Griggs courier., 1898-12-15

0B[UOts y010N108 SGoS ~ W0o o0ACs
'But women are only slkittish crea-
tures after all. 20 when the ship she
was ON was stopped at Rosetta. Miss
Lucy foolishly resolved to return ovel-
land to her father. This was. of course.
the very worse thing she could have
done, and the result was that Lieut..
Grahame met the native servant, who
was looking for the major to tell him
that the girl had returned to the house
and was hiding there in great danger
''When We had run on for about ten
minutes we came across an ugly crowd
Of armed rihraf1, who. seemed inclined
to dispute the road with us. = stand;
clear!' yelled the cap'n, as he dragged
me into an open doorway. Only just in
time, for had been minute later l
should have certainly lost the number
of my mess there and then, as perfect
storm of bullets hissed by me. We
slammed the door to- and luckily the
fastenings were still good, as we could
hear the mob hammering against it and
endeavoring to blow the lock open.
"sQuick; up here, '.'again shouted the
cap'n, leading the way up some crazy
stone steps on to the fat roof. There
was a kind of hatchway over the stairs,
and this we managed to clap on in half
a tick. AS luck would have it we also
found a pile of loose masonry, which
had fallen from the dome of temple
place next door.
"Wnen had shoveled about half a
ton of this rubbish on to the hatch,
thinks it time to have spell and take
our bearings. looks round, but
couldn't see the cap'n nowhere.
"Just then heard his voice yelling
and shouting curses in most awful
manner, and running in the direction OF
the sound found him waving his arms
and stamping about as if he was balmy
on the crumpet. q
"'Look at the fends!' he roared,
dancing with rage. Now, Lucy, I'm
coming, dearest!'
"And believe he would have jumped
over the parapet, sheer drop of 60
feet, if hadn't clinched his coat with
both hands.
'There across the narrow street we
saw two English females crouched on
the opposite roof. The lower part of
the building was in flames, and in the
street below crowd of yellow mongrels
were shouting and brandishing their
guns.
''Now, if there is one thing more'p
another that Tom Saunders pats his
self on the back about it is that he never
loses his head. The roof he was stand
ing on had flagstaff in the middle,
and in a moment like it came to me that
this spar was to be the salvation OF
them two girls.
"'Help me pull the stick down, Gra-
hame!" shouted, forgetting his rank
in the furry of the moment. He catchel
on my meaning at once, and we both
tugged away for dear life. can't say
now whether the staff was rotten or
how it came about, but all know is that
in brace of shakes we had the spar
down and stretched between the two
roofs. The next minute my boots were
off, and was across before the chaps be.
low had time to think what was ado.
ing Of.
"Mrs. Grahame-I mean Miss Lucy,
as she was then-like true woman,
wanted to stand argufying with her
maid as to who should take first, but
cut their tackle short by selling the
young lady in my arms and starting off.
She was true blue and didn't screech,
but nestled in my arms, bless her heart,
as if she was a baby.
/ 1>~o,r, T ~,,,,e% In rrof$irn old Gov
whenever I think of that time now cold
beads of perspiration stand out on my
face, and can feel my heart beating
like the rod of donkey engine.
"As soon as stepped out'on the boom
hoarse shout came from below, more
like the roar of wild animals than any
thing else. Then could hear popguns
going off, but there couldn't have been
decent shot in all the billing of 'em,
or we should never have got across.
Before you could count two had
placed the purity creature in the cap'n's
arms and was halfway back again.
"Come along, my lass!' 1 said. And
without a whimper the plucky gal came
right 10 the edge of the roof to meet me.
Then the worst part of the beanfeast
began. Aforc had taken half dozen
steps q bullet plugged through my
cheek, and spit out two of my best
biscuit crushers. Polly, too-that's
the missus' name-got a nasty scratch,
though I didn't know that till after
ward. Then feels stinging pain
above the right knee, and. thinks it's
all up this time, Tom, my boy when
feels the cap'n laying hold of me, and
we was drawed into safety.
II thought at least it was safety, but
soon found 1 was wrong. The demons
had managed to force the trap, and now
came swarming up by, dozens. Luckily
for us, two British tars is match for
a hundred ragged camp followers. and
we up-ended score or so before they
knowed where they was. don't go for
to say. though, that things wasn't look
ing serious when, just in the nick of
time, we heard the tramp of a patrol,
and the yellow chaps scooted SO quick
| IL, that IN about ton seconds there