Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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lewis m. grist, Proprietor. J A1' independent ^utuljj cuspnpci": ,,tfor the promotion of the .political, Social, Agricultural and (Commercial interests of the ,$outh. |TERMS?$2.00 A YEAR IN ADVANCE. VOL. 40. YORKYILLE, S. C., WEDNESDAY, A IMM L 18, 1894. INX). 10. BY I'APT. CHAi Author of Dunraven Ranc Portia, The Desertei Copyrighted, 1893 by Chas King. CHAPTER X. Another day dawned and another patient was added to Miss Harvey's hospital list at the caves. The original plan of starting on the return soon after daybreak had now to be abandoned, as Drummond explained, because here was a inaD who could not stand the journey. Surely there would not be many hours before the relief party from Stoneman, following their trail, would come speeding 10 me rescue, uimgmg to the wounded the needed surgical skill and attention, bringing to the Harvey girls their davotedjfftfcey. The only question in the young lieutenant's mind as the sun rose, a burning, dazzling disk, over the distant mountains to the east was, vWhich will be first to reach us, friend^ or foes ? Wearied and shattered though he was and replete as the night had been with anxiety and vigil, Druinmond climbed the goat track that led to the sentry's perch feeling full of hope and pluck and fight. He and his men had divided the night into watches, one being awake and astir, not even permitting himself to sit a moment, while the others slept. The fact that he was able to send back to the caves, have an ambulance hitched in and driven down to where Wing lay wounded, and to bear him slowly, carefully, back to shelter, reaching the caves without further molestation before darknesT set in. had served to convince the young commander that he could count on reasonable security for the night. Unless they know their prey to be puny ond well nigh defenseless, Apaches make no assault in the darkness. and so, with the coming of the dawn, he had about him fit for service a squad of seven troopers, most of them seasoned mountain fighters. His main anxiety now was for Wing, whose wound was severe, the bullet having gone clear through, just grazing the v>nnn nurl ivVin riponitA thft fact that Fanny Harvey early in the night had every now and then crept noiselessly in to cool his fevered head, seemed strangely affected mentally, seemed unnaturally flightly and wandeiing, seemed oppressed or excited alternately in a way that baffled Drummond completely, for no explanation was plausible. Two or three times during the night he had been heard moaning, and yet the moment Druinmond or, us once happened. Miss Harvey hastened to his side ho declared it was nothing. "1 must liavo been dozing and imagined the pain was greater than it was.'* Awake and conscious, so 6tout a soldier as he would be the last to give way to childish exhibitions of suffering, j-et twice Dru imond knew him to be awake despite his protestation of doling, and he did not at all like it thrt Wing should bury his face in his arms, hiding it from all. What could have occurred to change this buoyant, joyous, high spirited trooper all on a sudden into a sighing, moaning, womanish fellow? Surely not a wound of which, however painful, any soldier might bo proud. Somewhere ulong toward 4 o'clock, when it was again Patterson's watch, and Drummond arose from his blanket after a refreshing sleep of nearly two hours and he and his faithful sentry wero standing just outside the mouth of the cave, they distinctly heard the samo moan of distress. " Is there nothing we can do to ease the sergeant, sir?" whispered Patterson. "This makes the second time I have heard him groaning, and it's so unlike him." "We have no opiates, and I doubt if he would use ono if we had. He declares there is no intenso pain." "Well, first off, 6ir, I thought he was dreaming, but ho was wide awake, and Miss Harvey came in only a moment after I got to him. Could those devils poison a bullet as they do their arrows, ana couia mat maae mm go into iever bo soon?" "I hardly think so, but why did you say dreaming?" "Because once it was 'mother' he called, and again?just now?I thought he said 'mother.' " The lieutenant turned, looking straight at his soldierly subordinate. "By Jove Patterson, 6odid 1!" There was a little stir across the canyon. Moreno was edging about uneasily and beginning to mutter blasphemy at his bonds. "That fellow begged very hard to be moved down into that wolf hole of a place where the Mexican women are, lieutenant, with those two bunged up bandits to take care of. Nice time we'd have, sir, if the three of them was able to move. The boys'd make 6hort work of them now, the way they're feeling. I went in and took a look at those two fellows. One of 'em is a goner, sure, but they're dead game, both of 'em. Neither one has a word to say." "No," answered Drummond, "they refused to give their names to me?said it was no earthly consequence what name we put over their graves; the right set of fellows would be along after awhile and do them all the honor they cared for. How were the Moreno women behaving?" "The girl was asleep, 1 should judge, sir. The old