Evening star., 1921-06-12

fevive brute courage. They broke INTO
Franchi's. wrecked the bar. splintered
not nt for publication. drank every
thing in sight and erupted once more
into the open air. stone drunk oihd
mad and ready for anything.
bfandishing his heavy sword.
...Abbasso Diego!"
That inarticulate shout reached
Papa Diego In the American consul
late. Cold chills chased themselves
alonE. his spine and back again: but
he sighed. fixed his eyes on the. litho-
graphed portrait of T. r.. and. raising
his glass full Of the consufs home
made mint 1ulep. pledged: my
protectors. defenders of democracy.
friends Of Magella!"
There were only two Of them. Pug
was holding. the Piazza against the
renewed onrushes OF Cammarillo's s
hired agitators. The ragazza, hand In
hand with Gonelli. who was weeping
ks child over .,sd .se s,owT esa,c''s down a
the Via Nazionale. the very ground
which had been fought over in the
morning. The stree, was Uttered WHIP
sonibreros. coats. empty eartriass
bottles. A cyclone might have pass.
sieet-the plaster wallis Of the houses
were penpered and riddled. pock marked
with bullets.
The ragazza fought without paus-
ing for breath. Every shot he fired
was a Cancelled debt. Every step for
ward along the sunny. tragic street
was a step toward the RIO frande
He could not have explained this in
50 many words. Nor was the medi-
cine too bitter to suit his taste.
ITO Darlington Signor Pug sent a
L runner-a scared boy who Slipped
over the roof tops and dropped into
the ragazza's lines more dead than
alive. He had a piece of very damp
paper under his tongue: this having
been extracted and unfolded, Darlington
made ont a message.
"Cammariilo is attacking the con-
sulate. Bring your men through the
Via della Pace Fairchild.''
Brief and te the point" said the
ragazZa. mopping his brow with the
sleeve of his red shirt. But not so
easy of execution. This Sienor Pug
! is a persuasive fellow. Let's GO.
What happened then was too stimuli
taneous for the purposes OF hrtion-
An impartial angel. lowering over the
1
camera. might possibly have caught
the details of that afternoons doings
for the delectation of posterity. In
Magella itself the action was too spo-
radio for exact chronicle. The presi-
dent had disappeared. Tho disap-
pointed Liberator. leading his bandits
through the gold and crimson rooms
Of the palace. had found the royaiist
bird flown. SO he had hacked and
hewed and pushed his way across the
Piazza again and edged down the Via
della Pace toward the American con-
sulate. The old Magellan eagle was
within. wearing no other talisman but
the detested. striped flag of another
people.
Hearing of this. the Magellans lost
j roof tops, came out of the walled gar
dens and filtered into The thin roy
alist ranks. One civilian mob charged
the esplanade and removed two hun
dred very drunk little brown men
from the center of the stage. There
! tionary drama. as it was Another
mob. led by Pug. raced headlonG into
| the cathedral. Cammarillo's rear
guard painting at It's heels. Once
within the great shadowy church. the
nimble Americana led the enemy a
pretty dance around the high altar.
| up one transept and down another.
| finally driving the dizzy revolution
lists into the clofster where they howl
ed like trapped nyenas. Pug left
them under guard and hurried to his
rendezvous with Darlington.
| who is this Carrington?" asked
one who had seen the ragazza in nc
| tion.
Hanged If I know Pug answered.
But give him elbow ROOM
1 Which was just what Darlington
| lacked at the moment. With Gonellfs s
; men he was trying TO clear way into
the Via della Pace. Pug bit along the
outer edges. nipping at Cammarillo
army very much as bulldog nips at
a tramp. The hot sun was preparing
| to snuff itself out A great golden
disc, apparently motionless. hung just
above the horizon. gliding the white
city. the aloof pinnacles Of the Santa
iChristina, the tranquil sea. Beyond
the wide half-moon of 'dobe houses,
churches. and villas, the world was
caught into the brooding silence and
ibreathlessness of late afternoon
iThere was no wind Birds sang in
1.-The gardens. The air was bitter sweet
with the pungent fragrance OF flow.
ers. The impartial angel. looking
down upon all this beauty. must have
wondered at the passion and madness
of men.
A cloud OF dust and smoke hung
above the city. Fires licked alons
the waterfront. The two armies had
got themselves into an inextricable
mess. and howled and cursed and
smote one another and came to-
!gether with fearful rushes. like mer
possessed. The nationalists fought fol
iCammarillo and loot. Cammarillo hat
forgotten everything in his eager
ness to destroy Diego. He had for.
gotten that far to the north grea,
nation watched the tantrums of lit
tile nations, often with amusement
at vii
ally with swift. unexpected. terrifying
idisapproval. Cammarillo had marked
jkis enemy. There could be no rea
lvictory for the nationalists unit
iDiego had won his place among the
!martyrs of Magella. Even while the
fire on the consulate, he was plan
lining a memorial to the assassinatel el
president. He glanced once at tn.
brilliant flag to which Diego hat
PINNED his faith. The eyes of all tn,
lhired nationalists turned with a side
orator smiled, waved his sword, ant
a squirt of flame leaped from tn,
leveled rifles of his followers TOWARD
the barred doors and windows OF tn,
consulate.
IT was then that Miss Diego. holding
T. her papa's hand in the consurs Of
fee, changed her mind about war be
ing a circus. But she smiled ant
kissed the top of Papa Diego's snow,
head and made light Of the whole at
fair.
The consul went to the window ant
peered through the shutters. "wher
they rush," he unused, I'll fire. A
I1east once"
He ducked and a bit OF the woodet
shutter splintered and swung loose.