AN ADVENTUROUS VOYAGE.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVIII, Issue 155, 30 June 1917, Page 15

AN ADVENTUROUS VOYAGE.

CAPTAIN FACES MUTINY AND MCRDER. ! When Captain Emil Piltz left Honolulu on December U at the wheel of his little eighty- - ton schooner Luka, bound for the Cook Croup to barter for copra, saya a San Francisco paper, his hair was brown. To-day is is snow white, and the waterfront is ' abuzz with the story of how he brought the schooner home single-handed In the face of death at the hands of a murderous crew. More than that, the old trader brought home the IO.OOOdoI In gold with which he had started out, and for which every member of his crew but one had planned his murder. Matuu, the Hawaiian mute, who led tbe. mutiny, and his under lieutenant Nicholas I Bilbea, a Filipino, are under arrest. With I the cook and two ordinary seaman nothing so far has been done. LIQUOR CACSRD TItOUBLK. On the long southward voyage trouble was manifest from the outset. Matuu, who for three years had been Plltz's mute nnd before that his trusted servant, began grumbling because no liquor was served, and carried his dissatisfaction to the forecastle. "A nasty mess." Captain Plltz said, and dealt with them after the inaunur «.r the old school skipper- a blow on the jaw with in belaying pin. This bred quick obedience | for the time, and in turn Fanning. Pearh.vu, Kukahanga and Hanahlkl Islands, mere dots slumbering In the South Pacific, were passed, and the schooner laid a course for Karotonga, 2500 miles south of Hono-' lulu. In the Cook Group. There trouble began to pile upon the skipper, already worn by the experience of the long voyage south. In the first place, because of the war, the British Government denied him a license to buy copra. Then he took Matuu to task for his past disobedience, and the mate stole up on the poop while Plltz was sleeping an.l nearly beat him to death. The same night the mate deserted the ship, taking with him the entire crew but Andy Kalehua, who stuck with the captain and the captain's dog. Sweetheart. The following day the authorities .brought them back, aud the I.uka broke anchor and started homeward. But iii prowling about the cabin Matuu, the mate, had discovered the strong box with IO.OOOdoI. It was more money than the tricky Hawaiian had ever seen — and it was worth the taking. Mnttm began to plan. Twice he stole aft to the captain's cabin with knife upraised ready to kill him. and then a sudden footstep ou the deck* would make him steal back, to wait for another day. DIDN'T KNOW OF PLOT. 'Ihe day was January 28. The watches had just heeu changed and old Piltz, ignorant of the plot against his life, came up rrom the cabin to take a turn around the deck before retiring. As his head appeared ! above the companlonway Matuu sprang at I him with a long, keen kuife. struck, missed, slipped on the deck, and fell In that ! moment the old captain lied to ~i 3 cabin. I Matuu and the Filipino sprang after him, but too late. All night long they dared him 10 come out. But ipiltss refused, and lay down to 6leep with Sweetheart on gtmrd and a belaying pin at his side. At dawn the wind freshened and h e went on de-k -but iv each hand he held a belaying i 'pin. As he ascended the poop the mutineers rushed him. but the hardy old trader with his .back to the charthouse let fly with one belaying pin aud knocked Matuu down, while the rest of his followers stood cowed in the waist of the ship, and finally retreated to the forecastle. Then the mate turned his attention to Kalehua. the faithful Hawaiian boy, aud several times threatened to taie liiL life if he did not join them in their mutiny to capture the gold. But Kalehua was a "sticker," too. Thus it was that the two of them, Kalehua and the skipper, held at bay the crew with belaying pins. Through the long sunny days they stood guard on the poop' one of them at the wheel, the other beside Sweetheart, waiting any advance the mutineers might make. And through the warm I,lack tropic nights they followed the same programme, their eyes red from lack of sleep, faint for want of fond-food that they dare not touch, for fear that Matuu had poisoned it. One day dragged by. two days three, four. Then suddenly Kalehua. on watch. .-.aw the green shores of Peurhyn lifting suddenly in the sea ahead. So weak that he could scarcely stnnd. he turned over the wheel to Captain Piltz. and two hours later the I.uka. her decks cleared of mutii neers, rode easily at anchor off the outer [ shoal.