The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-06-18

ticoats, and with long crooked daggers,
and one fellow that seemed to be the
chief, put a crooked knife to dad S
throat, and dad turned blue and SAID
what are you going to do, but they
didn't say anything, but took US to
cave, where the woman got over her
fainting spell, and then they dressed
dad up in white petticoat. and these
long socks such as ballet dancers wear,
and We all got on to small mules and
started for the mountains, and roue
all night.
Say, dad was a picture. The
Greeks are small men, and they LOOK
all right in petticoats, but dad was SO
fat he looked swelled up, and even the
mule noticed it, and the girl, who was
on the white mule, laughed at dad,
and she could talk English, ana she
told dad that the BANDITS only want
ed his money, and they Wouldh huFt
him if he gave up a million or SO. II
proved that she was one OF the gang,
and dad and l held consultation.
and we decided to give her letter to
the American consul at Athens au-
thorizing him to give her carload OF
money for ransom, and IN the letter
dad wound up with postscript tell
ing the consul not to give a con1ound-
ed cent, but to arrest hef ana SEM
troops to rescue us. | asked dad what
ne was going to do if she didn't come
back and the bandits decided to Xiii
rs, and he said never you mind, your
papa will get out of this all right, and
he did.
1.-The woman went away with let
ter she could not read, but which she
! told dad how to write. and then the
bandits made dad do the cooking for
the bunch, and he put so much salt
in the food that it made them all
thirsty, and they sent one of the ban
dts to vineyard, where he got sew
eral pig skins full of wine and brandy,
and that night they sung songs, and
made dad sing Hot Time, and they
made me dance, and dad kept saying
Let's have one more on me-, and they
drank until the whole crowd was stu
pefied and dad acted as though he
was drunken than any Of them, but
when they all got asleep, and / began
| to cry and wish / was dead, dad woke
up and said Now 1 won't do q
thing to your Greeks. and he went
around to the sleeping bandits and
took all their knives and all their
money, and he took off the petticoat
they had given him to wear and tied
1 blanket around his waist, and he
tied their legs together with strings
off the saddles of the mules, and just
before daylight on the second morning
dad and / got on the biggest mule and
started down the trail, and when we
struck level ground We mauled that
mule and he got a move on him and
went across that prairie on a hop,
skip and jump, and only touched the
high places
Along towards noon we saw dust
n the road ahead. and pretty soon we
met n mess of Greek soldiers with the
American consul at the head and told
hem where the bandits We're. drunk
ana with their legs tied, and the con-
SUI and some soldiers went back to
Athens with u.s. and the rest of the
troops went on after the bandits. We
got TO Athens before night. and found
the woman under guard in the con-
suls office, and when she saw dad
and he told her how he had fixed the
bandits, she cried. and said she wasn't
10 blame, and wanted to hug dad, Hut
he said: May, nay, Pauline and
then she said ehe was no gentleman
because the consul did not pay the
ransom, and dad told her he wrote to
the consul not to cough up. and she
looked mad at dad and said: You
think you are smart, don't you?' and