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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1922-04-28, Page 7gagi.toe•he METERSISOUS otatalf,V y , • eA'ana nt. by Richard Harding Davis Charles Scribner), • Sans, New Yor. (Onntintled from last week.) XI There was no chance for Clay to speak to Mope again, though he felt the cruelty of having to leave het: with everything.between them allay& interrupted state, But their friends stood about her, interested and. ex- cited over this expedition of emuggl- ed arms, unconscious of the. great miracle that had come into hM life and of his need to speak to and to °touch the woman who .had wrought it. Clay felt how much more bind- ing than the laws of life are the lit- tle social conventions that must be observed at times, even though the heart is leaping with joy or racked with sorrow. He stood within a few feet of the woman he loved, wanting to cry, out at her and to tell her all the wonderful things which he had learned were true for the first time that night, but he was forced instead to keep 'his eyes away from her face and to laugh and answer questions, and at the last to go away content with having held 'her hand for an instant, and to have heard her say "good -luck." MacWilliams called Kirkland to the office at the other end of the Company's wire,- and explained the situation to him. He was instructed to run an engine and freight -cars to a point a quarter of a mile north of • the fort, and to wait there until he heard a locomotive whistle or pistol a shots, when he was to run on to the fort as quickly and as noiselessly as possible. He was also directed to bring with him as many of the Amer- ican workmen as 'he could trust to keep silent concerning the events of the evening. At ten o'clock MacWil- liams 'had the steam up in a loco- motive, and with his only passenger car in the rear„ ran it out of the yard and stopped the train at the point nearest the cars where ten of the 'Vesta's' crew were waiting. The sailors had no idea as to where they were going, or what they were to do, but the fact that they had all been given arms filled them with satis- faction, and they huddled thgetber at the bottom of the car smoking and whispering, and radiant with excite- ment and satisfaction. The train progressed cautiously un- til it was within a half mile below the fort, when Clay stopped it, and, leaving two men on guard, stepped off the remaining distance on the ties, his little band following noiselessly behind him like a procession of ghosts in the moonlight. They halted and listened from time to time as they drew near the ruins, 'but there was no sound except the beating of the waves on the rocks and the rustling of the sea -breeze through the vines and creepers about them. • Clay motioned to the men to sit down, and, beckoning to MacWilliams 1 directed him to go on ahead and re- connoitre. "If youafire we will come up," he said. "Get back Mire as soon as you can." "Aren't you going to make sure first that Kirkland is on the other side of the fort?" MacWilliams whis- pered. Clay replied that he was certain Kirkland had already arrived. "He had a shorter run than ours, and he wired you he was ready to start when we were, didn't he?" Mac- Williams nodded. "Well, then, he is there. I can count on 'Kirk." MacWilliams pulled at hie heavy boots and hid them in the bushes, with his helmet over them th mark the spot. "I feel as though I was going to rob a bank," he chuckled, as he waved his hand and crept,off into the underbrush. For the first few moments the men who were left behind sat silent, but as the minutes wore on, and. Mac- Williams made no sign, they grew restless, and shifted their positions, and began to whisper together, until Clay shook his head at them, and there was silence again until one of them, in trying not to cough, almost strangled, and the others tittered and those nearest pummelled him on the back. Clay pulled out his revolver, and after spinning the cylinder under his finger -nail, put it back in its holder again, and the men, taking this as an encouraging promise of immediate action, began to examine their weap- ons again for the twentieth time, and there' was a chorus of short, muffled clicks as triggers were drawn back and cautiously lowered and levers shot into place and caught again. "OVA One of the men farthest down the track raised his arm, and all turned and half rose as they saw MacWil- liams corning toward them on a run, leaping noiselessly in his stocking feet frozn tie to tie. He dropped on lhis knees between Clay and