Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1900-06-28
CHAPTER XVI.

NaSFanI uOS tapping NdlSl II lOlii ~
tie poolunder one of the many hydrants
The soldier police essayed an arrest;
the culprit broke and ran; the guard
fired; a lot of coolies, taking alarm, fed
jabbering to the river side. The natives,
looking for troubleany moment, rushed
to their homes. Some soldiers on pass
and unarmed tumbled over the tables
and chairs in the Alhambra in their
dash for the open street. A stampede
sergeant told a bugler to sound to
arms. and in the twinkling of an eye
the call was taken up from barrack to
barrack, and the news went flashing
out by wire to the extreme front. The
shopkeepers hastily put up their shut
ters and bolted their doors. Cabs, carts,
quilez and carromattas-even the street
cars-were instantly seized by the sol
diery scattered all over town, and util-
iZed to take them tearing back to Join
their regiments. In five minutes the
business streets downtown were de-
serted. Chinese covered within their
crowded huts. The natives, men and
women, either hid within the shelter of
their homes or fled to the sanctuary of
the many churches. All over the great
city the alarm spread like wildfire. The
battalons formed under arms, those
nearest the outer lines being marched
at once to their positions in support,
those nearer the walled city waiting for
orders. Foreign residents took mat
ters more coolly than did the Asiatic;
German phlegm, English impassiveness
I 4 M
venting a panic. But those who had
families and owned or could hire car
riages and launches were not slow in
seeking for their households the refuge
of the fleet of transports lying placidly
at anchor in the bay, where Dewey's
blueiackets shifted their guilds, went
coolly to their stations and, grouped
about their guns, quietly awaited fur
ther developments. In an agony of
fear Col. Frost had hidden his driver to
lash the ponies to a gallop and go like
the wind to Malate; but the appearance
of the long ranks of sturdy infantry
resting on their arms and beginning to
look bored, measurably reassured him
before he reached his home. Once
| there, however, the sight of Nlta, cling
| ing Historically to her sister and moan
| ing on her bed, was sufficient to deter
mine his first move, which was to wire
| for his launch to come around to the
| bay shore and take them off to the fleet.
| The next was to send and ask for an Of
| ficer and 90 men from the Quartet, on
receiving which message the major
commanding, standing on the dusty
| nF l. Sc al
under his grizzled mustache and said:
| 'Frost's got 'em again. Here, Gray,
you 90 over and tell him to keep his hair
| on, that it's nothing but n fake alarm"
And Gray, glad enough of the chance to
| go again into the presence of the wom-
an who so fascinated him, sped on his
mission. He was in a fury over his re-
| cent humiliation in her very sight-he,
| commissioned officer, tossed aside
like child and outwitted by this daring
intruder in the shape of a private sol
dier-he and his guard brushed away
and derided by young fellow in some
strange regiment-who had easily es-
| capped along the beach to an adjoining
| inclosure into which he darted and was
no more seen. The streets were full of
scurrying soldiers, and it was the sim
| plest thing in the world for him to
mingle with them and make his way to
his own command. OF course, Gray
| well knew who the man must be-Nita's
troublesome lover of whom Witchie had
| told him so much. There was his chance
to recover the letters and claim the re-
ward; but man and letters both had es-
capped his grasp; and when he pulled
| up, blown and exhausted after frutless
chase, he was brought to his senses by
the sight of his own men falling in ''for
business" and he had to scamper for
his sword and join them.
That was miserable evening. Mar
garet Garrison was the only member of
the household who seemed to have her
wits about her and her nerves under
control, for Frank, her liege lord, had
his duty elsewhere, and not until hours
later trotted slowly home. Margaret
plainly let Gray understand how he had
| fallen in her estimation at being so
easily tossed aside. A warning finger
was laid upon her lip. "Not one word
of what has happened while he is here"
she muttered; and a nod of her fluffy
head toward the perturbed colonel told
plainly that the chief of the household
really had no place in the family coun-
ellis. To the sisters that alarm was a
blessing in disguise. 1t was all suf1i-
cient to account for Nita's prostration.
| To the rash and reckless lad, who,
claiming to be an orderly with letter
from the colonel, had been passed by
the gate guard to the open stairway, it
afforded ample cover for es ape, when,
alarmed by Nita's cry, Gray and the
corporal came springing to her aid. To
Gray himselfi it gave only few minutes
forgetfulness of his trouble, for, smart
ling under the sting of n woman's only
half-hdden disdain, he would have well