday without a mishap to mar the happiness of the lov ers., Tuesday night. In the moonlight, a strange sail was ob served to the leeward, and, half an hour later, another on the port side. Both strangers were recognised as native lug gers by the huge square wills. But the sea was known to be full of native luggers, and Mclvor thought little of the two craft that kept pace with his yacht on either side. tentlons. One glance at the anxious faces of the canny old Scot and her lover, and a quick sweep of the sea showing the pirate luggers In pursuit, revealed the pwful truth. From that moment Marie Clochet refused to leave the deck. Captain Is Knocked Overboard. Ijite Wednesday afternoon, while at a particularly dan gerous moment, when the luggers were closer to thlr prey than they had been at any time during the day's chase, Mc lvor gave a sharp lorder to the man at tht wheel. In re sponse to the order the man brought the helm hnra over, and ns the yacht swerved to the lee side a rudden gust of the wind swung the main boom across the deck. Mclvor ducked too late, and In another breath found himself struggling In the sea, half stunned. That, was all that Mclvor could tell old Clochet. The yacht and the pursuers disappeared to the eastward In the gloom of the mist. Whether the yacht had been captured or not the Scotchman could not guess. Pursuit of Pirates Begins. Clochet and the commander of the ctulper made their plans hurriedly. Clochet, with his own steamer, was to crowd on all speed and steam to the westward of Great Natunas Island, sweep southward and the westward to the South Natunas group. The cruiser, on the other side, was to make all possible steam through the chennel between the Natunas and Anamasa Islands and proceed to the eastward. Thus the steamer would get In front of the yacht and Its pursuers, while the cruiser would come up behind them. If the weather cleared they were almost certain to sight the yacht and the luggers. Then the chnse began. Clochefs steamer had the great er distance to go, but It was a speedier craft than the cruiser. Therefore they met Friday afternoon south of Great Na unus Island, neither having sighted the yacht or Its pur- 1 I A vVSTaT .-V . . vb Ji -''y a 1 V -r y- A A - ... z' . . XZ C I 1' At;- ' .' ---J '"V. 'his days In quiet enjoyment? No wonder, then, that old man Clochet Dew Into a tower ing rage when he discovered that his daughter Marie, whom he had dreamed of as a future marchioness, had fallen In love with an officer of the customs marine and a penniless J one at that without even the hope of ever being an admiral In the French navy. One day Marl Clochet managed to see Lieut, Henri Vllleneuve at the home of a mutual friond and told him thaf her father was sending her to France by the next steamer. An elopement was decided upon; but where could the lov ers elope to, and how? Marie Clochet was as resourceful as she was beautiful, and Lieut. Henri was equal to any emergency. Therefore, one afternoon last October, Marie obtained permission from her father to go for a sail on his sailing yacht, the handsomest and fleetest craft of Its alxe under sail In the orient. With her was her maid. The captain of the yacht was her father's trusted agent, but he wn a canny old St'Ptchman and he was also m friend of old Clochefs duuguter and Henri Vllle neuve. . . The yacht stood out from the harbor of Saigon on a bright When Wednesday's dawn struggled through the dimness of cloud and misty rain Mclvor noticed that the luggers had drawn much nearer to him. .At that Inhlant the thought of Malay pirates flashed Into the Scotch captain's mind. In an Instant his perilous situation was borne in on him with terrible force. His yacht, with his employer's daughter on board and only a score of sailors to defend her. On the Malay luggers doubtless were 200 or 300 armed men. Despairing Race with Pirates. Then began a race seldom witnessed at sea. Mclvor, with out alarming Miss Clochet, called Lieut. Vllleneuve above deck, assembled all of his crew except the man at the wheel, pointed to the pirate luggers, and In the briefest sentences possible explained the danger, which was only too apparent. Then every man went to his place. The sturdy Scotch man knew hia yacht as a father doe his own child. He knew to a nicety just what the yacht would .do in answer to the slightest pressure of the helm. He knew to & stitch Just how much sail the masts and yards could carry. He resolved, therefore, to outmaneuver the pirates even If he could not hope to outsail them. Time and again the luggers tried to close In on the yacht. Every time, . however, -the yacht was turned this way or that, each time sweeping clear of one or the other of the luggers that alternately threw themselves across the pathway of the little vessel or tried to get close enough to cast a grap pling line on board. This fearful game of teg continued for hour after hour. Marie Clochet, from her cabin below decks, suspected that something was wrong, and, without saying a word, quietly made her way up the companion ladder and gained the deck before Capt. Mclvor or Lieut. Vllleneuve guessed of her.to- suers. They turned southward, keeping a sharp lookout. All Friday night they steamed. Saturday morning the cruiser's lookout sighted the sailboats and the commander from the bridge easily made out the yacht with his glass. The cruiser put on all steam and rapidly overhauled the Balling vessels. Some master hand on the yacht was manag ing the vessel with the, same keen eye and firm hand that had been Mclvor's. Whose band was It? Who had the courage, the endurance, the audacity to take hairbreadth chances T By 10 o'clock Saturday morning the cruiser was near enough to send a shell from Its five centimiter guns through the sails of the nearest pirate lugger. ,Thnt ended the chase. Up to the instant the gun had been fired the pirates had been so Intent In following the yacht that they had not no tlced the swift approach of the cruiser. When the five centi meter shell brought the iralnsull of the lugger to the deck there was a wild panic to get away. But the sea was smooth and the cruiser's guns had the range. Of course it was Lieut. Vllleneuve who had taken com mand of the yacht after Mclvor had been swept overboard, and It was his seamanship and courage that had kept the ves sel out of the hands of the Malays. Old Clochet had to for give hU daughter for eloping and he ha 3 to consent to an Immediate marriage. Only now Lieut. Vllleneuve Is the manaflng director of old Clochef a merchant fleet and Mo Ivor still commands the yacht. .