Pittston Gazette

              ?• ■ * - - V ' "* jt J$KtalDlifthC'«l 1850. I VUi. XVli, No. 41. f' PITTSTON, LUZERNE COUNTY, PA., FRIDAY, JULY 2, 1897. Oldest Newspaper in the Wyoming: Valley. A Weekly Local and Family Journal. I i#l .OO per Year l in Advxnce. coach turned over upon its side, and my weapon was jerked out of my grasp by the shock. Before 1 could recover myself the door was burst open and 1 was dragged by the heels on to the road. (food broadcloth coat like a respectauie father of a family, and save his brown leggings there was nothing to indicate a life among the mountains. His surroundings, too, corresponded with himself, and beside his snuff box upon the table there stood a great brown book, which looked like a commcrcial ledger. Many other books were ranged along a plank between two powder casks, and there was a great litter of papers, some of which had verses scribbled upon them. All this I took in while he, leaning indolently back in his chair, was listening to the report of his lieutenant. (laving heard everything he ordered the crippie to be carried out again, and 1 was left with only three guards waiting to hear my fate, [le took up his pen and, tapping his forehead with thC* handle of it, he pursed up his lips ked out of the corner of his eyes at the xDf of the grotto "And I only beg." saM I, "that yon do not commemorate it in verse." I had one or two other little ironies to otter, but he cut 1110 short with a furious gesture which caused my three wonnn tnat 1 nafl to gnaw mv mnsiacne to keep from crying out I could only lie still, half free and half bound, and see what turn things were likely to take side the English officer hands of the brigands that he would give over the idea. wDoyi&I "I surrender to you, sir," I cried, though 1 dare say my English was not much better than his French. "If vou will look at that tree to the left you will see what these villains do to the honorable gentlemen who fall into their hands." Bouvet, of the hussars, who won seventy-sis out of one hundred and fifty games off me. 1 have always had th« best of a series. Well, we chatted away in this very amiable fashion until the day began to break, when suddenly we heard a great volley of musketrf from somewhere in the *ront of us. It was very rocky and broken ground, and I thought, althongh I could see nothing, that a general engagement had broken out. The l.art laughed at my idea, however, and explained that the sound came from the English camp, where every man emptied his piece each morning so as to make sure of having a dry priming. guards to drag me from the cave. For a little I could not- see what they were after. One of the rascals climbed up to the top of a well-grown fir CHAPTER VL CHAPTREIIL ,)ur interview, which I have told you as nearly as I can remember it, must have lasted some time, for it was quite dark when we came out. and the moon was shining very clearly in the heavens The brigands had lighted a great fire of the dried branches of the fir trees; not of course for warmth, since the night was already very sultry, but to cook their evening meal A huge copper pot hung over the blaze, and the r&scalt were lying all around in the yellow glare, so that the scene looked lik» one of those pictures which Junot stole out of Madrid. There are some soldiers who profess to care nothing for art and the like, but I have always been drawn toward it myself, in The first game I won right off, though I must confess that the cards were with me. and that my adversary could have done no more. In the second I never played better and saved a trick by a finesse, but the Bart voled me once, marked the king, and ran out in the second hand. My faith, wo were so excited that he laid his helmet down beside him, and 1 my busby. But even as I was torn out onto the flint stones and realized that thirty ruffians were standing around me, I was filled with joy, tor my pelisse had been pulled over my head in the struggle and was covering one of my eyes, and it was with my wounded eye that I was seeing this band of brigands. Y ou see for yourself by thi» pucker and scar how the thin blade passed between The fire had flared up at the moment, and there was poor Vidal exposed "In another mile we shall be up with the outposts," said he. "I'll lay my roan mare against your black horse," said he. f socket and ball, but it was only at that 1 used to run early in this century oe- moment when I was dragged from the tween some of our more remote vil- coach that I understood that my sight lafres. There were three old mules, too, was not gone forever. The creature s i none of which were strong enough to intention, doubtless, was tkD drive it carry a man. but together they might through my brain and, indeed, he draw the coach. The sight of their loosened some portion of the inner gaunt ribs and spavined legs gave bone of my head, so that I afterwards me more delight than the whole had more trouble from that wound • two hundred and twenty hunWrs Khan from any one of the seventeen of the emperor which I have seen in j'wllch I have received. theif stalls at Fontainebleau. In ten They dragged me out.the.se sons of minutes the owner was harnessing dogs, with curses and execrations, beatthen) into the coach, with no very good ing mo with their fists and kicking me will, however, for ho was in mortal as I upon the ground. I had fredread of this terrible Cuehillo. It was ".uently observed that the mountaineers ! only by promising him riches in this wore cloth swathed round their feet, world, while the priest threatened him but never did I imagine that 1 should with damnation in the next, that we at have so much cause to be thankful for I glanced around at this and 1 perceived that we had trotted along at so good a pace during the time that we were keeping up our pleasant chat that the dragoon with the lame horse was altogether out of sight. I looked on every side, but in the whole of that vast rocky valley there was no one save only the Bart and I—both of us armed, you understand, and both of us well mounted. I began to ask myself whether after was quite necessary that I should ride that mile which would bring me to the British outposts.CHAPTER L "Saddle, bridle and stirrups!" he cried. "Done," said L toU r»ct tfce rnnv serv 1t»C ani. less uellere , that the last yon, my friends, was a ived at i|»e bidding of the cross for. rnJoc whieh 1 be allowed to .saytso. w id may see flte rtflbon, but f Hceep in a leathern pouch I nevw venture to take one of the modern peace e fore'' -r of distin storv that I out how I 2tnperor had. if I long deof my coat he medal at hom«, t ant «n-?enerals,'"Done!" I shouted. "I suppose." said'he at last, speaking very excellent French, "that you are not able to suggest a rhyme for the word Covilha." I had caught this spirit of sport from him. I would have laid my bussara against his dragoons, had they been ours to pledge. which respect I show mv good taste and my breeding i remember,.