Evening Star Newspaper, June 12, 1921, Page 58

O bs born a gentleman is one thing. To remain one is an- other. Carrington, of Camma- rilloe’s revolutionary forces,! might bé sald to have fallen from grace. You can guéss how far he hud fallén when you know that the dark- skinned, straw-hatted lttle men call- ed him the ragazza, by which they meant that he was six feet four of concentrated ferocity. There was nothing girlish about Carrington ex- cept his nickname. Mounted on a skinny American horse he loped along the seaboard trail with the Liberator's sweatin| army. An expert might have detecte: Yankee outlines beneath the greasy sombrero, the plaid shirt, the cordu- roy trousers tucked into high boots. To the average eye the ragazza was as racially nondescript as his compan- jons, who were one-fourth Itallan, one-fourth Spanish. one-fourth Tapa- das and the rest nameless. The horse belonged to that great composite relative, Uncle Sam. Car- rington had first flung his long legs across the sorrel's back in McAllen, Tezas. 'He was a cavalryman, a loose- mouthed, gum-chewing. arrogant son of Satan even then. Born a gentle- man, his earliest ambition was to be a renegade. He achieved this stmple desire during & border raid not far from the Rio Grande. A little band of Mexicans rushed a settlement. shooting and killing where they could, and while Carrington's crowd was cleaning up one end of the village he galioped to the other and escaped across the plain, riding neck to neck with those red-handed, long-waisted little heathen whose way of life ap- pealed to him. * % % % VVITHIN a year the line of his jaw had grown longer and leaner. His lips were fuller beneath a lit- tle back mustache. He wore silver spurs, a silver cord around the crown of his hat, and forgot to wash. Only his eyes were unchanged—ice-blue eyes set too close togethér. No Méxi- can could match Carrington's eyes; they marked him gringo and shut cer- tain doors In his face. He might jug- gle with the unspeakable patols of the arid lands. but he did not know the open sesame to a Mexican's heart. Presently he felt himself baffled, sore. alone. S0 he wandered farther south. since old Mother, Rio Grande sat across the sill of home. There are men who endure danger, disappointment, heat, cold, ~disease and despair for the sake of some duty, sustained by honor and faithful to an ideal. The ragasza had courage but_he knew nothing of fidelity. His reasons for living were raw and ugly. Tt was only natural that he should drift into the ways of those little .dark men who fight for loot and for the love of fighting. Carrington and his sorrel by devious ways got to South America, where, for pay, they endured heat and cold, hunger, dis- comfort, disease and despair on soil which was not their own. for causes never destined to be theirs. ‘The ra; cared nothing for po- litical intrigue. A war was to him a form of amusement. Like a hired picador, he risked his neck for so much and so much. He pinned dny old flag to his breast—be it the green and white of Concordia, the purple and gold of Corderilla, the scarlet and orange of Minorca Grande. Heé car- ried a2 pocketful of queer, foreign medals and used them for bribes as occasion required. He had only one Jove—the sorrel. “And one fear—that he might meet the inen he left be- hind _when he galtoped toward the TRio Grande, neck to neck with his chosen brothers. Carrington was a cool hand, but he ghivered with fear whenever he thought of that possible encounter. He was an outcast, and .knew it. Some day he was going back to take his medicine, and he knew that, too. Tn the meantime he had sold his allegiance to the Liberator of - gella. For so much and so much he ‘had agreed to fight Cammarillo’s bat- tles, obey Cammarillo's orders and, if necessary, die for Cammarillo beneath the red-hot sun and the blazing skies of Magella. . “It is easy pickings'” Cammarillo said to him in the vetnacular. ‘Prac- tically, the thing is done. Diego's government needs only one slight push to send it sprawling face-down iv the dugt. His army is gorged with zood food, dizzy with sleep and fat with pleasure. They have taken it to the south for maneuvers. Maneuvers! T ask you. ragaxza mia, can you ma- ricuver a stuffed capon?’ 3 The ragasza spat through the open window of the Liberator’s headquar- ters and shook his head. “Are you slaughtering this capon for love of country?”’ he asked, fixing Cammarillo with his ice-blue eves. “Yes. And no. I do not know whether I am right in supposing that vyou, too. despise the Americans?* Carrington jerked his shoulders. *T have no family history,” he said, “and no preferences. “Bene. Bueno. Very good. Then vou are spared the sort of hatred that drives men to dare anything. I Jove Magella, but T hate the Amerl- cans more. They have let their greedy cyes fall on this rich land. A whole continent was not enough; they must send their longfaced chewers of gum to take what does not belong to them. First the mines of the Santa Chris- tina; then the Marlas. As if that were not enough, they buy Diego's cabinet and finance the royalist party.” * % % ¥ CMARILID'S eyes glittered. