The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1912-01-04

company at Santiago, Cuba, sends to
his friends in this city the following
account of the encounter which ne
and Pedro Aguilera, engineer OF the
concern, had with bandits the other
day. He says:
"On Thursday 1 rode to Ell Cuero
and spent the day in the mines with
Pete. On Friday morning early was
ready to return to Santiago and, as
usual. I rode on the trail to point
Just this side of the Nina Nina river
to await the arrival of the horses.
Pete went down with me.
Martin Blanc was rather late in
arriving with the horses, and Pete
and l sat down on the doorstep of the
store that is situated just between
the railroad and the trail to Santiago
at that place. When the horses ar
rived I said good-by to Pete and
mounted my fiery, untamed steed,
who was not so fiery, but decidedly
lame after a hard ride the day be-
fore. 1 was saying something to
Pete, when 1 heard voice at my side
saying:
"'Your pocket-book and your re-
volver.'
This was in Spanish, of course
and as Twas busy talking to Pete
the true import of it did not filter
through my head at once. When it
was repeated a little louder and more
insistently I looked down and saw
a Spaniard, wearing workman's
clothes and cap and holding dag
ger that I give you my word looked
five feet long to me, in the correct
position to commence without fur
ther delay an operation on my intes-
tines.
81 glanced over at Pete, who was
still sitting on the doorstep, to see
how he was taking it; but he was
busy looking down the barrel of
revolver that another Spaniard, who
had stepped out from the store, was
pointing down at him. Then 1 real
lied that it was a holdup. My man
seemed rather a cheerful Indian, but
Pete's friend looked pale, frighten-
ed ugly, and determined.
There were two other men in the
store and Martin was only about
twenty feet away, but they could not
do anything to help us, as the first
move on their part would have been
disastrous. Without fraud or fur
ther delay I handed over my pocket
book, with some $6, and my purse,
with a lucky $40 gold piece and some
small silver. They searched us for
arms 1--WE had none) and then went
through my valise, but didn't seem to
care for a shirt and some under
clothes that had climbed the Aragon
hill the day DeIOre.
tPete threw the stuff back into my
bag, which had been beside him on
the step, and then my man shook
hands with both of us and said good
by. 1 was somewhat surprised at the
handshake and could not help think
ing of Mansfield in Beau Brummel
when he said:
GA glance of the eye, Reginald, a
glance of the eye; people shake hands
altogether too much, especially in hot
weather.
''It looked for a moment as if it
was all finished, but the other BAN
dit said: No. We will keep one of
them
eat first his idea was to have Pete
write an order on somebody in San
tiago for money, but after some dis
cussion, he said to me:
"'We will keep this man. You go
to Santiago and be back here before
4 o'clock with $4,000. Come un-
armed and alone. If not and he
left the rest to the imagination.
"When I asked him how I was 60
ing to find him to conclude the f.
nancial part of the transaction, be
said that they would go up the hill
on the west side of the Nina Nina
river and that I should come back to
the scene of the holdup and from
there strike out on foot across the
potrere' and up the hill.
Then they started off with Pete,
one of them with the dagger and the
other with the revolver and huge
French butcher knife Martin and
hit the trail, and as soon as we were
across the Nina Nina river l sent
Martin to tell Ratio. what had hap
pened and to warn him that they had
gone up the hill, from which they
could command a considerable stretch