The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1906-03-09
himself confronted BY ! coalition - !

tween fulllp ana OOU Juan Iu8I UA00
fair to defeat his own secret purposes.
So, when the contract was signed,
Don Juan went to a certain wealthy
man in New York who frequently be-
came the hacker of shady enterprises.
invariably exacting great return for
his money; and this person. upon the
promise of Don Juan to furnish q
contract, signed by Philip of Aragon,
to give him, Soiima, the hacker of the
state, the full control of all trade be-
tween Venezuela and the United States,
agreed to furnish twenty thousand
rifles. millions of cartridges, and a mil
lion dollars to promote the success Of
the royal cause.
The plans worked smoothly without
break. The Agostura was chosen as
the vessel to carry the arms out of
New York; and this was where Gomez
proved himself to be the master-hand
in the whole conspiracy.
Up to this time the success had all
depended upon him, with the one ex-
ceptional instance of Garza's aid finan-
cially. But then, Gomez had chosen
Cara.
He had selected his agents shrewd-
ly, managed their movements, and
guided their hands. He had been all
over the ground to prepare the way
for his emissaries. He had met Pedro
Francisco, and had trusted him. He
alone, Gomez, controlled the situation.
At the same time the Agostura was
being laden with arms in the East
River, the Turtle, a ship in the carry
ing trade between Boston and the pen
insula, lay at her dock In Boston re-
ceiving a cargo of bona-fide agricul-
tural implements, ostensibly for Mic
aragua.
The invoices of the Turtle and the
Agostura, one false. the other true,
were identically the same. The invoice
Of the Agostura tailed correctly with
the invoice Of the Turtle.
The morning of the 9Th was q mem
orable one to Lola Cara.
She had been awakened before day
light by her father and ordered to
dress.
Come" he said, 1--WE 60 to place you
on throne"
She had rebelled. A struggle had act
ually taken place. Lola had been
dragged forth against her will, thrust
into a carriage with her father,
Gomez and Philip of Aragon, and TAX
en- to Port Morris.
They boarded the Agostura. The
ship sailed at five o'clock.
Gomez was radiant. His plans had.
so far, been signally successful. His as
sociates wondered at his hopefulness,
They knew nothing about the purchase
of the Turtle.
But Gomez had a surprise in store
for them.
When the Agostura had reached q
point about five degrees east of Wash
ington and thirty-five degrees north
latitude, she hung about as If waiting
for something.
That something was the Turtle.
"We are LOST" Don Juan had ex-
claimed when he saw the strange
steamer coming toward them.
1--WE govern" Gomez replied. "Vene-
zuela is ours from to-day"
The two steamers were lashed to-
gether.
Each had been furnished with dom
key-engines and hosting apparatus.
The cargo of the Agostura was trans
ferred to the Turtle.
The Agostura unloaded at Bolivar
as we have seen. General Salvarez had
started for home in disgust. There
was no way for Medworth and Tempest
to leave before Ell Callao sailed, which
would be in five days. Castle Salvare7
was only twenty miles away. They &C.
cepted the offer of hospitality Salvarez
held out to them, and accompanied
him up the Coroni valley.
In the meantime, the Turtle. free
from all hindrance, had followed the
Agostura, and at the very hour thu
Agostura was unloading at Bolivar
the Turtle, loaded with twenty thous.
and rifles, came to anchor in the Or.
inoco at shorter distance below th(
mouth of the Coroni River than Boil.
var was above it. Gomez had outwitted
them all.
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