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and Carrington saw the telltale conformation of his palm, stamped with the Tapadas breadth and tinted cinnamon in contrast to the dark brown of wrist and forearmt. “And now the railroad! What next? They have bullt a bridge over the canon. God in heaven! I will destroy “If you defeat the royalists. you will still have to deal with the United States.” “For a handful of dead men? They will send a gunboat and I will prove to them that all is well. Street riots. A chenge of government. A few Americans foolish _enough to expose themselves. . Ragazza mia, you know nothing of diplomacy.” Carrington laughed and rose to his feet. Jerking at his trousers with the characteristic gesture of his kind. You are a great little man,” he said in English, “but you will dangle at the end of a rope one day.” Then in the bilingual speech of Magella he added: “Diplomacy, I get you. But mind that you don’t tantalize ‘em with too much of it. Diplomacy kicks llké'l mule, amigo.” hert the Liberta had sailed, the rest of Cammarillo’s army took the seabogrd trail toward Magella—a long jine of bobbing sombreros, glinting rifie barrels, laden pack mules, gun carriages, slatternly women, barefoot- ed chiildren, live chickens and goats. Clouds of yellow dust hung above the caravan. Far in advance Cammarillo ¢ surfounded by his officers. And emong them was Carrington whe fate it was to go always south, away from the cool winds and clear skies of his own country into the burning sands and tangled forests of alién lands. “Practically, it is done.” Camma- satd A terrible word—honor—when Pug and Carrington By Mildred Cram. Illustrated by F. C. Yohn. A copper-colored bandit with silver rings_on his thumb threstentd to overthrow the pretty work of en- gineers, bankers, mining experts and political psychologiats, Stroys a house of bloc Fairchild wired: “Hold ,” but by the time the cable companies had transmited the laconic message Cam- marillo's army had had its first en- counter with Fairchild's men at thé canon brlgge. The labor contractors and woi men Wwere all natives, but the bu of the uhdertaking had fallen on t handful of engineers who had come down from the north to assume enor- mous responsibility and unremitting toil for two years. Thers had been no glory about the work and much that was thankless. A bridge was slung across the wide, nearly dry bed of the canon river. The canon walls were scarred and pitted, reinforced, burdened with the great arch of iron and steel. Cranes shrieked and snort- ed, lifting plates and girders into place. The great granite flanks of the Christinas echoed to the devilish clatter of riveters, stone dumps, don- key engines, screeching tackle, pul- leys and steam drills. The village which sprang up in the river bed was administered b¥| those men who were responsible both for the strength of the piers, the resistance of the spurs, the endurance of the span and the morals and welfare of the workers. There had been riots and strikes, epi- demics, mysterjous panics—things to try the patiench and break the heart. The sun was red-hot: the white river bed steamed; the choked forest, dwell- ing place of brilliant birds, outlandish apes and snakes, hgmmied the llttle settlement about like 4 moat. Often the men were sick for homé. But there was no limit to the work that had to be done, 1o limit to endurafce, pa- tience, faith, determination. Now and then some man_was brought to head- quarters with hys arm snapped in two places or his skull neatly cracked. Buf the legs of the great bridge grew under it until the river bed was straddled. Then. and only then, did the engineers dare to take a deep bréath and to smile. “Practically,” said Cammarillo to his _officers, ag they loped down the seaboard trail toward Magella, “the thing is done! We have only to at- tack the bridge at the head of the Indian trail. 1 know a way into the canon from above. While we are de- stroying the bridge asettlement, the Liberta will put our 2,000 men ashore at Magella. They will prepare the city for us. Eh, mico mio?’ Carring- ton, nicknamed the ragazzo, shifted his gumh-cud from one cheek to the other, but he said nothing. * k% ® HE iberator smiled. ‘“We shal T have no trouble with the work- men, since they have been too long under the heel of those damned op- pressors of free people, those damn- ed stealers of land, those—a thou- sand pardons—damned compatriots of yours, Car-r-ington.” The ragazza’s eyes narrowed; what had been {ce-blue pecame strangely like two small flames burning in the dark brown of his face. He touched the sorrel with his spurs and the old horse, wheeling, sped k along the straggling line of pationalists. “Going morth,” Carrington thought. But the madness passed. He paused, laughed, 'Ip::dh! streaming face, lr: trotted to the liberator's side. “s you were saying—those compa- triots of mlne—! e P “We will have their bridge before noon tomorrow That night Cammarillo’s army of picturesque ragmufins turned away from the coast ;na entered the mouth of the canon where the shallow river, freed of the confiriing wajls, spread fan-wise and sought the sea. Scouts from Columbia, creeping alnog the roof of the canon, saw the flicker of campfires in the river bed and, speed- ing back to’'the mines, broke the news to McCarthy. rthy said stung the souls and the wills of his workmen. The village hummed; flares and lanterns stabbed the darkness with erratic flashes; there was a sub- dued murmur of voices, a flerce. shuf- fling of bare feet. McCarthy’s men followed him down the mountains to the great bridge leaving their women with old Padre Antonlo in the church. So it happened that when Camma- rillo struck the first blow he found the Americans ready. The bridge was theirs. built inch by inch, foot by foot, for the glory of the job and the