hag was rocking to and fro, crooning to herself until one of the two?the live one, I should call hitn?hurled a curse at her in Spanish and told her to dry up or he'd kill her. Alia bluff, for ho can't move a Peg." "Watch them well. Patterson, all the same. Hnsh!" Again from within the deep shelter of the rock- cave came the low moan of anguish: "Mother! mother! if you knew" "Here, Patterson, I can't stand this. I'm going in to him." And picking up the dim lantern which he had taken from the Harvey wagon Druimnond stole in on tiptoe and knelt again beside his wounded comrade. "Wing! sergeant! Look up, man. Speak to me. You must bo in distress, mental or bodily. Do let me help you in some way." For a moment no reply whatever. Wing's face was hidden. Then ho looked gently upward. "Lieutenant, I'm ashamed to be giving you so much trouble. Please go and lie down again, sir; you're worse hurt than 1 am?only I suppose I get to dozing off and then turn on that side." "No, it isn't that, sergeant. There's something wrong, and it has all come on you since yesterday morning. Where is your mother V" Again Wing turned away, buiying nis race in ms arms. "Listen, sergeant; wo hope to get you out of this by tonight. Dr. Gray ought surely to reach us by that time, and while wo may have to keep up a field hospital hero a day or two my first duty will be to write and tell your mother how bravely you liavo served us, and sho shall bo told that you are wounded, but not in such a way as to alarm her." Out came a restraining hand. "Lieutenant, sho must not know at all." "Well, sho can't, so far as I'm concerned, as I don't know her address. But think a moment; you know and 1 know? Hold on, wait!" And Drum S. Kl.\(x, lT. 8. A. :h, Two Soldiers, An Army Soldier's Secret, Etc. niond rose and tiptoed to a cleft in the j rock through which shone a dim light. It was the entrance to the remote innpr enve where the Harvev irirls were sleeping. Assured that his words could I reach there no listening cars, Drummond returned, kneeling again by the sergeant's side. "Just think, man; any moment after daybreak the Apaches may be upon us, and, who knows? it may be m^ last fight. Of course 1 believe that our follows can 6tand them off until rescue comes, but a bullet may find 1110 any moment, and then who is there to report your conduct and secure ! tho recognition duo you, or if the doci tor should be late in coming and fever 6et in and this wound prove too much for your strength is thero nothing that | ought to bo said to her for you?" Again only painful silence. At last Wing spoke. "I understand. 1 appreciate all you ! say. But I've got to think it over, , lieutenant. Give mo an hour or so. j Don't ask mo to tell you now." "So be it, man. Now rest all you | possibly can. It's almost day. The j crags are beginning to light up back of 1 us hero already. Yes, and the sentry's j calling mo now. I'll be back by and by. What is it, Patterson?" ho whispered, going to the mouth of tho cave. { "I've just come down from the tree up there, sir. You can see quite a ways i down the range now. though tho light I is dim, and what I take to be a signal ! fire leaped up not three miles below us, | certainly this side of where Wing was i shot." "So soon? All right; then get back i to tho post just as quick as you can. I'll rouse tho man who has slept longest.. All must be astir in half an hour, but you keep watch there." : And half an hour later it is that, field glass in hand, the young officer is there : by Patterson's side, peering eastward : almost into the eye of the sun, searchI ing with anxiety inexpressible for any | sign of dust cloud rising along the trail I on which they came, for the sight he has seen down the range, now brilliant ; in tho morning light, has filled his heart with the first real dread it has yet : known. In three places, not more . than four or five miles apart, down along tho sunlit side of this wild and picturesque mountain chain, signal smokes have been puffing straight up skyward, the nearest only a couple of miles from this lone picket post, but all 011 tho same side of the valley. Last evening the answer came from' across the broad desert. They have come over, therefore, and are hastening up the chain to join the eager advance hero so close to their hiding place. Beyond a doubt watchful spies are already lurking among those heights to tho west, striving to get close enough to peer into the rocky fortress and estimate the strength of the garrison. Great they well know it cannot be. for did not their keen eyes count nearly 20 chasing those hated brigands far down toward Honor a pass, and of that number how many have returned? Only I three. Did they not see the flurry and excitement when that sergeant was shot : from ambush? Now, therefore, is the i time to strike?now, while the main j body is far away. Whatsoever booty thero may be obtainable in that rocky I canyon 'tis well worth the attempt. And j 60 from north to south the puff balls of ; bluo white smoko go sailing upward | through tho pines, and it all means 1 speed! speed! At 7 o'clock tho little command has had coffee and a hearty breakfast. No lack of provender here in this hitherto undiscovered