The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-04-23

heart es he watched the leuteaant's con-
dition.
by gee" said he. 81 asked him to cure
him of drink, but not to take all the spirit
out of him. What tell A towards worse
than t'other thng!"
Then it came about that on a very hot
day in the afternoon a ship strange in
those waters crept closely in to the Cuban
| coast. She steamed slowly along, her bul-
warks lined with watohful armed men,
whose wide, gray campaign hats topped
her sides The silver beach stretched, q
shining ribbon, along the edge of the sea.
| and great clouds of surf sparkled in the
sun as the waves broke on the coral reefs
little out from shore. The land with
in lay like garden of the gods, as green,
as fruitful. to all seeming as peaceful. A
| net of jungle of trailing, thorny vines
| and tropical bush, with bamboos and ban
vans and clumps of cocoa palms, reached
| back from the beach, rising gently, until,
some miles inland, the dark ridges of the
hills doomed in the horizon.
No sound came from the land, no foe
iAshowed himself as the ship dTifted gently
in and then lay still, some hundreds of
yards from shore. Swiftly from her sides
| two long boats were lowered, and each was
filled with men with carbine, ammunition
belt and pistol
Lieut.. Pauks will take charge of boat
| No, l and Lieut. owen of No. p" said the
commanding officer. you have your in
structons, gentlemen. Good luck to you.
| In an hour or two l shall expect you back
with the information and the scouts"
Boat No was lying ready and impa-
tent, when MIR. Pauks swung himself in
the stern.
Give way, men," said he. See if we
can't beat the other boat ashore. Now
then" he added to the Cuban at the tiller,
''look out for the reef I'd as soon get
there dry as wet"
Where Is No. 2?'' a soldier queried, as
they shot forward
Lieut.. Owen" said the commanding Of
flcer impatently, what is the matter?
Your men are all In the boat"
A voice from the stern of the boat spoke
up gently sedate and respectful as need
be, yet with a curious note in 1t.
The things is all with me, lieutenant
There's nothing left behind" 1t said.
owen started at Spuds rebuke. rebuke
only to his ears, ana, in his turn. swung
over and seated himself in the stern, close
to his attendant.
"Give way" he said but there was no
jolly appeal to his squad to beat the 9TH
ers, The men looked fretful as they noted
the start the others had.
Them fellows nave the luck" one
growled "They Wan be first ashore"
Spud had corner of his eye on ovens
face; in the crowded, small boat, their
shoulders touched The officers face was
gray his form trembled.
This is black ruin" thought Spud.
BLACK ruin and disgrace for him and
the ward. If IF 1 dared!
He watched the men furtively. One
man nudged another and both looked at
owen and sneered. Spud ground his teeth
and marked them for future slaughter.
They know, they see IT, he inwardly
groaned, land we'll be eternai.y disgrace
ed. oh, Sammy, Sammy. IL only 1 could
give you jolly good hiding to wake you
up!'
He slipped hand to hip pocket and
half drew something from it, but showed
it back again with great distress of face,
whats to ne done? Damn the Kid doc
tor! Shall 1 burst the cure or-Oh, this
is the devil surei''
The other boat was drawing away ahead,
for their officer was cheering the oarsmen
on. He waved from his place in the stern
hand to owen and cried back gaiy:
you're not in it. Owen.,s -t-r
The men looked at owen. He made no
response. There was certain honor In
being first to set foot on the shore, but
the soldiers saw disgustedly that their Of
fcer did not desire IL. Danger was there,
and he--he funked it. That was the sud-
den thought that sprang to each mans
mind, and they looked blackly on him.
Spud moved in the boat standing up
so that he hid the lieutenant while he
stopped on some pretence. He held out
a black bottle and whispered angrlly.
Drink Sammy, drink, and God forgive
US both"
The lieutenant looked at him in sud-
den horror. 1t was as though ones
r5ia ANGEL vyb n wat for
should abandon his task and assume a
demons form.
"Yor-you want me tor"
Drink and say nothing" said poor
Spud, ''for il fghting's to be done that
Kid doctors ruined you for it. Drink"
And he drank quickly and deeply. He
handed the bottle back to Spud. who
slipped 1t away In a minute, Owens
face flushed and his eye frightened He
stood up and spoke to the men, and
babe the rowers pull. He was more
like himself and their faces frightened.
Pull boys" he said, "and we'll beat
those fellows for all their start" "Mur-
ply" he whispered as he sat down
again, give me that bottle"
Spud moaned, but the first step was
taken. He passed it over, and again the
officer drank, and this time he kept the
flask. Over the blue waters they skim
AhNus Iut reel WIS near.
Two to one in VS. we beat you, Owenp'
sang Pauks.
Done. Give way, menl" Owen cried; and
the men laughed. Spud frightened uD
The poison was working. He knew what
the doctor would say, but babe the NOR
row begone! Enough to live bravely
through the day. At the reef false turn
at the tiler nearly capslzed Parks boat
and Owen gained and passed them They
cleared the surf-they ran high on the
white shore. They formed as skirmishers
twenty yards apart and plunged into the
jungle, without waiting for the other boat
These were almost Immediately after
them, however, yet Owen had time 10
stop. and, In the shelter of a bush, gulp
down another drink. The blood dashed
through his veins. Blood filled his ewes
He was new man from the listless cray
en- an hour ago. Danger, certain fighting.
was before him, and he knew and well
coined 1t. spud was by him. and was as
tonished. If the doctor had teen there,
the Kid could have told the dog-robber that
Ne 1.aA 49,,