Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1902-02-13
THE DAILY
SHORT STORY.
THE POWDER
MAGAZINE
copyright. 1901. by c. Z. Lcwis.l

There had been established at Kala-
bag great depot Of supplies for the
use of the British army invading the
Afghanistan states, and five miles out
OF the town and among the hills was
situated the big powder magazine. 1t
was Il great building of stone. and
during active operations IL contained
half Il million pounds of powder and
other explosives. When my regiment
marched up to Kalabag TO relieve the
Fourth of the line, there was a truce,
and this ended in Il treaty of peace; so
that we saw no fighting. We were de-
tailed to guard the depot and it came
about that l was placed i'll charge of
the powder magazine with 4 guard of
fifteen men. AS the magazine was
so far from the other depots and its
situation so lonely and its guard so
small, one would have expected it to
be given the most attention by the hill
men, but they gave us no trouble. Now
and then we caught sight Of a native
on the hills around, aud now and then
he screamed defiance and fired bull
let against the walls, but it would
seem as If they had orders to let the
guard alone. l got TO thinking mat
tiers over one day and with the aid of
the sergeant, who was a bright sort Of
fellow. came to the conclusion that the
guerrillas had some sort of trick up
their sleeve.
We had fortified our camp among
the hills, but IL was commanded from
dozen elevations. and hundred
guerrillas could have carried it with n
rush any night I-believed they had
kept clear of us for purpose and that
n big surprise would sooner or later
turn up. but the only thing l could do
was to wait for it. l figured that IL
any attack was made it would be I'M
der cover of darkness. but 1 was not
cute enough for the hill men. They
came with rush one afternoon at 3
what was up they had possession of
the camp and magazine. There were
twenty eight of them, and instead of
shooting us down they coutented them
selves with tying our hands behind
our backs and putting n guard over
US. They put out scouts and Sentinels
in the direction of the town, and then
twenty-four elephants that had been
brought down ravine close to the
camp were driven UP to he loaded with
powder. They had the door open in s
minute. and they worked rapidly aud
intclligently in loading the elephants
Each was loaded with eight kegs
or twelve bags of powder. ana when
every elephant had his burden eighty
of the men picked up Il key apiece ana
started off to the north. The two of
ficers in command waited until all the
others except our three guards had
gone. and L was wondering if we were
TO have our thToats cut when one Of
them approached me and smilingly
said:
There is to he war again. and we
wanted your powder. l am almost
sorry to go away and leave you alive.
but as no one has been hurt and as we
have made a grand haul l shall spare
you"
The guards remained with us for
half an hour longer and then departed
at n swift pace. and it was not long be-
fore one of the men worked Il hand
loose and then freed the rest OF us. II
was big thing those hill men had ac-
complished. and nothing could have
bttu ulOIt neatly 0out. bul dS Slobu
i'm the open door of that looted maya
zine 1 almost wished they had put an
end to me before they left. Our briga-
der was a fiery tempered old chap.
ready to criticise and censure sub
ordinate. and 1 knew that l was in for
n court martial and a disgraceful dis
missal from the service. 1t was my
despair and desperation that gave me
a sudden idea. They had neither de
stroyed nor taken away our arms, ana
L would follow on their trail with my
guard of fifteen men. 1t was forlorn
hope, and l could not see how any adj
vantage was to come of it. but we set
off soon after the guards We're out of
sight. and within an hour we caught
sight of the elephants as they topped a
distant ridge. Fearing no pursuit, the
hill men had left no rear guard. and
when we reached the ridge we looked
down upon stirring scene. The pow
der was being divided to go in differ
ent directions. There were at least
300 men, 100 horses and ten or fifteen
more elephants. There was great
deal of whooping and yelling as the
loads were divided, and the force was
SO strong that 1 gave up any hope of
attack and wished that L had at once
reported carbohydrates. l was about
to give the order to retire when big
puff of smoke suddenly leaped a hun
dred feet into the air and there was
boom as if from a big cannon. The
puff was almost instantly followed by
a second and a third and then by one
so large that it seemed to cover the
whole valley. As this latter shot up
ward every man of us on his feet at
the time was flung down and rolled
over aud the powders around us were
rocked or moved from their beds. The
crash that followed was something ter
rife and was heard sixteen miles
away.
For ten minutes a pail. of black