honor of that composite relative who listens to no excuses and recognizes no extenuating circumstances. It was a1l but finished. In a few weeks Pres- ident Diego was to have opened the railroad. breaking his Latin eloquence against the prow of the undertaking. Thereafter locomotives would thun- der across the canon, and the names of the bridge builders would be for- gotten. But the bridge itself would endure, an ugly monument to fldelity, “I'll dynamite the plers,” the chief sald, snuggling his rifle against his shoulder, “before I'll let any half- breed bandit scare me into surrender- ing:" He was spared the trouble. A Na- tionalist bullet caught him as he hur- ried along one of the temporary foot- paths of his bridge and he toppled into the white river bed still clutching his_ rifle. McCarthy's men crouched in the side work, hung in the-trolleys, the overhead cranes, the towers: two of them, nervous in that storm of bul- lets. took refuge in one of the loco- motives and fired steadily and glee- fully from the cab windows: The en- gineers, rather appalled by the chief's sacrifice, scattered to .the eastern bank, where they tried to hold their conglomerate army together. Cam- marillo. was having his own way in the settlement. The tinder-box huts went up in a clodd of olly smoke; the tool sheds followed; thén the Ameri- can quarter—the chlefs houke. the offices, the barracks. From the bridge the Liberator was plainly visible, dashing among his troops mounted on a white horse. A tall fellow in a red shirt—Carrington, the led the attack against the eastern bank. “That's no Dago,” McCarthy re- marked, taking careful &im. The shot went wild, and McCarthy, glancin ‘with surprise at his right hand, foun it drilled clean through '.h.%. rlm, “Injun,” he sald bitterly, In- dian" S L ONE by one the native workmen dropped away. Theirs was nel- ther the honor nor the glory of the bridge. They were tired of sweat and toll, the everlasting vigilance of con- tractors and fofemen. Thé work was all but finished. Ebbene! It belon ed to Mageila. Better that the Amer- fcans were told “hands off” and sent back whence they came. Fitters and riveters dropped their rifles and rush. ed by hundreds into the burning vil- lage. Cammarillo rounded tHem up and sent them forward agmin against the eastern bank. They went, With- out a glance at the man who for two years had directed their destiny. He lay face down in the shallow stream, true to his breed snd his faith, true to his bridge. It was well that he did not know w! Jjappened then. MecCarthy and the nflm-fl _en- ineers could hold the worknien no onger. The Indians broke first and slipped over to the enemy. The rest la“awed—sifllllnla Portuguese an Spaniards attrdcted by tl romi; aE_!lout. :,éthuly h'lel :y :t% Tl:l l’l'-: e 0 l'ertubu:k % ¢ trail; sothe of the sadal 3 Tore "t 18, “You -a-mlb» g Tools,. you 4} Sykainn Fiens e are ve. mh»lml." he sais Ing in his pockets gatett tossed one t '%‘r X pth ne to y, Who ly put his foot dver it an rounx it i9to the dust. Then Carrington piv- gtod :‘::; Sotest and rushed after, Chm- Rl ing._the_littls. ‘brown méa Détore him like startled Spar- _The nationalists were l!r;lbg Bour- lns hrongn the menth OF the trail and bolting across the narrow plain ‘O‘WI the city. ey “W hat are you going to do with your prisonera®™ Carrington demanded. Cammarlllo Shrugged. He lifted fits hand to #troke his mustache, and again the ragazza saw the cinnamon palm_which branded . the Liberato haif Tapadas. And something turne over in the inmost soul of Carrington, ex-cavalryman. Now, henceforth and forever he was done with little brown men who fight for loot. He hdd look- ed into the eves of men of his own race, and what he saw there made him know that the time had come to 3 pected engineers and cub bridge bulld- | o take his medicine. He would ride no further south. If he died, he would Rio Grande and home. * X ¥ % tifui day in the traglc little re- public of Magella There were two moves in the royalists’ favor. The marillo's morning. He had not ex- ers to part £o reluctantly with what was theirs. So President Diego's army hours in which to hurry down from into Magella. They were there before the Liberator passed the ists—and there were a good many— shutters and sneaking out on the roof the hot sun. Nor was that all. When the Liberator saw the Li- d, “That Signor Pug is to “He is another of those damned com- 1 lay hands on Him he will pay.” “Who is he?" “He is the sop of Fairchild and at least fall with his face toward the ATE was playing chess that beau- fight at the bridge had used up Cam- of stuffed capgns had an extra three the hills Arena Goldoni. All the loyal royal- retired into_thelr houses, closed the tops lay flat, hugging their rifles and cursin, berta lying on Sand island he howl- “Signor Pug?" patriots of yours, ragazza mia. When fiephew of the devil.” “How should 1 know him?* “By his smile, Also, he is pronto with & gun. Aiso, he rides like a Tapadas. Also, he is my enemy and therefore yours. Shoot him, amigo, be- use to ask his name, for he is g quick as a lizard and as dangerous as'a snake. You see with your own eyes the Liberta in the harbor—broken in two! You may thank him for that.” They were approaching the out- Carrington smiled employer in Eng- lish: “Thy ways are not my ways thy people are not my people. So be it He shot three times at Camma- rillo’s horse, and while the astonished Liberator scrembled out of the dust where he had fallen, the ragas: whispered to the sorrel and was off. The pickets in the Via Nasionale very naturally mistook him for & na- tionalist, and he dodged into an alley way to escape the shower of bullet that sipped and hummed and whined round him. _ 2 ‘elcome_hom®,” he whispered with & twisted gfin. 3 & Lehind i he Néafd the st bt the hting in the Via Naziondle—a ma- chine gun spitting fhythmically from the ro the Arene Goldonl, fol- he angfy “birk 3 Cafrington was betwesn the devil and lowed by se! dismounted, left the 3‘3&"&4 :.