robbers' roost. Drummond, cool, confident, has had his men i about hi in where none others could see : or near, nas assigned mem me siauous ! which they are to take the instant of alarm and has given them their instructions. Walsh it is who is now on lookout, and he is peering away down southi ward so intently that some comrade is ! prompted to call up to him in a low | tone: "See anything?" To wh^ch, without removing the glass from under his hat biim, the Irish [ trooper merely shakes his head. "Any moro smokes?" j "Sorra a smoke have I seen at all." "Well, then, what in blazes are you staring at?' i "How can I tell ye till I find out?" is the Hibernian reply, and this is enough to send the corporal on a climb. Drumj mond at the moment is again kneeling by Wing, who has but just awakened from a fitful sleep, Miss Harvey being the first to hear him stir and sigh. Ruth and her sister, too, seem about to withdraw, but Wing, whose voice is ; weak now, begs them to remain. " Has anything been seen yet?back | or. the trail?of the Stoneinan party?" he asks. "No, sergeant," replies Drununond, "but remember that wo can only see soiuo sis miles of the trail, after that it is lost in that tortuous ravine down which we rode on the chase. Walsh is Down on his knees he 'jnes. op there oil lookout, ami I'll if lie can see anything now," and railing to one of tho men Drummond lads him inquire. All eagerly await tho reply. At last it comes: "No dust 011 tho back track, sir. but something that looks like it far to tho i south. We think it may bo soino of our fellows coming back, but it is too faint and far to make it out yet." The corporal is the speaker, his resonant voice contrasting strongly with the feeble accents of his immediate superior, the wounded sergeant. "Then I have something that must bo told you. lieutenant, something Miss Harvey already has an inkling of, for she has met and known my dear moth? it ii.:.. ?tu ltiiwasii. er. JI LIII^> J'Ulil tUUUliuvu ...v.. and fever sets in, I may l>o unable to ! toll it later. Rome of tin; men thought I had enlisted under an alias, lieutenant, but they were wrong. Wing is my rightful name. -Mv father was chief officer of the old Flying Cloud in the days when American clipper ships boat the world. The gold fever seized him, though, and ho quit sailing and went to mining in the early days of Sail Francisco, aim neie ?mu I was a little buy of 10 lie died, leaving mother with not many thousand dollars to take care of herself and me. 'You will have your brother to help you' were wolds ho spoke the last day of his life, and even then I noted how little comfort mother seemed to find in that fact. It was only a few months after father's death that Uncle Fred, from beinir an occc.rv * d visitor, came ! to living with us all the time?made ! his homo there, though seldom within ! doors night or day. He was several years younger than mother. Ho was the youngest, it seems, of the family, j j 'the baby,1 and had been petted und ; ! spoiled from earliest infancy. I soon I 1 found why he came. Mother was often | in tears, Undo Fred always begging or demanding money. Tho boys at school twitted 1110 about mv gambler uncle, J though I've no doubt their futhersgum- i i bled as much as he. These were, just J before the early days of tlio great war that sprang up in 1861 and that wo boys out on the Pacific coast only vaguely : understood. Sometimes Undo Fred : camo homo drunk, and I could hear 1 him threatening poor mother, and things went from bad to worse, and one night when I was just 13 1 was awakened ; j from sound sleep by her scream. In an j instant I flew to her room, catching up . as I ran father's old bowie knife that i always hung by my door. In tho dim 1 light I saw her lying by tho bedside, a man bending over and choking her. With all my strength 1 slashed at him just as ho turned. I meant to kill, but > j tho turn saved him. Ho sprang to his i feet with an oath and cry and rushed . J to the washstand. I had laid Uncle I Fred's cheek open from ear to chin. "It was long beforo mother could check the flow of the blood. It sobered him, of course, and made him piteously weak. For days after that she nursed j and cared for him. but forbade my en- | tering tho room. Men came to see him ?insisted on seeing him?and she I : would send ino to the hank for gold and ' pay their claims and hid them go. I At last ho was able to walk out with ! that awful slash on his thin white j face. Once then ho met and cursed i me, but I did not mind?I had acted j I only to save mother. How could 1 suppose that her assailant was her own ; I brother? Then finally with sobs and tears she told me the 6tory, how he had been their mother's darling, how wild and reckless was his youth, how her j mother's last thought seemed to be for j him, and how on her knees she, my I own mother, promised to take care of ! poor Freddie and shield him from every j ill, and this promise she repeated to me, 1 bidding me help her keep it and to conceal as far as I could her brother's mis- I ; deeds. For a few months things went a little better. Uncle Fred got a commission in a California regiment toward the close of tho war and was sent down to Arizona. Then came more tears [ and trouble. 