Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-12-21

these p8rvenu naClOnS 10 conquer us.
And I'm kaid Of that country up there
in those mountains"
7 CHAPTER XIV.
believe that the republic Of Marina
in North Italy, and the somewhat
squalid republic OF Andorre in the
Pyrennes, make the proud boast that
they have never been conquered. Dis
courteous people might point out. that.
there is nothing in either OF them to
attract the appetite of conqueror.
Thibet, OF course, has suffered a down
fall, and the North Pole is under sus-
picion. So the Magyar section Of Yucca
tan and the Berber villages Of the
Western Atlas remain the only coun-
tries Of the world today worthy Of envy
that have not been polluted by the foot
Of the invader. f.s
All modern rulers OF Mexico and
Don fernando Cortez to Don Porfirio
Diaz have tried to annex the interior
Of Yucatan-and failed; and through
out all the ages, all the successive
powers from the Romans to the
present Moors who have held Morocco
have been similarly unsuccessful In
their attacks upon the Berber strong
holds In the Atlas mountains. It argues
If one comes to think of It, some par
ticular trait OF strength which keeps
these two small districts alone Of all
the vast acreage OF the globe unex-
plored by the pushing white man, I'M
annexed by some other hungry nation,
undisturbed by that standard which
other people have been pleased to set
up as civilization. s..4,Ss
Old Kaid Bergash s(father Of the
man Captain Kettle distilled 50 keen
~ on first sight) was q tough old war
rior who ruled his tribe with; rod of
iron. and was an authority 3on tradi-
ton. He lived in stone castle built
on an almost inaccessible spur of3sthe
Atlas, and his tribe lived there with
him. and within It's walls stored. all
their principal gear and worldly goods.
The castles ground space inside the
walls measured barely an acre and II
half. so that when man or family
needed more house room they. built q
story on to their existing dwelling.
Some OF these huddled sky,scrapers
lowered as much as five stories above
ground level But that was the, limit.
One or two ambitious architects had
tried for greater heights and had
brought their whole structure crumbl-
ing in ruin, At least there was a ira
dition that this had happened In the
year A. d. 1892 when the Moors Of the
Moroccan lowlands were busy in Spain
and the Berber increase was not kept
within reasonable limits by war. 4.
Below the surface of the rock, great
T. ~ Z. 4 to-, lsv
days for grain and water storage, and
the fact that the tribal flocks i and
herds were stabbed in the ground floor
Of the houses above, and gave the
water a good ammoniacal flavor, was
not "a trifle to disturb Berber palate.
And. anyway, the tribe had f1ourished
on the arrangement for a matter OF
some three thousand years.
The engineer of these caverns was
a sapper who had served his time AZ
a mercenary of Carthage, and except
that he seems to have run to a taste
for heavy bronze doors and lids to his
bins. he appears to have done his work
efficiently and well. He was an ex-i
pert on sieges, and laid down the law
that there should always be kept dr
store four years corn, three years
forage for the animals. and six years
water; which provision has proved eff
Client on many historical occasions,
and is accordingly maintained today,
There is also well in the middleof
the castle. which has been dug down
through the rock during sieges- the /.
sinking was spread over four hundred
years and after the first four hun.
dred feet 1t goes down in inclines set
Tspiralwise round a solid central core.
But as they had to drive downward
a matter of twelve hundred and fifty
feet before they struck water, and the
air down there is very bad, the we'll
is only looked on as an additional
guarantee, and is in reality never used
except in moments of very great hard
ship
On three sides Of the castle the rock
drops practically sheer into the valley.
which is trifle of twelve hundred feet
below. fancy there must have been a
few projections once but those stout
hearted old fellows at the back OF time
who built the place must have sluns
one another with rawhide ropes down
the face OF the precipice. and clipped,
and drilled, and quarried with their
bronze tools till all possible footholds
dropped down below. Afterward theg
squared the bits and carried them M
to the top again, round by the path,
to use as building material.
(To Be Continued)
----------------- 49, ii, ,Sts
Fall From Horse DISASTROUS.
,, Newton, Dec. 19.-Elmer Loupe. q
thirteen year old boy had both arms
and legs broken when he fell from .