“l?:r':;s llghx thé alley fore you skirts of the cit: “It's ho Food.” & Voice said above i, “T've got you covered. He glanced up. A _young man in dirty linen clothes was lying full lerigth in the edvés of & one-sto house, The fii mdde a quici motion; the 6ther’s revolvet spoke and ’s hat, drilled through the Cartington shouted. “That’'s you! I don’t know the countersign, but you're Signor Pug.” i ‘}-._arry two of us?™ er.' f.g._:.':;::."."}..:&‘ & l Liberator sat_dowh, pinting, on the Esplanade, Sonsidered nis wounds and snn:q In three tonghes and sixteen jkiects. eni be directed his men to loot the water-front shops and !’ sorrel tipto#a tfte ia Ne- pilodtis—an old_trick, calculated to llurmb again, and wil ei%.&lzg' o8 rhvive brute cotifige. They broke into trils opdd the len| AgE he city. Only Franchi’s, wrecked the bar, splintered now the rifles on foof-tops _were | much gold brald on their well-tailor-|the mirrors, murdered the proprietor nt . of. poldiers, | ed nnif:rm; meltzd sway before the|with rundry %eufll ,-na accessories Liberator's barefooted sivages, not fit for publlcation, drank every- a.clllxl th;ti)",ln‘ ; hmbdchnx tnhl ;h:nl“:n sight n‘nd srumedd o“? ;r:fr; = . | Pt ., Wolves,” when he|into the open -, stone drunk, n 5 for the | saw !gru of ”-e fl:e .:iriu. rider- | mid and rea y' or anything. sentry.” £ A i less. galloping back towa: s, “The palace!” Cammarillo shouted, CarringtoR obeyed, and thé pinting came on, Therefore the |Bfandishing his heavy sword. apimal, clattering and sl a:‘-. 6n the 's army Isy down on its| “Abbasso Diego!” smooth paving_of the co , plinged | st waited, behind walls,| That inarticulate shout reached straight thi h intg the en at|barrickdes and gatewdys, for the|Paps Diego In the American consu- the back of the president's lace. [ proper moment. They had not long|late. Cold chills chased themselves Pug dismounted, beckoned to Carring- | to wait. A group of tHe little brown | from the crown of his snow-white he: fon,_and together fhey rushed _in- | men appeared at the head of the Viajalong his epine and back aaain, but doors, climbed a fight of marble|Nazionale, their oconical straw hats|he #lghed, fixed his eyes on the litho- graphed portrait of T. R., and, raising hin glass full of thé consul's home- madt miht julep, pledged: y protectors; defenders of democracy, stairs carpeted thickly with red vel- vét, and came upon President Diego himself, walting, with & good deal of dignity, for whatever might happen to Migella. Mercedes clung t8 his arm and several frock-coated, White- whiskered government officials stared solemniy at the ragged, dirty Ameri- can and at the ragaztd, ex-chvalry- man, ex-bandit, éx-gentleman. The room was very still, aloof from the heat and dust of the city. There were glittering chandeliers made of multi- colored men and big red velvet chairs with gold arms, and acres of polished floors. Just behind the state- 1y old president Carrington beheld a monstrous oil painting, done in the best rococo manner—Diego mounted on a charger, haloed with cuplds and angels and wearjng the seven-starred er_of office. Diego himself was hav- ing difficulty in maintaining his he- roic manner. “Signor Pug, we have done our best. Cammarillo is already in the city. * % % % PUG spoke gently, his eyes not on Diego but on Mercedes. “Beyond doubt,” Pug said, “the mat- ter is serious. Oné thing I have done—the Liberta is aground on the Isola di Sabbid. As for Magella— have you no faith in your army?’ Diego's shoulders sagged. “I have no_faith in any one." “Then you cafiriot expect mllegiance.” Miss Diego flushed squeeze her father's atm. “He | ht, papa.” Diego’'s eyes droppéd. “What do you wint me to do?’ “You will be safe at the Atnetri- can consulate. Cammarillo will think twice before he fires on that fiag.” Diego hesitited. In ths sudden si- lencs within the room the sohd of firlng was distinctly audible—the sharp rattle of musketry, the expres- sionless, boted coughing of machine guns, and over it all, like drum notes in & martial symphony, the brass boom of the big guns at San Martino. Diego bowed. . “Ebbene, Mr Fatrchild. Only per- mit me to say that I am not afraid— of anything.” Thereafter things moved quickly for the ragazza. No one had offered to pay him for his services, but he toiled like a slave for the exuberant Signor Pug. No flag was pinned to his breast as a reminder of his duty. No medals were offered, or thought of. Surreptitiously he rubbed his fin- gers over his face, as if by that sim- ple process he could erase his old identity. . Pug knew a way across the roof- ops to the consulate, and that way he president of the republic went— much against his will. The manner of his going was.excessively undigni- fied. Pug pulled and the ragazza pushed, whilé Miss Diego, speechless with mirth; carried her papa’s silk hat and bamboo cane. ““This is not a war,” she sald, “it is a circus.” Later she changed her mind. But it was hard to believe, up there on the