A BROAD HINT.
Familial ity with modern wea"on.i h.-.s not brc«l contempt in the n.iuds of a certain cruiser on tlie African coast a few years ago, the followin •; incident occurred, which went far ;n impressing the natives concerned with a sense of the might of the British navy. A hill trib: of Arabs had been continually .molesting "iritnJlies" of the coast villages, so it was deemed advisabla to teach the troublesome hiilmcn a lesson. After several skirmishes ashore, a number of influential chiefs of ths
•vrj auding tribe fell into the hands oi the bluejackets, and were taken on Lourd the cruiser.
What their expectations were regarding the fate awaiting them is not known, but, as is generally the aas-.s with such captives, they • were treated with every consideration, the authorities probably thinking to attain more influence amongst the tvibe by friendly demonstration to its tliicfs than by harsh methods. So the captives were shows over the :.hip by the first lieutenant, who sro'.te both Arabic and Swahili. But the officer did not seem quite satisfied with the impression he was making, so he showed them the guns, explaining the loading, etc., finally pausing behind a 6-inch weapon .vhich was noted , for smashing everything breakable in its vicinity when fired. He had his audience all jabbering and gesticulating around the breech, 'when suddenly there was a tremendous c:a=h, and, amidst broken glass and crockery in the cook's galley opposite, subdued blessings from an indignant cook, and ths downfall of everything movable overhead, the party of Arabs, scared out of their v.its scattered to any available part of the ship, falling over obstacles, to th2 huge delight of the ship's company. The shin's goat, disturbed froni a uap by the crash) and seeing • strangers flying in all directions, evidently blamed them for" the rumpus, so added to the fun by cbas'ing and butting every dusky form within reach.
At length the poor fellows were paciiied to a certain extent, and were regaled with lime juice and biscuits on the quarter-deck, but th;y after that gave ths big guns a wide berth., casting furtive glr.nccs at them occasionally. When tliey had recovered from the shock a little they were shown what a big g">in could do, their attention being called to a prommsnt rock well to seaward of the ship, the top of which had been blown clean oS by the shell they had heard fired.
Before taking them round the ship "No. 1" had had the gun loaded'and trained, and when they were deeply interested in his vivid explanations he simply fired ths gv.n as the most convincing illustration of what they might expect if they d'id not behave. The chiefs were liberated soon afterwards, and, suffice to say, their tribe, at any rate, gave the cruiser's crew no more trouble.
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King Country Chronicle, Volume VIII, Issue 663, 25 April 1914, Page 7
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471A BROAD HINT. King Country Chronicle, Volume VIII, Issue 663, 25 April 1914, Page 7
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