RARE ADVENTURE

Evening Star, Issue 20687, 9 January 1931, Page 11

RARE ADVENTURE

SAILING WITH PIRATES TALE OF CHINA SEAS SAVAGE SPLENDOUR. “I believe that I have glimpsed a pace of tho Book of Almost Unbelievable Adventures—Unbelievable, because it,has all happened in our times. I expected to find many strange and perhaps also some gruesome things in Southern China. I found there displayed tho naked passions of elemental humanity. And tho savageness—and splendour—of it almost stunned me. This Mr .Aleko Lilius writes to a book * I Sailed With Chinese Pirates.’ Such adventures as he describes can have befallen few white men in this twentieth century. Ho claims to be the only white man who lias put to sea with tho pirates of Southern China. He was taken prisoner, ami was confined to a Chinese temple for three days before rescue came; ho was enrolled as a blood-brother of ono of tho pirate brotherhoods after having undergone some grisly rites of initiation; and, finally, while transporting loot, he was attacked by a rival band of pirates. His Chinese servant was killed, and he was lucky to escape with fractured ribs and severe bruises. Mr Lilius embarked upon bis adventure in search of “copy.” Bias Bay, the homo of the most infamous gang of high sea pirates that infest the coast of Southern China, is only sixty-five miles from Hong Kong. CAREFUL PREPARATION. “Tho pirates undertake their jobs after weeks of preparation,” he says. During this time they travel back and forth as passengers aboard tho steamers which they have selected for robbing. Finally, after supplies of arms and ammunition have been smuggled on board and the ship is well out at sea, at a given signal from the leader they attack the crew. One group storms the bridge, another attacks the engine room, and a third keeps the passengers at bay. Tho piracy invariably occurs near Bias Bay, whither the ship is brought and tho cargo unloaded into waiting sampans and junks. The rich passengers, both white and Chinese, are taken ashore to be held for ransom. During the last ten years an average of three ships a year bearing British or foreign flags have been pirated by this gang. How many Chinese ships and j links they have attacked is not known. During" their years of more or less undisturbed buccaneering the pirates have developed an intelligence service which supplies them with correct information regarding ships’ situations and their cargoes—whether they are carrying

gold, silver specie, bar silver, or other valuable cargo, such as opium or silk.” THE DOG MAN. In his search lor first-hand information concerning the pirates Mr Lilius, who is a Finn, had many opportunities of gaining knowledge of the infinite cruelty of the pirates. There is, for instance the story of Ko Leong-tai, the Dog Man. “ lu the village of Chung iving, far up the Yangtze Kiver, lived a very rich merchant named Ko Leong-tai. Since it is in the programme of every wealthy Chinese merchant to bo kidnapped sooner or later, there is always a certain sum of money laid aside to be used as ransom. This fact the pirates know well. So it happened that Ko Leong-tai fell into the hands of pirates. Tho merchant did not worry overmuch, but promptly sent one of the bandits to his brother with a letter asking that tho requested sum bo paid. Ho was certain that tho matter would bo attended to without delay. “ But it was not. Tho ‘brother decided that it would be to his interest to seo to it that Ko Leong-tai remained a captive. So ho appropriated all tho unfortunate man’s property and wrote a letter to tho bandits requesting them to keep his brother a prisoner, and promising to pay a certain monthly sum for his upkeep. Ko Leong-tai was then put into a bamboo cage just largo onougn for him to squat within. Tho top of tho cage was set upon greased upright columns, so that its entire weight rested upon poor Ko Lcong-tai’s shoulders. Any attempt upon his part to shift his position only resulted in bringing tho pressure down upon some other part of his body. “ For fourteen years this unfortunate merchant sat m his cage. In tho meantime his body grew deformed and hideous, and when ho was released during the revolution which overthrew tho power of tho mandarins ho could not stand upright, but walked along on all fours liko a dog. He is still alive to« day, and he still walks on all fours—this dog-man. But during these fourteen years ho had time enough to plot revenge on his greedy brother. Tho dog-man was said to have joined a gang of pirates somewhere around Canton.” A DRAMATIC MEETING. A few months later Mr Lilius ami his servant Weng escaped from Dio clutches of the pirate Wong Kiu. “ Round the first bend of tho river, hidden behind some huge rocks ami overhanging vegetation, was a junk just lifting its anchor. There was a row’ of cannons grinning out through the portholes liko angry watchdogs. Nobody moved to help us on board, and nobody spoke to ns. Tho silence was almost shrieking, t There were three women on board, all heavily armed. I climbed up first. Somehow 1 had a feeling that I was having my last sight of daylight. Tho pirate in tho cabin doorway ordered me to hurry up, and pushed mo ahead of him. . . . Tho cabin was dark. At first I could not see anyone, hut in a few seconds my eyes became accustomed to tho poor light. A man crouched on a low chair, knees bent up under his chin, and long, monkey-liko arms clasping Ids legs. I smiled a greeting. It was hard to smile, for I saw the man looking at mo appraisingly. His face was not hard; the eyes were rather sad. His body wars terribly thin. Ho gazed at mo for fully five minutes, and I. did nob care to' break tho silence. It was almost hypnotic. Finally the man spoke to Weng in Chinese. It was tho most unpleasant voice 1 have ever heard. It was not human. It was liko a whisper with a crow’s cawing. “ Was it true that I wanted a job ns a bodyguard, and would I take any kind of a job and do everything he wanted mo to do in any circumstances;’’ L said ‘ Y'cs.’ “Had I ever killed a man? I tried to smile, and answered that perhaps I had, perhaps 1 had not. Would I bo afraid to kill a. man? ‘ Not it that man made mo angry, but I don’t think I would ever murder in cold blood, j. would kill him in self-defence, perhaps. In fact, it is more'than likely that 1 would.’ PRETENCE. “My inquisitor frowned. Then ho asked mo how much money I would want for killing a man in ‘ self-de-fence,’ Something in Ids expression told mo that it would be more than wisdom for mo to seem to put aside my scruples. I spoke up with all the boldness I did not feel. ‘All the money you care to give me, a lot of food, and permission to quit the job after a certain time.’ Then that terrible voice cawed again. ‘Ha, Ha, Ha! No can quit.’ “ I told Weng to ask what I.lm old fellow’s name was. The man did not answer at once. Then turning to me, he said: ‘My name is—Ko Leong-tai.’ Ko Leong-tai! The dogman. I stretched out my hand and smiled and said that 1 hoped that In; was all right, Then 1 added- ‘As I know who von

