The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1911-08-24
THE LUCK OF
SANDY BANCROFT
How a foraging Soldier Won
His Promotion.

instead of being !,hy convex he
gan to be sickly concaye
I'm going foraging," said Sandy.
Better not" said his comrades,
? You'll fall into the hands Of the da-
q goes. and If yW don't you'll get into
trouble for leaving your post
, Sandy preferred 10 lake both risks
to enduring the pangs OF hunger The
officer Of the picket was Worn out and
sound asleep, 50 he need not know OF
Sandy's absence. aud if he did he
would not dare report him since he
was himself liable TO he shot tor sleep
| in. on post, Singing his kas- Joraen
sen over his shoulder. Sandy backed
his revolver to his hip and started
forth. Seeing a house in the~dstunce.
be made for it ana on reach ne II
knocked at the door. A black eyed
Spanish girl opened it.
Could you give me bite asked
the soldier, lifting his hal politely M-
The girl shook her head. indi atins
that she did not. understand English,
, lwhereupon Sandy made pantomlne
motions descriptive of shoveling IN
food The girl led the way into She
dining room and placed ON the table
the remains OF last nights supper
Sandy exercised great ingenuity in
pantominlng his gratitude. then sal
down and fell 10. Meanwhile the girl
left the room After the soldier had
1 I'll h fg at far
Ibis comrades, then arose from the ia
bic and. taking his gun, was about To
depart when the girl came In. apnar
emily in great excitement. and. pan
tomining in her tUTn. gave him TO III
ierstand that the Spaniards were com
: ling Opening Il trapdoor. she pointed
to staircase leading to the cellar
Sandy descended. and the door WAS
i closed. Then be heard the sound Of
heavy furniture being moved on 10 thu
trap. and ii began to dawn upon hl1
that he was a prisoner.
Having got in, the first thing he did
was to look about him TO discover
how he could get ont. There was Gp'
! one little square window. near the
/ ceiling, which was covered with an
| iron grating: consequently Sandy was
as safe as rat in trap. He bad not
been there long before the girl, ac-
coIl panied by Spanish officer. ap-
lpeared at the window Sandy SeiZad
his rife. but the two speedily beioo,;
themselves out of range. He could
hear them chattering and made out
from one or two words he understood
: that one Of them-the officer, be sup
= posed would go for guard TO remove
4 him. Then be heard footsteps In the
room above after which all was quiet.
g Sandy gave himself up as captured
: FOR a time, then resumed his inter
ruDted reconnoiterlng for a means OF
ascape. A chimney was built from the
ellar, where it was of stone, with no
opening. but the house was very old,
land the stones had been loosely put
] together Sandy tugged at one OF
them and succeeded In removing it.
+ This loosened twp or three more. and
he put his head and shoulders through.
The chimney was large enough for
him TO pass through 1t. and he deter
mined to climb up. Leaving his rife,
relying solely on his revolver, he got
through the aperture and, using back
land knees, Skinned up to the floor
laboye. where he encountered a broad
dat hearthstone Sandy was pretty
strong and succeeded in lifting it a
e few inches Through the crack he
d saw the Spanish officer sitting with
r. hls arms and head on table, asleep
70 Sandys movements from this point
:, we're conducted with the utmost care
y Bracing himself, he gave the stone an
d other lift and. drawing his revolver
Il put II lengthwise between one end anc
the floor. This was a critical moment
II the officer awakened Sandy was
,ost.
At this moment loose stone became
10 detached and dropped to The cellar
making u great noise. The officer Fais
ed his head. and great was his aston
- ishment at seeing Sandy sitting In tn
= fireplace For moment he scenes
lparalyzed. Then. drawing pistol, IL
was about to fire WREN his arm Tel
imp and his pistol dropped on tn
door Sandy had winged him.
Hands up! Bout faee!A March,
cried Sandy. but as the officer did no
understand English his captor We
Obliged to resort to pantomime again
which the officer. with a"reyolve
pointed at him, WIS not slow 10 unde.
standing Sandy marched his captlV
out Of the house and toward the Ame'
lean lines When he got within MAJ
ing distance of the picket a bull'
sang by his ear from the rear. ant
turning. lie saw dozen Spaniards, re
by the girl who had trapped MIN
standing at n rise In the ground, ge'
ticulating At the same moment III
picket advanced to Sandy's rescue.
Captain Murphy OF the picket pos
had finished two hours nap an
was rubbing his eyes when he hear
the firing. Starting M. he saw Sand
Bancroft coming in with his prisohe
What were YOU doing outside To
iinei" demanded the captain sternly
acknowledging, said Sandy
The officer thought Of his nap g
post and concluded to compromise Il
silence with Sandy and the men wi
were munching the food sandy IA