1 couldn't understand it i all then, but I do now. Uncle Fred was gambling again, drawing on her I for means to meet his losses. The old ! home went under the hammer, and we j moved down to San Diego, where father had once invested and had left a little t property. And then came tho news that Uncle Fred had been dismissed, all on account of drink and gambling and j misappropriation of funds. Miss Har- | vey knows all about this, lieutennnt, I for mother told her and had reason to. And next came forgery, and wo were stranded. Wo heard that ho had gone after that with a wagon train to Texas. I got employment on a ranch, and then mother married again, married a man I who had long befriended us and who j could give her a comfortable home. She is now Mrs. Malcolm Bland of San Francisco, and Mr. Bland offered to take mo into his store, but I loved the open air and independence. Mr. Bland and Mr. Harvey had business relations, and when Uncle Fred was next neara from he was 'starving to death,' he j said, 'actually dying.' Ho wrote to ' mother from Yuma. Mother wired me j to go to him at once, and I did. Ho was j considerably out at elbows, but in 110 | desperate need yet. Just then Mr.Har- j vey offered him a good salary to take i charge of his freight train. Wo all j knew how that must have been brought | about, and I felt that it would only be S a matter of time when ho would rob his new employer. He did and was j discharged, but Mr. Bland mado the i amount good, and the matter was hushed up. Then he drove stage awhile and then disappeared. Mother has written : me time and again to find him or find out what has becomo of him, and I j promised I would leave 110 stone unturned. Tell her I have kept my word. Tell her I found him. But tell her, for Uod's sake, to think no more of him. ! Tell her not to strive to find him or to ! j ask what he is or even where ho is, be- ! yond that he has gono to Sonora." "Lieutenant," said Patterson, suddenly appearing at the opening, "could ! tou step here a moment?" Drummond springs up. "O110 moment, Mr. Drummond," whispers Wing weakly. "I must say j one word to you?alone." "I'll return in a minute, sergeant. Let me see what Patterson wants." Miss Harvey and Ruth have risen. The former is very pale and evidently trembling under some strong emotion. Once more she bends over him. "Drink this, Mr. Wing, and now talk no more than you absolutely have to." Then renewing the cooling bandage on his forehead her hands seem to linger?surely her eyes do?as she rises once more to her feet. Meantime the lieutenant has stepped out into the canyon. "What is it, Patterson? Quick!" That was some of our fellows, sir, a siiuad of four, but they turned all of * sudden and galloped back out of sight. It looks to me as though they wero attacked." "How far away were they? How - .1 4 1?. V* UHlilj ilium wuwu tiic* urovi i "Uh, at least six or eight miles down, sir; down beyond where you met them yesterday.'' "How about our trail? Anybody in sight there?" "Nobody, sir, not a tiling, net even a whiff of dust." "Very well. Keep ou (ho alert. It's good to know that all the Apac hes are not around us yet. Neither bullet nor arrow can get down here uo long as we man the rocks above. I'll be out in a moment." Then once more he kneels by Wing. "Lieutenant, did you ever see a girl behave with greater bravery? Do you know what she has uncb rgone?Miss Harvey, I mean?" "Both are behaving like heroines. Wing, and 1 think I am beginning to see through this plot at last.". "Never let mother know it?promise me. sir?but when Harvey discharged him?my uncle, 1 mean?ho swore he'd be revenged on the old man. and 'twas I ho" "The doublo dyed villain! I know, 1 understand now, Wing; you needn't ' tell me. Ho has been in the pay of the Morales gang for months. He enlisted so as to learn all the movements of officers and scouting parties. He enlisted under his benefactor's name. Ho has forged that, too, in all probability, and then deserting it was he who sought to carry away these precious girls, and ho came within an aco of succeeding. By the Eternal, but there will be a dav of reckoning for him if ever (J troop runs foul of him again! No wonder you couldn't sleep, poor fellow, for thinking of that mother. This caps the climax of his scoundrelism. Where?when did you see him last? Since lie enlisted lint now Wing's face is again averted. lie is covering it with his arms. "Wing,answer me!"exclaimsDrummond, springing suddenly to his feet. "By heaven, I demand to know!" Then down on his knees he goes again, seiz- j ing and striving to pull away the near- , est arm. "You need not try, you cannot conceal it now. I see it all?all. | Miss Harvey," he cries, looking up into the face of the trembling girl, who has hastened in at sound of the excite- j meut in his voice?"Miss Harvey, | think of it;'twas 110 Apache who shot | him, 'twas a worso savage?his own ! 1 uncle." 