(«eiample, that when they were jetltugTOte plunder after the fall of lianzlg, t bought a very fine picture calleci "Nvmphs Surprised ;n a Wood." and 1 carried it with me through two cam- 1 paigns until my chaiger had the misfortune to put his hoof through it. And then began the game of games. Oh, he played, this Englishman; he played in a way that was worthy ol 1 answered that my acquaintance with the Spanish language was so limited that 1 was unable to oblige him. Hit SAID A FEW WORDS TO THE BAND. or son.. -iRT*- .,isanction- who finds himself to oar little town, takes arfvaatatreof the opportunity yp bis respects to the well-known Brigadier Gerard. Then I place it upon my breast, and I fjive my mustache the old Maren(ro twist which brings a gray point into either eye. Yet with it all I fear that neither they, nor yon. either, my friends, will ever realize the man that 1 was. Y on know me only as a civil.ian—with an air and a manner it is tme —but still merely as a civilian. Had yon seen me as ! stood in the doorway of the inn at Alamo on Ibe first day of Jnly in the year 1810 you would then have known what the hussar may attain to. tree tip on one side of th£ glade, and tied a rope around the top of the trunk. He then fastened another rope In the same fashion to a similar tree on the other side. The two loose ends were now dandling down, and I waited with some curiosity and just a little trepidation to see what they would do next. The whole band pulled upon one of the ropes until they had bent the strong voung tree down into a semi-circle, and they then fastened it to a stump, so as to hold it so. When they had bent the other tree down in a similar fashion, the two summits were within a few feet of each other, though, as you understand, they would each spring back to their original position the instant that they were released. I already saw the diabolical plan which those miscreants had formed. 'It Is a very rich language," said he, "but less prolific in rhymes than either Now I wish to be very clear with you Cfci v..is point, my friends, (or I would not have you think that I was acting dishonorably or ungratefully to the man who had helped me away from the brigands. Yon must remember that of all duties the strongest is that which a commanding officer owes to his men. You must also bear in mind that war is a game which is played under fixed rules, and when these rules are broken one must at once ciaim the forfeit. If, for example. I had triven a parole, then I only tell you this, hbwever. to show you that I was never a mere rough soldier like Rapp or l.Cefebvre. As I lay io lhat brigands' camp I had little time or inclination to think about such matters They had thrown me down under a tree, the three villains squatting round and smoking their cigarettes within hand's touch of me What to do I could not imagine. In my whole career I do not suppose that I have. ten times been in as hopeless a situation "Hut courage," thought 1, 'courage, my brave bov, you were not made a colonel of hussars at twenty-eight because you could dance a cotillon. You are a picked man, Etienne, a man who has come through more than two hun dred affairs and this little one is Crurely not going to be the last " 1 began eagerly to glance about for some chance of escape, and as 1 did so 1 saw something which filled me with great astonish ment THERE WAS POOR VIDAL BEFORE THF.M. . last £Ot him safely upon the box with I Presently, seeing the blood upon the reins between his finders. Then my head, and that I lay quiet, they he was in such a hiirrv to (ret off out thought that I was unconscious, whereof fear lest we should "find ourselves in as I was storing every ugly face among the dark in the passes, that he hardlv them in tny memory, so that I might gave me time to renew my vows to the them all safely hanged if ever my innkeeper's daughter 1 cannot at this j chanee came around. Brawny rascals moment recall her name, but we wept 1 thev were, with yellow handkerchiefs together as we parted, and I can re- round their heads, and great red sashes member that she wns a very beautiful stuffed with weapons. 1 hev had rolled woman. You will understand, my ' two great rocks across the path, where friends, that when a man like me, who it took a short turn, and it was these has fought the men and kissed the which had torn off one of the wheels of women in fourteen separate kingdoms, 1 he coach and upset us. As to the repgives a word of praise to the one or the tile who had acted the priest so clevother it has a little meaning of its own. fly and had told me so much of his The little priest had seemed a trifle parish and his mother, he, of course, had grave when we kissed good-bye, but he Known where the ambuscade was laid, soon proved himself the best of com- snd had attempted to put me beyond panions in tho diligence. All the way all resistance at the moment when we he amused me with tales of his little reached it. before them, as horrible an object as one could see in a nightmare. "Godam!" cried the officer, and "Godam!" cried each of the four troopers, which is the same as with us when we cry "Mpn Dieut" Out rasped the five swords and the four men closed up. One who wore a sergeant's chevron laughed and clapped me on the shoulder. "Fight for your skin, froggy," said he. I" •- 1. Ah! it was so fine to have a horse between my thighs and a weapon in-my grip. I waved it above