The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1895-06-23

piicu that lie thought lie could Keep his
temper, but Just the Sauna he went down
to his cabin, took II revolver out of his
satchG and kept it in his hand in the outer
| pocket of u sack coat which he was wear
| ing ut the time We We're walking up and
down the deck when party of the guards
came up and marched Ills before the drunk
en- sergeant, surrounded by his men. The
| sergeant ordered Darcy to stand up be-
fore him, and then the petty tyrant and
his officers commenced abusing lis. Just
as things were getting squally saw % boat
with some zouavcs coming toward us from
the shore, and 1 shouted to them to go
back for tho captain of the guards because
his men were threatening darcy with
bodily injury.
All this time the sergeant was doing
his best to tantalize Arcy into some sort
| of retaliation. He called us all tho vile
| names he could think of and said if he
had tho pope there no would dip him in
the sea heels uppcrmost. Through all this
tiradc of insult Darcy stood erect, cool
and calm, with cigar in his mouth and
his right hand on his trusty revolver in his
coat pocket. 1t WAS u moment of terrible
suspense for me. 1 knew DARCY like n
brother. He was man Of fiery tcnpcra-
| mont, as brave as u lion and in fact did
not know what fear WAS. He was great
lover of the pope, and when tho miserable
sergeant uttered his insults against the
! pontif thought Darcy would lose con-
troll OF himself and use his revolver. At
this moment l caught his eye and put my
fingers to my lips us n signal of encourage
| mcnt to him to keep himself well In hand.
1t was one of the finest examples of self
control under difficult circumstances that
have ever seen. Apparently he was US
composed and thoroughly solf possessed as
| IL standing In drawing room. Finally he
asked if he might light his cigar, and the
sergeant roughly told him No
Meanwhile the sergeant and his guards
| continued drinking and getting tipsicr and
tipsicr. AT length the sergeant turned to
the others and said, Two mind To shoot
the dogs. This suggestion was greeted
with drunken cheers and things began TO
look pretty serious for us Load your
guns, boys, commanded the sergeant. Tho
men loaded their carbines with savage glee
meanwhile making coarso Jokes about our
| speedy departure into the next world. Tho
sergeant lined his men up facing MS and
then turned and said to them:
Now then, boys, when say ''Firc.'
you lire I'm In charge here, and guess
1 can do what like with these bcggars.'
II don't think I Will ever forget TINT
moment" continued General Tracey.
"The scene is us WILDLY before my ewes ut
| this moment as it WAS ut that time The
men were simply waiting for the word to
fire, and considering the desperate charac-
| ter and drunken condition of the sergeant
| we all expected that word to bo uttered ut
| any moment would not have given 80
| confines for my life.
Just then, rs luck would have it, the
| boat which L had hailed and told to 90
| back for the captain of tho guards came
alongside. The swish of the oars in tho
ri xx-p- in, 7 II
| you. In II second moro tho captains head
| appeared above the rnil, and l was never
| before or since SO glad to 500 n living man.
My hcurt had for some minutes been I'D in
| my throat, but when the captain jumped
| ON deck with his sword drawn and his eyes
flashing fire that organ of mine dropped
back into its accustomed place. To this
dny occasionally wake up in the night.
imagining that have seen in my dreams
the ugly features and wicked eyes of that
drunken sergeant and his tipsy comrades.
We'll, the captain soon put n stop to the
| high handed proceedings of his men, He
| placed the sergeant under arrest, roundly
| scoldcd the privatcS and apologizcd to us.
He then said, Now you shall go ashore
and have no further trouble with these fell
lows. The gallant fellow embarked In the
boat with lis himself for fear the soldiers
might shoot mt us If wo went alone.
Just as wcwcre embarking In tho boat
noticed one of the stewards who had ~
ported D'Arcy's conversation to tho guards
reach in closet on deck for his hat,
though L paid no particular attention to
tho incident at the time. When we got
ashore, they kept Us talking In the custom
house for little while until the captain of
the guards could explain where we camo
from and whittier we were going. 4 chr
riagc was then called to take us to the rail
way station, and I was just getting into
the vehicle when I heard scufie behind
us. Turning quickly, I saw that steward
with u long dirk knife III his hand and his
arm raised TO strike at d Ary's back At
that instant one of the custom house Off
Gals graspcd tho villain by the throat and
threw him to tho sidewalk. We jumped
into the carriage KS quickly rs possible and
drove to the station. In ten minutes we
We're aboard the train and on our way to
Switzerland, and 1 confess that 1 was
heartily glad to get out of Italy with Il
whole skin. WALTER WELLMAN
Two Lives Saved.