The boy travellers in the Far East : adventures of two youths ... - Library

396
ENRAGED COOLIE.
THE BOY TRAVELLERS.
" Please tell ns about that," said
Fi'ed. Frank echoed the request, and
their informer nodded his consent.
" The ship had taken its cargo at
Macao, and we went out to sea with a
line breeze. We had over a thousand
' passengers ' in the hold, and onl)' a
small number were to be allowed on
deck at one time, as several ships had
been captured by the coolies, and we
did not intend to be taken if we could
help it. Two days after we started
there was trouble among the coolies,
and several of them ran about the
space below-deck and threatened to set
the ship on fire. They did build a fire
of some of the dry boards used for mak-
ing their sleeping-berths; but we cov-
ered the hatches with tarpaulins, and
held the smoke down there, so that the coolies were nearly snjothered and
compelled to pnt the fire out themselves.
" The hatchway's were covered with gratings to admit of a free circu-
lation of air, and they were so firmly fastened that the coolies could not
disturb them. Several men were on deck when the trouble began, and
one of them tried to get through the grating to join his companions. He
managed to squeeze his body through the opening, and then discovered
too late tfiat he had a fall of nearly
thirty feet before him, as the hatch
of the lower deck was open. He
struggled a moment, then dropped
to the lower hold, and was killed by
the fall.
" It became necessary to fire on
the mutineers, and for this we raised
the tarpaulins over one of the hatch-
es. The smfike poured out in a dense
mass and almost sujothered ns, and
we could only see the forms of the
men veiy dimly, like a ship in a fog.
We fired, and continued to fire till A 1>EAL>LV F.VLL.