The National tribune., 1898-11-24

1iounce the hope of competition, and a
invalid would envy the peace of th
dead.
| could stand it no longer. "Wha
the demonio is the matter with thos
wretches asked my pallet-neighbol
who was sitting up to readjust his pi
low.
"Quien sabe9 Yes, they are littl
noisy," he drawled; "but, tell yor
that's nothing; you ought to hear then
some morning when it is going to rain.
AS Autumn rains are not impossible Il
the Cuban highlands, / resolved to rul
no risk, but negotiate decree of capi
tai punishment, though the requisit
briber should exhaust my stores 0
chewing-tobacco.
Our purveyor had failed to captur.
an adequate supply of salt, and the cool
was in bad humor that morning, but {
sacrifice of 10 ounces of Trinidad spice
plug proved irresistible, and we had
q fricassee for dinner.
A DESPERATE FELLOW.
The adventure with the ijail-birds occurred
on the morning of the 9th day after my ar
rival in the sierra. The weather was little
warm. and / was sitting under the shade OF
nv awning. fling rusty trigger-guard.
when / noticed ragged Hooking mulatto
steal out from behind wood-pile and look
furtivelv up and down the road. l did not
remember to have seem him before For all
I knew he might be one of the starved vaga-
bonds who now and then c0ntrived to slip
through the picket-posts and approach the
camp in quest of comestibles
1 did not like his appearance, but II he
had made for the woods at once | should not
have stopped him, and his moment could not
have been better chosen. The camp-guard
had left to relieve the outposts. ,Ei domador,
the bullv-tamer.' rs they called their ath-
letic turnkey. was guarding squad OF pris-
toners in a clearing few hundred yards down
abe riyer-road The cook was In his shanty,
and our Watchdog had followed the boy-of-
Il-work to the spring.
EVERYTHING favored the purpose of the
would-be deserter. but for some reason of his
own he retreated behind the wood-plle. and
when he re-energed some two minutes later
The propitious moment was gone. Stealthy
as a cat the ragamuffin had slipped into
vacant tent TO appropriate horse-plstoi and
then tried TO sneak out in rear of the kitchen
cabin; but just then Master Joe returned
from the spring. and at sight of the mongrel
at once gave AN all-round alarm.
''Seek him, Cabrona, good dog. shrleked
the little fellow: come out here, Tom; oh,
Mr. Galvez, hurry up; that niger, Rochez, is
loose 10
CLOSE PURSUIT.
Joe had been, kicked out of my workshop
by the Quartermaster for fooling with the
armory. and had acted little shy ever since,
but now saw his chance to reopen diplomatic
relations. ''Let's get a rifle, Senor,o he
cried, clutching my arm with both hands.
Gone of the prisoners got out; he's black
murderer and will XIII US all if we don't
straighten out his wool for him"
/ put down my handful of sundries and
made rush for the rifle-raek, but Cabrona
had got ahead of as.
''This way, Mr.. Galvez," roared the
cook; the dog has got him! Here they
are Quick, and you'll nab him sure ~
Mareello Galvez, our bully-tamer and Act
ing Provost-Marshal, had left his prisoners in
charge of trustee and came bounding up
the road, knife in hand. About % yards be-
vond the camp-trencb; the desperate stood at
DdY. klck1l1B anu ~ VI
the dog that was tearing his rags into shreds.
A shot might have solved the problem at
once. but the fugitive had not yet renounced
the hope of disabling the brute by a we'll
aimed kick, and reserving his one-barreled
pistol for future reference. Once he did cast
a wistful glance at the thickets, and seemed
to calculate his chance of getting under cover
with a rush, after treating the bitch to a
leaden anodyne; but again the chance of sue
cess had passed.
"Hold him, pup" cried the cook, and
almost in the same moment el domador
leaped in reach Of his quarry.
The man cooked his pistol.
"Look here, my man., F" said the turnkey,
"I'l give you just two minutes to drop that
thing and call things square, but u
The desperate still had his finger on the
trigger. "You had better aim well, old
man. said the turnkey; :" if you don't shoot
me dead Iii cut you into shoestrings"
Dr. Carver might have accepted the chal-
lenge. but the old mulatto probably could
not help mistrusting his aim, and the donna
dors' reputation left not shadow of doubt
that be was in earnest With two-ounce
bullet in his breast he would have rushed to
close quarters and used his knife with the
effectiveness of a matador.
A SURRENDER.
'Call off that brute, then, Boss" STAN
mered the man. % / aint afraid to die, il it
has to be done; but don't want to be chawed
into dog-meat"
"That's talking sense, amigo" laughed
the turnkey. "We'd better take you back
where the dogs can't reach you. How did We
get out. anyhow :"
Investigation proved that the prisoner had
broken a slab OF rock from the wall Of his
dungeon, and used it as a lever to pry up the
iron door about three quarters Of foot above
the massive floor. Through that narrow
aperture he had wriggled out, with disregard
of superficial consequences, as demonstrated
by the appearance Of his hips and shoulders.
+" Your smith will get another job, sup
pose, and the saddler, too" ] remarked,
when Lieut. Hernandez Joined me at the gate
OF the guardhouse.
"Only the smith, - said the Lieutenant
We have to chain that fox, of course, bat
old Galvez makes it a rule never TO lift his
hand against a deserter who surTenders at
first summons, and this one very near did.
If he had run for it or been crazy enough to
shoot there wouldn't have been much left of
his hide by this evening. But he really
never had chance at all. With both Ca
brona and old Galvez on his track he would
have needed start of 10 miles 10 get away,
unless he had crossed good-sized river"
Serg't Galyez's reputation as a man-hunter
had. indeed made him a terror Of eYil-doers