The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1903-06-05

bargain the Central Southern has ever
| made, and they got me cheaply
enough"
So it came to pass that after some
purchase Of horseflesh and arrange
ments financial and political Dick was
made free of the New and Honorable
Fraternity Of War Correspondents,
who all possess the inalienable right of
doing as much work as they can and
getting as much for it as Providence
and their owners shall please. To
these things are added in time, If the
brother be worthy, the power of glib
speech that neither man nor woman
can resist when meal or bed is in
question, the eye of a horse copper, the
skill of a cook, the constitution of a
bullock, the digestion of an ostrich
and an infinite adaptability to all cir
cumstances. But many die before they
attain to this degree, and the past mas
tiers in the craft appear for the most
part in dress clothes when they are in
England, and thus is their glory hid
den from the multitude.
Dick followed Torpenhow wherever
the latter's fancy chose to lead him,
accomplish some work that almost sat
isfied themselves. 1t was not an easy
life in any way, and under its influ-
ence the two were drawn very closely
together, for they ate from the same
dish, they shared the same water bot
tie, and, most binding tie of all, their
mails went off together.
1t was Dick who managed to make
gloriously drunk telegraph clerk in a
palm hut far beyond the Second cata-
ract and while the man lay in bliss on
the floor possessed himself Of some la
boriously acquired exclusive informa-
ton forwarded by coniding CORE
spondent of an opposition syndicate,
made a careful duplicate of the mat
ter and brought the result to Torpen-
how, who said that all was fair In
love or war correspondence and built
an excellent descriptive article from
his rivals riotous waste of words. 1t
their adventures, together and apart,
from Phila to the waste wilderness Of
Herawi and Muella, would fill many
books.
They had been penned into a square
side by side in deathly fear of being
shot by overexcited soldiers, they had
fought with baggage camels in the chill
dawn. they had logged along in silence
under q binding sun on indefatigable
little Egyptian horses, and they had
floundered OIL the shadows Of the Nile
when the whaleboat in which they had
found q berth chose to smite hidden
rock and rip out half her bottom planks.
Now they were sitting Con the sand
bank, and the whaleboats9were abring,l
ing up the remainder Of the column!"''
"Yes," said Torpenhow as he put the
last rude stitches into his overlong neg
lected gear; sit has been a beautiful
business"
"The patch or the campaign" said
Heldar. "Don't think much Of either
myself"
''You want the Euryalus brought up
above the Third cataract, don't you,
and eighty-one-ton guns at Jakdul?
Now. Pm quite satisfied with my
breeches" He turned round gravely
to exhibit himself after the manner Of
a clown.
Its very pretty. Specially the let
tering on the sack, G. B. 7. Govern
ment Bullock Train. That's sack
from India"
"Its my initials-Gilbert Belling Tor
penhow. | stole the cloth on purpose.
What the mischief are the camel corps
doing yonder?" Torpenhow shaded his
eyes and looked across the scrub
strewn gravel.
A bugle blew furiously, and the men
on the bank hurried to their arms and
accnuterments.
"'Pisan soldiery surprised while
bathing" remarked Dick calmly. do
you remember the picture? It's by
Michael Angelo. All beginners copy it.
That scrubs alive with enemy"
The camel corps on the bank yelled
to the infantry to come to them, and
hoarse shouting down the river showed
that the remainder of the column had
wind of the trouble and was Fastening
TO take share in it, AS swiftly as
reach of still water is crisped by the
wind the rock strewn ridges and scrub
topped hills were troubled and alive
with armed men. Mercifully it oc-
Cured to these to stand far off for
time, to shout and gesticulate joyously.
One man even delivered himself Of
long story. The camel corps did not
fire. They were only too glad for
little breathing space until some sort
of square could be formed. The men
on the sand bank ran to their side, and
the whaleboats, as they toiled up with
in shouting distance, were thrust into
the nearest bank and emptied of all
save the sick and few men to guard
them. The Arab orator ceased his out
cries, and his friends howled.
'They look like mahdis men," said
Torpenhow, elbowing himself into the
crush of the square, "but what thou
sands of 'em there are! The tribes
hereabout aren't against us, l know"
'Then the mahdi'S taken another
town." said Dick, 'and set all these
yelping devils free to chaw US up. Lend
us your glass"
"Our scouts should have told us of
this. We've been trapped" said sub.
altern. aren't the camel guns ever
going to begin? Hurry up, you men!"
There was no need for any order.
The men flung themselves, painting,
against the sides of the square, for
they had good reason to know that