my head and shouted in my exultation. The chief had come forward, with that odious smiling face of his. I For a month 1 had lingered in that accursed village, and all on account of a lance thrust in my ankle which made it impossible for me to put my foot to the ground. There were three of us at first—old Bouvet, of the hussars; Jacques Regnier, of the cuirassiers, and a funny little voltigeur captain whose name I forget—but they all got "I HAVE inch a stake, superbl Of make to wIt hand. The drummed myself at cals. On but lost four to h. hand 1 cou light. If I this, thought ever in chains. Give me •' i PROPOSAL." I CRIED. But I—my friends, I was the five which I had to 1 gained three on the first , Bart bit his mustache and lis hands, while I already felt the head of my dear little ras:he second 1 turned the king, wo tricks, and my score was is two. When 1 saw my next ild not but give a cry of de- I cannot gain my freedom on *1,1 deserve to remain forthe the cards, landlord, and them on the table for yon, my hand—knave and ace of }ueen and knave of diamonds ~ " hearts- Clubs are trumps, and 1 had but one point bene and freedom. As you may I declined his proposal. He it was the crisis, and he nntunic. I threw my dolman on He led the ten of spades. I with my ace of trumps. One n favor. The correct play the trumps, and 1 led the "nnn it. "I presume that yon are a strong man, colonel," said the chief, coming toward me with hiB hateful smile. "Your excellency will observe that this Frenchman is our prisoner," he said. "You are a rascally robber," said the Englishman, shaking his sword at him. "It is a disgrace to us to have such allies. By the Lord, if the general were of my mind we would swing you up to the nearest, tree." "If you will have the kindness to loosen these cords," I answered, "I will show you how strong I am." TURWrNO TTTON MI TJTKY BRANDISHED well and hurried on to the front, while 1 sat gnawing my fingers and tearing my hair, and even, as I must confess, weeping from time to time as I thought of my hussars and the deplorable condition in which they must find themselves when deprived of their coloneL 1 was not a brigadier yet, you understand, although I already carried myself like one But I was the youngest colonel in the whole service, and my regiment was wife and children to me. It went to my heart that they should be bereaved. It is true that V ill are t, the senior major, was an excellent soldier, but still even among the best there are parish up in the mountains and I in I cannot tell you how frantic their my turn told him stories about the nwre "as when they drew him out of camp, but my faith I had to pick my the coach and saw the state to which I steps, for when 1 said a word too much had reduced him. If he had not got all : he would fidget in his seat and his fa*;e his deserts he had at least something would show the pain that I had given a souveiir of his meeting with him. And of course it is not the Utiwcne Oerard. for his legs dangled act of a gentleman to talk in anything timlessly about, and thongh the upper but a proper manner to a religious part of his txidy was convulsed with man, though with all the care in the and pain he sat straight down world one's words may get out of hand upon his feet when they tried to set sometimes. lie had come from the him upright. But all the time his two north of Spain, as he told me. and was IHtle black eyes, which had seemed so going to see his mother in a village of kindly and so innocent in the coach. Estremadura, and as he spoke about were glaring at me like a wounded cat. THKIR KNlVKR. I have already told yon that a large fire was burning in the center of the glade. What with its glare and what with Its moonlight everything was as clear as possible. On the other side of the glade there was a single tall fir tree which attracted my attention because Its trunk and lower branches were discolored, as if a large fire had recently been lit underneath it. A clump of "We were all interested to see whether you were as strong as these two young saplings," said he. "It is our intention, you see, to tie one end of each rope round your ankles and then to let the trees go. If you are stronger than the trees, then, of course, no harm would be done. If on the other hand the trees are stronger than you—why. In that case, colonel, we may have a souvenir of you upon each side of our little glade." He laughed as he spoke, and at the sight of it the whole forty of them laughed also. Even now if I am in my darker humor, or if I have a touch of my old Lithuanian ague, I see in my sleep that ring of dark savage faces with their cruel eyes and the firelight flashing upon their strong white teeth. the German or the English. .That la why our best work has been doue in blank verse, a form of literature which, as I need not remind a Frenchman, is capable of reaching great heights Bu*» I fear that such subjects are somewba* outside the range of a hnssar " "But my prisoner?" said the brigand, in his suave voice. "lie shall come with us to Lord Wellington's camp." BUDDENXY WF. tTF.ART) A GREAT VOLLEY "Just a word in your ear before you take him." OF MUSKETRY. I was about to answer that If they were good enough for a guerrilla they could not be too much for the light cavalry, but he was already stooping over his half-finished verse Presently he threw down the pen with an exclamation of satisfaction and declaimed a few lines wfiich drew a cry of approval from the three ruffians who held me His broad face blushed like a young girl who receives her first compliment.I should liave been an infamous wretch had I dreamed of escaping , But no parole had been asked of me. Out of overconfidence and the chance of the la&e horse dropping behind, the Bart had permitted me to get upon equal terms with him. Had it been I who had taken him I should have used him as courteously as he had me, but at the same time 1 should have respected his enterprise so far as to have deprived him of his sword, and seen that 1 had at least one guard besides myself. I reined up my horse and explained this to him, asking him at the same whether he saw any breach of honor in my leaving him. I will Here wai