1 "Promiso nio mother shall not know," pleads poor Wing, striving to rise upon his elbow, striving to restrain the lieutenant, who again has started to his feet. "Promise me, Miss Fanny ; you know how sho loved him, how she plead with you." "1 promise you this, Wing," says Drummond, through his clinching teeth, "that there'll bo no time for prayer if ever we set eyes on him again. There'll bo no mercy." "You can't let your men kill him in cold blood, lieutenant. I could not shoot him." "No; but, by tho God of heaven, J could!" And now as Wing, exhausted, sinks back to his couch his head is caught on Fanny Harvey's arm and next is pillowed in her lap. ' tiusn j sno murmurs, uencnng aown over him as a mother might over sleeping child. "Hush! you must not speak again. I know how her heart is bound up in you. and I'm to play mother to you now." And as Drummond, tingling all over with wrath and excitement,stands spellbound for tho moment, a light step comes to his side, a little hand is laid on the bandaged arm, and Ruth Harvey's pretty face, two big tears trickling down her cheeks, is looking up in his. "You, too, will ho ill, Mr. Drummond. Oh, why can't you go and lie down and rest? What will wo do if both of you are down at once with fever?" She is younger by over two years than her brave sister. Tall though she has grown, Ruth is but a child, and now in all her excitement and anxiety, worn cut with tho long strain, she begins to cry. She strives to hido it, strives to control the weakness, and failing in both strives to turn away. All to no purpose. An arm in a sling is of little avail at such a moment. Whirling quickly about, Drummond bring* his other into action. Be fore the weeping little maid is well aware what is happening her waist is encircled by the strong arm in tho dark blue sleeve, and how can she see that she is drawn to his breast, since now her face is buried in both her hands and those hands in the flannel of his hunting shirt?just as high as his heart? Small wonder is it that Corporal Costiiran. hurrvinir in at the mouth of tho cave, stops short at sight of this picturesque partie carree. Any other time he would have sense enough to faco about and tiptoe whence he came, but now there's no room left for sentiment. Tableaux vivants are lovely in their way, even in a cave lighted dimly by a hurricane lamp, but sterner scenes are on the curtain. Drummond's voice is murmuring soothing, yes. caressing words to his sobbing captive. Drummond's bearded lips, unrebulced, are actually pressing a kiss upon that childish brow when Costigan.with a preliminary clearing of his throat that sounds like a landslide and makes the rock walls ring again, startles Ruth from her blissful woe and brings Drummond leaping to the mouth of the cave. '' Lieutenant, there's something coming out over our trail." "Thank God!" sighs Wing, as ho raises his eyes to those ot his fair nurse. "Thank God, for your sakes!" "Thank God, Ruth!" cries Fanny, extending one hand to her sister while the other is unaccountably detained. "Thank God! it's father and the Stoneman party and Dr. Gray." And Ruth, throwing herself upon her knees by her sister's side, buries her head upon her shoulder and sobs anew for very joy. And then comes sudden start. Ail in an instant there rings, echoing down the canyon, the sharp, spiteful crack of rifles. answered by shrieks of terror from the cave where lie the Moreno women and by other shots out along the range. Three faces blanch with sudden fear.though Wing looks instantly up to say: "They can't harm you, and our men will be hole in less than no time." Out in the gorge men are springing to their feet and seizing their ready arms; horses are snorting and stamping, mules braying in wild terror. Two of the ambulance mules, breaking loose from their fastenings, come charging down the resounding rock, nearly annihilating Moreno, who. bound and helpless, praying and cursing by turns, has rolled himself out of his nook and lies squarely in the way of everything and everybody. But abovo all the clamor, the ring of carbine, tho hiss and spat of lead flattening upon tho rocks, Druniinond's voice is heard clear and commanding, sorono and confident. "Every man to his post now. Remember your orders." Gazing wit into the canyon with dilated eyes, Ruth sees him nimbly clamber nj) the opposite side toward the point where Walsh is kneeling behind a rock?Walsh with his Irish mug expanded in a grin of delight, the smoke just drifting from the muzzle of his carbine as lie points with his left hand somewhere out along the cliffs. She sets her soldier boy, crouching low. draw himself to Walsh's side, sees him glancing eagerly over the rocks, then signaling to some one 011 their own side, pointing here and there along the wooded slope beyond her vision; sees him now, with fierce light in his eyes, suddenly clutch Walsh's sleeve and nod toward some invisible object to the }#7Y/ cfhx"-i f??0y\ She mis him clutch Walsh's sta re ami mnl toward some object to the south. south; sees Walsh toss the butt of his carbine to the shoulder and with quick aim send a bullet driving thither; sees Drummond take the fieldglass, and, resting it 011 the eastward ledge gaze long and fixedly out over the eastward way; sees him start, draw back the glass, wipe the lenses with his silken kerchief, then poor again; sees him drop them with a gesture almost tragic, but she cannot hear the moan that rises to his