Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1898-03-26

thlng into my pocket. now had rea-
son to curse this carelessness, for /
did not know how to open the piece
again. knew I had stumbled on it
by pressing q spring near the edge,
but just where l could not tell. TAX
ing up my pencil I went carefully
about the rim. must have missed it
the first and second times round, but
the third time ON striking, as l then
noted, exactly over the letter 90, the
Louis few open again. Ten precious
minutes had been lost, and l set to
work with desperate energy. The
further I cut into the bar the slower
the work went, and I also had
to conduct my operations with
one eye on the Mexican. He did not
move, but lay there watching ME out
of his large, dark eyes, wonderingly.
Nearly two hours passed thus when
the faint twittering of bird warned
me Of approaching day. 1 had not
finished the first bar. 1 seemed to be
making no progress at all now. Once
the little file had slipped from my
fingers and fallen to the floor, where
had been obliged to grope for it, and
the constant fear lest it should slip
again and fall outside made me doubly
cautious and slow. As the first streaks
Of red tinged the eastern sky the roll
of the drum in the guard room beneath
told me that the sentries were about
to be changed. Exerting all my
strength / wrenched the bar free at
the bottom and bent it inward and
upward like . hook. The aperture
thus made was small, but still I might
squeeze through, The remembrance
how, as boy, used to crawl into
our barn at home through small
window from which pane of glass
had been knocked, came to my mind
encouragingly. Snatching up the
pistol 1 pushed the table under the
window, and, jumping upon it. began,
feet first, to work myself through the
hole. 7 was about the same size all the
way up in those days"-here the major
looked rather regretfully at the pres
ent generous proportions of his waist
coat--''but when 7 had gotten half
way through l stuck fast. Just at
this moment I heard voices at the
door and a key CRATE in the lock.
They had some difficulty in unlocking
it, for had left the key in the lock on
my side. Meanwhile / struggled
valiantly, but the more wriggled the
tighter 1 seemed to get wedged in the
window, and the blood surged up into
my head with splitting violence.
There I was, caught in my own trap,
waving my legs about and striking
them against the wall on the outside.
"The key on my side of the door
fell to the floor, and the key on the
other side turned In the lock. I
called out as menacingly as my lack of
breath would permit: The first who
enters will be shot dead Here 1
gave tremendous squirm. Il have
overpowered the sentry (wriggle), and
have his pistol The click OF my
weapon carried conviction with it, for
the men in the corridor paused. By
a superhuman effort drew myself u
little toward the inside of the room,
and getting one arm outside, managed
to slide ont of the window. Here I
hung by one arm from the bar, my
shirt, having caught on the ragged
stump OF iron, prevented me for q
moment from dropping 10 the
yard beneath. A sentry on the
prison wall spiel me at this
juncture and fred his musket. 1t was
his last shot, for as his ball struck the
mortar from the wall near me I raised
my pistol and picked him off his perch.
let go my hold. There was soft
burr of ripping flannel. aud fell to
the ground. 1 was upon my feet and
over the wall like cat As leaped
volley Of shot followed me, and the
soldiers poured out Of the jail in pur.
suit. There were some horses tied in
front of the postoffice opposite, end
breaking the tether Of one of them 1
was on his back and away up the street
in flash. 1t was only an eighth of a
mile long. You know how these little
Mexican towns are built. Pandemon-
ium reigned there for about ten sec
onds, and then I was off towards the
mountains. A dozen men were after
me in full chase, but they never came
within shooting distance again. You
see, I knew the country even better
than they, having been scouting in it
for weeks. I made my way back to our
lines with all possible dispatch, avoid
ing any encounter with the natives.
"When I finally reached the Ameri-
con army I found that Scott had given
up all idea of seeing me again, and was
preparing to press forward to the at-
tack.
"On the 18th of August our forces
were shelling the City of Mexico from
the very town CT Molino del Rey, and
on the 10th we took the city itself by
assault.
II wanted to have hand at whip
ping Santa Anna, SO took part in the
charge and received wound in the
leg which resulted in this" The
major stuck out his left leg from un-
der the table. "Cork, sir!
"That, gentlemen, is how I come to
know how to open this remarkable
coin."
Then drawing a fat wallet from his
inside vest pocket he tished out from
it's recesses something folded in what
had once been white paper, now dark
with age. Unwrapping it he disclosed
a tiny file, with delicate saw-teeth.
Fitting the file into the cavity in the
coin he handed it to the colonel, say
ing, as he did so: "Allow me to re-
store to you all your property" But
the latter refused it. "No, major, I
think it should belong 70 You"
"Well, l should like to keep it
as memento, but in turn
you must permit me to celebrate my
first meeting with the man to whom I
am SO deeply indebted. by ordering a
bottle of champagne.
with all my heart" said the genial
colonel.
"And now" continued the major,