clubs, and king of mark yon tween think, knew that la* He approached the young officer, and then, turning as quick as a flash, he fired his pistol in my face. The bullet scored its way through my hair and burst a hole on each side of my busby. Seeing that he had missed me, he raised the pistol and was about to hurl it at me, when the English sergeant, with a single backhanded cut, nearly severed his head from his body. His blood had not reached the ground, nor the last bushes grew in front of" It which concealed the base. Well, as 1 looked towards It I was surprised to see projecting above the bush, and fastened apparently to the tree, a pair of fine riding boots with the toes upwards. At first I thought that they were tied there, but as I looked harder I saw that they were secured by a great nail which was hammered through the foot of each. And then suddenly, with a thrill of horror, I understood that they were not empty boots, and, moving my head a little to the right, I was able to see who it was that had been fastened there and why a fire had been lit beneath the tree. It is not pleasant to speak or think of horrors, my friends, and I do not wish to give any of you degrees of merit. her little peasant home, and her joy in and he spat and spat and spat in my diseeing him, it brought iny mother so rection. My faith, when the wretches vividly to my thoughts that the tears jerked me onto my feet again. and when started to my eyes. In his simplicity I was dragged off up one of the mountain he showed me the little gifts which he paths, 1 understood that a time was was taking to her, and so kindly was coining when I was to need all my his manner that I could readily believe courage and resource. My enemy was him when he said that he was loved carried upon the shoulders of the men wherever he went. He examined my behind me, and I could bear his hissing own uniform with as much curiosity as and reviling first in one ear and then in a child, admiring the plume of my the other as I was hurried up the windbusby and passing his fingers through ing track. the sable with which my dolman was 1 suppose that it must have been an trimmed. lie drew my sword, too, hour that we ascended, and what with and then when I told him how manv dj wounded ankle and the pain from men I had cut down with it, and set my eye, and the fear lest this wound my fingers on the notch made by the ; should have spoiled my good looks. I shoulder bone of the Russian emperor's I have made no journey to which 1 look aide-de-camp, he shuddered and placed back with less pleasure. I have never the weapon under the leathern cushion, bean a good climber at any time, but it declaring that it made him sick to look at it. Ah, that happy July day of which I speak when first 1 limped to the door and stood in the golden Spanish sunshinei It was but the evening before that I had heard from the regiment. They were at Pastores on the other side of the mountains face to face with the English—not forty miles from me by road. But how was I to get to them? The same thrust which had pierced my ankle had slain my charger. 1 took advice from Gomez, the landlord, and from an old priest who had slept that night in the' inn, but neither of them could do more than assure me that there was not so much as a colt left upon the whole country side. The landlord Would not hear of my crossing the mountains without an escort, for he assured me that El Cuchillo, the Spanish guerrilla chief, was out that way with his band, and that It meant a death by torture to fall into his hands. did his ground i » took it D. point in my was to clear knave. Down __ and the game was eq eight of spades, and I card my ace of diamon the seven of spades, anc "The critics are in thy favor. It appears." said he. "We amuse ourselves in our long evenings by singing our own ballads, yon understand; I have some little facility In that direction and I do not at all despair of seeing some of my poor efforts in print before long, and with 'Madrid' upon the title page too. But we must get back to business. May I ask what your name is?" CHAPTER IV, It is astonishing—and I hate heard many make the same remark—how acute one's senses become at such a crisis as this, lam convinced that at no moment is one living so vividly, so □ e thought about It, and several times repeated that which the Er L say when they mean *'Mon Dieu." would give me the slip, wc said he. "If yon can ffive no reason i "The only reason that I of," said the Bart, D ' ' stantly cnt your J attempt it." bad dreams to-night, but I cannot take "Etienne Gerard." "Rank?" "Colonel." "Corps?" "The Third hussars." "You are young for a colonel." "My career has been an eventful one " "Tut, that makes it the sadder." said he, with his bland smile. you among the Spanish guerrillas without showing you what kind of men they were and the sort of warfare that they waged. Iwfll otWy say that-l understood why Monsieur Vidal's horse was waiting mast«rless In the grove, and that I hoped that he had met this teHJble fate with sprightliness and courage, as a good Frenchman ought. 1 A. I M I off if you sh next is astonishing what yon can do. even with a stiff ankle, when you nave a copper-colored brigand at each elbow and a nine-inch blade within touch of your whiskers. We came at last to a place where the path wound over a ridge and descended upon the othfer side through thick pine trees into a valley which opened to the south In time of peace I have little doubt that the villains were all smugglers and that these were the secret paths by which they crossed the Portuguese frontier. There were many mule tracks, and once 1 was surprised to see the marks of a large horse where a stream had softened the track. These were explained upon reading a place where thure was a clearing in the firwood. I saw the animal itself haltered to a fallen tree. My eyes hardly rested upon it when 1 recognized the great black limbs and the white near the foreleg It was the very horse which I had begged for in the morning THE CABD0 WERE WITH ME. Well, we had been rolling and creaking on our way whilst this talk had been going forward, and as we reached the base of the mountains we could