Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-11-22
West Wind Drift
BY GEORGE BARR McCUTCHEON
Copyright. 1870. By George Bayr MccutoAson

/ and burning fagois they tried again and
aFnin TO force their way through thu
HSspfn rasss nsainsa Esa ,S.,a x mon that had bee"
Az for Manuel Crust and his little
They had mingled with tie inob at the
outset There we're many who reohile,t
bertd speaking t. 'lln, remembered
hearing him curse the ravlshcr. Hut as
their own names began to run FROM lip
to lip. they silently. swiftly disappeared.
grlnly oil, mt. No ono had grnc to bed.
With the first s,reak Df Jay, the man.
nnnt beg,n IN rarnest. All niFht long
tho camp had been patrolled. Every
oupicd solely by wo,ncn. This seatch had
been conducted IN an orderly, buatnoss-
lko wny under the supervislon Of man
chosen b. Peroiyal. The folly OF beating
nIssd oven by the most impatient, thero
was time enough for. that when the
blackness Of night had lifted.
Thrcugl,put the long night the restless
hung about tho cabin OF Pedro the far
| me-. Tho doctors and several OF tho
nurses wcre there, Down at the meeting
,ouss bonfire hnd been started. and
here we're grouncd The men to whom ths
.weapors---,nen cf tho gun crow. under
| off,t ers from the Doraine, the committee
| OF ten and others.
| 1t was accepted as q fact that twI
men wSre involved H. the he'nous deed.
percirnrs account OF the mysterious
| ruNneIs seemed definitely to establish
| this lilo called upon Olgn Oboskr to
verify his statement. II she was SUR
prlscd by his admission that he was In
] ner company when the men rushed past
| HON In the dm kness she did not bctray
the fact.
She IidulEed In a derislve smile when
he went on TO explain that II was so
dark he had fal cd to recognize her until
she spoke to him. she agreed with
him that the two men must have ccme
into tho open very short distance above
them, having snenked our between the
cabins before suddenly breaking into a
run. Avoiding the beaten roadway, they
had laid their course twenty or thirty
feet to the right OF Il, keeping to the
soft. spt!ngy turf.
Percival had issued orders for tho
ent,rc camp to conxreHate on the green
light OF dawn fed upon vague. unreal
forms moving across tho open spaces
frori all directions. There was no
shouting, no turmoil, scarcely the sound
merged into compact. motioniess mass
IN front Of tho neeting. .house. II was
not necessary for Percival to cali for
order when he appeared on the steps and
! oSb"h SpthN. lie OHiy bOuUu9 were
the shunilhg Of feet. the rustlIns OF
garments, the deep. restrained breathing
of the mass.
He spoke partly In Eng ish and partly
In Spanish. and he was brief,
,,,s, "fon know what we are here for and
tell you the story Of last night. You
know II as well as I. You will be
glad to hear the latest word from Dr.
Cullen Hem, philippa is conscious; He think.
Of care and attention. /. will ex-
pain why we are all here now. The
nrst thins for US to Dc ,is to count
noses no.s,S,s Ws viii 20 about , Il as % rapidly
down 70 business Mr.. Landover ana
Mr.. Malone will check OF the name Of
every man. woman and child. As your
names are called. come forward. answer
Of the building. We've got to find out
Ing at ali"
He raised his voice. "I want you ali
after the men who committed this crime.
Crust or any Of his crowd did this thins
I until We have positive proof of the fact.
until we have positive proof Of the fact.
II may not have been any Of Manupi's
gang. don't forget that, people. We
must make no mistakes. I am saying
1
Crust and some of hts friends standing
over there at the edge OF the clearing.
stop! Don't make move In their d.
rectton. We've all had time to think
hand. There is q right and a wrong
way to handle this thIng--and we've
rot to be sure we're right The guilty
cannot escape. They haven't a chance.
let's be dead sure before we Ss accuse
any man. We have no right to charge
Manuels gang with this crime. The
! guilty men may be here among us
and seapy Shay go over and tel thoss
men that we are taking a count of ali
the people in this camp. Tell them
70 come md answer to their names
Manuel Crust did not walt for his name
TO be called. He pushed his way through
the crowd. leaving his followers behind.
III you want your men. IL. Manuel
He 10 up there in the wood. Three
men are guarding him; He is sancho
truth tell. There were seven OF us
hiding out there in the wood. We were
scared. We heard our names called out.
alive. We ran away. We were not cow.
ards-but still we ran away. We would
walt tili the crowd cooled OF. That was
my advice. Then we would return-then
it-and then we would help to burn them
alive An hour ago Sancho MendeI
cfawled out OF the brush up there above
the landing and begged US to protect him.
log. You all know Sancho Mendez. He
was a good boy. He was the friend OF Ross
Percival He was no friend to me. But
h" swears he win be my slave forever
everything. When ! ask him why the
hell he run away. he says he lose his
mind or something, He Just 20 crazy.
he says. He say everybody was chas-
bushes. he could hear. that girl scrsam-
ing out hts narne-and all that. He was
going to Jump In the water and drown.
because he says people tell him always
u the easy way 70 die, But he falls
the knee. He cannot run no more. II
ID all up. He IL afraid to breathe. Peo-
ple are all around him with knives and
nxes and clubs, He can hear them IN
he sees US down below in the w.. Il
he says ne thanks God. will be i..s
friend-I will save him because am an
angel from heaven! Bah! I spit in his
belts, and then b come down to tell
Boss Percival we have his man-his
good and loyal friend"
STOP" yelled Perclyal. as the crowd
away; Listen to me! I give You fall
| warning. don't want to do II, but.
by God, I'll order these men to shoot
the frst who tries to start anything.
This man sancho is going 70 have a fair
| trial. Whats more, he had companion.
Manuel Crust"