The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1904-10-20

into this mess. You can see for yourself
that there's mighty little show for any
of u.s.
well I'm not crying over it." she said
as she choked up and the color left her
face for a moment. Make your plans
and I'll help to carry them out"
He went over and put his arms around
her and kissed her and 1 am quite sure
she had to shut her teeth hard and fast
to keep the sobs back. After the moment
of weakness he turned to me with a
forced laugh and tried to put some hilari-
BUSINESS into his voice as he said:
Chester, old man. we'll make a game
fight for 1t and give the Americana and
old Yale reason to be proud of us. Sorry
for dad and nam and the little girl here.
but We'll wipe out few more of them be-
fore we go under. Which way does
africa lie from here? I'm a bit turned
around, you know"
'"To the southeast"
"Then we must make that way as long
as we can push on. Sis. you have pock-
ct compass; remember, to the southeast.
The distance is about thirty-fve miles. I
believe. Let's have a bite to eat stouten
up our hearts and make ready for the
dash"
When we had satisfied our appetites we
made thorough survey from the loop
holes. No one was in sight, but we sus-
pected that three or four of the bandits
were concealed behind the powders to
the north of US. Pedro would naturally
leave some one on the watch. and the
hiding place was near enough for them to
open a flank fire If we left the power
house. With my ear to the rear wall l
listened for a time, and l felt sure that
far up the mountain men We're at work
with pick and powder. 1t was time to go.
We had our loaded rifles in our hands,
nd ooh bod f,,n ho1t - nj
Don't want to hurt your feelings,
pard." said young Graves. with a smile.
but l think I'll take the lead in this
rush. Let Sue come next and you act as
rear guard. Well, l think we're ready.
Open comes the door, and away we go!''
We had not traversed a distance of thir-
ty feet when four rifles opened on us from
behind the powders and four men utter
ed shouts of alarm. Those bandits had
good weapons and knew how to shoot.
One of their first bullets grazed my left
shoulder but we did not stop to return
the fire, We had downhill run of forty
yards with no shelter to speak of, and
then came a creek and a narrow valley.
AS the bandits pumped lead after us we
heard something besides the ping of their
bullets and their shouts of rage. Thee
was a dull boom far above Is, ~, ~ d
by such crashing as l cannot Z -,
and l for one knew that the aV. -Icn1
had been started. / shouted to Groves to
run faster, and, catching Miss Sue ~ the
arm, I hurried her along at more rapid
pace and our gait was really marvellous.
1t was none too fast, however. The ava
lanche was rushing down the slope at
railroad speed and as we leaped the
creek it struck the power house and dash
ed it to fragments, For sixty seconds we
fairly flew and then Graves struck a
rock and came down with a crash, and we
oil I thought n ua 40
but we had escaped by a hairbreadth.
The avalanche had wiped out the power
house. Office storehouse. kitchen and bar
racks and after filling the creek ten feet
deep had pushed halfway across the val
ley and exhausted itself. The dirt and
limbs and powders were not five feet be-
| hind us when we rose up, and the feet of
one of the four dead bandits were stick
ing out to daylight beneath the debris.
| High up the mountain we saw a dozen
men, Snd they fired down upon us and
shook their fists and danced in wrath.
| do not think we were pursued At any
rate, after night in the woods and half
a days travel we encountered % force of
regular Chilean troops and were given
an escort to the seaport, where we took
steamer for New York 1t would cost
| $50, 900 to replace the machinery and build
| ings Of the Americana, and it was useless
| to think of making move before the war
| closed
The title of my story may be somewhat
misleading, as l have shown that the
| president had a daughter as well as a
! son. However as he gave her to me, and
| she took my name within year, 1 have
made a modest effort to keep her in the
| background as much as possible and let
the son reap what honors he could out OF
the affair.