lips: "My God, those are Apaches too!" CHAPTER XL Ten o'clock 011 a blazing Arizona morning. The hot sun is pouring down upon tho jagged front of a range of heights where occasional clumps of pino and cedar, scrub oak and juniper.seemed the only vegetable products hardy enough to withstand the alternations of intense heat by day and moderate cold by night, or to find sufficient sustenance to eke out a living 011 so barren a soil. Out to the eastward, stretching away to an opposite range, lies a sandy desert dotted at wide intervals with little black bunches of "scrub mcsquite" and blessed with only one redeeming patch of foliage, the copse of willows and cottonwood hero at the mouth of a rock ribbed defile where a little brook, rising heaven knows now or wnero among tho heights to the west, conies frothing and tumbling down through tho windings of the gorge only to bury itself in tho burning sands beyond tho shade. So narrow and tortuous is tho canyon, so precipitous its sides, as to prove conclusively that by no slow process, but by some sudden spasm of nature, was it rent in tho face of tho range. And hero in its depths, just I around one of the sharpest bends, honeycombed out of the solid rock, are half a I dozen deep lateral fissures and caves ! where the sunbeams never penetrate, ! where tho air is reasonably cool and ; still, whero on this scorching May morning, far away from homo and relatives, I two young girls nre sheltered by the. ! natural roofs and walls ngainst tho fiery ! 6unshino and by a little band of reso- ! | lute men against tho fury of the | : Apaches. ] Down in tho roomiest of tho caves ' i T~?..il ~ : r anny ana xvuiu xiai?*.-jr ?uu | in dread anxiety to the sounds of savage i warfare echoing from crag to crag along the range, while every moment ! or two the older turns to moisten the ! cloth she holds to a wounded trooper's i burning, tossing head. Sergeant Wing , i is fevered indeed by this time, raging \ \ with misery at thought of his helpless- | i ness and the scant numbers of the de- I fense. It is a bitter pill for the soldier 1 to swallow, this of lying in hospital I 1 when every man is needed at the front. ; At 9 o'clock this morning a veteran In- j dian fighter, crouching in his sheltered lookout above the caves and scanning with practiced eye the frowning front ! of the range, declared that not an ; Apache was to be seen or heard within j rifle shot, yet was in no wise surprised j ' when, a few minutes later, as he hap- ' , pened to show his head above the rocky i parapet, there caine zipping a dozen j ' bullets about his ears, and the cliffs | fairly crackled with tho sudden flash j ! of rifles hidden up to that instant on , every side. Indians who can creep ; upon wagon train or emigrant camp j j in the midst of an open and unsheltered , plain find absolutely no difficulty in ; surrounding unsuspected and unseen a ! bivouac in the mountains. Inexperi- ! ' enced officers or men would have been ! picked off long before tho opening of tho general attack, but the Apaches i themselves nre tho first to know that i they have veteran troopers to deal with, I for up to this moment only one has 1 Bhown himself at all. At five minutes 1 after 9 o'clock Lieutenant Drummond, j -t : u.:?l.. 1 i,jD iu_ j | JL^lUIil'lIl?5 (UUUilU U|/UU had lit" tie band of fighters, had blessed the foresight of Pasqtial Morales and his gang that they had so thoroughly fortij fled their lair against sudden assault. ! Three on the southern, two on the northern brink of tho gorge and behind impenetrable shelter, and two more in reserve in tho canyon, his puny garrison was in position and had replied with such spirit and promptitude to the Apache attack that only ?t rare inter- j I vals now is u shot necessary, except when for tho purpose of drawing tho : 1 enemy and locating his position a hat j ' is poked up on tho muzzle of a carbine. 1 Tho assailants' fire, too, is still, but ! j that, as Drummond's men well know, j means only "look out for other devil- , i ment." Out on tho eastward desert, still far j over toward the other side, a little party j of Apaches is hurrying to join the fray. Two are riding. Where got they their , horses? Tho others?over half a dozen j ?como along at their tireless jog trot. | It was this party that, seen but dimly j | at first, gave rise to such ebullition of | ; joy among tho defenders and defended, j It was this party that, closely scanned j : through his fieldglass, occasioned Lieu- ! I tenant Drummond's moan of distress, i j With all his heart ho had been hoping | for the speedy coining of relief over that very trail?had counted on its reaching j him during tho day. He was sure it ! could be nothing else when the corpoI ral reported something in sight, and so j when he discovered the approaching ; party to be Apaches no words could desciibe tho measure of his disappointment and dismay. Not for himself and | his men; they were old hands and had | a fmo position to defend. His thought j aro all for those in whose behalf he has already made such gallant fight and I for poor Wing, whoso feeble moaning i i every now and then reaches his ear. j At 10 o'clock ho is able through his j j glasses to