The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-06-28
TRUE TALES OF Peril. BY SCOUTS OF AMERICAN CONNER
nv on the Island Of Roncador

him to SO horrible a fate had never
reached my friends.
Like an animal fighting for the love
of IT, down on the skull of the native
brought the butt of my heavy revolt
yer and 1t gave me uncanny JOY to feel
the crushed bone give. The hands
about Charley's throat relaxed. He
staggered forward. | caught him by
the arm and together we struggled on
ward. he slashlng with a long bladed
knife he had snatched from the hand of
"A native who fell beside him and | us
ing my revolver.
The natives thought us possessed, and
crying out that the devil fought with
us they scattered before us and we
tumbled, more dead than alive, across
the threshold of the superintendents
lodge. where the Waterman had pre-
coded us by few seconds.
There they were. eleven white men
and one friendly native, perched on a
lonesome rock In the sky blue Carlb-
bean. mob of maddened men surging
about our fimsy shelter and thirsting
for our lives.
Presently there was lull In the hub
hub outside. At first we did not under
stand II. From the upper windows we
could peer out over the sills without
attracting the attention of the natives,
and 1t was not long before we diagnosed
their new move. Across a barren slope
n dozen or more men came Indian file,
two Of them bearing a large oak box.
our hearts sank at sight Of II. We
| knew what that meant. Immcdi: 'e,y
after the outbreak my assistant had
hidden In n crevice a box filed with
one pound dynamite cartridges. To al
| low these men to come close enough
To throw those cartridges into the
house meant certain death to us all.
Every man leaped to window or
| door.
Fire at the box" shouted the sur
| geon.
| Fear of that very thing must have
| dawned on the mutineers, for almost
as the words were uttered they sour
ried behind a projecting crag and placed
| the box where we could not see II.
Then they scattered. From the rear
came deafening report. The very
| earth shook and not a man Of us was
eft standing on his feet. One of the
cartridges had been hurled from the
rear and had exploded. but the man
hurting it was not close enough to
reach the building.
From my window 7 saw half naked
mutineer crawl from behind a pile Of
bagged phosphate. I fired, but missed.
The man leaped To his feet and ran
toward the building. Suddenly he
stopped and raised his hand. ready To
hurl one Of the bombs. squnted along
the barrel of my revolver. on this one
shot depended the lives Of nine white
men-two had already been killed by
shots coming through the openings
since my arrival at the building. An
other instant and the deadly cartridge
would leave his hand. | shot and the
negro spun around like a whirligig and
slumped TO the ground.
I was lettering with the strain
I caught the easement for support
There was a crash that seemed Ia
split my aching head. I heard the
scream of wounded men. A great
cloud of heavy smoke and debris spread
over the house, but the worst danger
was passed. The box Of dynamite had
exploded. I know not why, killing and
manning I know not how many mutt
neers and ripping hole In one side
of the house in which We were.
A little later it became apparent that
the mutineers We're making their way
toward the dynamite magazine near tn,
beach. Intuitively we made a con-
certed rush for the building.
From rock to rock ! scurri"d, hidine
between dashes. Near me ! saw our
storekeepcr crawling along on his belly
To escape being seen. From behind a
tank sneaked native, his clothes al
hut TORN from his body, jagged cash
over one eye. With bound he was
upon the storckeepcr and buried a
broad axe in the mans body.
There were two cartridges in the