Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1891-04-23
AVENGED AT LAST:
Or, a Worldwide Chase.
A STORY OF RETRIBUTlON.
By "WABASH.o
ICoPYRlaHT, 1901
CHAPTER XvIn.-CoSrNuED.

CHAPTER XvIII.-CoNTNuED.
'To Judge from @heir looks and &C.
Mons should Imagine they would as
soon stick one of their long, cleaning
knives into me as they would into bull
lock-" said Percy
''Oh, no: not one of them dare lay
hand on you unless you attempt to es-
cape, without my orders, was the reply.
Then you propose to force me. to
spend the rest of my natural life on this
farm among these blood-curdling sur
roundings?"
UNLESS you will comply with condi-
:sons that I will name, l do most
certainly" answered the Spaniard.
And what are Jour conditions?"
asked Percy.
Few and simple" was the reply.
sect your friends to pay me ransom
of ten thousand American dollars and
you are free the day they pay it. But
should they make the least attempt to
effect your rescue / will kill you with
my own hands, if need be, to prevent
st.
''If my friends were asked to pay the
money they would refuse, knowing that
lease me without doing so. AS such an
effort would only cost me my life, l
shall not ask them to take other means
to effect my delivery"
I'm a few weeks you m ay change your
mind, so l will give you little time to
think it over. In the meantime you
will remain here and do whatever Mr..
Van Nepp deems necessary and proper.
If you refuse him it will be so much
the worse for you" These were the
last words the Spaniard uttered as he
rode away.
shortly afterwards Percy was we'll
ara strong again. BE did not devote his
time to uselessly bewailing his fate,
bus went to work at whatever the
Dutchman told him to do and en-
deavored to do his utmost to please. He
had an object in carrying out this course
of action and after learning few words
Of the Mongrel-Spanish spoken by the
hands around the place he grew init
mate with them as far as his knowledge
of the language would permit. He was
thus better capable of entering into
their work and sport with vim and
earnestness which made him lots of
friends among them. While it might
have taken him years to have learned
to ride horse with any thing approach
ing the ease that a Gaucho did it, he
soon became very expert and in brief
moments, when his thoughts ofanxious
friends left him, he would really some
what enjoy himself.
1t was getting to be about time for
the tall Spaniard to put in an appear
ance again when Van Nepp also seemed
to be growing friendly to him. In one
brief week this friendship had improved
and grown to such a degree that he
would take Percy with him very often
when he drove to the head station,
about ten miles further north. 1t was
on one of those occasions that Percy
found a welcome opportunity to effect
an escape. They were driving home at
dusk when, without a warning sign of
any kind, one of the wheels came off
their vehicle and threw the riders to
the ground. Percy turned a summer
sault and fell on his shoulders, sustain
ing no further injury than rough shak-
ing, but his companion was not so
fortunate, for he fell on his side and, in
falling, broke his arm.
Here was what would have under Or
binary CIRCUMSTANCES seemed ike al
unfortunate occurrence, but Percy
hailed it with delight. He was not
pleased to see the praying old Dutch
man in trouble, but he at once saw a
means of escape. He was dressed in
the garb of a native, but that made no
difference, and once on river steamer
he would be safe. lie set the broken
arm of the Dutchman as best he could
with his limited knowledge of surgery
and then presumably turned his attep-
ton to the repair of the wagon. Find
ing that the wheel could not be fastened
on without the assistance of black
smith, as the little pin from the axle
was lost, Percy proposed that he should
ride back to the head station and bring
the smith from there. To this, the
Dutchman, anxious to get home, con-
scented, and in few minutes Percy was
riding as fast as his horse could carry
| him to freedom.
How the Dutchman spent the night
Lowell never knew; for himself, he spent
most of it in the saddle.
In the morning he reached small
town on the banks Of the river, where
he sold the horse for an insignificant
sun, and with it he boarded river
steamer and took the cheapest passage