THE POST OF DEATH.

Auckland Star, Volume XVIII, Issue 125, 28 May 1887, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE POST OF DEATH.

By Rotus Halb.

Chaklottk Malcolm, wife of John Malcolm, a young sea captain, was a gentle fragile Woman, who would start with alarm at the report of a gun, and who would turn pale at sight of a mouse, a rat, or a cow.

Her husband was therefore somewhat surprised when, as he was preparing for a voyage to Australia, hie timid little wife; said she -».«_. and would go with him.

" What! you ? Why, ihy'poor child, you would faint away vie moment the ship began -to roll," he cried. "Well, you would be near to keep me from falling, if I did," she replied. "But you need not be afraid, I will control myself."

He objected to her going, but she coaxed and pleaded, and when at last she began _to cry, ho was not the sort of. man to hold out longer. .Jn fact, tho, only ground for his refusal was her excessive timidity; but' ho now concluded that she would suffer less, from that failing, if she went with him, than she would from disappointment if he did not take her.

So at last went tlio vessel—the Columbia —with Malcolm and his wife aboard.

A few heavy gales were encountered on the way to Australia, and the young man knew that Charlotte was much frightened, although with that wonderful power of her sex to prevent all outward exhibition of feeling, she remained apparently unmoved.

In good weather sho would come up on deck, and sometimes, at her playful request, the captain would permit her to take the wheel, and would teach her to steer the ship. Sho liked this, and her husband was surprised at tiie progress his pupil made. Her practice at the holm soon enabled her to steer, with a light wind, almost as well as the sailors.

The latterwere not exactly the sort of men the captain would have chosen had ho picked out his own crew. They had been rather hastily collected by an agent of the owners, and were all lazy, sullen fellows, neither very quick nor very skilful at their duties. Amongst them were- half a dozen fierce.looking Lascars, not one of whom could handle.-a royal properly without assistance. They-grumbled when they were set to work,* -and -never <_heerful exeiept when they were eating their dinners. dharlotte, who-was-a kind little woman, would often : persuade her husband to send liotdumplings, ginger-cakes and butter.to the foremast hands. They did not seem particularly grateful to her-_or thpsij Attohtjoh., -fts som&sea-faring men would havebeen; nevertheless, they re4r4ij_i&_fcg^^ oyer she waft vt-ithfn.hearihg. '■ rr^nally the vessel arrived at Sydney, Australia, and there Malcolm received for the owners, after disposing of his cargo, about £10,000 worth of gold. Then- tbe ship sailed on the homeward passage One afternoon, the captain went down into the cabin to look over his accounts, leaving his two officers-the first and seconcf mates—and the steward on deck. His wife was also there. All at once he heard a rush of footsteps and the sound of loud voices; next there was a noise as of several bodies falling to Suspecting foul play, he ran towards his room and procured his revolver. Four fierce fellows, provided with crowbars and handspikes, rushed into the cabin and confronted him as he came out of the apartment. "Now Captain !" cried the foremost one, a huge seaman with black, matted whiskers and cat-like eyes. " We've been planning this thing for some time, and you can't help yourself ! We don't want to take any fives. All we want is the box of gold, and then we're off where we think you'll never find us. If you quietly let us tie your hands and feet, we won't even.hurt you ; but, if you resist, it'll be the worst for 1 you !" > ■ Malcolm's only reply was the pointing of his revolver at the speaker. He pulled the trigger, but the weapon hung nre. ; ■ . , .._.,. One of the mutineers knocked it from his grasp. He seized a heavy chair to war-cfoff the: blows of his assailants, but they smashed the chair to pieces, and Iheir handspike* and crowbars fell fast upon his head and Bhoulders, until he sank down, ** bleeding mass, at their feet. "Lively, lads, and hurry up the gold !" can_e a voice from above at that moment. ", A sail has just hove in sight out of tho mist, off tbo lee bow.. It's a man-of-war •" The four men found the boj of gold, in th'e'capta-m's.i'wm, and it wascboveyea-on clgck. • ' l,'iht^,.ai»fti. .j&e r miz-»n-mast, lay., the 80<jbn'd ";ahd "third"' ma&sV', un^nßcwtts'ahd bleeding, tiedJband and foot. • , ■, ', ..,,..' "; Not far. from them, fastened to .the round-house with a rope, Was the captain's wife, who, in a, heart:rehding ■_ voice, had been calling but to the .mutineers hot to hurt her husband. : ( ■'"'.:•.-■ . ■■'-.■ All the gang now Stood gazing at the man-of-war, which; evidently a frigate, and* not four miles off, was heading diagonally towards the Columbia, on the ; starboard They held a brief consultation, and concluded to set fire to the ship before tbey left her, so thero their would be no one "to telltales." . ,<*.. . ■-; •:;■ • Not a quarter of a mile to windward of them was a fog, which would conceal them, if thoy made for it In the long-boat, before they could be seen from the frigate, and thus enable them to reach an island, where they intended to conceal themselves.Accordingly, the boat having been lowered, they put the bdg of gold in ib, and then threw the ship up into the wind, after which1 they set fire to a mass of oakum and tarred rigging in the hold. ~ , A moment later, screened from the distant frigate by the smoking craft, they pulled off for the fog. ..,' As the smoke in dense, thick volume poured through the open hatches, Charlotte, Wildly calling to her husband, struggled to free herself from the rope that held her to the round-house. .' . At last she succeeded in loosening one of the slats to whioh she was fast, and by a quick jerk she pulled it off. .■■ ■ Her husband, at thesame moment, crawled upon dock, covered with blood. The exertion, in his condition, had been too much for" him, and he rolled over on his side, un*. able to move further*

