Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1913-01-09

thrown wild arms of gratitude round
his neck, and hailed him as her world
and her preserver.
But the sight of that acid, little, pre-
else man with the red torpedo beard
had damping effect on Mysteries.
and something she caught In the eye
of her fellow woman clenched her self
restraint. Miss Dubbs might be in
mortal danger, but to her employers
shrewd vision she was glorious with
triumph.
"Sir," said Captain Kettle to Sir
George, 81 gather that this swine OF
saint has been misbehaving himself.
That being the case. take 1t you will
not care to stay longer under his
roof
, Sir George laughed ruefully. $50
great is my distaste for his hospitality
that I'd give all possess to be back
once among the friendly cockroaches
on the Kangaroo. But suppose one
might as we'll wish to be in the moon.
How in the world did you get here.
Skipper
Walked sir 1t struck me that |
might be useful to you. as owner. So |
came. proDose we ride back. and
that is thing this man Bergash is
going to arrange, If you will authorize
him to do So But before letting him
proceed@to that. I want to know II You
have any complaints to make that you
would like me to take payment for out
of his skim" -.
81 will cancel everything for free
passage to the sea-
"And you. MISS"
"No. no. Only get me away.
Right miss. Then If you, sir, and
your sister, and Miss Dubbs will kindly
make the most of this uncomfortable
room for the next ten minutes. will
take Bergash outside again and have
a little heart.to-heart talk with him
over certain arrangements for the
comfort of all of us. You have the
Winchester. I'll leave you also this
Hopkins Allen. which find too
straight in the stock for my particular
brand of fancy shooting
The Charge Of Cavalry.
The one and only gateway to the
Bergash fortress, as / have recorded
above. was just wide enough for the
passage Of gravid COW. The middle
of the arch is higher today than the
original architect intended, because in
the course of centuries the humps Of
passing camels have worn central
gutter out Of the hard limestone. The
wall at that point is fourteen teet
thick, Of solid masonry. and above the
gateway are the usual conveniences
for pouring boiling lead on unwelcome
callers.
There were iron spikes on the top Of
the wall above the gate, and through
many centuries these had been
decorated with the heads of the kaid's
enemies the old heads being refreshed
from time to time by those of more
recent cropping.
But when the latest saint returned
from the lands of the infidel with a
rabbit skin B. A. hood in his saddle
bags and certain 1mpatience for con.
sentative customs. he had ordered the
last selection OF heads to be, thrown
away, and since then he had not re.
newed them .#..
All places have their customs. and
though the reasons for many OF them
have been wiped away during the pas
sage of years, the customs remain. In
the Bergash fortress 1t was habit,
when You were going abroad. to be-
deck your camel with all his elaborate
furniture in the street outside your
own front door. When it was all nicely
in position. you marched off to the
one entrance gate of the fortress.
stripped your beast to the bare hair
Cor NANCY skim. squeezed, him out
through the doorway, and carried the
trappings through the hole in the wall
yourself.
Afterward you reassembled your
ship of the desert and his furniture on
the narrow causeway outside. That
was all excessively inconvenient. and
when there was rush on, dangerous.
Camels, and loads, and even pas
sengers, have many time been lev
cred over the edges of the causeway
and crashed down good ninety feet
to the rocks below when the brutes
really began to snarl and wrestle.
But there was probably good rea-
son for the custom in the mast. though
that reason is forgotten now. ANYWAY.
it is worthy of record that the latest
kaid, Sidi Mahommed wHs within an
ace Of losing his valued life by being
carried over the causeway edge by a
rearing camel. and Cantain Kettle
saved him by SHOOTING tho brute in
mid-air. and Juggling his holiness off
it's back just as he was in the very
act and article of topping off to
destruction below.
81 have to thank yon for my neck. :
the kaid acknowledged. 81 very nearly
provided my countrymen with a new
saint. and left them without a sue
cessor." H.. .a ,u~r,,.
"sav sir when you address me-
said Kettle nngraciously "and order
out another deck-bouse. and camel
that's been pronerlv broken. And tell
your groom to Jump lively.
The kaid gave sharp orders In Ber-
Der. and his men flew to carry them
out. lyon make things very awkward
for me. sir he said rather ouerulous.
w. 81 tell you that only our women
folk, and babes. and wounded men.
travel in these Lighthouses as YOU are
pleased to call them. A man looks
ridiculous in our eyes in such a con.
veyance.'
"Yon will look ridiculous in any
thing ! please. You gay wounded men
travel in them. You'll qualify AS one
of those II 7 have much more of your