distinctly make out tho num! ber and character of the coming party. Nino Apaches, all warriors, but one of them apparently wounded or disabled, j for they have to support him on tho i horse, and this it is that hampers their j advance and makes it slower. They i aro heading for tho oasis at the mouth j j of tho canyon. Thero they will leave their horses nnd their wounded, and 1 then como creeping up the winding j gorge or crouching among tho bowlders i from tho cast to join in tho attack on tlio hated paleface. Drummond can i have no doubt of that. New disposi- I ! tions aro necessary. "Stay where you are!" he shouts to ! his men. "You take charge up here, ! i Costigan; I want to post a man or two j : below at the bend." And down ho j i goes, sliding and scrambling until he reaches the edge of tho brook. Moreno, | squatted against a rock, glances up at ! him appealingly. "Senor Teniente, 1 pray you loose j j mo and let me help. Tho Apacho is | our common enemy," he pleads. An idea comes to Drummond. Wing's j carbino can bo utilized. Ho can post | Moreno down the gorgo at the second j bend to command that approach and i } put little McGuffy, tho recruit, at tho I next bend to command Moreno and , i send a bullet through him if he shirk or swerve. "I declaro I believe I will, you old i scoundrel," ho says. "Here, McGuffy, ! untio this fellow. I've got to look j around a minute." Into tho depth of tho fissure whero Moreno's women aro praying and rock- j ing ho peers a moment. Quo of tho i wounded bandits is now past praying for. Tho other, painfully shot but ] plucky, begs to bo given n chanco to | fight for his life. "You aro too badly hurt now. Wo j couldn't get 3*011 up there," is tho answer. "Well, then, put 1110 011 with Moreno, j wherever you'ro going to assign him. j Surely if you can trust a greaser you can a whito' man. I'm only fit to hang perhaps, but d?n 1110 if I want to j lie hero when there's an Indian fight j , going on." And so he, too, is loosed and lifted to his feet. Leaning on McGuffy's ! i shoulder and supported by his arm, tho Palo faced stranger, preceded by Mo- j reno. who iroes limping nnd swearing sotto voce down tho rocky way, is led 100 yards along tho canyon where it \ makes a second bend. Hero they can 1 see nearly 150 yards more ahead of them, and here some loose bowlders are bur- , riedly shoved or rolled to form a rifio I pit, and these volunteer allies aro placed j i in position. "Wo cover tho approaches above so ! that they can't sneak up and heavo j rocks down upon you. All you've got to do now is to plug every Apache that shows his nose around that bend be- j low," says Drummond. "McGuffy, you take post at tho point behind, j Watch the overhanging cliffs and sup- j | port as best you can." And "Little i j Mack," as the men call him, gets furi ther instructions as ho takes his position, instructions which would give small comfort to Moreno could ho only hear them. Then back goes tho lieutenant to where Wing is lying, Miss Wiirvov hnnfliin? anxiously over him. i her beautiful eyes filling with tears at sight of Drummond's bravo but hag- j garcl young face. Ruth is crouching i by her sister's side, but rises quickly as ' Drumnioud enters, her fears lessening, her hopes gaining. "Any news? Anything in sight?of ours?" is Miss Harvey's eager query. "Not yet, but they're bound to bo i along almost any minuto now. Some j Apaches whom I could seo coming j across from tho east have a wounded man with them. It makes mo liopo our fellows have met and fought them and aro following closo on their trail, j ; How's Wing?" Sho can only shako her head. "Ho seems delirious every now and j ' then, perhaps only because of so much 1 mental excitement and buffering. He is dozing now." "Gallant fellow 1 What would we havo done without liim? I only wish we had more like him. Think how all my detachment has become scattered. If we had them hero now, I could push out and drive tho Indians to the rocks and far beyond all possibility of annoying you with their racket. Of course you aro safe from their missiles down here." "Yes, we are, but yon und your soldiers, Mr. Drummond! Every shot inado mo fear you wero hit," cries poor littlo Ruth, her eyes filling, her lips quivering. Then, just as Durmmond is holding forth a hand, perhaps - *- -- 4-,^ li i? an anil, iuu, nnu i?uiina up iu mu rock nbovo where Walsh is evidently exercised about something. Ho has dropped Ins gun, picked up tho glasses and is gazing down tho rango to tho south. "Perhaps ho sees somo of our fellows coming for good this time. Foilr of them tried it awhile ago, but were probably attacked some miles below here and fell back on tho main body. They'll be along beforo a great while, and won't it bo glorious if they bring back the safe and .ill?" He says this by way of keeping up their spirits, then, onco more wearily, but full of pluck and purpose, ho climbs tho rugged path and creeps to Walsh's side. "Is it any of our men you see?" he whispers. "Divil a wan, sir! It's more of thim infernal Apaches." Drummond takes tho glass and studies tho dim and distant group with the utmost care. Apaches beyond doubt, a dozen, and coming this way, and these, too. have a