Courier Democrat., 1916-09-14

y s@'~,|' wy \
With the Gorgeous Individual Talbot
Concluded Bargain.
day und agreed to transport our bag
gage at SO Il hundredwcight. The pa
drone stood aside, smiling cheerfully.
Il YER good frcn', ch?" he de-
handed
My SON. said Talbot. with feeling,
| you're a gentleman and a scholar.
| Indeed, l would go further and desig-
nate You as a genuine lallapalooZer"'
The padrone seemed much gratified.
but immediately demanded So. This
Talbot gave him. Johnny thought the
demand went far toward destroying
the value of the padrone's kindness,
but the rest of US differed. 1 believe
this people. lazy and dishonest Us they
are, are nevertheless peculiarly sus-
ceptibe to kindness. The man had
started by trying to cheat us of our
bargain; he ended by going out of his
way to help US along.
Having paid the alcalde, we set
forth. Our good padrone was on hand
to say farewell to US at the edge Of
town. He gave us sort of cup made
from cocoanut hGSk. to which long
cords had been attached. With these,
he explained, we could dip up water
without dismounting We found them
most convenient.
Shortly after we had left town ard
before we had really begun our jour
ncy in earnest We passed q most as
tonishing caravan going the other
| way. This consisted OF sixteen mules
and donkeys under sole charge of
three men armed with antiquated and
somewhat rusty muskctS. On either
side of each mule, slung in 4 rope and
plain to see, hung a heavy ingot Of
gold. Fascinated, we approached and
stroked the satiny beautiful metal and
wondered that Oh a road so crowded
with travellers of all grades so precious
a train should be freely intrusted to
the three ragged, lazy natives. SO curl
Gus did this seem that Talbot inquired
of the leader why it was allowed.
"Whither would thief run to?
How could he carry away these heavy
ingots" the man propounded.
Often around subsequent campfires
we have III idle curiosity attempted to
answer these two questions success
fully, but have always failed. The
gold was safe
We arrived in Panama in the after
noon, and we were all eyes, for here
was Il city taken directly from the
pages Of the Boys Own Pirate"
Without the least effort of the imag-
ination we could see Morgan or Kidd
or some other old swashbuckler, cut
lass in teeth, pistols i'll hand, broad
sashcd, fierce and ruthless, rushing
over the walls or through the streets,
while the cathedral bells changed Wild
ly and WuhIel screamed Everything
about it was Of the past, for somehow
the modern signs of American inva-
sion seemed temporary and to be
blown away. The two story wooden
houses with corridor and veranda
across the face of the second story,
painted in bright colors. leaned crafty
out across the streets toward each
other. Narrow and mysterious alleys
led up between them. Ancient cathe-
drals and churches stood gray with
age before grass grown plaZas. And
in the outskirts Of town We're massive
masonry ruins of great buildings, con-
vent and colleges, some of which had
never been finished.
We stopped over Que day at the
that we We're probably in for a long
wait, found two rooms in Il house of
the main street. These we rented
from a native at q fairly reasonable
rate. They We're in the second story
of massive stone ruin whose walls
had been patched up with whitewash.
Outside the walls Of the city was a
large cncampment Of tents in which
dwelt the more impecunious Or more
economical of the miners. Here too
had located large hospital tent.
There was a great deal Of sickness,
due to the hardships of the journey,
| the bad climate, irregular living, the
overeating Of fruit, drinking, the total
lack Of sanitation. In fact, only the
situation of the city-out on an 18TH
mus in the sea breezes-I am con-
yinced, saved us from pestilence. Ev-
cry American seemed to possess pat
ent medicine of some sort, with which
he dosed himself religiously in and out
of season. A good many, 1 should
think, must have fallen victims to
| these nostrums.
Each morning regularly we went
down to harass the steamship employ
ees. Roughly speaking, some 800 Of
us had bought through passage before
leaving New York, and it was an
nounced that only tifty-two additional
to those already aboard could be