sunhy roof-tops, that men were fighting and yln{ in the streets. Yet nothing stood bé te:% President Die- go and Cammarillo's firing squad ex- cept the doubtful sistancé of _th ng P royalist forces. Pug b ed _ o Ay.lle! when he had left fil:f%“.fll at he consulate. ident sank Th down in ‘the consul's home- LS made rocking-chair &n ed his som. ber eyes on a lithogtaphed portrait of T. R. which mir_x’x n the wall By neath two, efosiéd f 3 i spoken by those who put their faith|the rest were caf . Twefity Heteant 7' in_it. 5 no bArrier against an army. “Yes, by heck.” o Pug shd .the g8, not pausing Three days’ match to the southi a| Caffington llonédl back to iook g drof pfi into the stféet and rur‘firuge,nrehu. slipped but into few tnonlo rcre aware of the coming |at the little up of dusty, Biood- |vety solemi by shook ’mfia-. the desérted Viz delis P:c_e and scut- of half-breed menace and hi &4 prisone S “You're from the tuines? t1ed off to join the toyallsts, S arthy. A whisper fiad gone arcun sald y, who was Pa! carrington lied, “Yes.”. The nationalists had spread thém- o was on the” aoss " sekip. |IAE ohe end of & hifdRerchief be:| <What happensd up hefét: acives in & widé half-mooh &bsut the and if he his the decent be- E: eeth whife _Iif FApPEd th W o cut thes: fh. capturéd | skirts of the city. The sound of their &t of nt | o gnd n, hand “here's | the outflt snd iy surrbunding thé city.” | rifes w would Jout to be very _ends ln‘un d s6ns of Colum-| “What's your namé?" —4 ha indeed, The Fairchild = Company;|bia. béhold ouf féllow-countryman!"| “Carrl W terror in the hearts of the Bo'lnl: Green, got a wire which The ragaszza pretended net to have ‘underetood, but his body stiffened in 1 d | th and ml ngton.’ “Is tgn your horse?™ 3 e e L ed clvilians. Nothing much @bout it in the clty, dtsels. :ii “fl; LGl hoihe ha Rouck | RW° The " rovatiss S0 IT HAPPENED THAT WHEN CAMMARILLO STRUCK THE FIRST BLOW HE FOUND THE AMERICANS READY. _— bobbing 4s they ran forward. And a tremor ran along the line of prostrate royalists. A rifie spoke from a roof- top, the straw-hatted ones wavered, then came on, dodging into ddorways, dropping briefly on one knee, rising, running as it the devil were at their heels, dropping again— Pu rfflnue 4t the ragazza. They nad wriggled out into the middle of the street and sprawled side by side, peering through a gap in_ that flimsy barricade of mattresses and overturned tables filched from the Cafe Albion. The ragazza's eyes were steady, but he kept licking his lips with the tip of his tongue and mumbling under his breath. “Come on, come on, you little black sons of Satan! I'm in your pay no longer. Come one step farther and T'll settle your hash. You daren’t! You daren't. you dog-stealers, you low- brow, evil-smelling heathen. Come on! You daren't.” But they came. Cammarillo had promised them loot; he had promised to be in the palace before dawn— president, giver of awards, adminis- trator of all the Yankee dollars in the coffers of the state. It is amaz- ing what men will endure for the sake of -gold. There were ragged peons in Cammarillo's army who as- pired to great things under the new regime. So, stumbling in the thick dust, burned by the fiery rave of the nighed by the flick and sting king impact of rovalist bul- lats. ‘the “Fake the ing fearful He rolle ed aloud, “Promise me one thing, Signor. Pug,” he begged. “Give me the Liberator. You have two things to fight for—love and the Fairchild property in Magella. With me it's a simple matter of atorement—and self- respect. Let me pick off the Libera- tor with my own hand.” * % % % PUG laughed. But his reply was drowned by the coughing of all the royalist rifies at once. A shout went up. The street was full 6f men where a moment before there had been only two or three. A huge, umbrella- shaped puff’ of smoke smirched the spotless sky—proof that the Tu- tionists had fired the suburbs. ' The street in front of the barricade was minced and shredded by volleys that seemed to the defenders to be spit at them from four sides. Here and there a rovalist grunted, waved his arms, bent his legs in oddly contorted atti- tudes and rolled over dead. No one could tell what was happening to Cammarillo’s then, for the dust of combat settled like a smoke-screen between the armies. Suddenly demor- alized by the confusion, the royalist e on. said Carrington, squin: “and that. And that! over on his back and laugh- n, soldiers broke and ran, scattering to the Piazza. Pug and the ragazza gave tongue, but their arguments were lost in the tumuit of shouting and cursing. In the Plazsa they rallied again and a tattered, bloodstained citizen, reel- g up to Pug, gave him the Magellan ag; saluted and crawled away on fours to_ dle in decent privacy be- neath thé Cathedral arcade. Carring- ton hitched at his belt and spat tri- um lnnuyi. 2 * “Guess it's your war, after ajl,” ranin.rkéd. {shed i Gl Tine “It was wished on mé. Glory be God, there's Gonelll, Tell him ¥0 tll:: his mén out through the San Pedro gate and let 'em push .Cammérillo from behind—Iinto the sea, if he can. 1;Vze'll hold ‘ém here. You go with m Carfington saluted and went, stop- ping only to retrieve the patient go rel from the ‘-tltrdun of the preside: u!sl alace. $ er 1'-“;1; it vbr:]'. a case of 0 arinies n 0 Sut In the il ity wanas and oW, sunbaked stree £, t] i 3 2 vufl"'l?." n‘ ’.