hear the rumbling of cannon far away "Two can play at that game, my dear Bart,'' said I. "Then well see who can play it best," he cried, pulling out his sword It Was not a very cheering sight for me. as you can imagine. When I bad been with their chief in the grotto I had fceen so carried away by my rage at thl) cruel death of young Soubiron, who was one of the brightest lads who ever threw his thigh over a eharger, that E bad never given a thought to my own position. Perhaps it would have been more politic had I spoken the ruffian fair, but it was too late now The cork was drawn and 1 must drain the wine. Itesidua, if the harmless commissariat man was put to such a : death, what hope was there for me, who had snapped the spine of their lieutenant? No, I was doomed in any case, so it was as well, perhaps, that I should have put the best face on the matter. This beast could bear witness HE NEARLY SEVERED UI8 HEAD FROM upon the right This came from Messeiia who was. as I knew, besieging Cindad Rodrigo There was nothing I should have wished better than to have gone straight to him, for he was the best Jew that 1 have heard of since Joehua's time, and if you are in sight of his beaky nose and bold, black eyes you are not likely to miss much of what is going on. Still a siege is always a poor sort of a pick-and-shovel business, ancf there were better prospect* with my hussars in front of the English. Every mile that passed my heart grew lighter and lighter nutil I found myself shouting and singing like a young en- : sign fresh from Saint Cyr, just to think of seeing all my fine horses and my gallant felhows once more. I made no answer to that, but I tried to show him by my bearing that I was ready for the very worst which could befall me. HIS BHOUI.DERS. I had drawn mine also, but I was quite determined not to hurt this admirable young man who had been my benefactor. curse died on his lips, before the whole horde were upon us, but with a dozen bounds and as many slashes we were all safely out of the glade, and galloping d#wn the winding track which led to valley. "By the way. I rather fancy that we have had some of your corps here," said he, turning over the pages of his big, brown register. "We endeavor to keep a record ol our operations. II tire is a "Consider!" said I. "You say that 1 am your prisoner. I might with equal "HELP, COMRADES, HELP!" tcutely, as at the instant when a vioent and foreseen death overtakes one. I con Id smell the resinous fagots, I .•ould see every twig upon the ground, I could hear every rustle of the branches, as 1 have never emelled, or seen, or heard, save at such times of danger. And so it was that, long before anyone else, before even the time when the chief had addressed me, I had heard a low, monotonous sound, far away, indeed, and yet coming nearer at every instant. At first it was but a tniirmur, a rumble, but by the time he had finished speaking, while the assassins were untying my ankles in order to lead me to the scene of my murder, I ! heard, as plainly as ever I heard any| tiring in my life, the clinking of horseshoes, and the jingling of bridle chains, with the clank of sabers against stirrup irons. Is It likely that I, who had lived with the light cavalry since the first hair shaded my lip, would mistake the | sound of troopers on the march? "Help, j comrades, help!" I shrieked, and though ! they struck me across the mouth and ■ rried to drag me up to the tree, 1 kept | an yelling: "Help me, my brave boys! Help me, my children! They are mur| Jering your colonel!" For the moment I my wounds and my troubles had brought j on a delirium, and I looked for nothing i less than my five hundred hussars. : kettle-drums and all, to appear at the opening of the glade. CHAPTER ni But that which really appeared was "You buried him alive?" For a mo- I mm 7er? different to anything which I had nentl was too stunned to act. Then 1 ***• OERAKD 8,IALI' "A„VK A nKA™ conceived Into the clear space there lurled myself upon the man. as he sat. 0F 11,8 OWSi ca,ne a fine young man upon ivith that placid smile of his upon his ,. . . . . a mo6t beautif"' roaD horse. e was lps. and I would have torn his throat ™ °,f . fresh faoed,a"d P1^8™1 look,D?' w'tb Dut had the three wretches not dragged ."J**"'*£ £ deplorable loss lhe raosl debonna.re lDeanng ,n the me away from him. Again and again that I should be both to my regimen world and the most gallant way of [made for him. panting and cursing. a ; ti , "*rrV'nR him8elf' a which IT shaking off this man and that, strain- to confess to you that I shed miodvi me somewhat of my own. He Ing and wrenching, but never quite ***** thought of the general con wore n 8lnfrnlar coat which had once free. At last, with my jacket nearly 8te™tlon my premature end heen red all over, but which was now torn off my back and the blood dripping would give rise to stained to the color of a withered oak from my wrists, I was hauled baeT ; But1tt11 th.e tHn? 1 was tekln*the j leaf wherever the weather could reach , . J.. .. - . . very keenest notice of everything: it. nissuuuiuer eiraps, uowever, were wards in the bight of a rope and cords wh[cb mi(,bt help me I am of golden lace, and he had a bright passed around my ankles and my Dot a man who would lie Hke a sick metal helmet upon his head with a hmmH " T "If horse w'aDtinK fCDr the farriar sergeant coquettish white plume upon one s'de « « . * , * , . ... I and the pole a*. First 1 would give a of its crest. He trotted his horso up the aie you a my swor spotn wi little tug at my ankle cords, and then glade, while behind him tliere rode four v &n Lur'finV' v /"'V aC » another at those that were around my caveliers in the same dress-all clean th?t Zl 1Z A wrists, and all the time I was trying to shaven, with round comely faces, lookthat my emperor has long arms, and, peering round to ing to me more like monks than though you lie here like a rat in its hole, VV, . „ , .. 