Lang - ham. "The'guns are there all. right," ha whispered, 'Panting, "and there are only three men guarding them. They erre all sitting on the beach smoking. I hustled' around the fort and came across the whole outfit in the second gallery. It looks like a row of cof- fins, ten coffins and about twenty lit- tle boxes and kegs. Ina sure that means they are corning for them to- ] night. They've not tried to hide them nor to cover them ttp. All we've got to ,do is to walk down on the guards , and tell them to throw up their I hands.,It's too easy." Clay jumped' to his feet. "Come on," he 'said. "Wait till I get my boots on first," begged iMacWillisans. "I wouldn't go over those cinders again in my bare feet for all the buried treasure in the Spanish Main. You can make all the noise you want; the waves will drown it." With MacWilliams chow them the way, die men scrambled up the outer wall of the fort and crossed the moss -covered ramparts at the ruin. Below them, on the sandy beach were three men sitting around driftwood fire that had sunk to a few hot ashes. Clay nodded to Mac- Williams. "You and Ted can have them," he said. "Go with him, Lang - ham." The sailors levelled their rifles at the three lonely figures on the beach as the two boys slipped down the wall and fell on their hands and feet in the sand below, and then crawled up .to within a few feet of where the men were sitting. As MacWilliams noised his revolver one of the three. wile was cooking something over the fire, raised .his head and with a yell of warning flung himself toward his rifle. "Up with your hands!" MacWil- liams shouted in Spanish, and Lang - ham, running in, seized the nearest sentry by the neck and shoved 'his - face down between his knees into the sand. There was a grearrattle of.falling stones and of breaking vines as the sailors tumbled down the side of the fort, and in a half minate's time the three sentries were looking with an- gry, frightened eyes at the circle of armed men around them. "Now gag them," said Clay. "Does anybody here know how to gag a man?" he asked. "I don't." "Better make hint tell what he knows' first," suggested Lanahaln. But the Spaniards were ton terri- fied at what they had done, or at what they had failed to do, to fur- ther commit themselves. "Tie us and gag us," one of them begged. "Let them find us so. It is the kindest thing you can do for us." "Thank you, sir," said Clay. "That is what I wanted to know. They are coming to -night, then. We :moat, hurry." The three sentries were bound and hidden at the base of the wall, with a sailor to watch them. He was a young man with a high sense of the importance of 'his duties, and he en- livened the prisoners by poking them in the ribs whenever they moved'. Clay deemed it impossible 'to signal Kirkland as they -bad arranged to do, as they could not know now how near those who, were coming for the arms might be. So 'MacWilliams was sent back for his engine, and a few minutes later they heard it rumble heavily past the fort on its way to Ming up Kirkland and the flat cars, Clay basplored the lower chambers of the fort and found the boxes as Mac- Will:ams 'had described them. Ten men, with some effort, could lift and carry. the larger coiBn-shaped boxes, and Clay guessed that, granting their contents to be rifles, there must be a hundred pieces in each box, and that there were a thousand rifles in all. They 'had moved half of the 'boxes to the side of the knack When the train of flat cars and the two engines came crawling and twisting toward them, between the, wails of thejungle like a great serpent, with no light about it but the glow from the hot ashes as they fell 'between the rails. Thirty men, equally divided between Irish and negroes fell off the flat care before the wheels had ceased to revolve, and, without a word of di- rection, began loading the heavy box- es on the train and passing the kegs of cartridges from hand to hand and shoulder to shoulder. The sailors spread nut up the road that led to the Capital to give warning in case the enemy approached, but they were recalled before they bad reason to give an alarm, and in a half hour Burke's entire shipment of arms was on the ore' -cars, the men who were to have guardedthem were prisoners in the cab of the engine, and both trains were rushing at full speed to- ward the mines. On arriving there Kiakland's train was switched to the siding that led to the •magazine in which was stored the rackatock and dynamite used in the bating. By midnight all of the boxes were safe- ly under look in the zinc buildite, and