River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1912-05-30

At sunrise We went to see Pulgar When
asked for my decision I inquired what the
result would be if his revolution failed.
"Then / am sorry, my dear captain but you
will lose your cargo, while will lose my life
which is of infinitely more Importance to me.
But the revolution will not fall" he vehe-
mently declared.
AS though impressed by his confidence, 1
announced that l would accept his offer, with
d mental reservation to escape at the first OPP
portunity, for did not propose to fight against
Guzman.
"That is excellent" he said, with the sug-
gestion of bow. After coffee I went with
him to inspect his troops. L was formally
given command Of battalion of 300 men, and
an Indian servant, who, / afterward found
had orders to shoot me if l attempted to es-
cape, was assigned to me. I accompanied Pull
gar back to his headquarters, where 1 was
given an old sword and the furnished shoulder
straps of a colonel these constituting my uni
form.
''Now that you have allied yourself with
my forces" 20 then said, you will have no
use for your ship. You will therefore write
note to the officer in charge, directing him
to proceed to Curacao and await orders She
will be safe there and" with a quizzical
smile, you will be safe here"
AS there was nothing else for me to do
complied with it at once.
had been trying for about a week to whip
my lazy ignorant troops into some sort Of
shape, when word was brought in one morn
ing that "the enemy" was approaching
Instead Of allowing me to lead my battalion,
Pulgar ordered NE to remain with him on a
little knoll in the rear, from which he made
a pretense of directing his forces.
1 will say Tor them, though, that they
fought hard and stubbornly, but they were
gradually driven back, and Pulgar, who had
a
the opposing troops were largely reinforced
and came with q rush which quickly converted
our orderly retreat into rout. Pulgar, ours
ing like a maGEIan, dashed into the disorgan-
lied mass of his liberty-loving louis, with Or
tega and the rest of his staff at his heels.
l was left alone and was hesitating as to
what 1 should do, when my Indian servant
tugged at my trousersleg.
Follow me, colonel!" he said II know
where there is a boat"
He started off at run and covered ground
so fast that 1 had to gallop my horse to keep
up with him. He led the way to the beach
near where my cargo had been landed and
pushed native boat from under a clump Of
mangrove trees. We jumped in and showed
off in a hurry, for Ortega and several of his
men had just appeared on the bluff above and
were making for u.s.
We drifted around for three days and
nights without so much as a glimpse of a
distant sail and without ounce of food or
mouthful Of water, save only such as we were
able to suck out of our clothes after a provi-
Dental rain the second night. On the morn
ing of the fourth day fog lifted and close to
us was fleet of fishermen from the island OF
Oruba, twenty miles to the westward of Cura-
Gao. They took to their island and after
we had rested and eaten for two days fishing
boat took us to Curacao.
There l learned from Consul Faxon what
1o11Y
had worked out more rapidly than he antici-
pated, and he landed in Venezuela early in
February at the head of small force, but
with a large army waiting for him. With only
slight resistance he entered Caracas and pro-
claimed himself dictator His victory vas so
easily achieved and so largely personal
one that he did not give to Pulgar the reward
to which he considered himself entitled, and
Pulgar Immediately started new revolution.
When l told Faxon how / had been i'm
posed on and impressed into Pulgar's service
he advised me to tell Guzman the whole
story l went on the next steamer, which also
carried letter from Faxon, in which he told
Guzman the precautions l had taken to verify
the signature to the order Ortega had given
me.
1 called on Guzman after I knew he had re-
ceived Faxon's letter and was welcomed with
marked cordiality Tell me your whole
story" he said, 'but let Inc assure you it is
believed before it is told" His face took on
an ugly look when told lin how Ortega had
tricked me with the forged order, and he in
terrupted me to say that he had sent an Off
Ger to Curacao to await the Ju1iette and direct
me to deliver the arms at La Guayra. This
officers failure to get to me IN advance of
.Ortega had not been satisfactorily explained
and had, Guzman said, been severely pun
ished 1t was evident that he suspected col
fusion between his agent and Ortega.
When l had finished Guzmap told me he
was surrounded by whom he either sus-
pected or hesitated to trust. He wanted
man whom he could rely on implicitly to watch
for evidences of treachery among those around
him, and he was kind enough to say he
thought 1 was the man he had been looking
for. He asked me to remain in Caracas for
an indefinite time to mix freely with his fol-
lowers and ascertain who could be trusted.
l had been with Guzman Bianco for about
year after he proclaimed himself dictator of
Venezuela, February IA, 1871, when began
to grow restless again This was IN no sense
due to any fault / had to find with Guzman.
He had treated me with every mark of friend
ship and had proved time and again, that
possessed his entire confidence. But under
his strong hand things were settling down to
a humdrum, and with my whole nature clam
oring for change to more strenuous scenes
put the situation up TO Guzman and secured
his permission to go away, on the promise
that l would return within six months. / sum-
moned the Juliette from Curacao and set sail
for England for the double purpose of secur-
ing a cargo of arms with which to add to the
Joy of living in Central America, and of look
ing up Frank Norton, who had so well planted