Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1916-02-08

hu N\ cdr
EN ,L\ "For eight days
III ~ gales and squalls
and waterspouts
beat us from 0uI
1ost busy. YOU ons course. Five days
eyed banshseIn only should have
landed us in Es-
perando. Our Jonah swallowed the
bad credit Of It with appealing frank
ness, but that scarcely lessened the
hardships our cause was made to SUI.
fer.
"At last one afternoon we steamed
into the calm estuary of the little Bio
Escondido. Three miles up this we
crept, feeling for the shallow channel
between the low banks that were
crowded to the edge with gigantic trees
and riotous vegetation. Then our whis-
tie gave little toot and In FIVE min
utes we heard shout, and Carlos-my
brave Carlos Quintana - crashed
through the tangled vines waving his
cap madly for JOY
"A hundred yards away was his
camp, where 800 chosen patriots Of Es-
perando were awaiting our coming.
For month Carlos had been drilling
them there in the tactics of war and
filing them with the spirit of revolu-
ton and liberty.
"'My captain-compadre milo! shout.
ed Carlos, while yet my boat was be-
; ing lowered. You should see them in
the drill by companies-in the column
i wheel-in the march by four-they are
superb! Also in the manual Of arms
but alas, performed only with sticks
Of bamboo. The guns, captain-say
that you have brought the gunsp
"'A thousand good rifles, Carlos
called to him. And two GatIngs.'
; "'Valgame Diosr he cried, throwing
his cap in the air. We shall sweep the
worldr
"At that moment Kearny tumbled
from the steamers side into the river.
he could not swim, so the crew threw
him rope and drew him back aboard.
I caught his eye and his look of, pa.
thetic but still bright and undaunted
consciousness Of his guilty luck. I told
myself that, although he might be a
man to shun, he was also one to be
admired. -. -.
II gave orders to the sailing master
that the arms, ammunition cid provi.
sions were to be landed at once. That
was easy In the steamers boats, ex.
cept for the two Gatling guns. Fol
their transportation ashore We carried
stout fatboat
I'm the meantime walked with Car
los to the camp and made the soldiers
a little speech in Spanish, which they
received with enthus.asm, and then I
had some wine and cigarette in Car
los tent.
"The small arms and provisions were
already ashore, and the petty officers
had squads Of men conveying them to
camp. One Calling had been safely
landed. The other was just being
hoisted over the side Of the vessel as
we arrived. I noticed Kearny darting
about on board, seeming to have the
ambition Of ten men and to be doing
the work Of Ave. I think his zeal bub-
bled over when he saw Carlos and me:
A ropes end was swinging loose from
some part Of the tackle. Kearny leap
ed impetuously and caught it. There
was q crackle and hiss and smoke
Of scorching hemp, and the Gatling
dropped straight as plummet through
the bottom Of the fatboat and buried
itself In twenty feet of water and FIVE
feet Of river mud.
II turned my back on the scene. I
heard Carlos loud cries as If from
some extreme grief too poignant for
, words. I heard the complaining MUIR.
muir Of the crew and the maledictions
Of Torres, the sailing master. could
not bear to look.
"By night some degree Of order had
been restored In camp. Military rules
were not drawn strictly, and the men
were grouped about the fires Of their
several messes, playing games of
chance, singing their native songs or
discussing with voluble animation the
contingencies Of our march upon the
capital.
ITO my tent, which had been pitch
ed for me close to that Of my chief
lieutenant, came Kearny, indomitable,
smiling, bright eyed, bearing no traces
Of the buffets Of his evil star. Rather
was his aspect that of a heroic mar
tyr whose tribulations were 80 high
sourced and glorious that he even took
a splandor and prestige from them
"'Well. captain said he, 4 guess
you realize that Bad Luck Kearny is
still on deck. It was q shame, now,
about that gun. She only needed to
be slowed two inches to clear the rail,
and that's why I grabbed that ropes
end. Who'd have thought, that sail
or, even a Sicilian lubber on q banana
I coaster, would have fastened line In
q bowknot Don't think I'm trying to
dodge the responsibility, captain. It's
my luck
".There are men; Kearny, said
gravely, who pass through life Dlam-
! ing upon luck and chance the mistakes
that result from their own faults and
incompetency. do not say that you
are such man. But II all your mis-
haps are traceable to that tiny star the
I, sooner we endow our colleges with
chairs of moral astronomy the better
"Tt isn't the size Of the star that
counts, said Kenny, its the quality.
| Just the way 1t is with women. That's
why they gave the biggest planets
masculine names and the little stars
feminine ones-to even things up
when It comes to getting their work
In. Suppose they had called my star
Aganemnoh or Bill McCarty or some
thing like that instead of Phoebe.
| Every time one of those old boys
| touched their calamity button and sent
me down one Of their wireless pieces
| Of bad luck could talk, back and tell
'em what I thought of 'em In suitable
terms. But you can't address such re-
marks to q Phoebe
"Tt plesses you 70 make joke Of
it, Kearny,' said I without smiling.
But It is no Joke to me to think OF my
| s5stlinp mired In the river ooze.'