Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1916-10-13

with the torch, plundering and setting
fire to the houses.
A small body of the defenders
driven back before them, had been
cut off between the two raiding forces.
Nobody could fire, for fear of hitting
their own side.
The defenders were cornered. Half
a dozen women, shrinking back against
the houses, two or three men com.
posed them. Fascinated with horror,
Sanders party saw a Mexican step up
toward the little group and speak, in
dicating n of the women.
1t was Elsie, and the mans meaning
was obvious. He was offering life and
safety to the little group in return for
Elsie. And, to Sanders horror, Tall
man was listening to him.
Sanders saw Tallman Waver irreso-
lutely. He knew what he was saying
to himself: that the honor of one girl
was of less worth than the lives of
all. Sanders saw the Mexican stride
toward the girl and catch her trium-
phantly in his arms, while the rifles
of the raiders covered him and the
party behind the barbados.
The girl screamed frantically as the
brute clutched her. And that was
the last thing that Sanders remem-
bered. The rest Of the story is told
by witnesses.
They speak of seeing Sanders leap
from behind the barricade as if i'm
PEELED by a spring, and rush alone,
through a scattering shower of bullets,
upon the Mexican who held Elsie
Duval in his arms. Sanders struck
him down with the butt, and then ran
into the midst of the raiding horse
men, who numbered perhaps fifty.
He felled their leader from his
horse, sprang into the saddle, and
cleared a space about him. There
was neither room nor time to load or
fire. The mar seemed to have a
charmed life. He swung his rifle
round and round his head, and, though
menaced from every side, each time
the butt fell a head broke, as an egg
shell might. After him ran the little
body Of defenders fewer than II
men.
Border annals hardly detail a great
err fight against greater odds. But the
frightened horses of the dead men con
fused the Mexicans, and the Ameri-
cans hewed a clear passage through
their midst and back again.
They were covered with wounds, but
they had lost non of their forces, and
suddenly the raiders raised a shout
of terror and rode for dear life down
to the Rio.
Whether they feared the arrival Of
re-enfOrcements cannot be known.
The fact remains that Sanders had
saved Santa Rosa, and with an insig-
nificant force.
He awakened from his trance to
find himself standing beside Elsie in
the street, breathless and covered with
blood, and wondering what had hap
pened to him. All that he remembered
was seeing the girl in the clutch Of the
Mexican.
"YOu are safe, Miss Duval?" he
gasped; and as he spoke the look Of
leadership faded from his face, and
he was just the Insignificant, ordinary
little man of yesterday.
But Elsie threw her arms about his
neck and kissed him. 1t was a public
declaration, and she could hardly have
done less. For everyone had realized
that there exist two sorts of courage,
and that brute force is inferior to
moral strength.
At that moment Tallman was about
three-quarters of a mile away, creep
ing down the gulley that would take
him to the high road out of sight Of
the settlement.