The Lamar register. [volume] (Lamar, Colo.) 1889-1952, 1916-09-27

TAR.
The regiment spread out IN line
Bransome ran before them, waving his
sword Advance he shouted.
Then ne saw Travis beside him in
his civilian clothes. The agents
white solar helmet made a splendid
mark tor an enemy. Go back you
fool Bransome shouted.
But Travis ran beside MIN, and
5ransome mad no time for argument.
he whole line followed. with fixed
ayonets roaring behind him. The
bullets churned among the trees and
ut splinters from the boughs. Show
ars of leaves came down.
The yelling defiant krus manned
he walls OF the preached stockade.
The assauiting party was compelled
form into column to mount the
Jreach. And now the enemy displayed
rs secret resource. nothing less than
NJ Old brass ships gun, which might
ave done good service in the sixties,
nd was none the less effective here.
4 roaring detonation, and grape shot
burst among the British troops. They
,cll in heaps. cut down by the we'll
directed charge.
But the gun was. of course, not a
quick-firer, and had to be reloaded.
The troops closed up. Bransome. who
had by some miracle escaped un-
s,athed put himself at their head
again. Advance" D. shouted.
And again he was conscious OF
Travis in his white helmet. cool and
smiling. beside him.
1t was mad rush toward the walls
Just as the foremost man set foot III
the breach the cannon roared again
The files were swept away. And
again Bransome found himself unin.
iured
Now. boys" he shouted. amazed to
md that he was still alive
The attacking party. which had re.
coiled. heaped one man against his
neighbor. and. the dead all about
rushed forward, cheering. Like a cata
ract the khaki-clad column swept over
the breach, driving the logged negroes
before them, pinioning them with the
bayonet. In a moment the fort was
carried
were pursued. They fell in writing
heaps, their own gun turned against
them. For perhaps half an hour the
bloody struggle lasted. Then the Brit
ish we're IN possession of the village
Bransome stopped; he had forgot
ten everything I'm the excitement OF
the battle. His sword was bloody, and
yet he could not remember having
struck down a man. A trickle of blood
was running down his face. lie limped
from a slug in his leg that he had
never felt.
Where's Travis?" he demanded OF
his surviving captain.
The agent could not be found Yet
II was Travis who represented the
majesty OF the British raj. and il was
Travis who must interview the trem
bling old king, now a prisoner in his
own mud hut, guarded by a sullen, de
FAINT chief wife. and younger one
who held the royal red parasol over
him.
Bransome went back, searching
among the fallen. Travis was not in
the town. he was not anywhere within
NhS Az = ~ ahobAAf NaAAAt ApOll AAlLh
at last just outside the breach. He
had been struck down by dozen
slugs from the brass cannon the sec
ond time the weapon was discharged
Travis lay under a pile OF dead Krus
but he was alive. He recognized Bran
some.
Pransome hailed the stretcher
bearers and had two men place him
upon a stretcher and carry him into
the town. They brought him to the
kings hut, and Travis pronounced
sentence. The king was to go in exile
to the coast, to spend the last OF his
days there.
The surgeon came up, looked at the
agent and shook his head. There may
be a chance for him." he said. Get
him out of here. Put him in a hut that
hasn't been used. There's smallpox
everywhere among the Krus."
Travis did not catch smallpox, but
It became clear, after a week of de.
lirium. that he was dying. His mind
grew clear toward the end. He mo
toned to Bransome TO open the little
satchel he carried with the govern.
ment papers.
Bransome did so and found in 1t the
little box containing Mary's ring. He
looked at Travis and saw that the