Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 2.djvu/67

Rh in that tub.' He knew our story down to the time we left Otaheite, and had brought off the rest of the men. He said he had crossed the Atlantic many times without encountering so much bad weather as in the forty-seven days between Otaheite and Valparaiso."

The little cutter which had performed so wonderful a voyage was the object of much interest at the mole, where many curious people came to view her. She was eventually sold and her crew separated. No more was seen of Captain Clarke for many years, when Lemont, then a captain himself, put into Valparaiso, and on walking up the mole met and recognized him by a peculiar way he had of wiping his nose by an upward move of his forefinger.

It might well be supposed that Lemont had now exhausted adventure for one year, yet it was not so. A vessel having come in which needed recalking, having been damaged off Cape Horn, the ship chandler employed him to make some purchase-block straps, which could not be had in Valparaiso, to strap the vessel, offering $10 per day and board for his services. On the third day, while sitting at dinner with the chandler, the captain of the vessel, whose name was Paddock, entered and was invited to partake of the meal, but declined, and went to the desk of the American Consul, where he exchanged a few words, then advanced to the desk of his deputy and stabbed him to the heart. Quickly turning to Captain Brown of the coasting vessel Fourth of July, he stabbed him also fatally, and before he was finally knocked down by a stone hurled at him by a native, had killed three other persons and wounded seven, all of which tragedy was witnessed by Lemont.

Paddock being an American, the murders created a strong feeling against the nation, making it dangerous for United States citizens to be upon the streets at any