are, I can guess what work you would ask me to do. Am I right in stating that you have a brother in Macao who is tremendously rich and whom you do not particularly love? Shall I continue?’ Ko Loon-tai made his impatient gesture. There was no need to continue.” Perhaps Mr Lilius would not have been so bold could lie have seen Ko Loong-tai more clearly, as ho did later. “He was carried on the arms of his two retainers. His spider-liko body and his horrible face were terrible to look upon in broad daylight. His head was devoid of hair, a huge flat nose spread over his face, and one tooth protruded in the middle of his month. Ho had no neck, and his monkey-liko arms were flung around his carriers’ shoulders.”

The two chief pirates mofc by Mr Lilius were Wong Kiu and Wong Topin. A missionary described Wong Kiu ‘‘ as a middle-aged, gentle, welldressed Chinese. The gentle ‘ sky pilot’ had also told mo that Wong Tophi, tho second ‘ big stick ’ in the neighbourhood, was a man of terrifying appearance, a rustic and a ruffian, smelling of opium, using vile language, killing prisoners for fun, and eating their hearts and livers to acquire their strength.” SMALL THINGS.

Mr Lilius found that tho descriptions were most inaccurate. Wong Kiu treated him badly, and he barely escaped with his life, but Wong To-pin behaved, according to his lights, like a gentleman. ‘ ‘ I sat down in Wong Topin’s guestroom on one of his carved blackwood chairs. All tho furniture was of blackwood. Tho floor was of red brick. In one corner of the room some kind of compass hung suspended on a thread from tho ceiling. It was a queer looking square _ board with Chinese characters inscribed all around the needle.

“What is this?” I queried. “Wong To-pin answered; ‘This is tho thing which tells my luck—whether it is good or bad. When yon cam© hero several days ago the needle told me my luck was good.’ “I looked at him surprised. ‘Well,’ I hesitated. ‘ suppose the needle had told yon that your luck was bad?’ “‘Then your luck would have been bad, too.’

“Thus things depend on small matters. But it would he unfair to suggest that tho conduct of Wong To-pin was any less gentlemanly because it depended upon fortuitous circumstances. Do not all things depend on small matters?” Mr Lilius, at least, has every reason to believe that thov do. His life depended upon “ small matters ” many times during his adventures.