The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1893-01-19
ship between these two men in the awful
realism OF danger and suffering.

eALp DetNeoH lleSe TWO men IN the awful
realism OF danger and suffering.
For four DAYS the weary and footsCre
band travelled down a deep canon who,e
steep sides narrowed and narrowed until
they closed and barred them in Then
the retracing Of those same steps! On
and on IN the silence and gloom of the
! mighty contortians of nature without
food, without drink, tired ID limb, weary
and dazed ii mind, their tongues purple
and swollen with thirst, yet seeing IN
fancy the flower strewn prairies OF their
| beloved Texas and the fond hearts beat
ing welcome there, still opening up new
trails and pushing on with the courage
and faith that made the martyrs of the
Alamo and the heroes of San Jacinto.
A few, sorely weakened, gave up the
struggle and dropped out of the ranks.
Some became deranged and, wandering
off, slipped down the rocky rayines and
were killed.
On the evening of the tenth day they
were met by body of Mexican cavalry
and bidden to halt and give up their arms.
Half starved and dying they were Tex
ans yet, and their brave commander re-
fused to do except under treaty stipula-
tions.
A treaty was drawn up, and once again
false VOWS were pledged by Spanish lips.
-
the next day. BY that time only four of
the men were able to walk. Harvey,
among many others, had fallen and been
lifted and strapped across saddled horses,
and thus brought into camp. After
three days rest, IN which their half-spent
lives were restored by those arts of heal
ing the Meyicans know so well they were
carried handcuIfed in pairs, into SaltillO,
thence 20 SaladO.
The hoary walls of the old hacienda
looked down in sinister strength as the
thinned ranks filed in. Eight Mexicans
were outside digging trench. Ned ex-
changed look with Harvey. his compan-
ion-in-arms, and whispered: That means
death" He was not wrong. At2o'clock
Of the same day the prisoners were order
ed ont and ranged in double line against
one of the walls.
The officer in command then read the
written decree of Santa Anna. President
OF Mexico, a decree which pronounced
for these men a fate so Ingenious in It's
torture to mind and body that it might
nave been conceived in the subtle brain
of {. Herod.
Every tenth man was to be killed. the
decision to be made by lottery.
Into a jar were to be dropped 10
beans-l53 white and Il black.
Each man was to take ont a bean.
Those drawing the black ones were to be
shot before the sun went down. thn rest
spared death, but retained as prisoners.
Itwa dark and cloudy day, this 26th
day Of March. with high winds that whip
ped the sands into great waves aud blew
it across the plains.
Beyond the door OF the courtyard moth
| ipg could be seen but that flying sand.
Over all spread the dusky canopy of
the heavens.
| a Mexican soldier mounted q stool and
held aloft the fatal pitcher.
The roll was called.
As each hand was slowly lifted and
poised for one single instant above the
the jug, Life and Death must have met
and made salute.
The game was for souls, and the die
was a Mexican bean!
Fosters name was called near the last
and he careles8ly dropped IN his left
hand, with perchance a "reminiscences OF
childish days when he had done such
! things "for luck" and found he had pick
ed up a white bean.
As he returned to his place Harvey
passed him, and Ned saw in the white,
drawn face of his friend no sign Of fear
but the mental anguish of Gethsemane.
What was it he had said last night IN
one of the pauses of that long march?
That perhaps, even now, baby voice
was waking faint echoes in his little home
and that the anxiety he was bearing for
another was sharper with pain than any
physical torture he had experienced.
Ned looked at the smooth. white oval
) of the vegetable seed in his hand, and
made resolve.
When he looked up Harvey was just
raising his hand. Ned noticed how il
: trembled.
When the fingers were withdrawn there
= was something black outlined against
; their bloodless tips.
The change in his face was that OF
death.
With a quick movement toward his
. friend Foster made sudden thrust anC
: gesture, and-how it was, no one could
: ever explain after the slight confu
sion and peremptory orders to fall in line
Harvey was seen standing In his old place
: staring with bewil6ered gaze at whit
! object in his open palm, and Ned, cree
{ and calm, with brow of more than morta
beauty, awaiting the signal OF death.
r As soon as Harvey regained control o
s his confused faculties he made frantic
r pitiable efforts to communicate with hi
n friend, but was silenced at the point of
e musket, and compelled to throw himsel
face downward with the rest, while tn
t seventeen doomed men were led forth
lie bound together with cords. their eye
lie bandaged, and shot repeatedly until lif
s, was extinct. They asked the privilege c
D. being shot from the front, but were re
ID fused, and made to sit upon log nea
to the wall with their backs to the execr
in tioners.
Siv ua-a 4,Lao ont Sr,4 +bop Siv nor