Evening star., 1900-08-18

| up and many of them had crowded into
1hs room nabhm 0rderad ,ns dner them out and
Now. monsieur, II you will kindly tel
your men to give up their guns
The officer said q few words to his little
band, and. one by one as sergeant called
their nameg they stepped forward and
| handed heir~weapons to Curtis, who pass
| ed them to "a man outside the door. The
| last gun had scarcely been given up ere
sudden commotion broke out among the
Cretans and half dozen burly insurgents
| forcing their way past the guard, burst In
to the room. The commotion now sweiled
| to a hoarse uproar, and Curtis caught the
| words kill! kill" and no! no.' Lind
bohm did not realize the gravity of the
situation. He was raging because his or
ders had been dlsSbeyed, and thought that
| the whole band, actuated by curiosity, were
about to swarm in He therefore leaped to
the door with leveled bayonet, and threat
ened the crowd so freely that they all
shrank back. Meanwhile, thing happen
| ed that fairly froze Curtis with horror. The
| half dozen insurgents raised their guns to
| their shoulders and deliberately pointed
| them at the body of unarmed Turks, Who
| seized with panic, assumed all the atd-
tudes of fear. Some crouched against the
wall, as though they would shrink through
1T; some fell upon the earthen floor: others
squatted and doubled their arms in front
OF faces and chests. Several tried to seize
their companions and hold them before
| their own bodies.
| A dreadful laugh mingled with foul and
insulting words. broke from the insurgents
throats. The Turkish officer stepped qui-
etly in front of his men, and crossing his
arms over his chest, regarded the Cretans
with look of high scorn. His thin face
and gray beard added subimity to the
dauntless soul that spoke in his attitude
| He had the beak and eyes Of an eagle.
| Curtis completely carried away with
| revulsion and horror The words. I'm the
| name of God! In the name of God!' beat
| in his brain with the regular strokes of a
| triphammer, and he fancied that he heard
| someone inSnr0anf
| threatened him with the bayonet. and an
| other, with an outburst OF eXpostulation,
seized the threateners gun. Then third
Cretan leaped upon him, and attempted to
push him to one side Of the room. Curtis,
| now completely craZed with rage. dropped
the gun, which he was unable to use at
such close quarters and snarling, Oh
| you. I'll choke the life out of you" danced
with hooked hands at his adversarys
| throat.
| Strong as a gorilla and notable among
| the best athletes in the world the foot ball
players of Harvard, he had nothing to fear.
He lodged between the sinewy arms of his
opponent, and, arching his back against
| the python embrace which now frightened
| upon him. felt for the Cretans throat.
when-there was a great crunching and
trembling sound in the air that had sud-
denly turned milky and pungent and yellow
with lightning burst Of sun. Cretans and
Turks were leaping like imps Curtis stood
| for moment In stupid wonder. his mouth
| open. his hands still convulsiveiy twitching.
t1e was gazing at a great neap OF DEBRIS
| and triangle of wall with one ragged side.
Men were scrambng over the rubbish,
working their arms as though they were
| trying to fly. Something like an electric
shock-it was fear-smote the American,
and his stomach swooped when one goes
| down in a swing He leaped among the
| feers and gained the open. Without looking
to see where he was going, he struck out
instinctivey for the hills. Once or twice
he fell down. but was on his feet again in
an instant. AS he ran his fear grew. Some
one shouted to him, familiar voice, but
he did not stop. Lindbohm seized him firm
ly by the arm and held him. Curtis strug-
gled for moment and then he felt weak.
He could run no further. He tried to speak
several times but was entirely out of
breath At last he managed to gasp:
What? What? What?'
The Swede was standing on little emil
nence with one hand In his pocket hair,
face and clothing We're busted miller white
with powdered lime He was gazing toward
the sea. and there was the ghost of smile
in his child-ike blue eyes.
'Six-inch SHE'LL he replied. Curtis look
ed. There was a spurt of flame from
one of the toy ships in the duck pond, fol-
lowed by muffed detonation and a sound
like the wind sometimes makes at sea. An
explosion threw up a great cloud of dust
about thirty yards beyond the blockhouse
or what remained of it.
French said Lindbohm.
Another flash. again the sound of the
wind, again the eXplosion-this time about
twenty yards short.
German, 1 think. They lowered too much
because the others fired high
The third shell from yet another ship
clipped away the white flag that was still
standing on the corner of the building
English! That's great work. Lindbohm's
interest was entirely professional and dis
interested.
fr-.