the number of the mon who al- ways guarded the place for fear of lire or accident was doubled, while a . •7 ' /42.4(14( A• • ».: I2 AB 's• Nse Raft ' t pfflIger,dattaiMiltalitiMelaraafaitailairealiaftitaffiralaakailifiacal saiaaa a ta4' X elf" 11,"Ik A Irv' milk -Centre 0 CA MOW ifidDICN"4? taken teenally and aote through thei 0.1004pn the feue0Ual'fierffeiits of ithe'gia, tem, true reducing the lonatainadina and Separr normal emachtions. I raggiats. Choulara_ free. Cheney * Co.. Talialea Oldo. ireserve, composed of Kirkland's thirty picked men, were hidden in the surrounding houses and engine sheds, Before Clay left the 'had ono of the boxes broken•open, and found that it hundred Maunlicher rifles. • "Goad!" .he said. "I'd give a thous- and dollars in gold if I could bring Mendoza out here and show him his mini men mimed, with his own Mann- liehers and dying for a shot at him. How old Burke ,will enjoy this when he iears of Br The party from the Palms returned to their engine after many promises of reward to the men for their work "tiveratime," and were soon flying back with their hearts as light as the smoke above them. . MacWilliams slackened- awed as they neared the fort, and moved up cautiously on the scene of their re- cent viotory, but a warning cry from Clay made him bring his engine ta a sharp stop. Many lights were flash- ing over the ruins and they' could see in their reflection the figures of men running over the same walls on which the lizards had basked in undisturbed peace for years. "They look like a swarin of hornets after same. one has chucked a stone through their nest," laughed MacWil- liams. "What shall we do now? Go back, or wait here, or run the block- ade?" "Oh, ride them out," said Lang - ham; "the family's amcious, and I want to, tell them what's happened. Go ahead." Clay turned to the sailors in the car behind them. "Lie down, men," he said. "And dont any of you fire unless I bell you to. Let them do all the shooting. This isn't our fight yet and, besides, they can't hit a loco- motive standing still, certainly not when it's going at full speed." "Suppose they've torn ' 'the track up?" said MacWillianis, gainning. "We'd look sort of silly flyingthrough the air." "Oh, they've not sense enough to 'think of that," said Clay. "Besides, they don't know it was we who took their arms away, yet." MacWilliams opened the throttle gently, and the train moved slowly forward, gaining speed at each rev- olution of the wheels. As 'the noise of its 'approach beat louder and louder on the air, a yell of disappointed rage and execration rose into the night from the fort, and a mass of soldiers swarmed upon the track, leaping up and down and shak- ing the rifles in their hands. "That sounds a little as though they thought we had something to do with said MacWilliams, "If they don't look out some one will get hurt." There was a flash of fire from where the mass of men stood, fol- lowed by a dozen more flashes, and the bullets rattled on the smokestack and upon the boiler of 'the engine. "Low bridge." cried 'MacWilliams, with a fierce chuckle. "Now, watch He threw open the throttle as far as it would go, and the engine ans- wered to his touch like a race -horse to the whip. It seemed to spring from 'the track into the air. It quiv- ered and shook like a live thing, and as it shot in between the soldiers they fell back on either side, and MacWilliams leaned far out of his cab window shaking his fist at them. "You got left, didn't you?" he shouted. "Thank you for the Mann - Halters." As the locomotive rushed out of the jungle, and passed the point on the road nearest to the Palms, Mac- Williams loosened three long tri- umph -ant shrieks from his whistle and the sailors stood up and cheered. "Let thein shout," cried Clay. 'Everybody will have to know now. It's begun at last,' he said, with a 'laugh of relief. "And we took the first trick," said MacWilliams, 'as he ran his engine slowly into the railroad yard. The whistles of the engine and the shouts of the sailors had carried far through the silence of the night, and as the men came hurrying across the lawn ,th the Palms, they saw all of those who had been left behind grouped on the veranda awaiting them. "Do the conquering heroes come?', shouted King. "They do," young Langham cried, joyously. "We've got all their arms and they sho't at us. We've been un- der fire!" "Are any of you hurt?" asked Miss Langham, anxiously, ns she and the others hurried down the steps to wel- come them, while those of the Vesta's crew who had been left behind look- ed