The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-09-06

all eyes were turned upon him, and he noticed that he was the only wearer of the Cuban uniform among fifteen or twenty men. All the others wore the un- form of the United States army.
 There was a report going the rounds at that time that Spain had spies In Tampa Lusk was tall and slender, with dark eyes and rich, olive complexion, and one who was not an expert would readi ly have taken him to be of Spanish de- scent.
 The songs ceased. and a death-like still ness fell upon the scene as he strolled lelsurely up to the bar to quench his thirst with a glass of beer Before he had time to order his drink a heavy-set man, wearing the stripes of a sergeant in the regular army, stepped deliberately over from a card table and accused him of being a Spanish Spy. Instantly every man in the room was on his feet and crowding to get closer to the two men. who stood facing each other dramatically before the bar
 Lusk's hand fell involuntarily to his
 pistol Before he could draw the weapon. however, his reason asserted itself, for he knew that if he started the ball roll ing there would be more than one Of those present who would never reach the
 shores of Cuba, and that he would prob
 ably be one of them. He drew himself
 
 That Is a malicious lie!'
 The sergeant crouched for an instant, 1 intending to spring upon the man he had accused and bear him to the florr; but before he could make a move in that di- rection one of the bystanders caught him firmly by the shoulder and insisted: | Hold on, sergeant. Give the man
 chance You may be mistaken"
 There was a momentary pause. Bar
 low was too angry to speak, Lusk stood facing the crowd, which seemed to be di- i vded between an inclination toward fair | play and a desire, aided by the liquor ] which had been mbibed all toe freely
 during the evening to do him injury re-
 gardess of the facts. The sergeants re-
 iteration of his charge, and the free fight that followed have been told
 Next morning James Lusk delivered his dispatches to Gen. Shafter, and started out once more to find the sergeant who
 had struck him. It was his intention to administer a sound thrashing as soon as 1 he found the man. But he was unsuc- cessful in his search.
 Toward mid-afternoon he was attracted
 by a regiment that came marching up one ! Of the streets in column-of-fours forma- 1 tion The faces of the men bore the stamp of experience and determination
 Asking the name of the regiment, he was
 informed that this was the First United ! ; Roosevelt's Rough Riders
 1 Something in the name, something more in the faces of the men and free, care 1 less style of their horsemanship, com | pelled his admiration.
 That's my regiment" he declared un- der his breath. I'm going to join the | Rough Riders. Those fellows will fight It happened that the government de-
 cided about this time to increase the
 number of men in the regiment. James ! Lusk was one of the first applicants to
 join at Tampa, and thenceforward his lot { was cast with that most picturesque or
 ganization in the history of modern war i fare. So great was the fear inspired by | the known readiness of these men for a scrap" that the citizens of Tampa petl-
 toned and their request was granted
 that a chain guard should be placed about i the camp of the rough riders to prevent i any of them from entering the city IL was feared by the citizens that scene | of shooting up the town" in the good
 old western style might be reproduced ! in Tampa, though that would hardly have | occurred.
 l It was only two days after James Lusk | joined the Rough Riders when they all ' piled into coal cars at daybreak to make
 the trip down to Port Tampa, where they ! boarded the United States transport [ Yucatan. There seemed to be some mis- | understanding about the transport they
 were to take, for when they came to the
 Yucatan they found guard of three men
 on board with instructions to let none of | them come aboard. The absurdity of
 three men-or three hundred men for that 1 matter-attempting to keep the Rough | Riders from doing as they wished Was shown about two seconds later when
 more than half the men in the regiment
 were on deck. They swarmed aboard, taking full possession at once, and settled down to stay. Whether they had orders to go aboard the Yucatan or not, none Of them seemed to know or care. The Idea was to make sure of getting on board a | transport, for it was known that there were not half enough transports in port ! to carry the whole army and the Rough ] Riders were taking no chances of getting left Possession Is said to be nine points
 in law; with the Rough Riders 1t was ten. It happened that on the transport | Yucatan, with the Rough Riders, there
 were threee companies of regulars; and i in one of these companies was Will Bar i low, the man who had struck James Lusk
 in the Tampa bar room.
 Will Barlow was a Canadian, but peo-
 pie knew little of his antecedents. He
 had come to Winchester, Ky, in 1S92,
 making that town his headquarters, and
 had sold life insurance policies for one
 of the large New York companies. Soon after he had made his nome Tn Wlnches- , ter he met the talented and beautl1ul 1 Evelyn Sinclair. the daughter Of an old
 Kentucky family and connected by mar riage with many of it's first families. It was no strange thing that Barlow lost i! his heart to the beautiful Kentucky belle. ! He had heard that Miss Sinclair had had
 a love affair, but reasoned: Who has
 not had such an affair.""
 i One evening as they were returning
 from small party given by one of the i friends of the Sinclairs the moon was smiling upon that beautiful, bluegrass region and if there ever was night when d maiden could be wooed and won, i that was the night. The two walked ! along in silence. They knew each other
 well by this time, and did not feel that I if was necessary to keep up that ever | lasting chitter-chatter. When they | reached the gate of the Sinclair home
 Barlow grasped her hand in his and with 1 his whole frame trembling. and his breath
 coming fast, told her that he loved her.
 She withdrew her hand instantly, and | said:
 Why, MT. Barlow, you honor me; and I feared that you were becoming fond
 of me, and I am truly sorry. You de-
 serve that I should be frank with you.
 love another, and would be his wife to-
 day If he were still in the land of the liv- ing Four years ago he went to South
 or Central America. I refused to marry him, because my mother told me that if I married James Lusk 1t would Kill
 her. Perhaps you have heard that he
 was considered very wild. One of my sisters married a man who drank, and
 he broke her heart; as long as mother lives I will not marry James Lusk. James