Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, N.D.) 1909-1915, 1909-12-24
HOW he GOT G ]. AWAY,
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BY r. ANTHONY T,WlNlMG.
copyright. 1905 by American Press Asso.
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whats that story. Nevin, about
your escape from Moro castle during
the spanish-American war
II never escaped from Moro castle. -
well, you escaped from somewhere,
didn't your" 70 .5,s$.
"Sure. l was captured while on
picket by troop Of Spanish cavalry.
The captain didn't want to; be both
cred with me, so he left me. with an
old Cuban named Campanoni,$a small
farmer, telling him that he would be
back that way in few days and if
he didn't find me he would burn the
house and tear up the little garden
patch which contained all the farmer
had to live on for year, ;5 49,
"Well. the captain didn't find you
when he came back, did he?""
"No; he didn't" @
"You laid plan. I'm told.'';51
"No; l didn't lay plan, though l
had plenty Of time. J. was principally
engaged killing 1.-THE time with my
jailer. You know Spaniards are the
most inveterate gamblers in the world,
and Campanoni beat all the rest of
them. had little loose change
when l was captured. and be won it
all. Then he won my garments one
after the other. He played fair too
l watched him closely and never, could
detect bit Of crookedness. In fact,
he was awfully scrupulous In giving
me every advantage. i played fair.
too, when it came to playing for arti-
cles such as clothes. money, my watch
and all that. but I'll admit there was
one thing didn't play fair about
You see-what do you suppose put into
my head way to get out: Of his
clutches?' M..%2,
'What?' .',s@t5-~
"Some bones and lead pipe."'
Explain .,-..+..
"You don't see any connection be-
tween the two. do you? But there
was. The old man was very fond of
shaking dice. l taught him poker dice.
and he went wild over the game. He
was ready to play for anything he
had, but hadn't anything to put up
that is. nothing available. though
had plenty of money I'M bank at home.
Singular how funny it is the way
ideas pop into peoples heads l had
borrowed my jailer's dice one day to
relieve the tedium. for I hadn't a
book or newspaper even In dago
language and. suddenly looking up.
noticed the lead water pipe running
through the room. Seey - =.
"See? No. Go on" -
'Dice and lerd meant loaded dice to
me. That meant freedom. would
draw my check for lot Of money and
play it against myself with loaded
dice. Sure thing '&s
But not exactly square,"
II don't pretend it was. Didn't-F tell
you that played fair in everything
except one? Well. that was too impor.
! tant to play fair about. though the old
man didn't lose anything in the end,
as will explain later. first began to
tell him about my bank up in the
States and held my possessions up be.
fore him long enough to get his cupid
ity on the rampage. Meanwhile of
nights l was chipping the. lead pipe.
digging little holes in the dice and
stut6ng in the lead. campanoni lent
me little awl. never even asking
what wanted it for. He was no Jail.
er. simply farmer IS,
Il should think you could have &es:
capped from such man." @
Escape! He never took his eyes of
me in the day and locked me in safe al
night. You see. was mortgage on
his home to be foreclosed If not pro.
duced. Well. when Id filled the bones
! asked for pen and paper. wrote an
order for $2.OOO-more than twice
what the farm was worth-and offered
to stake it against my liberty. Ny
jailer held out just five minutes. II.
I'VE sat down to game Of poker
dice. I'd practiced rolling them. and.
knowing just where I'd put the lead,
l could do pretty much what wanted
with them. Whenever he'd get full
I'd get four of a kind. and he got
'fulls' pretty often. for the dice rolled
nearly as we'll for him as for me- "A
didn't beat him so bad. after all. But
/ beat him. and saw that he was hor-
rifed at what he had done. He was
sure everything would be destroyed
when the captain came back. 1 asked
him how much he would lose. and be
told me thousand dollars. He hadn't
$500 in the world-house. farm and
produce-but was so glad to get out
of it. besides needing salve for my
conscience that drew him check
for the thousand. and made him a pres
ent of it. He was confiding old fool
or he wouldn't have considered ii
worth the bit Of paper It was written
on, but he never doubted and got his
money too. He was as honorable as
he was confiding. You see, it was the
gambler in him. He considered gam
bling the most honorable occupation
| in the world and, would have scnrnad