Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1895-06-23

l4aL the guards meant mischief and
urged upon them the necessity of keep
ing cool and quiet under all circum-
stances. Darcy replied that he thought
he could keep his temper, but just the
same he went down to his cabin, took
a revolver out Of his. satchel and kept
1t in his hand in the outer pocket of a
sack coat which he was wearing at the
time. We were walking up and down
the deck when a party OF the guards
came up and marched us before the
drunken sergeant, surrounded by his
men. The sergeant ordered Darcy to
stand up before him, and then the petty.
tyrant and his officers commenced abus-
ing us. Just as things were getting
| squally l saw boat with some zOuaves
! coming toward us from the shore, and
| shouted to them TO go back for the
captain of the guards because his men
were threatening Darcy with bodily
injury.
All this time the sergeant was do
ing his best to tantalize Darcy into
some sort Of retaliation. He called us
all the vile names he could think Of
and said if he had the pope there he
would dip him in the sea heels upper
most. Through all this TRADE of insult
Darcy stood erect, cool and calm, with
a cigar in his mouth and his right hand
on his trusty revolver in his coat pOck-
ct. 1t was a moment Of terrible sus-
pense for me. ] knew Darcy like a
I brother. He was a man Of fiery tenn
permanent. as brave as a lion and in
fact did not know what fear was. He
was great lover CT the pope, and when
the miserable sergeant uttered his in
suits against the pontiff l thought
Darcy would lose control of himself
| and use his revolver. At this moment
l caught his eye and put my fingers to
my lips as a signal of encouragement
to him to keep himself well in hand.
II was one Of the finest examples Of self
control under difficult circumstances
that have ever seen. Apparently he
was as composed and thoroughly self
possessed as if standing in a 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
tipsier and tipsier. At length the SER
gealt turned to the others and said,
I've a mind 10 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. The men
loaded their carbines. with savage glee,
meanwhile making coarse jokes about
our speedy departure into the next
world. The sergeant lined his men up
facing us and then turned and said to
them:
Now thea, boys, when l say Fire"
you fire. I'm in charge here, and
/ guess I can do what l like with these
bcgsara.
Il don't think l will ever forget tnat
moment continued General Tracey
THE scene is as wildly before M eyes
st this moment rs il was az that time.
The men were simply waiting for the
word 10 FIRE, and considering the des-
Derate character and drunken condition
of the sergeant we all expected that
word to be uttered at 9ny moment. !
would not have given so cent;mcs for
MY life.
Just thcn, as luck would have it,
the boat which had hailed and told &c
70 back for the captain Of the guards
came alongside. The swish Of the oars
in the water was music in our ears, l
can tell you. In q second more the cap
tain's head appeared above the rail, and
l was never before or since SO glad to
see q living man. My heart had for
some minutes been in my throat, but
when the captain jumped on deck
with his sword drawn and his eyes
flashing fire that organ OF mine dropped
6acl, into is accustomed place. 10 this
Gay occasionally wake up in the night
imag;ring, that I have sem in my
dreams the ugly features AMI wicked
eyes Of that drunken sergeant and his
tipsy comrades. Well, the captainesoon
Dut a stop 20 the high handed proceed
ings o. hia mon. lie placed the sergeant
under arrest, roundly scolded the phi
Yates and apclogizod to Us. He then
said. Now You shall so ashore and
have no further trouble with these fell
lows The gallant fellow embarked in
the boat with us himself for fear the
soldiers might shoot us if we went
alone.
Just as we were embarlling in the
heat noticed one CT the stewards who
had reported D'Arcy's conversation to
the guards reach in a chest on deck
for his hat. though paid no particular
attention 20 the incident at the time.
Wnen We cot ashore, they kept Us talk
ing in the custom house for little
while until the captain of the guards
could explain where we came from ana
whittier We were going. 4 carriage waT
then called to take lis to the RAILWAY
station. and was just getting into the
vehicle when I heard a scuflle behind
rs. Turning quickly. saw that steward
with long dirk knife in his hand and
his arm raised to strike at Darcy
hack. At that instant one Of the GUS
tom house officials grasped the villain
bv the throat and threw him to the
sidewalk. We jumped into the car
riaga as quickly as possible and drove
to the station. In ten minutes we vera
aboard the train and On our way to
Switzerland. and l confess that | was
heartily glad to get out of Italy with
whole skin"
WALTER WELLMAN.