| Charlotte drew a cup of water from the butt on deck, and placed it to his * lips.. He drank a little, and then .said, in a feeble voice:

\i " Save yourself, Charlotte. There is a plank by the rail. Throw it over; then jump after it, and hang on. Never mind me, but leave me, for I am unable to move." .-..- -. :

"No," sho answered, firmly.; "I will save you, too, or I will perish; with you." ''- '"' .;'; ■ ;.'.;. "f}:

She looked at the two officers and the steward. - . -.:,,-; ..-.;

They were still senseless. Whatever was to be done, sho alone must do. - *. ■- New strength seemed to nerve her frame. ' She sprang; to the wheel, she tossed her long, bright,hair back from her shoulders, and then she worked the helm, bringing it up, so that the ship, with sails again filling, headed on a course to meet the approaching frigate. . "Too late!" groaned Malcolm, as, the smoke and flame poured faster,and faster through the parting decks, amidships. " You will only sacrifice yourseff lor nothing." , ..,,'.; "Keep quiet, dear John, and don't worry," she answered. "Here lam and here I shall remain, either to save- you or perish." " ..-■.'.:• '.-■ ".;•> Loud roared the flames. , ... . . ;. - 1 .'

I They crackled, they hissed and snapped, and rose high in air, fast eating their way aft. '' ' "■ "•''''. ' ~:'.'' -['■. ~','•"

Watching in the fore and main shrouds, up they went, in red, wreathing billows twining about the spars and leaping towards the sails. r .-'•"-' .. ''~;

The whole fohvard part" of the ship \yas now a mass of -fire. —-• ■---.'

I The tall foremast tottered as the batjkstays were burned' through, and then,' with the broad topsails spurciag iorth'.streameifl,; of flame slowly it went oyer, Kissing andserid-; irigup thousands of sparks,; as it fell with a deafening crash across the rail,--into the

Slower now was the progress of the ship, while faster was that of the flames surging aft. ! ....•: 'v, ... :;

Charlotte felt tho scorching heat. She left the wheel for an instant, and by tugging at her helpless husband contrived, assisted by some feeble efforts on his part, to drag him further from the fire. .

Again she sprang to her post at tho wheel. "Charlotte," he moaned, " it is useless. Overboard with the plank and save yourself!"

But sho replied as beforo: " Here 1 remain to either save you, dear John, or to die with you." " But see ! Tho flames will soon be upon you!" '"• " Lot them come. They will nob make me desert my helpless husband." Her voice waß firm and determined, and she continued to work the wheel as she spoke. Through the rolling smoke and the red fire she could not now see tho frigate, but she headed the vessel steadily on what she believed to be the right course. Still came the surging, roaring flame. Soon Charlotte felt it scorching-her cheeks and her hair, but she would notbudge from her post. A leaping column of fire swept nearer to her face, and tho heat of the deck beneath hor feet was almost unbearable.

Volumes of smoke wero coming up all aro.und her through the seams of the planks. " Oh, Charlotte, you will perish!" moaned her suffering husband. " Save yourself, if only to satisfy me !"

But still she replied:"". .'.''-: " I will either save you, dear John, or burn up with you." Volumes of smoke and flames came rolling towards her. In a few. seconds mOre they would have enveloped her form but for half a dozen man-of-war's "men,/who now sprang over the stern-rail.'', ■{", Charlotte and her husband, with the two uncouscious officers and the steward, were quickly passed intd a cutterlyingunder the stern The boat was, then pulled to the -frigate,- which,.-.p&rig.vt»^^^*iert,^uk^£, the captiinfe -wifefcafe;ss§istj&i:&i&\ptfcthan a. quarter, of a mile tiff."'" Th'ei'twd vessels by approadhing each other' so. fast had enabled the people of the war craft to send a boat iii timo for the rescue." ".')!."., , :

The hurt men were cared for, and in a few days they recovered from the, injuries they had received at the hands of the mutineers. The latter were overtaken and, put ,in irons, and the box of gold was restored to Malcolm, who,, on arriving in' New York, had it conveyed to the owners. The captain can never forget the heroic conduct of his wife, who had shown,,him how, on a really trying occasion, a timid woman could be thebravesb of the brave.