The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-02-17

right; it's the folks in 1t what makes all the catonsees
 Sessions slumped down still further in his cane-seat chair by the stove and em- braced the tea kettle with both stock inged feet, a sure sign of approaching mendaeity.
 "Lemme make one exception. though that's Curacao. Thar the country an the folks in both pizen-mean. l warnt thar morn couple O weeks but by Jeems Rieel the best piece O Ian seape I seen was the tip O the eoquina headand fadin down hehind the horizon as l sailed awayl Take m oath, God made that island ies' os ugly's he could. an then eussed 1t with the dumdest c'1lection O varmints they is on this mortial footstoolz-the little ones they calls tarantoolas. fer de lance an centerpeeds,s while the large .ones is greasers, niggers an mestizos.
 "Them was the arly days O the old Caribbean Cable company-you remember that was ies' after the war-an' 1 was bossin' job O line-work cross the isl and all alone cepn fer one foreman. in charge of a Gang of them aforesaid varmints. 'Mongst a little million other diff 'culties l didn't sabby much Spanish talk, 'cep'ns cuss= words. which l Earned fust of all, an l reckon l must a rubbed them fellers tn wrong way O the fur most O the time thout lxnowin' it-any- way, I want the mos poplar man in Curacao by the time the job was done. Course, it riles a hidalgo anyway to be bossed by simple American hawg, an when it's done profane, then look out for a nor easterl
 s.well, anyway. I rnstled 'em along lively never, payin' no tention la. their heriditarv pride an reely managed ta run the line inta Los Cerdos, south side-a the island, fore anything happened. though trouble was a-pipin the shell purity nigh all the way.
 ''When we struck Cerdos thar lay the c. c. Go. tender Agnes in the bay, an my portable steel relay station was all sot up on the beach a-waitin' fer us. By cripes but I was glad ta bunk under cover agin, what with bein' feyer-bltten' play an tired ta death O them blue -blooded, half breed greasers; P'raps@ I didn't luggsuriate some in my ten.by- fifteen camp! My foreman, Ling, hau orders ta go back on the tender ta Do- mingo jes' soon as the job was done, while I was t wait that at Cerdos tlil the cable ship come long ta lay the sec ton connectin' with Brazil.
 After I'd paid off the gang an told eIl scatl sashayed up inta Cerdos ta have a look around One look was enough Ter me. As a relic. Cerdos was Al, but as Twin town it wasn't much more'n petrl- fled echo Remains of a plazzy with a lamp most. an a stun fountain 1n the middle. leetle stores on three sides an q whitewashed town hall on th'other, which they called the Palacio de lah Joostlcla- that was bout all they was to it-that all dirt When I struck town they want no lamp on the lamp post ner no water Tn the fountain. ner no jestice In the Palace (ha the PalaceD ner no business no- whar 'cep'n lottery cock fights an the perpetual consumption O brown paper cl- garoots and raw aguardiente that tasted like 1t had been distilled In an old kero- sene can an was strong enough to raise the hair off'n a full-grown elephant. Ye see. the trouble was that the. last local saviour of his country had ditched Ger dos for fair an they ain't no wrecSin trains in them parts.
 "Yes. I'm a-comin' at the trouble now, if you'll jes' gimme time. It all started with pay day-pay day an Bendito de la Trinidad, or some sech fool name. called him Benny, fer short, an he surely was a thorn in my afflicted side. He had only one eye an no morals t all. an hls genius fer solderin' work, runnin amuck on firewater an breedin' discontent in vi'lent forms was Nape-oleonic, So 1 | like a dumfoo1 Americana, caPlated I'd get even, wherefore I docled him 30 perros cheos on his pay at the end O the job, give him a good cussin In all the mestizo I c'd--sling, an warned him Itoff'n the line fer keeps under penalty Of my shotgun.
 ssThat's where I fell down good am plenty Mex day the line, all of sud- den, quit business an not dot ner a dash would she shove. l sot round the hull tarnation mornin' jggerin' with things to try an find out the reason, but 'twa'n't no use-the line had gone dryer'n creek in fiytime, so piked out after the sun had got low enough to let s..I CtIr hQ 1 a mile from camp I foun' a section of wire gone tween two poles, an by the oean-cut ends I located both who twas that done 1t an whar a missin' pair O | nippers was that I'd been lookin' every whar fer It took me bout 20 minutes to splice the break, an some cuss in the meskeet sniped at me quite bit as I set up that top O the poles. He c'd-a dropped me, too, if he hadnt-a been rot ten bad shot, but all he done was hole my sofnbrero an clip love lock.
 Well, I got Ter spliced at last, sent a hurry call ta Santo Domingo fer the tug as I seen trouble loomip' nigh, an then | lit out hot-foot fer the pweblo of Cerdos Prospectin' round, mister, I'm vummed if I didn't find more n half my missin' wire strung in Benny's brothers potio, with his mujer (thats wat them idjits call a wom- an. yessr, mujerD hangin' out the he- reditary 1492 fambly rags onta it, all drippin' salt water out-a the bay. Take m oath. I never done nothin' much quicker in all my life than I jerked that wire off Il them mud walls an scattered the salty rags on terra cotta, as the poet says. Then me an the wire went back ta camp.
 ."Bout the time I got thar, regla anti-foreign demonstration was in full blast. Thirty, forty leadin' citizens in par tial pajammies come out-a-town an pro ceeded along the beech eng mass, wavin sticks an things, an blasphemin the American hawg. Some had rifles an |. couple bullets went 'Zing-g-g-gg! agin my metal walls. Banb! Bang! Chapter one was finished fore it had got rightly started. Back O the clearin' smoke seen a scatter O ragged nighties, an twas all over That vitriops pizen stuff awful. l betcha some O them Dons felt where the Jumps hit for quite smart spell. Laugh? Well some
 ."The alcaldy-thats the mayor-come out then with white flag, to barley
 :. .El Senor Americana no shoot! yells he, afar off.
 bread I holers, pokin' my head out-a the end winder an holdn' my shotgun snug. .
 "sEl senor allow me tell her she is under arrest! he says, advancin' very cautious T am governor an military chief-man also. Proceed outward Of the residencev says the coffee-colored mayor. cheif O police, admiral, genrai, held