Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1912-05-16

II
+hen in 1869, preparing to make hs last ngns [
For the long-coveted crown OF Spain. HIS cnlei '
agent had bought all OF the arms anu mm I
~ could nay for from Kynoch & Co, OF
uoh ou, and had contracted with Nickel
% : en- for their delivery on the northern coast
" snain, They had lost one cargo through sns
eatnhfulness of a Spanish warshlp' anu h@u
nearly come to grief with announcer .ho+
~ pratender's agent then proposeu tn"'
~ Cor,os nav for the arms when hey W.
do1ivered. instead Of ut the factory, as elo
o1n nnan Nickell was considering this proposl
~. Yvben 7 met him, and he told me aoou
~ oftar we had come to know ana Sna1.u
oach other a bit, and 1t was agreed tnaI 49, A.
should buy the arms while l wouio
ship and deliver them oors,onment
sA ~ wos stimulated that the first consignment.
should be delivered to Don Caros
b,s headquarters near Bilbao. .,
n% 81 q email and light-draft ship couio eet w
to- ond 7 did not care to try II Will 'Ho
t~o ca 7 chartered a smaller steamer
-, greatly resembled the Santa Mar|a'
~n1Si,h ooastwise ship. To avoid suspicious
tho riAes and cartridges were snlppeu " AN
wern and I picked them up there.
Va soon 40 we were out Of sight OF lano
..anin+od NV ship and made some shsn'
ohangos until she looked almost exacty 49,
the Santa Marta. Nth vary lit
We got over the bar at Bilbao VIII .
+1o to snare under our keel and Went III up
river to the appointed place. A panu VI a'p
sies-Gitanos-were camped CLOSE Wy LIN
ten minutes they were all over s1 10 -
Among them was a singularly beautl1ui grl "
Amu q strangely drawn. She followed
mo around the ship, which did not annoy me
~ oil and insisted on telling my fortune. when
T consented she told me, among a lot OF otnel
fringe that T would be paid a large sum VI
money in the mountains and assasslnateo.
The Carlist camp was located well up IN inc
mountains. nearly twelve miles away Al'el F"
short wait l was tremendously usneleo nv
+bo august presence of the Pretender. he
greeted me with frigid Formally in contraolc-
tion to the warm welcome had expected, as
due a savior Of the Carlist cause, and MS nrst
words. spoken in fair English, were d curt
statement that he had no money but would pay
for nv cargo through his London agent WITHIN
two months.
r nointed out to him, as discreetly as posi-
hn what the result Of such a course would be
Failure to keep the agreement made by you
agent would destroy your excellent credit VIII
all dealers in revolutionary supplies, ana tnat
of course, is not to be thought or. On tne
other hand, by paying for this cargo you VIII
establish your credit more firmly than ever
know that your majesty is not only very non
est, but very wise"
This argument appeared to convince MIN
and, with a smile as though he had really beef
only Joking. he summoned a venerable Jew
evidently his treasurer, who looked like th'
original of all pictures of Shylock. and ordere'
him to pay me G2S,O00, the amount called TO
by the manifest. The Jew returned in a fey
minutes with the exact amount. With tn
transaction completed, Don Carlos dramaticau
:. waved me out.
The officer who had piloted US to the cam
suggested that we could find our way back t
the ship without any trouble, as the trail wa
clearly defined, and we started back alon'
| Before we had gone twenty steps Brown, m
, sailing master, asked whether I had been pal
). in cash. pointed to my bullying pockets an
/, told MIN I undoubtedly had. He then CO.
' fessed that he thought we were I'm for 1t" s.
cavalrymen, he said, had started down IL
trail not long before I left Don Carlos ten
n and he believed they had been sent out
4 waylay, rob and probably murder us in Il
q deep canyon into which the ravine from Il
camp turned.
n In a flash I recalled the prediction of Il
a Gypsy girl. I laughed at myself for the spas
l. of something like fear that came into my min
Il yet 1 was undeniably nervous, for Brown W
.. not a man to form foolish fancies or becor
unduly alarmed about anything. And none
Ia us was armed.
= We had turned a corner that put US out
~ sight of the camp, when 1 saw a dark ia
- peering at us through the underbrush that m
= ted the trail on both sides. At the first glan
the face looked like nothing but one Of I
troopers we had been talking about, but in
instant l recognized the Gitano girl who b
- AOld my fortune and begged me not to go ii
10 the mountains. She beckoned to US and, wi
y out saying a word. plunged off into deep WOO
81 in which we, unguided, would have been no
lessly lost in ten minutes.
IT She led us over a hill and across a wide
r preston and then over another much hig
- mountain. There was not so much as a S
:, gestion Of a path and it was hard going,
none of us complained. She brought us out
- the trail at the point where we had made
- first turn into the foothills. From there 1t
a straight road to the ship with no fear Of
~ buscade or attack.
ial The rest Of the cargo was jerked out v
a all speed and as soon as the last box was
the. bank we got under way. Greatly to
,ay surprise we were not even hailed by the
at at the mouth of the river, where l had loo
for some serious business, and We oontin
happily ON our wav to London.