“&1. nationalists. _Commarilio tagged Pu RS the Piazsa and was chased a quarter of & mile Zor his palas. The 3 ok T friends of Magella There were only two of them. Pug was holding_the Pfazza against the renewed onrushes of Cammarillo’s hired agitators. The ragazza, hand in hand with Gonelll, who was weeping Jike a child over the scarcity of machife guns, pushed slowly down the Via Nazionale, the very ground which had been fought over in the morning. The street was littered witk sombreros, coals, empty cartrid,e cases, discarded bayonets and water bottlés. A cyclone might have pass- ol beafing in its heart a storm of steel sleet—the plaster walls of the houses were peppered and riddled, pock-marked | with bullets. The ragnzza fought' without paus ing for breath. Every shot he fired was a canceled debt. Every step for- ward along ‘the sunny, tragic street iwas a step toward the Rio Grande. | He could not have explained this in| %o many words. Nor was the medi- cine too bitter to suit his taste. * Kk k¥ 7O Catrington Signor Pug sent a runner—a scared boy who slipped over the roof tops and dropped into the ragazza's lines more dead than allve. He hed a piece of véry damp paper under his tongue: this having been extracted and unfolded, Carrington made out a message. “Cammarillo is attacking the con- sulate. Bring your men through the Via dglla Pace. Fairchild.” | “Brfef and te the point” said the irazazza. mopping his brow with thel taneous { An impartial . tropic republ with 2 motion-picture came might possibly have ught the details of that afternoon’s d for the delectation of posterity Magella itself the action was too radic for exact chronicle. The pr dent had disappeared. The disap- pointed Liberator, leading his ban, through the gold and erimson rooms of the palace. had found the rovalist ! bird flown. So he had hacked and hewed and pushed his way acr Pinzza again and cdged down the Viaj della Pace toward the American con-i gulate. The old Magellan ecagle w. within, wearing no other t n b the detested, striped flag of anot er peovle. Hearing of this, the Magellans lost patience; ohe by one they left the roof tops, came out of the walled gar- dens and filtered into the thin ro alist ranks. One civilian mob charzed | the esplanade and removed two hun- | dred very drunk little brown men from the center of the stage. There were enough supes for the revolu- tionary drama, as it was. Another {mob, led by Pug, raced headlong into |the = eathedral, ~Cammarillo's rear- guard panting at its heels. Once within the great shadowy church. the nimble Americano led the enemy a | up finally driving the aizzy revolutio ists into the cloister where they howl- ed like trapped nyenas. ~ Pug left them under guard and hurried to his rendezvous with Carrington. “Who is this Carrington?’ asked one who had seen the ragazza in nc- tion. “Hanged if T know."” Pug answered “But give him elbow room." Which was just what Carrington lacked at the moment. With Gonelll's men he was trying to clear a way into the Via della Pace. Pug bit along the outer edges, nipping at Cammarillo’s army very much as a bulldog nips at a tramp. The hot sun was preparing to snuff itself out. A great. golden dise, apparently motionless, hung just above the horizon, gilding the white city. the aloof pinnacles of the Santa Christina, the tranquil sea. Beyvond e half-moon of ‘dobe houses, churches, and villas, the world was caught into the brooding silence and breathlessness of late afternoon. There was no wind. Birds sang in the gardens. The alr was bitter sweet iwith the punzent 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 along 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 men possessed. The nationalists fought for Cammariilo and loot. Cammarillo had forgotten everything in_his eager- ness to destroy Diego. He had for- gotten that far to the north a great nation watched the tantrums of lit- tle nations, often with amusement. sometimes with suspicion. occasion- ally with swift, unexpected, terrifying disapproval. Cammarillo had marked kis enemy. There could be no real victory for the nationalists until Diego had won his place among the martyrs of Magella. Even while the crafty liberator gave the command to fire on the consulate, he was plan- ning a memorial to the assassinated president. He glanced once at the brilliant flag to which Diego had pinned his faith. The eyes of all the hired nationalists turned with a side- long flash of Interrogation. The lib- erator smiled, waved his sword, and a spurt of flame leaped from the leveled rifies of his followers toward the barred doors and windows of the consulate. * % % % ] was then that Miss Diego. holding her papa’s hand in the consul's of- fice, changed her mind about war be- ing a circus. But she smiled and kissed the top of Papa Diego's snowy head and made light of the whole af- fair. ‘The consul went to the window and peered through the shutters. “When they rush,” he mused, “I'll fire. At least once——" He ducked and a bit of the wooden shutter splintered and swung loose. “Would it be beneath my dignity,” Diego démanded in a faint voice, “to e down on the floor?