The daily sentinel., 1910-02-11
HOW He COT AWAY.
BY T. ANTHONY rwININe.

the Spanish American war;
II never escaped from Moro castle
well. you escaped from somewhere.
didn't your
Sure. l was captured while on
picket by a troop of Spanish cavalry.
The captain didn't want TO be both
cred with me. 80 he left me with an
old Cuban named Campanoni. small
farmer. telling him that he would be
back that way In few days and II
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.
well. the captain didn't 6nd you
when he came back. did he?"
NO: he didn't"
You laid Il plan. I'm told"
NO; | didn't lay plan. though I
had plenty Of time | was principally
engaged killing 1.-THE tlme-with my
jailer. You know Spaniards are the
most inveterute gamblers In the world.
and Campanoni beat all the rest OF
them. | had little loose change
when | was captured. and he won II
all. Then he won my garments one
after the other. He played fair too.
l watched him closely and never could
detect a bit of croohedness In fact
he was awfully scrupuious in giving
me every advantage. played fair.
too. when IL came to playing for arti-
cles such as clothes. money. my watch
and all that. but I'll admir- there was
one thing | didn't play fair about
You see-what do you. suppose put into
my bead n way to get out of his
clutchesT'
"WhatY''
"Some bones and a 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. ! 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 I
had plenty of money In bank at home
Singular how funny 1t is the way
ideas pop into peoples heads. had
borrowed my jailer's dice one day to
relieve the tedium. for hadn't
book or a newspaper even In dago
language and. suddenly looking up.
noticed the lead water pipe running
through the room. Seer
See? No. Go on
"Dice and lead 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"
But not exactly square,"
81 don't, pretend IL was.-D.dnt-i 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 ! was chipping the lead pipe.
digging little holes in the dice and
stufng in the lead. Campanoni lent
me little awl. never even asking
what I wanted 1t for. He WIS no jail
er. simply farmer"
81 should think you could have es-
capped from such man."
Escape. He never took his eyes Oh
me In the day and locked me in safe at
night. You see. | was n mortgage on
his home to be foreclosed IL not pro-
duced. Well. when I'D filled the bones
l asked for pen and paper. wrote an
order for $2.UOO-more than twice
what the farm was worth-and offered
to stake it against my liberty. My
hsld nnt fnS 6yo rr,in
We sat down to a game of poker
dice. I'd practiced rolling them. and.
knowing just where Id put the lead
could do pretty much what wanted
with them. Whenever he'd get full
I'd get four OF kind. and he got
'fulls' pretty often. for the dice rolled
nearly as well for him as for ME.
| didn't beat him SO bad after ALL But
beat him. and | saw that he was hor-
riied at what he had done. He was
| sure everything would be destroyed
when the captain came buck. | asked
him how much he would lose. and he
told me thousand dollars. He hadn't
$500 in the worid-house farm and
prcduce-but 1 was so glad to get out
of 1t. besides needing a salve for my
conscience. that | drew him check
for the thousand and made him pres
ent of 1t He was n confding old foot
! 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 Us
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 scorned
to take the slightest advantage Of his
enemy in u game. though he would
have cheated him out of the gold in
his teeth in bargain.
HE let me go. aud I wasn't long in