1 u u n . see if I could find something which was dragoons. At a short gruff order they the time will come when he w, 11 tear Jn fayor There waB one thiQg hftited with a rattle of arms, while their °U -°k\ ' B?»k^°* &m which was very evident. A hussar is leader cantered forward, the fire beat\% peris 'pe er. y hi ave but half formed without a horse, and ing upon his eager face and the beautithere was my other half quietly graz- ful head of his charger I knew of . . ' '. ' . .. ' rn ing within thirty jards of me. Then I coarse by the strange coats that they 7T8 ;Vh M;0t observed yet another thing The path were English. If was the first sight let fly at him, but he sat with the han- wbicl/we had come ov*r the moUD. that , had evcr had of them, but from eo is pen pping aga nst 11s ore- vrat «o steep that a horse could their stout bearing and their masterful ea. an,f , SL,e^f8 sqn n ing up a le on]y be led across it slowly and with way I could see at a glance that what I roof as if he had conceived the idea of diflfOTlt but in th, other direction had always been told was true, and that ,ho? rre "celleM pC"""°uD *** P. . ' , ' ' ... 1 Da °"arJ; yonder stirrups and my siiber in nay officer, in sufficiently bad French: safe here but your life may be as short D bold dash might take "What devil's game are you up to here? as that of your absurd verses, and God me out of tlfe power of these vermh, of Who was that who was yelling for knows It could not be shorter than the rocks. help, and what are you trying to do to . . I was still thinking it over and strain- him?" , you shonlc have seen him bound )n wjth my wrists my auiC|es It was at that moment that 1 learned from his chair when 1 had said the when their chjef oaine (Mlt "froiT) hjp to bless those months which Obnant. words. Tms vile monster, who dis- _oUo and after some talk with his the descendant of the Irish kinps. had pensed death and Uirture as a grocer ijeutenailti wbo lay groaning near the spent in teaching me the tongue of the I t°U T .ODe, raW ner,V1* fire, they both nodded their heads ant. English. My ankles had just been Ahich I could prod at pleasure Ills looked croM at me He theD frPed, that I had only to slip my now grew livid and those little hands out of the cords, and with « bourgeois side whiskers quivered and some few words to the band, who Bfn(rje j bad flOWI1 acros8, piokcii thrilled with his passion. clapped their hands and laughed my gaber where it lay bv the fire. "Very good, coloneL You have said roariously Things looked nnd and hur)ed myself onto the saddle of he cried, in a choking voice. I was delighted to feel that my hands pQOr vidal's horse Yes. for all my "You say that you have had a very dis- were so far free that I could easily slip ,t,onnded a„kle, I never put foot to tinguished career; I promise you also a them through the cords if I wished J BtirrUpi but was in the seat in a single very distinguished ending Col. Et4- But with my ankles I feared that 1 bound- I tore the halter from the enne Oerard, of the Third hussars, could do nothing, for when I strained , treC( and those villains could so t thDB have a death of his ownu" H brought such pain into my lance ( mEOch as snap a pistol at me I was be- V U t It was not until we had left the ravine far lDehind us and were right out in the open (ieldfD tliat we ventured to halt and to see ivhat injuries we half sustained. For me, weary and wounded as I was, my heart was beating proudly and my chest was nearly bursting: tny tunic to think that I, Etienne Gerard, had left this gang of murderers' so much by which to remember me. My faith, they would think twice before'they ventured again to lay hands upon one of the Third hussars So carried away was I that I made a small nis sash and I put oelt. He was cool, ind I tried to be also, Jon would trickle into deal lay with him and I you, my friends, that my that 1 could hardly piek the rock. But when I t was the first thing upon? It was th® • j— other. He undic away my sword this Englishman, t but the perspiratiot my eyes. The may confess t( hand shook sc my cards from raised them wlih that my eyes rested . king, the king, the glo. trumps. My mouth was «. clare it when the words were my lips by the appearance of . rade. He held his cards in his hand, his jaw had fallen and his e. were staring over my shoulder wi\ the most dreadful expression of. consternation and surprise. I whisked round, and I myself was amazed at what I saw. Three men were standing quite close to us—fifteen meters at the farthest. The middle one was of a good height, that Etienne Gerard had died as he had lived, and that one prisoner at least had not quailed before him. I lay i there thinking oi the various girls who "TT IS I WHO CAW HELP YOU." As we penetrated the mountains the road grew rougher and the pass more savage. At first we met a few muleteers, but now the whole country seemed deserted, which is not to he wondered at when you think that the Freneh. the English and the guerrillas had each in turn had command over it. So bleak and wild was it, one great brown wrinkled cliff succeeding anoth er, and the pas* growing narrower and narrower, that I ceased to look out. but sat in silence thinking of this and that, of women whom I had loved and of horse: which I had bandied I was suddenly brought hack from my dreams, however, by otwervinp the difficulties of my companion, who wm trying with a sort of bradawl which he had drawn out to lDore a hole through the leathern strap which held up his water flask. As he worked with twitch ing fingers the strap escaped his grasp and the wooden bottle fell at my feet I stooped to pick it up. and as 1 did so the priest silently leaped upon my shoulders and drove his bradawl ii»to my eye. What then had become of Commissariat Vidal? Was it possible that there another Frenchman in as perilous a plight as myself! The thought had hardly entered my bead when our party stopped and one of them uttered a peculiar cry It was answered from amoug the brambles which lined the base of a cliff at one side of the clearing, and an instant later ten or a dozen more brigands came out from amongst them and the two parties greeted each other The newcomers surrendered my friend of the bradawl with cries of grief and sympathy. and then turning upon me they brandished their knives and howled at me like the gang of assassins that they were. So frantic were their gestures that I was convinced that my