* “You owe it to your country,” gaid Miss Diego, and liy down beside him. Her hand trembled a little, but her eyes were bright and her smile never wavered. They lay there in_silence, listening to the pat-pat-pat of bullets against the walls. Now and then a shout rose from the street, an ugly, ‘menacing shout of trlumph and antici- pation. Then Signor Pug tired of nibbling at the edges and led his men into the heart of the trouble. They came to- gether again—nationalist and royal- ist, maddened, dog-tired, desperate — and took terrible vengeance. Cam- 1| marillo was in the very center of the whirlpool, his horse turned round and round by that irresistible eddy of struggling men. His own were giving way. They broke and ran back along the Via della Pace. There Gonelli and the ragazza fell upon them and pushed them forward again. The ragazza sobbed: “Come on, you cinnamon _agitator, you - chocolate- cream bandit! I'm heading north and nothing can stop me.” ‘Cammarillo glanced down over the tossing sea of sombreros and saw Car- rington. { It was a brief vision. The liberator straightened in his saddle and fired. The shot made no sound. He glanced down at his smoking re- volver witl surprise, tossed it away =nd cllprd both hands to his side. Then slowly, very slowly, he slipped sidéways in his saddle and toppled to the ground. And the ragazza, coughing, twisted about three times, T i'-rked at his collar, wavered. stum-| “Americano.” he managed to sav, led, and stretched himself full length | “I got that greaser™ in the dust of the Via della Pace, Go- | _“Well” I'll be damned.” said Mec- nelli's men surged around Fim and | Carthy. catching sight of one ice-bius drove the nationalists out of the Via|eye, “well. I'll be damned if it jsn't— " della Pace, out of the plazza. out of | The bandaged one fumbled in the the San Pedro gate into the plain. And | straw. found a cigarette and gave there the army of the liberator was|to McCarthy, humbly, witk trepid made into the likeness of a Swiss| tion. g cheese. / | Mc€arthy accepted the offering. That night, McCarthy visited the |lighted it, puffed with deep grati improvised lospital in the palace.|cation, and smiled. “Well, Tl Straw._beds had been placed along|damned” he whispered, “if it both sides of the ballroom. Nationalist | the noble red man and royalist lay side by side. Some sang, | He stretched out his one good arin some groaned, some praved. And one, |and clasped the ragazza's hand. “W. bandaged like a smore thumb, hailed |come home,” he said. the big Irishman as he passed. & (Copyright, Dodd. Mesd & Oo.) HUNGER - By Henri Duvernois be 't [ H the 12th of December. with my friend done ev 3 L we werd foie & stronzest You don't The next day his mother, by u . Trans'%ted From the French by WILLIAM L. McPHERSON. Y DEAR GODFATHER” se said the vouthful Leon to M. Capriel, “T sce that you are ready to go out to dinner and that 1 am detaining you. 1 shall not imitate the orientals, Who \rivainns wi wait till they get to the door before! fonight discloring the object of their visit, 1{tcrs 1 have troubles, my dear godfather—| troubles of a kind you must have had. too, when you were a young man. In short, 1 need fifty louis.” “Put it in more familiar figures. Fifty louis, that makes how much?" A thousand francs.” “You don’t eat with the back of your | “Your doctor live s ate en aret with went hore b friend Robure spoon, my bo: “It is a trifle to you.” “How do you know it i “You are rich:” Am carned millio M. Capriél meditated for a minute or two. Hewas an old man, obese and ¢ full bloodeM, with s hands, | huge feet and smooth-shave ennvi coat—: € nown die i| CAPITAL SIDELIGHTS | BY WILL P. K know that r. But I am I'm afraid of dying of hung that's all. Does that 3 [ raid for the NEDY. i ving of hun r has enabled me to my = - fortune, which is a good thing. and to The- appointment of Keep it t, which is a still better | dent William Howard thing.” | eessor of Chief Justice - “My dear godfather, evershody aD-! e White on the : el R litics. That's 2 ‘s getting late | Bench would be ppreciated by owver Wait a minute. 1 am in whelming majority of the people o meod AbatSaeesnit r. according to mess Profit something was about orphan by : d at the out The 1 whol £ M- until Ires improved cons h the la toward i R | dent MeKinley can shimmy of that period. aationad duiyito¥n I was a poet and an | as Eovery eral. 1 said to myself: ‘If it comes to the | that job, but worst and | have to earn monev. 1| ana in shall write novels’ 1 had 12.000 francs. left me by my parents. Then; He never wanted 1o be dance the changed his 1 an executive, I made the acquaintance of Alexis | and became chief exccutive. His own ebureau.” ok KRR z 7: - R o tallurgints” desire has always been for the bench, and his appointment is regarded as * *x * % especially appropriate, since it was “YES He wasn't a metallurgist ' he who chose Justice White for the then. He was a designer. Emu- | chief justiceship. lating Constantin Guys, he intended * % x x to become the depicter of the ele-{ qpo . W De Lashmutt, one of the gances of Paris fashion. But what|supervisors of county, ¥ a contrast! He wore frayed linen, | thought shabby shoes and a shocking dress suit. Yet he was very keen about the £00d form of tilburys. Actresses’ coif- fures interested him and he ruined himself buying sketch books and pen- cils. He wax a type like Privat d'Anglemonts except for the stacks of gold pleces which Privat received three times a year from his family and which he often squandered in a single night. Alexis would also have liked to serve a Pantagruelian dinner in some cabaret to all the poor women who had gone without breakfast some fast day. But he had quarreled with his father and mother. him retief from ihe embarras n ment of for President csemblance o the recent executive is causing vexa- tion. not only brcause he is frequent- Iy mistaken by tourists, but even by residents of the National Capital and some public officials. He fights shy of the White House, because he never s it without a crowd gathering nudging each other, much to his discomfiture. repeatedly ta * ¥ x x Representative Nicholas Longworth of Ohio, one of the innate aristocrats of the House. who just can’t help it, was bothered the first of the month “When one is ill-favored like me hei when he received fron h n e 1 the Quec knows how to be a friend. 