Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1906-01-27

| yfcerOy would have fortified and gar
risoned the pass, but under presen
conditions nothing had been done. A,
| soon as a messenger from Teach in
formed Morgan that the pass had beer
occupied and that all seemed uuie
| In Caracas, a fact which had beer
1 learned by some bold scouting on thu
| farther side of the mountain. he was
perfectly easy as to the work of thu
morrow. He would fall upon the un
walled town at night and carry every
| thing by a coup de main.
| Fortunately for the Spaniarls i'm thfs
instance, it happened that there was
/ another way of access to the valley Of
: Caracas from La Guayra. Directly uI
| and over the mountain there ran 6
| narrow and difficult trail, known frs
| to the savages and afterward to wan
| dering smugglers or masterless out
| laws. Originally and until the Span
| iards made the wagon road it had beer
the only way of communication be
| tween the two towns, but the path was
80 difficult and so dangerous that it
had long since been abandoned even
| by the classes that had first discov-
| cred and travelled it. These vagabonds
I had formerly kept it in such state Of
repair that it was fairly passable, but
no work had been done on it for near
ly 100 years. Indeed, in some places
the way had been designedly obliterat-
ed by the Spanish government about a
century since. By nearly all the in
habitants it's very existence had been
forgotten.
1t was this trail that Alvarado de-
termined to ascend. The difficulties
in his way even under the most favor
able circumstances might well have ap-
palled the stoutest hearted mountain
eer In the darkness they would be in
creased thousandfold.
Along the base Of the mountain the
trail was not difficult, although it was
pitch dark under the trees which, eX-
cept where the mighty cliffs rose sheer
In the air like huge buttresses of the
range, covered the mountains for the
whole expanse of their great altitude.
AiVarado made his way upward with
out trouble or accident at first, and he
made good progress For several hours
in spite of darkness.
1t had been long past midnight when
he started, and 1t was not until day
break that he passed above the famil
lar and not untrodden way and en-
tered upon the most perilous part of
his journey. The gray dawn revealed
to him the appalling dangers he must
face.
Sometimes clinging with iron grasp
to pinnacles of rock he swung himself
along the side Of some terrific preci
pice, where the slightest misstep meant
rush into eternity upon the rocks a
thousand feet below. Sometimes he
had to spring far across great gorges
in the mountains that had once been
bridged by mighty trunks of trees, long
since moldered away. Sometimes there
was nothing for him to do but to
scramble down the steep sides of some
dark canyon and force himself through
cold torrential mountain streams that
almost swept him from his feet. Again
his path lay over cliffs green with moss
and wet with spray, which afforded
most precarious support to his grasp
ing hands or slipping feet. Sometimes
he had to force way through thick
tropic underground that tore his cloth
ing into rags
Had he undertaken the ascent in &
mere spirit Of adventure he would have
turned back long since from the dan
gers he met and surmounted with such
hardship and difficulty. With the pale,
beautiful face of Mercedes to lead him.
and by contrast the hateful, cruel coun-
tenance of Morgan to force him, ever
before his vision, the man plunged up
ward with unnatural strength, Drawing
dangers. taking chances. doing the i'm
possible-and Providence watched over
him.
1t was perhaps 8 o'clock in the morn
ing when he reached the summit
GREATNESS, exhausted, unhelmed, weap
onless, coatless, in rags; torn, bruised,
bleeding, but unharmed-and looked
in it's verdant environment like hand
full of pearls in goblet OF emerald
He had wondered if he would be III
time to intercept the viceroy, and his
strained heart leaped in his tired breast
when he saw, few miles beyond the
town on the road winding toward the
Orinoco country, body Of men. The |
sunlight blazing from polished helms or
pointed lance tips proclaimed that they |
were soldiers. He would be in time. !
thank God!
With renewed vigor he scrambled |
down the side of the mOuntain-and |
this descent fortunately happened to |
be gentle and easy-and, running with |
headlong speed, he soon drew near the |
gate of the palace. He dashed into it |
with reckless haste, Indifferent to the |
protests of the guard, who did not at |
first recognize in the tattered, bloody,
wounded, soiled specimen of humanity |
the gay and gallant commander He |
made himself known at once and was
confirmed in his surmise that the vice |
roy had set forth with his troops early |
In tha nlornfnD and was still IN roo oh