Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1906-07-05
t,on uon handling h.s p.stois.

STlmlN. bul CHOOSe, dhu NC QuiNA
about it."
They were three to one. and they
had firearms. In effect l had no
choice. well, if l must I must!" I
cried, making up my mind with SEEM
ing recklessness. Vogue la galere!
Spain be it. 1t will not be the first
time | have heard the dons talk"
The men nodded, as much as to say
that they had known what the end
would be; the landlord released my
rein; and in a trice we were riding
down the narrow track. with our faces
set towards the mountains.
On one point my mind was now more
easy. The men meant fairly by me;
and | had no longer to fear, as | had
feared, a pistol shot in the back at the
first convenient ravine. AS far as
that went | might ride in peace. On
the other hand, if l let them carry
me across the border my fate was
sealed. A man set down without Gre
dentials or guards among the wild des-
peradoes who swarmed in war time in
the Asturian passes might consider
himself fortunate if an easy death fell
to his lot. In my case | could make
a shrewd guess what would happen.
A single nod of meaning, one NUT.
tered word, dropped among the saw
age men with whom l should be left,
and the diamonds hidden in my boot
would go neither to the cardinal nor
back to Observation-Disclosures would it
matter to me whittier they went.
SO while the others talked in their
taciturn fashion, or sometimes grinned
at my gloomy face, I looked out over
the brown woods with eyes that saw,
yet did not see. The red squirrel
swarming up the trunk, the startled
pigs that rushed away granting from
their feast of mast, the solitary rider
who met us, armed TO the teeth and
passed northward after whispering with
the landlord-all these | saw. But my
mind was not with them. 1t was CROP
ing and feeling about like a hunted
mole for some way of escape. For time
, pressed. The slope we were on was
growing sleeper. By-aEd-bye we fell
!, into a southwark valley and began to
, follow it steadily upwards, crossing
, and recrossing a swiftly rushing
stream. The snow-peaks began to be
, hidden behind the rising bulk of hills
+ that o%verhung us; and sometimes wa
T could see nothing before or behind but
f the wooded walls Of our valley rising
sheer and green a thousand PAGES on
either hand, with gray rocks half
masked by fern and ivy getting here
+ and there through the frs and alders.
1 1t was a wild and somhre scene even
: at that hour, With the midday sun
. shining on the rushing water and
, drawing the scent out of the pines; hut
l knew that there was worse to come
and sought desperately for some ruse
: by which | might at least separate the
men. Three were too many; with one
| might deal. At last, when | had cud-
: gelled my brain for an hour and almost
- resigned myself to a sudden charge on
the men single-handed-a last desper-
: ate resort thought of a plan, dam
) gerous, toe, and almost desperate, but
which still seemed to promise some
u thing. 1t came of my fingers resting in
= my pocket on the fragments of the
orange sachet, which, without having
> any particular design in my mind, ]
'l had taken care to bring with me.
il had tori the sachet into four pieces,
20 four corners. AS l played mechanical.
Is ly with them, one of my fingers fitted
s. into one, as into a glove; a second
IL G-oz- s.t~ z,-411, Az H. -1or
re came.
~ Still. before I could move in it, I had
y TO wait until We stopped to bait tbs
tagging horses. which we did about
noon at the head of the valley. Then
e. pretending to drink from the stream
N I managed to secure unseen n handful
e. Of pebbles, slipping them into the SAINT
pocket with the morsels OF stuff, Or
III getting to horse again, | carefully fitted
he a pebble, not too tightly, into the larg
st est scrap and made ready for the at
lrf tempt.
ey The landlord rode on my left, abreas
nd of me; the other two knaves behind
The road at this stage favored me, fo
be the valley, which drained the bare up
or lands that lay between the lower spur
&C. and the base of the real mountains
W. had become wide and shallow. Her
were no trees and the path was a mer
he sheep-track covered with short cris
~. grass and running sometimes on thi
vn bank of the stream and sometimes o
lily that.
ny ! waited until the rufian beside m
turned to speak TO the men behind. III
a moment he did so and his eyes wei
"a averted, ] slipped out the scrap {
nd satin in which l had placed the pebhl
and balancing it carefully on my risf
Sc. thigh as I rode, | tipped it forwar
with all the strength of my thumb ar
MS finger. | meant it to fall a few pace
before us in the path, where it could
Mt seen. But alas for my hopes! At tt
n. critical moment my horse started, n
finger struck the scrap aslant, the pc
ed. BILE flew out, and the bit of stuff flu
tered into a whin-bush close to my stl
re-. rup-and was lost!
VI | was bitterly disappointed, for tt
same thing might happen again and
had now only three scraps lett. "
's' fortune favored me, by putting 1t in
my neighbor's head to plunge into a q
debate with the shock-headed man {
the nature of some animals seen on
distant brow; which he said We
lizards, whilc the other maintained tn
they were ccmmop goats. he co
me tinued. n this account. to ride with b
face turned the other way. | had tn