THE POST OF DEATH.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 206, 4 June 1887, Page 6

THE POST OF DEATH.

B\ r Rufus Hale.

CnjiRLOTTE Malcolm, wife of John Malcolm, a young boa captain, was a gentle } fragile Avoman, who would start a\ itli alarm at Lho 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, his timid little wife said she must and would go with him, " What ! yotci Why, my poor child, you would faint away the moment the snip began to roll," he cried. " Well, you would be near to keep me from failing, if I did," she replied. " But you need not be afraid, I will control myself." ffe objected to her going, but she coaxed and pleaded, and when at last she began to cry, he was not the sort of man to hold out longer. In fact, the only ground for his refusal was her exee^sh c timidity ; but he 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 the 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 feelintr, she remained apparently unmoved. in good weather she would oome 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. She liked this, and her husband was surprised at the progress his pupil made. Her practice at the helm soon enabled her to steer, with a light wind, almost as well as the sailors. The latter were not exactly the sort of men the captain would have chosen had he picked out his own crew. They had been rather hastily collected by an agent of the OAvners, and Avere all lazy, sullen felloAvs, neither A T ery quick nor very skilful at their duties. Amongst them Avere half a dozen fiercelooking Lascars, not one of Avhom could handle a royal properly without assistance. They grumbled when they Avere set to Avork, and never seemed cheerful except when they Avere eating their dinners. Charlotte, Avho was a kind little Avoman, Avould often persuade her husband to send hot dumplings, ginger-cakes and butter to the foremast hands. They did not seem particularly grateful to her for these attentions, as some sea-faring menAvouldhaA r ebeen; nevertheless, they refrained from grumbling or swearing Avnenever she was within hearing. Finally the vessel arrived at Sydney, Australia, and there Malcolm received for the OAvners, after disposing of his cargo, about £10,000 Avorth of gold. Then the ship sailed on the homeAvard passage. One afternoon, the captain went doAvn into the cabin to look over his accounts, leaving his two officers — the first and second mates — and the steward on deck. His Avife Avas also there. All at once he heard a rush of footsteps and the sound of loud A T oices ; nexfc there was a noise as of several bodies falling to the deck. Suspecting foul play, he ran toAvards 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 Avant to take any lives. All Aye Avant is the box of gold, and then we're off where Aye think you'll never find us. If you quietly let us tie your hands and feet, Aye Avon't even hurt? you ; but, if you resist, it'll be the worst for you !" Malcolm's only reply Avas the pointing of his revolver at the speaker. He pulled the trigger, but the weapon hung fire. One of the mutineers knocked it from his grasp. He seized a heavy chair to Avarcf oft the bIoAVS of his assailants, but they smashed the chair to pieces, and Iheir handspikes and croAvbars fell fast upon his head and shoulders, until he sank down, a bleeding mass, at their, feet. I "Lively, lads, and hurry up the gold !" came a voice from above at that moment. "A sail has just hove in sight out of the mist, off the lee bow. It's a man-of-war 1" The four men found the box of gold, in the captain's room, and. it Avas conveyed on deck. There, abaft the mizzen-mast, lay the second and third mates, unconscious and bleeding, tied hand and foot. Not far from them, fastened to the round-house with a rope, was the captain's Avife who, in^a heart-rending voice, had

fb^en calling out to the mutineers not to. hurt he? 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 1 the Columbia, on the starboard, tack. ' f ' i 1< ■ They held a brief consultation, and; concluded to set fire to the ship before they left her^ so there their would be no one " to tell tales." ' f Not a quarter of a mile to windward ' of them was a fog, which would conceal them,, if they 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 bag of gold in it, and then threw the ship up into the wind, after which 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 which she was fast, and by a quick jerk she pulled it oft % . Her husband, fit the same moment, crawled upon deck, covered with blood. The exertion, in, his condition, had been too much for him, and he rolled over on his side, unable to uaove 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 : " Save yourself, Charlotte. There is a plank by the rail. Throw it over ; then jump after it, and hang on. Never mind me, bub leave me, for I am unable to move." "No," she answered, firmly. "I will save you, too, or I will perish with you." She looked at the two officers and the steward. They were still senseless. Whatever was to be done, she 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 fabler through the parting decks, amidships. "You will only sacrifice yourself for nothing." I "Keep quiet, dear John, and don't worry," she answered. " Hero lam and here I shall remain, either to save you or perish. " Loud roared the flames. They crackled, they hissed and snapped, and rose high in air, fast eating their way aft. Catching in the fore and main .shrouds, up they went, in red, wreathing billows twining about the spars and leaping towards the sails. Tho whole forward part of the ship was now a mass of fire. The tall foremast totteredas the backstays were burned through, and then, with the broad topsails spurting forth streamers of llamo slowly it went over, hissing and sending up thousands of sparks, as it fell with a deafening crash across the l'ail, into the sea. Slower now was the progress of the ship, while faster was that of t the flames surging aft. Charlotte felt the scorching heat. She left the wheel for an instant, and by tugging .at her helpless husband contrived, afesi&tod by some feeble efforts on his part, to drag him further from the fire. Again she sprang to her post at the wheel. " Charlotte," he moaned, "it is useless. Overboard with the plank and sa^ c your self !" But she replied as before : I " Here 1 remain to either save you, dear John, or to die with you." " But see ! The flames will soon be upon you !" " Let them come. They will not make me deseri my helpless husband." Her voice was firm and determined, and she continued to work the wheel a» she Bpoke. Through the rolling smoke and the red fire she could not iioav &cc the frigate, but she headed the vessel steadily on what she v 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 not budge from her post. A leaping column of fire swept nearer to her face, and the heat of the deck beneath her feet was almost unbearable. Volumes of smoke were coming up all around 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 into a cutter lying under the stern. The boat was then pulled to the frigate, which, owing to the exertions of the captain's wife at the wheel, was less than a quarter of a mile off. The Wo vessels by approaching each other so fast had enabled the people of the war craft to send a boat in time for the rescue. The hurt aaen were cared for, and in a few days fchey 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 the bravest of the brave.