end had come, and was just bracing myself to meet it in a manner which should be worthy of my past reputation when one of them gave an order, and I was dragged roughly across the little glade to the brambles from which this new hand had emerged. The old priest observed, however, that he did not think a French hussar would be deterred by that, and if I had had any doubts they would of course have been decided by his remark.oration to these brave Englishmen and told them who it was that they had helped to rescue. I would have spoken of glory also and of the sympathies of brave men, but the officer cut me short. "That's all right," said he, "any injuries. sergeant?" I WAS DETKRJflNED NOT TO HURT THT8 YOUNG MAN But a horse! Bow was I to get one? I was standing in the doorway plotting and planning when I heard the clink of ■hoes, and, looking up 1 saw a great bearded man with a blue cloak frogged across in military fashion coming towards me. He was riding a big black horse with one white ■eking on his near foreleg. "HE WAS ROT DEAD WHEN WE DtmiED reason say that you are miqe. We are alone here, and though I have no doubt that you are an excellent swordsman, you would hardly hope to hold your own against thv best blade in the si* light cavalry brigades." His answer was a cut at my head. I parried and shore off half of his while plume. He thrust at my breast. I turned his point and cut away the other half of his cockade. "Curse your monkey tricks?*' he cried, as ] wheeled my horse away from him. HIM." heading under June 24. Have you not ayoung officer named Soubiron, a tall, slight youth with light hair?" "Trooper .1ones' horse hit with o pistol bullet on the fetlock." "Trooper Jones to go with ns. Sergeant Halliday with troopers Harvey and Smith to keep to the right until they touch the videttes of the German hussars." "Certainly." "I see that we buried him upon that date." "Hullo, comrade}" said I, as he cams up to me. "Poor lad I" I cried, he die?" "And how did So these three jingled awav ton-ether, while the officer and I, followed at Bome distance by the trooper whose charger had been wounded, rode Btraight down in the direction of the English camp Very soon we had opened our hearts, for we eaoh liked the look of the other from the begin ning He was of the nobility, this brave lad, and he had been sefit out scouting by Lord Wellington to see if there were any signs of C iir advancing through the mountains, it is one advantage of a wandering life like mine, that vou learn to pick up those bits of knowledge which distinguish the man of the world I have, for example, hardly ever met a Frenchman who could repeat an English title correctly If I had not traveled I should not be able to say with confidence that this young man's real name was Milor Hon Sir Russell Hart, this last being an honorable dis tinction, bo that it was as the Bart that I usually addressed him. jiist as in Spanish one might say "the Don." "Hallo!" said he. "We buried him." "1 am Coi- (ierard, of the hussars," ■aid I. "1 have lain here wounded for a month and I am now ready to rejoin my regiment at I'aatores." "I am M Vidal, of the eommissariat," he answered, "and 1 am myself upon my way to I'astores. 1 should be glad tc have yonr company, colonel, for 1 hear that the mountains are far from safe.'* "You misunderstand, colonel, he was not dead before we buried him." "But before you buried him?" "Why should yon strike at me," said I. "You see that I will not strike back-" 'That's all very well," said he. "But you've got to come along with me to the camp." "I shall never see the camp," said I. "I'll lay yon nine to four yon do," he cried, a« he-made at me. sword in hand. Hut thoM words of his put something new into my head Could we not decide the matter in Some better way than by fighting? The Bart was placing me in such a position that I should have to hurt him, or he would certainly hurt me. I avoided his rush, though his sword point was within an inch of my neck. My friends. I am, as yon know, a man ■teeled to face every (lander When one has served from the siege of (iunoa to that last fatal day of Waterloo, and has had the special medal, which ] keep at home in a leathern poach, one can afford to confess when one Is frightened. It may console some of you when your own nerves play yon tricks to remember that you have heard even me. Brigadier Gerard, say that 1 have been scared And besides my terror at this horrible attack, and the maddening |i;tin of my wound, there was a sudden feelincr of loathing such as you might feel were some filthy tarantula to strike its fangs into you. I clutched the creature in both hands and hurling him onto the floor of the coach I stamped on him with my heavy boots. He had drawn a pistol from the front of his soutane, but I kicked it outofhis hand, and aifain I fell with my knees on his chest. Then for the first time he screamed horribly, while I, half blinded, felt about for the A narrow pathway led through them to a deep grotto in the side of the cliff. The sun was already setting outside and in the cave itself it would have been quite dark but for a pair of torches which blazed from a socket on either side. Between them there was Kitting at a rude table a very singularlooking person, whom I saw instantly, from the respect with which the others addressed him, could be none other than the brigand chief who had received, on account of his dreadful character, the sinister name of El Cuchillo. The man whom I had injured had been carried In aad placed upon the top of a barrel, hi* helpless legs dangling about in front of him and his cat's eyes still darting glances of hatred at me. I understood from the snatches of talk which I could follow between the "Alas!" said I, "1 have no horse. But if you will sell me yours 1 will promise that an escort of hussars shall be sent j back for you." He would not. hear of it, and it was in vain that the landlord told him dreadful stories of the doings of El Ouchillo, and that I pointed out the duty which he owed the army and to the country He would not even argue but called loudly for a cup of wine. I craftily asked him to dismount and to drink with me. but he must have seen