at 'their comrades with envy. "We have been so frightened and anxious about you," said Miss Lang - ham. Hope held out her hand to Clay and greeted him with a quiet, happy &mile, that was in contrast to the excitement and confusion that reign- ed about them. Everybody knows that in Canada there are more Templeton's Rheumatic Capsules Sold than all other Rheumatic Remedies combined for Rheu- matism, Neuritis, Neuralgia, Sciatica, Lumbago, etc. Many doctors prescribe them, most druggists sell them. Write for free trial to Templeton, Toronto. Sold by E. Umbeek. In Walton by W. G. Nod. e reView -wee aleapf thei9; *ed bY a Bea inee/a9i''', in 'Ithelf 4. it was a fete litAr Oreatter.r. w"ta unwitiffatii Witata oaltint fer that, haw he 1*! 't,to rOie rairchantaliM 01341; 'Ibecg"° weveev ters passed beevily qe9003W‘ 0 044' 0,4 Anebox,:, A,itlie Warehouse* AIXti a le to **ilea rent froM,MW 9 41 „ A thin . 04.4f Smoke from the Alga :At•,noon young panel= Ordered of the. Wleata' showed that= her the beat three horses 'in the stable fires were'huaniag, and the fact tbat be brought to 'the door of the. ahe rode ow single anchor chain rims for Clay, . end Beamed to promise that at any mo- inmself. 'Clay's last War& rk49$ meat s he mightailip away to .aea. were to have dm yacht in • teedine00,, As Clay was finishing his coffee• to put to -sea when he telephoned two notes w,erre brought to him fro ra bim to do so, and he adviaed the mesaengars who had ridden out -that women to have their &ewes and morning, and who sat in their sad- more valuaae possessions packed dies looking at the armed force a- ready to be 'taken on board. and the °Mee with amused "Don't you think I might see the gence. review if I went on hainiaback?" One note was from Mendoza, and Hope asked. "I could .get away then said .he had decided not to call out (Continued on page 6) the regiment at the mines, as 'he fear- ' ed their long absence from drill would make them compare unfavorably with vitagtheic•gwelosed and dese Y‘,et." Oval It, *loot; '40tet est Wendt ef'T Et, deweit money en1 our cliakaPit tv., mil. 'Write to-do 4o he nearest M blolseas, Rob for in hlflat1W1 , , IIRANCIIiiS IN THIS DISTRICT:, Bineedeld $t. Marys lIdr Exeter Citoton 1100001 '411404 their comrades• and do him more harm than creitit."He is afraid of them since last night," was Clay's comment, as he passed the note on to MacWilliams. "He's quite right, they might do bim , The second note was from Stuart. • He said the city was already wide awake end restless, but whether this was due to the fact that it was al fete day, or to some other cause which would disclose itself later, he could not tell. Madame Alvarez, the afternoon before, while riding in the I Alameda, had been insulted by a group of men around a cafe, who had risen and shouted after her, one of them throwing a wine -glass into her lap as she rode. past. BM troopers had charged the sidewalk and carried off six of the min to the camel. He and Rojas had urged the President to make every preparation for ha - mediate flight, to have the horses put to his travelling carriage, and had warned him when at the review to take up his 'position at the point nearest to Ms own body -guard, and as far sa possible from the troops led by Mendoza. Stuart added that he had absolute eonfldence in the former. The policeman who had at- tempted to carry Burke's note . to Mendoza had confessed that he was the only traitor in the camp, and that he had tried to work on his comrades withoutsuccess. Stuart begged Clay to join him as quickly as possible. Clay • went up the hill to the Palms, and after consulting' with Mr. Langham, dictated an order to Kirkland, instructing him th call the men together and to point out to them how much better their condi- tion had been since they had entered the mines, _and to promise them an Ciga reties ked 10 For 1P 41. 1 7 1. Winthrop Asphalt Tapered Slates are the big butt Asphalt Slates. They are the only As- phalt Slates that give a shadow line, which so improves the appearance of a roof — something architects have long wanted is Asphalt Slates. •i,faaa „ataaaitatitaaaa,...- • 2. They are scientific- ally constructed. They are tapered. Being thicker at one end, the butt of the overlapping slate lies fiat on the up- per part of the slate in the row below. No rain or snow can accumulate underneath — wind can- not get under them and blow them off. 3. A glance at the illus- tration wilt show another very decided advantage of the taper—great wear resistance. 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