this first expedition, and a second, much the same in make-up as the first, was dispatched when the "Andromache" anchored off the Arroa Islands, and it was here that in a succession of hand-tohand fights of the most desperate kind the American sailor earned Chads's eulogium.

The pinnace had separated from the cutters and the jolly-boat and entered a small creek which proved to have no outlet save the one by which the pinnace entered. A short way up stream, round a bend, two large proas were encountered, fully manned and armed, and a sharp fire of grape and langrage saluted the pinnace. The first discharge bowled Gore, in command, over and knocked Reed's cap off; but, although the two proas swept directly towards the pinnace with the intention of boarding, Reed held his fire till a collision seemed unavoidable. But in the nick of time, just when the gun could rake the foremost proa end by end, the cool sailor trained and fired. The slaughter was tremendous. The proa slewed around and the pinnace crashed into her, cutting her clean in two amidships and the water was alive with her crew. With astonishing rapidity Reed had reloaded with langrage, and as the second proa came on he raked her about three-fourths on end for end.

Just then a fresh danger threatened, for the second proa passed so close that at least twenty Malays were able to leap aboard the pinnace. The fight was short and sharp. O'Callaghan, a middy, second in command, reported afterwards that Reed had saved his life by intercepting a kris-thrust meant for him while himself hotly engaged with a Malay. Evidently the American was not satisfied with one antagonist. This first boarding attack repelled, the proa was boarded, and here occurred one instance of Reed's singular bravery. Malay, as he jumped overboard, grappled a seaman whose name is unrecorded and dragged him over with him. Now a Malay is as much at home in the water as a shark, and every whit as cruel and desperate. Reed heard the sailor's yell, and in two steps was over after the pair. O'Callaghan's account is as follows:

A

"The three were separate on reaching

the surface, and the Malay made for the man he had dragged over. But Reed was close by, with no weapon but his clasp-knife, which was as yet unopened. Raising himself in the water, Reed dealt the savage a blow with his fist that turned the man over. Following up his advantage, he grappled him around the body with his left arm, pinioning the Malay's right arm and kris and got a death-hold on the throat with the right hand. Then ensued a short but awful struggle, during which the Malay was slowly but surely choked to death. It was a strange combat, but thrilling beyond words. It was white pluck and strength against savage desperation, and the Malay went under."

The scene when Reed got back to the vessel was enthusiastic enough. Reed's name was slated for special mention in the dispatch sent to Calcutta announcing the first encounter with the pirates, and a purse was given him by the deputy commissioner accompanying the force. From this on ward through the four months that the expedition lasted Reed's name occurs constantly in Chads's and O'Callaghan's letters. In attacking three proas, in a boat expedition, and being forced to land in pursuit of the panleemahs or captain of the piratical craft, he is reported to have captured one of them alive in a hand-to-hand fight. When asked why he risked his life in endeavoring to take the desperado alive instead of cutting him down, his answer was as follows:

"I saw the fellow stuffing a lot of things into his loin-cloth as we boarded the third proa, and I noticed the peculiar shape of his kris and a broad gold bangle, and taking him to be a chief, I guessed he'd be more valuable alive than dead."

To the credit of Reed's perspicacity it must be said that commissions from the rajahs of Rhio, Johore, and Salangore were found in the waist-band of this chief, thus proving to the satisfaction of the Calcutta authorities that the native rajahs were accessories before the deed of all the piratical acts that had for years made trading along the Singapore coast a hazardous occupation.

The last thing that can be learned of Reed is that on the pay-off and discharge of the "Andromache's" crew he wan

dered north west. Chads would have taken him home as body-servant, but apparently such a life was too mild for his spirit. What became of him, where he laid his bones, or what fresh deeds of valor fell to his lot before joining his fellow-berserkers in Valhalla cannot be recorded, but if ever a fair share of fight ing, and magnificent fighting at that, fell to one man's lot, it fell to the share of the unknown, but dauntless Yankee, Reed.

Messrs. L. Prang & Co., of Boston, seem to have surpassed all former efforts in their issue this year of Easter Cards and Booklets. Never before were the designs so graceful and artistic or the colorings so beautiful and dainty.

Curious Rocks in Kansas.

(From the St. Louis Globe-Democrat.)

CASTLE ROCK STICKS UP ONE HUNDRED

FEET IN A LEVEL PLAIN.

ONE of the curious things that impress the traveler over the prairies of Northwest Kansas is the prevalence of strange rock-formations that are as wild and weird as any found in the mountain regions. Separated, as they are, from the ranges of hills hundreds of miles to the west, they are the more surprising, and few are aware of their existence. The State of Kansas, so far from being a plane, is really an inclined parallelogram set on a steep grade. The western end is 3000 feet higher in the air than the eastern, and the traveler finds that he is all the time getting farther from the vegetation of the lower regions as he goes west, until he has come to the foot-hills of the Rockies. That this section was at one time the bed of an ancient sea is probable; indeed, it is manifest from the appearance of great basins that are not connected with any other depressions on the plains. Scattered among these are the rock-formations that have been the awe-inspiring features of the landscape for the Indians and a never failing source of interest to the white man. So strange are they that it almost seems that they must have been the work of the Titans of old rather than the forces of nature working in a simple and ordinary man

ner.

Take Castle Rock, out in Gove County, on the very outskirts of the plains, where the rock rises over 100 feet from the dead level of the prairie and is a landmark for miles. The settlers go there for miles to spend the day climbing the smooth sides. "It seems like being back in the old mountain regions of the East," said one of the residents of this strange section, "and I like to go and look at it, just to see something different from the everlasting level lands." The rock is the only one for scores of miles and is almost the only portion of land in the county that is above the level of the plain. It is said that the Indians had it as a council rock, and that many of the desperate deeds done by the Apaches were planned under its shadow. Geologists say that this is one of the peaks of a mountain range that once was in existence in this part of the West.

But what shall they say of Rock City, in the edge of Ottawa County? This is probably the most curious arrangement of stones to be found in the whole prairie region. If one approaches it in the evening he would feel sure that it was the home of a race of gnomes that had fashioned for themselves the mound-like structures that are the semblance of dwellings. Set among gently sloping hills, they are scattered in a quaint disorder over several acres, and are in size from the small blocks the shape of a bushel-measure to the round, tent-like masses as large as the huts of the Icelander. They are all water-washed and have the marks of waves on their sides. One of the illusions of their position is the one that they have dropped down from the sky and have not been formed from the usual course of events. Twenty miles southeast, in the edge of this county (Dickinson), are a similar series of rocks set on the tops of hills. The hills are the tallest in the vicinity, and after one climbs them it is passing strange to find on the tops the large rocks that have no connection with the surrounding section's landscape. Curious features of these rocks are the depressions that are found in them, as if great drops of rain had fallen in the soft mass of molten slag and left their impress.