Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1914-01-09


When he awoke he was shivering.
He realized his weakness but could not
understand it, being usually a man of
undertaking health, until it occurred to
him that he had not eaten anything
for nearly twenty-four hours.
But he had nothing with him to eat,
and he did not dare discharge his pis-
tol at the birds flying all about for fear
Of calling attention to his position in
the jungle. So he arose, frightened his
belt as he had read Indians used to do
when pressed by hunger, and worked
his way on, still holding to the left.
Continuing thus he stumbled sudden
ly upon a clearing, which apparently a
large number of soldiers had left not
many hours before There were re-
| mains OF q fire and better still, scat
tered upon the ground were bits of
bareback, whole pineapple and an
abandoned kettle with some boiled rice
remaining in it.
Despite the suggestions Of the prox-
unity Of the Spaniards, Holton sat
down and ate the most satisfactory
meal Of his life.
Having eaten, he retired little dis
lance and lay back in the shadows.
The sun warmed him, and the stiffness
caused by the damp of the night left
him. If, as he had feared, fever had
been in his blood it had gone now and
this inspired him wonderfully.
He was about to descend when the
fash OF something below caught his
eye almost beneath his feet. He looked
closely and caught the fash again, fol-
lowed by another flash, then by sew
eral. A flash in this jungle meant pol
ished metal Of some sort, and metal OF
| any sort here meant only one thing
/ soldiers.
He strained his eyes downward and
| then caught glimpses of trail, partial
| ly hidden from his view by bushes On
| the side of the trail nearest to the
eastward the land fell sharply away
into a wide valley. the opposite sides
| of which were bush and tree-coyered
| hills just as on his side
And now as he looked, the situation
| dawned clear upon him For he could
see men moving, falling back along the
| trail, and eventually debouching into
| bushes on either side
| Holton's heart beat quickly. He re-
membered what the Spaniards had said
! of Americans marching from the direc-
| ton Of Siboney. and he knew that
| right before his eyes the Spaniards
We're arranging an ambush for them.
But what could he DO? Almost any
moment detachment of Spanish sol
diers might come upon him. His
slightest movement would tend to at
tract the attention Of some of them.
What was happening? Suddenly
from the distance there came what
sounded to Holton like the clatter OF
steel on steel. He at once recognized
! it as the sound Il scabb2rd makes
when it strikes against spur.
! Hastily he looked down at the Span.
| ish position, but not a sign Of q soldier
could be see. The trail was deserted
/ the surroundings were as quiet, as
! peaceful as the heart Of 8 jungle. 1t
was too quiet, Holton thought.
! Suddenly the situation dawned clear
his countrymen were walking into a
/ deadly trap. And he was powerless to
| help them
| Then, as though q voice had whis-
pered in his ear, he started up. Was
he helpless? Yes, if he was consider
ing himself. II fear OF consequences
to him personally were to be weighed
he was perfectly helpless. But not
otherwise. Providence could not have
smiled more benignIy upon the Ameri-
cans than in placing him just where
he was-provided he justified the
providential processes with the nerve
! of hero.
: He rolled half on his side, loosened
his revolver in it's holster, and then
drew it out. No more sounds come
from the trail, and yet, somehow, there
was the impression of movement down
there, a subconscious feeling of the ap
proach of men.
Holton. his eyes strained ahead, his
ears alert for the slightest sound
started convulsively as a campaign hat
appeared for an instant through a rift
| in the high grasses on the valley side
of the trail.
Then, flattening himself rigidly upon
the ground, he pointed his pistol in
the direction of the Spaniards beneath
him, and pulled the trigger. The sharp
report Of the forty-four tore through
the dead stiffness with nerve-racking
violence. 1t clattered across the val
ley in a hundred echoes And then, as
! though both nature and man had been
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| complish double purpose. The aban-
| doned farm is a form of entertainment