The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-03-14
, hlGHWAYrtEN, BLAckLEG| AND RuFFlAklT 1kAyElERs"
 brJEJ THr ROAD .M ThOSK GOOD OLD DKYsr or I7SS

soldiers who declined to see the humor of the situation.
 The Thunder played her proper part in the pleasantly by anchoring In tho most exposed position. This judicious care gave the three surgeons mates so much work that they hewed down limbs without mercy and cut and stitched men until they could not hard ly move for fatigue. When the greatr part of the ships company had been properly wounded. the British vessels slipped their cables and retired. As the Spanish guns had not killed all the men despite the invitation ex- tended to them. the naval authorities thoughtfully provided hospital ships into which the sick and wounded were crowded so closely that some of them could not sit upright in their ham, mocks The unimportant detail Of providing doctors or nurses, unfor- tunately, was forgotten. and some Of the ships lacked cooks. But as the patients died with obliging celerity, this oversight became less important itself to wounds. the men departed so fast that some of the more zealous and energetic captains threw the corpses overheard without wasting time to sew them up in canvas.
 This made the anchorage look very insp.ving to those sailors who had re- mained alive through no fault of their commanders; and it was with deep re- gret that the British received orders to raise the siege and sail home. At Jamaica Random was transferred to the sloop- of war Lizard. bound for England. He had obtained a commits sion as first surgeons mate and looked forward to arriving home with honors and in an assured position. But the captain died on the voyage and Cramp1 ley, his old enemy. succeeded to the command.
 Besides having been the occasion of having Crampley locked in irons. he had beaten the tyrant and broken his arm in a boxing match. The fellow lost no time in perpetrating every meanness and cruelty that malice could invent on the enemy whom he now had in his power. until Random was tempted to pistol him on the quar- | terdeck.
 Through Crampley's negligence the ship struck near the Scilly Islands and the crew made its way ashore in small boats As soon as they reached land Random forced Crampley to fight l Having discharged their pistols with out effect Random fell on his antagon- ist and drove the pistol butt into his face with such good will that it knock
  Then he thrust his sword Into his mouth, which 1t enlarged to the ears. With another cut he disabled his wrist.
 Then some members of the crew struck him down. When he recovered he found himself bare of everything except trousers and shirt. His clothes. watch and sixty guineas had all been stolen by the sailors.
 TJa craWlad inland with Dainful ef- forts till he reached a house. It was owned by a naval officers widow, Mrs. Sageiy. who took him fin and nurseJ him till his wounds were healed. Then she advised him seriously against going to London. for Crampley had | accused him of mutiny.
 She counseled him to lie hidden under an assumed name. He thought the advice good. but he was penniless and would not drain the purse of his benefactress. Forced by circum- stances to swallow his pride. he did it with a hearty gulp and. obtained a position as footman with wealthy. but cratic spinsters. Miss Topehall. the aunt of a rich young squire of the neighborhood.
 Hardly had Random begun to accus- tom himself to the livery of a lackey before its burden was made unbearably galling He saw the sister of Squire Topehall; and from that moment life had no other thought. no other pleas ure, no other dream and no other pain save Narcissa.
 She discovered soon that he was oc- cupyinE a station foreign to him. and In spite of herself betrayed an interest in him that only intensified Roderick Random's wretchedness, for he deemed himself sentenced to a life of poverty arfd could think of Narcissa only as an I.unattainable star.
 His only solace was to see her. but even that was not to be his long for one day one of her brothers drunken friends insulted her. Roderick struck him down and left him stunned and bleeding.
 Knowing that the man was a magis- tra te and could count on the support of his fellow ma agistrates to punish the presumption of mere footman, Ran dom realized that he would have to suffer if he waited to be taken for he
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