1 became|City Club in Cincinpati. a bAl f a brother to this artist. who was the ! dinners and cigars at sort of artist that I was poet. Alexis; But it develo installed himself in my lodgings. in a; Washington corre: r:lnz.l;‘d_ o\-ler!u?‘k:‘g the central mar- | cinnati paper, b $ e laughed at the odors ofj “Nick's” name and fresn fish and rotting cabbages, What Sl nsouciance! My money didn't last S 3 Zm X 3 Senato c Cmory W lons, But Alexis remained carefrec. | v b e As 1o X s young. Ah! that of | C esx awarde evening of fate, the 12th of December. | beoeaional Toodal of honor 1875. 4 listed in the 4911 ‘Did some accident happen to you?" | et e ctactrs and “The most ignoble of all. 1 w 2 3 served as private and noi hungry. On the 10th of December | sioned officer until the regh Alexis and I had only five centimes ered o between us. We had neither relative | mions) smedal’ nor comrades on whom we could call| battleficld at for assistance. December is the worst of all months for borrowers. On the 10th we got along with a cake, bought for a sou—a sort of roll with a little caramel on the top | ol‘: it. Two mouthfuls for each of us. | We went to bed. On the 11th we| failed to raise any funds. We tried in !he.arm)‘, but were rejected. To- ward 5 o'clock that evening we had had our first spell of faintness, with a_queer metallic taste on the tongue. We ate a last morsel of sugar und drank at a fountain. We were face to face with the abominable specter He got the for gallantry on Port Hudson. congres- the After of starvation. © appetite! It is a mocking thing, appetite. We say ‘I am famished when a meal is half an hour late. We use stupidly a frightful word. Hunger, my boy, doesn’t make the stomach writhe. It strikes you bru- tally with a club on the back of the You are stunned. You can't stayed in bed. We dreamed, and our dreams were much alike. For Alexis a turkey with truffles, for me a leg of mutton with flageolets. We understood each other. ‘How sweet it smells!” murmured Alexis, in ecstasy. And I knew well that he was talking about a turkey with truffles. 1, more modest, stuck to my leg of mutton. I saw it before me. rosy, with a golden crust, the flag- eolets softened in an unctuous sauce. Good Lord! It was like thirst in a desert with an exasperating vision of lemon sherbet. Full-blooded people like me when they dream of eating almost have a paralytic stroke. “The next day, at 6 o'clock in the rnoon, Alexis made me get up. 'We are not goir;gkto Sthrre here,’ he cried. ‘Come! now slightly a| gress © certain M. Lefourgeix, who dines Awarfed She JOonpeimionnt every. might _in a 1ittle place near Medal of Honor. Madeleine. We'll explain matters toi moving to Wyoming he was appoint- him. He won't let us perish. Be-|ed governor by two Presidents, Ar- cause, you know, Francois, I swear, thur and Harrison, and was later Ui to you that we are going to die if!first elected governor of that state. we don’t get something to eat.’ e * % % % Senator Tom Heflin of Alabama is ¢1x7E met M. Lefourgeix as he was|a typical stage congressman, larg: VV entering the restaurant. At|of bulld, florid, always seen and eal n any gathering, with whit« first he thought We were drunk.|yjjstcoat and big black felt hat and When he looked at us more closely he | famous as a story teller. Senator opened wide the door of the paradise | Henry Cabot Lodge is a distinct con- and ushered us in, as you push a sick trast, known as the scholar in poli- & apoihecary’s ahcp. Ho| U serving With great dignity ws called out: ‘Serve them two warm majority leader, always serfous. The bouillons first” The bouillon they other day Heflin was walking from the Senate office building to the Cap- give to mendicants! We still had a little pride. ‘It isn’'t necessary,’ itol when he saw an attractive wom- Alexis stammered. But the idea of an of his acquaintance on the op- posite side of the drive. Putting his swallowing cold oysters terrified us.|hand to his mouth in truly southern “"An! that soup! And that divine;democratic style, " cmlled, “Her. entrecote a la bourguignonne! And [hey there:” The woman heard ti that cheese! ‘And that coffee! We |call. nodded pleasantly and passcd absorbed at the same time life and |along. A teacher from a western Wisdom. Before everything else it|city with a group of high school was a.question of never having such | pupils seeing the capital stopped a an experience again. Alexis renounced | newspaper man and, pointing to Sen- his design. 1 renounced my verses. We jator Heflin, asked: “Isn't that Sen- became what you call rich. Not rich { ator Lodge?” enough to roll in a carriage, nor to buy * ¥ %% Some members of Congress live ujp works of art, but rich enough to eat. Since then I have never had fear of 1|to their names. Representative Ar- thur M. Free of California has jus 3 Probably the Only Member of Con- anything, except to be hui n. have taken precautions—all possible préchutions—never to be hungry given every oneé of his eollea: again, no matter what happens.” a five-pound package of pruneg—: M. Capriel got-ap. _ _ proguces,