something in my face, for Le shook his bead, and then as i approached him •rith some thought of seizing him by the leg he jerked his heels into his horse's flanks and was off in a cloud of dust XT BEAUTIFUL HAND HAD BEE5 TKRED. and yet not too tall—about the same height in fact that I am myself. He was clad in a dark uniform with a small cocked hat and some sort of white plume upon the side. But I had littl* thought for his dress. It was his face, his gaunt cheeks, his beak of a nose, his masterful blue eyes, his thin firm slit of a mouth which made one feel that this was a wonderful man, a mar "1 have a proposal," I cried. "We shall throw dice as to which iB the prisoner of the other." He smiled at this. It appealed to his love of sport. As we rode beneath the moonlight in the lovely Spanish night we spoke our minds to each other, as if we were brothers We were both of an age. you see, both of the light cavalry also (the Sixteenth light dragoons was his regiment) and both with the same hopes and ambitions. Never have I learned to know a man so quickly as 1 did the Bart- He gave me the Dame of a girl whom he had loved at a garden called Vauxliall and for my part 1 spoke to him of little Caralic of the opera. He took a look of hair from his bosom, and I a garter. Then we nearly quarreled over hussar and dragoon, for he was absurdly proud of his regiment, and you should have seen him curl his lip and clap his hand to his hilt when 1 said tlint I hoped it might never be its misfortune to come in the way of the Third. "Where are your dice?" he cried. "1 have none." "Nor 1, but I have cards." "Cards let it be," said I. "And the game?" "1 leave it to you." of a million. His browB were tied into* knot, and he cast such a glance at my poor Bart from under them that one by one the cards came flattering down from his nerveless fingers. Of the two (Concluded on Page Four.) chief and him that he .vas the lientenant of the band, and that part of his duties was to lie in wait, with his smooth tongue and his peaceful garb, for travelers like myself. When I thoughtof how many gallant officers may have been lured to their doath by this monster of hypocrisy it gave me a glow of pleasure to think that 1 had brought his villainies to an end—though I feared it would be at the I cost of a life which neither the emperor nor the army could well spare. i As the injured man. still supported on the barrel by two comrades, was explaining in Spanish all that had befallen him, I was held by several of the villains in front of the table at which the chief was seated, and had an excellent opportunity of observing him. 1 ha ve seldom seen any man who was less like my idea of a brigand, and especially of a brigand with such a reputation that in a land of cruelty he had earned so dark a nickname. His fac« was bluff, and broad and bland, with rjiddy cheeks and comfortable little j i, . . . . . , tofts of side whiskers, which gave him sword which he had so cunningly con- arauce of 8 well-toXgrocer cealed. My hand had just hghu-d »pon „f thTRue St Antoine. He had not .t, and I was dash,ng the blood from any of tho8e flaring sashes or gleaming my face to see where he lay that 1 which hiB to\- v*rht toansfia hun. when the whole but on the cooUary he wore » My faith, it was enough to make a roan mad to see this fellow riding away ®° fW'y j°iD beef barrels and his brandy casks, and then to think of my five hundred beautiful hussars without their leader J was gazing after him with bitter thought* in my mind when who ahould touch me on the elbow but the little priest whom I have mentioned. "Ecarte, then—the best of three." I could not help smiling as I agreed, for 1 d D not suppose that there were three men in France who were my masters at the game I told the Bart as much as we dismounted. He smiled also as he listened. Tv *LL NAT'S^ of tNj Globe for "I was counted the best player at Watier's," said he. "With even luck you deserve to get off if you beat me." RHEUMATISM NEURALGIA and similar Complaint l and prepared tmder the Hrlntont MEDICAL LAWS. prescribed by eminent physician' Aj DR. RICHTFn' "It Is I who can help yon," said he, "I am myself traveling south." So we tethered our two horses and sat down, one on either side of the great flat rock. The Bart took a pack of cards out of his tunic and I had only to see him shuffle them to convince me that 1 had no novice to deal with. We cut and the deal fell to him. 1 pat my arras about him and as my ankle pave way at the same moment we nearly rolled upon the ground together"Get me to Pastores." I cried, "and (roil shall have a rosary of polden beads." i haCi taken one from the con- Tent of 8piritu iSancto. It showB how necessary It js to take what yon can when you are upon a campaign, and how the most unlikely things may become oaefuL : V;/ ' r Finally he began to speak of what the English call sport, and he told such stories of the money which he had lost over which of two cocks could kill the other, or which of two men could strike the other the most in a tight for a prize, that I was filled with astonishment. He was ready to bet upon anything in the most wonderful manner, and when I chanced to see a shooting star he was anrious to bet that he would see more than me, twenty-five francs a star, and it was only when I exDlained that mv purse was in the CHAJ'TEK V My faith, it was a stake worth playing for. Ha wished to add a hundred gold pieces a game, but what was money when the fate of Col. Etienne Gerard hung upon the cards? I felt as though all those who had reason to be inter- j ested in the game, my mother, my hussars, the Sixth corps d'armee, Ney, Messena, even the emperor himsel' were forming a ring around us in tl "I will take yon." said he. In very excellent French, "not because I hope for any reward, but because it is my way always to do what I can to serve my countryman, and that Is why 1 am so "beloved wherever 1 go." With that he led roe down to the villape to an old cowhouse to which we found a tumble- THKN HE 8CREAMKD HORKIBI.V desolate valley. Heavens, what a 1" to one and ail of them should the go against me. But I was cor for my ecarte play was as fa mv swordsmanshio. and. D? 4H t