The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1904-10-07
THE MAJORS LUCK.
by HUGH PENwORTHY.

| away.
The major drew his left arm up as n
| in pain and uttered an exclamation.
The next moment he had turned and
! dashed right into tic midst Of the
clump where the fire came from.
might as well say at this point that
we all thought Major Barker more or
less OF born idiot i'm action, he was
so confOundcly fOolhardy' but for that
very reason there was not "A man IN
his command who did not feel himself
morally bound 10 take care Of such an
irresponsible person, rs he would have
Of n child.
So Dick and I bounded after the
major, inwardly wondering IL he was
leading us into the arms OF the whole
forty.
But the forty, moro or less, were
gone when we got to the spot; we could
hear the cracking OF bushes as they
scampercd Off and we fred several
shots at them.
The reason that the major did not
keep on was that we heard the sounds
tions that he for moment was puz-
zled as to which one to follow
This gave Dick and me the desired
opportunity, and We seized IT,
That is we seized the major and
compelled him to sit down, for his left
sleeve was dyed red and his left hand
was dripping.
"Confound you. what arc you doing?"
he cried. "Eh-my wound? Hang it
It's nothing. don't even feel IL. Eth?
Hands off there. Forward"
But we would not let go our hold Of
him.
what, slrs; you will not obey? Con
slider yourselves under arrest, both Of
you. II"
He began TO grow trile pale. prob
ably from loss OF blood, and he con
cluded TO give in 20 our physical per
suasion by sitting down.
We ripped up his sleeve and found n
gunshot wound through the muscles
Just above the elbow, and bleeding pro
fusely.
The bleeding was the only really scri-
Gus thing about the wound, and Dick
and | set 10 work like good fellows to
make liGaturcs for the arm and bind it
up, using the fragments of the ma jor's
shirt sleeves.
We kept very silent, we were so
busy. We were just tying our last
knot, when the major said:
"Harkw
We listened. In moment we heard
the distant rustic Of bushes. Later
the cracking Of 4 twig Other similar
sounds followed at intervals, growing
little nearer each time.
They all indicated the stcalthy ap-
proach OF one or more ,kulkcrs
They're coming back" whispered
Dick. They thlnk we've rctrcated."
Reiterated SIR" roarcd the major,
spring TO his feet aud snatChing the
revolver from his belt "Rctreatcd,
I'll show 'Cmw
lie was OFF again. The last words
were delivered ms he ran.
We sprang after him. Luckily we
were In single file, for two tongues OF
fire SHOT out from an ambush just
ahead, and we heard two balls cut the
leaves on either side OF our line Of
progress.
The majors action was so quick that
he took the enemy by surprise, and
dashed among them in their covert be
fore they could make off.
There were four OF them. The ma
iors revolver spoke onCc-thcn there
were three of them.
We found the major rs hc was closed
in upon 10y the three. one of them
struck his right hand with a gun stock
just after he had fired hi7 shot. The
revolver fell To the ground, and the
major was all but helpless.
Dick and | could not shoot now, for
the major was too much mixed up with
the black fellows; we each dropped our
gun and tackled our man, using good
old English rough and tumble tactics
with them.
Dick had his man on his back In an
instant. Mine was more difficult. He
had me 10y the throat--a very fair grip
spite of my efforts.
But i'm the struggle cast my eye
| over his shoulder and saw. close be-
hind my man, the major thrown to the
ground thanks to his wounded ARM
and. quicker than I can tell Il, n knife
dashed in the hand OF the turbaned
| foe.
saw it was raised high over the
major as he struggled to rise.
The sight gave me supcrhumar
strength literally wrcnched my en-.
emy's grasp free and hurled him back
wards. down on the majors PROSTATE
form-just as the knife descended.
Then | launched one blind blow al
the head OF the assassin.
The tremendous ana successive &C
tions weakened me to the point of TAX
ing away my senses for moment.
reeied aud fell.
But when. few seconds later. M
strength came back and | regaincd m.
feet. | saw Dick rolling the body OF .
Hindoo on the majors PROSTATE form
! aud that Hindoo had knife sticklni
> IN his side.
As for the man had struck az.
1 must have hit him pretty hard. becaus
!. IL was nearly half an hour before h
u came around; and as to Dicks man
well. he was harmless. for a time a
A least
/. The major rose TO hic feet. putin