The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-06-21
Come, we must escape to

to the junglei Come, we must escape to
 Las Glorias!'
 And leave the plantation without q white man?'' Mrs. Fleming looked her
 surprise At this season the rubber was | cumbered two feet deep with dried grass.
 brush, weeds, the jungle growths of q
 season. A match, and two hundred
 thousand dollars investment would go up
 IF smoke.
 "No," she finished; q will stay' But they are drunk--and-armedi" he
 stammered
 l "Drunk?" How did they get the | liquor?'
 "Well-you-see-' He hemmed, hawed,
 stammered, then under the urge of his l fright confessed his cowardly folly. l Thinking to placate the mutineers, he l had ordered aguardiente to be served,
 and they were armed with the machetes, l the yard-long knives used in clearing l jungle.
 Why didn't you collect them up?" she 1 demanded.
 "What?" he gasped "Go' in among | them?"
 Yes; Jack would have done it' l As she stood, puckering her brow in angry perplexity, the uproar grew in l raucous volume. At the bawl of one l drunken voice she shuddered, remember ] ing thankfully that Mabel did not under stand Spanish. There was room here, l ample room, for one of those nasty trop- l ical tragedies that occasionally make
 nasty reading in northern papers. But | the plucky little woman never faltered. You can go," she said; but I stay | by the plantation" Then, stamping her 1 foot, she exclaimed: "Ohl if MT. Gilson were only here!'
 1 Mabel took pity on Jackson's mortified | flush.
 why, Nelll What could he do? Don t ], be unjust.'
 Do? Drive them!'
 Then here's his chance" Mabel said quietly pointing. He's there now-out 1 at the store."
 "Impossible!' Mrs. Fleming cried. "He ! couldn't possibly" | But he could, and had moreover, his l talismanic appearance sprang out of very I simple causes. Getting a chance up- ], stream with the Las Glorias steam i launch, he had gained a day on the ca
 noes that were heavily laden with corn. | But now that man and occasion were 1 met, Mrs. Fleming shifted her ground
 with feminine suddenness Come backv' she screamed as, after
 tying the horse he had borrowed from
 Bender, Gilson headed for the garden
 "Come back! They have had liquor"
 
 jungle Gilson was aware of the fact He 1 knew also that he had to face men with 1 whom the impossible tradition of Gringo l bravery had been weakened. by Jackson's s | folly Yet though his uncertainty of re- suits amounted almost to certainty that | two minutes would see him mincemeat, he
 waved a cheery greeting and sauntered | on.
 Now for a great big bluff" about cov- cred his active thought. l As he approached the yelling ceased and | the men who were scattered among the buildings came running to join the bulk l of their fellows in the wire compound; l;
 and as he turned in at the gate the mob | punched as does a bunch of harried steers. Steerlke, too. 1t shifted its forma- ] tion as he advanced, those in front slip ping back to the rear, till one man, bolder | than the rest, was left to face him. A 1 huge fellow of the true Indian type, his broad cheek bones, flat nose, savage eyes, summed the stupidity, ignorance, cowardly ferocity of his hundred mates. Like a red eyed bull at bay he stood, the mob be- hind him uneasy, nervous, the more dan gerous for its innate cowardice. Looking on from the veranda Mabel experienced a dread shrinking, the exact counterpart of the feeling she had when, little girl she saw lion tanner enter . cage. She caught herself wishing she had called him back, gave a momentary glance of wonder at Jackson, who stood
 nervousy chewing his mustache. Gan he control them?" she whispered "A minute will tell" Mrs. Fleming whis- pered back.
 t"No. Senor, we will not york; the man answered Gilson's question. We have been deceived. The food. the work, noth- ing is as represented He doubtless spoke the truth; the ras- cally labor contractors habitually spoon- fed their dupes with broth of lies. But the plantation had made an honest bar gain; stood to lose thousands by sue cessful defection Very cooly, Gilson set about the establishment of authority. If he could get them in some kind of crder. His blue eyes wandered coldly over the mob. Form in line!" he sharp
 ly ordered "Then we will talk" Success life itself, hung in uncertain balance that moment. If they did not obey-but. curious as children, the pack lcosened, shuffled into disorderly line. The beginnings of discipline thus established, the problem now centered on the ring leader
 Gilson surveyed the line. "so you won't work?"
 "No, Senor!" The answer rolled out from a hundred threats.
 He pondered. .'Very well! there's no hurry. You can take day to think 1t over You!' he swung smartly round on the ringleader. Gather in the machetes!"
 The man hestated-one second. The hard glance, the hand lightly resting on q Colts 45 told that he. at least, would die. "Si, Senor!" Dropping his own inachete into the hollow of his arm. he walked down the line and gathered up the blades.
 "Now" Gilson rapped the pile with his gun, and the line started at the steels sharp ring! Back to the galera! Every man! In with you.'
 It was done. As the bolt shot on the last mutineer Mrs. Fleming collapsed in a chair. She braced, however, and refused the cologne which Mabel brought There, there! It was only my stiffness Now, what do you think of him?' Flushing color drowned out the girls