The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1914-02-14


They'll advance us before
long" the man that fed the pris-
oner told his old lieutenant.
Lots of good it'll do me-" COM
mented Jimmy.
Real action was inevitable.
Jimmy Crogan was out of it; that
was as certain as Is death.
Lieut.. Crogan found himself
awake in the middle of his
prison, the sunlight streaming
through the cracks In the wall
and his heart humping stoutly,
right up in his throat. Then he
laughed. 1t wasn't battery,
after all. Just the roar of
planes exhaust as 1t circled
above the camp. Through his
window he could see the thing as
1t winged its way to the south,
looking like a big bug. Hours
passed and the aeroplane did not
return. Another went up and did
not come back. The next day a
third and fourth made the at
tempt. And none came back.
That afternoon Lieut.. Rawley
entered the guardhouse on official
business - of course. His face
was pinched and drawn. He look
ed at the prisoner in silence.
He held up four fingers of his
right hand.
Four" he said weakly.
"Yah-four," said Jimmy, spec
ulating as to the sanity of his
jailer.
They've a battery" said Raw
ley in a voice that grated, that
gets the planes at any distance.
Four-Lord! And they've got to
send men up that hill tonight on
their bellies-the way they did at
San Juan"
Tonight? Volunteers-to map
the hill?" asked Jimmy In a
whisper.
"Yes-and it's coming" repli-
ed Rawley. Well be tangling
with 'em in 4S hours, I'm afraid"
he muttered.
Afraid" scoffed Jimmy when
he was alone. Great God!
Afraid! Those fellow don't"
He looked through the one win
dow for a long, long time.
The swift night settled down
and the hum of the camp dimin-
ished to a drone. Activity was in
the afr. 1t made living tense.
1.-THE moon," said Jimmy to
himself, will rise after midnight.
And it's cinch!"
He went to the corner of the
one room and squatted on the
floor. With a stick he jabbed at
the mud between the big adobe
bricks. Il crumbled easily under
the attack. In a half hour the
brick was loose. He worked a
second block loose; then the one
above the two. An hour later he
stuck his head and shoulders out,
put his ear against the ground to
hear better the tread of the SEN
try, chose his time we'll and
slipped into the night. Carefully
he crawled between the tens;
cautiously he picked his way to
avoid lights. He worked away
from his own regiment and passed
through the camp OF another.
An hour went by and he COM
menced to fear that the moon
would Illustrate all his efforts. At
last he left the manifested area
behind and crept on faster.
WELL" he told himself, "a
man never did anything who
stayed putt.
Jimmy crawled on his hands
and knees for what he guessed
was three hundred yards. Then
he arose. stretched himself with
a great breath, slapped his chest
gently with the palms OF his
hands, smiled up at the stars and
commenced TO walk, carefully,
catlike. For half hour he trav-
eled slowly, choosing every foot
hold. He glanced behind him
and laughed softly-if nervously
las he saw the camp lights re-
ceding slowly into the distance.
At last he crossed a little stream
that babbled down rocky bed.
For a little while he followed the
rood, and then, when the moon
showed its yellow rim above the
hills to the east, he struck out
across the almost barren country.
Lieutenant James Crogan,
alone between two hostile armies,
breakfasted on prickIy pear,
scraping the minute barbs off
with sharp stone. He drank
from water hole, crept under q