The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1875-06-12

:,
drcd feet and a thick clump OF trees IN our
front that made cover while beyond II the
ground WAS smooth and level for good
eighty wards, 80 that no living thing could
come anywhere near Us without beng seen
and fired at.
lust AS we'd lit our fire, and were begin
ninr To cook we saw first one man ana then
another TIL we d counted fifteen in all, come
zirZarging in and ont of the bushes, down
the face of the opposite ridge They halted
lust at the edge Of the thicker, aud TOOK
!, look at the smoke of our fire rising above the
trees; and then two of them LAID down their
rifles, and were coming across the clearing to
US looking as friendly as they could, when
old Seth shoves his head through the leaves
and says in Spanish;
/ "Gentlemen, we're talking over little
business OF our own, and wish to be private
so you II oblige Us by keeping your own side,
and we'll keep ours; for we have way OF
shooting things that come too near us, and
we should be very sorry to lift you by any
mistaken
Back the two beauties went looking as sill
ly as II haporth of treacle in a two gallon jug,
and old Seth rubbed his hands and gave
chuckle.
i "Thcy'd n bottle in each hand, them two, .
saws he; they war gwire to make us Slowed,
/ and then clean out our Swag; but they don't
fool this child no how. Naow, we see, they'll
wait till dark, and then go for US with rush
that's what's the matter with them-but
rather guess well be not at home when they
call"
He whispered to me to cut down three or
four OF the longest creepers and twist them
int rope and |, guessing what he was up TO-,
did it with will. In few minutes We had
rope that would have stood anything; and
Il Al, l. ol,,l and nd n trpn ND l,t
drop the other down the ravine-the rest
making a great shouting and singing mean.
while, by way of blind. Then the old In
dian who was as nlmbe as a cat slid down
to the bottom, and We lowered our packs to
him, one by one.
That's all right7 says Seth; "and now
we'll Just take it easy till dark, and then take
passage by this new overland line We have
Chartered
But one don't take it very easy when there
is a gang of bloodthirsty rascles, twice your
strength and armed to the teeth, every man
Jack of EN-, sitting waiting barely eighty
yards off to cut your throat; and | think
never found any time yet go so slowly as
those two last hours before SHUTDOWN.
! "Naow,' says Seth, at last, when the dark.
ness had fairly closed in, II guess We'll begin
to leave
But Just then, as if this had been signal,
there came flash and bang from tho other
side of the clearing and half a dozen bullets
came pcppering IN among the trees. | telt
something warm squirt over my hands. and
the niger, who stood beside me, fell all OF Il
heap. Like lightning | up piece and let ny,
and heard somebody give yell that sound
ed as If that letter had gone to the right ad'
dress, and then for Il few minutes, 1t was just
flash, flash bang, bang like tirework-
IS ,Nla yyhi bn rpst
slid down one By one. And mighty ugly
work it was. too, can tell you, blazing away
in the dark with nothing to aira at,and hear the
bullets come rattling about you without see
inc who sent them. But the rope was soon
clear and then Seth stuck up the dead mig
ger against q tree, with his gun across the
fork Of It, that they mi ght see the CLINT OF the
barrel and think we were still on the watch
Then he slid down, and after him.
The first thing we dId was to take tne gold
out of the poor old nigger's pack and part 1t
among us The rest of the things we threw
away, as we had thrown away our tools long
before for our only chance now was to march
as light as possible, and then we set forward
along the gully. For some time we could
hear the rascals banging away overhead, but
that died away by degrees, and there was q
silence as if the world had Just been created
and no life come INTO II yet.
All that night we stumbled along the boil
ton. of the ravne ike men cropping ia tun.
mel sitting down every no" anu then to rest 4;
but when day came We saw the rocks on each
side getting lower and lower and the great
black pit spreading cut broader and shallow
err, till at last a little after sunrise, we came
out into the forest again. But just then the
other niger sat down and put his hand TO his
side
mo, can 90 no farther, senor''
ran up to him, and bles, if he hadn't got
a bic Dullet.wound IN his side from last
night scrmmage, and the brave fellow had
actually dragged on all night without saying
a word about it, lest he SHOULD keep Us back :.
| sal down and took his head on my knee,
and he died rs quietly as child; and we
covered him with leaves and lett him lying
there in the bright morning sunshine, and
went forward on our weary tramp again.
It was harder than ever Ior us now, for we
had eight loads among SIX men, and already
| | could see one OF the SpaniardS beginning
to otugger, and the old Indian trembling like
a leaf Then a horrible kind of fear crep
over me that We should keep dropping that
way, man after man, till there was only one
left and thcn-but at that thought threw
up my arms and gave q sort of yell like a
man starting from bad dream. But Seth
punChcu me III tue TlDS Win MS 'ioo", anu
whispered:
Ssh, don't frighlea the rest
And set my teeth hard together an; cho&-
cd it down.
II may have been an hour or two after this
i was beginning to lose all count OF time
now-,hat Seth, who had got little ahead OF
the rest, suddenly sang out:
% "Hurrah,'
We all looked up.
"derc's somct.ln' civilized a, la, 5y hoe
: cake" SAYS hc. Guess we've s'.trN The
y right track without KNOWN l.. LouN here"
+ Just in front OF Us was gully about forty
, feet deep, through which ran a small stream
and across i, lay br!dge-not one of the
rope bridges YOU see in Lower Peru, but good
} solid wopd-two lons beams from bank to
bank, with vgH,spjcrrS dashed to them, just
T like the >.rrprr- un galway. Then We all
shouted Al oncc tnG stepped out To cross it