couple of horses. Can they havo overpowered his men, ambushed and murdered them, then secured their mounts ? Is tho whole Chiricahua tribe, re-enforced by a swarm from tho Sierra Blanca. concentrating on him now? The silence about him is ominous. Not an Indian has shown himself along tho rango for half an hour, and now these fellows to tho east are close to tho copse. In less than 20 minutes there will bo five times his puny force around him. Is thero no hope of rescue ? Once moro he turns to the east, across tho shimmering glaro of that parched nrwl tmvuv nlnin nnrl Kfrnina bin pvps in vain effort to catch sight of the longed for column issuing from tho opposite valley, but it is hopeless. The hot sun beats down upon his bruised and aching head and sears his bloodshot eyes. Ho raises his hand in muto appeal to heaven, and at tho instant thero is a flash, a sharp report not 80 yards away, an angry spat as the leaden missile strikes tho shelving top of his parapet and goes humming across the gorge, a stifled shriek from Ruth looking fearfully up from below, an Irish oath from Walsh as he whirls about to answer tho shot, and Drummond can barely repress a little gasp. "Narrow squeak that, Walsh I That devil has crawled closo up on us. Can you see him?" "Begad, sir, I can seo nothing at all but rocks, rocks, rocks. How can a man fight anyway ag'in human beings that crawl like snakes?" Zip! Another shot, closo at hand too, and from another unseen foe. Tho first camo from somewhero among tho bowlders down to tho southeast, and this second whizzed from across the canyon. A little puff of bluo smoke is floating up from among tho rocks 50 yards or so to tho north of the narrow slit. Crouching lower, Drummond calls across to Costigan, posted as the easternmost of tho two men on tho opposite side: "That fellow is nearest you, corporal. Can you seo nothing of him?" "Nothing, sir; I was looking that way, too, when ho fired. Not even tho tnuzzlo of his gun showed." This is serious business. If one Indian or two can find it so easy to creep around them, and armed only with their muzzle loading guns send frequent shots that reach tho besieged " in reverse," what can bo hoped when the wholo band gathers and every rock on every side shelters a hostile Apache? From the first Drummond has feared that however effective might bo these defenses against the open attack of white men, they aro ill adapted to protect tho defenders against tho fire of Indians who can climb like squirrels or crawl or squirm through any chink or crevico liko so many snakes. Another shot! Another bullet flattens itself on tho rocK close to his right shoulder and then drops into tho dust by his knee. It comes from farther up the cliff?perhaps 200 yards away among thoso stunted cedars?but shudderingly closo. Costigan and the other men glance anxiously over their shoulders at the point where their young commander and Walsh aro crouching They aro not yet subjected to a fire from tno rear, tnoso oiners. me iookout, the signal station, as it might be called, is the highest point and most exposed about tin; position. "For God's sake, lieutenant," cries the corporal,"don't stay there. They've got your range on two sides anyhow. Come out of it. You and Walsh can slip down as wo open fire. We'll just let drive in ~ every direction until you aro sale below.'' Drunmiond hesitates. He sees a half pleading look in Walsh's honest face. The Irishman would willingly tackle the whole tribe in open fight, but what he doesn't like is the idea of being potted like a caged tiger, never knowing whence came the shot that laid him low. Then the lieutenant peers about him. Yes. it is exposed to fire from n point in the cliffs to the west, and there are rocks over there to the north that seem to command it, but if abandoned there will be no way of preventing a bold advance on the part of the Apaches up the rugged eastward slope. It would then stand between the defenders and the assailants, giving to the latter incalculable advantage. Hold it lie must lor a few minutes at least, until, recalling McGuffy, ho can set him and one or two others to work piling up a rock barricade in front of the cave. Then if driven out and no longer able to stand the Indians off they can retire into the caves themselves, hide their, precious charges in the farthest depths, and then, like On ford at (xottyslmrg, "fight like the devil" till rescue comes. "No, down with you, Costigan," he answers. "Get McGuffy and Fritz; block up the front of tho cave with rocks; move in those Moreno women; carry Sergeant Wing back to the farther cave?Miss Harvey will show you where. Stand fast the rest of you. Don't let tin Indian close in on us." "Look, lieut'nant," whispers Walsh; "they're coming up down beyant you there." And pooping through a narrow slit left in his parapet Drununond can just sec bobbing among the bowlders far down toward the willow copse two or three Apache crests?Apache unmistiikiiblv. because of the dirtv white tur ban like bandages about tho matted black locks. At that distance they advance with comparative security. It is when they come closer to the defenders that they will lie lost to view. Obedient to his orders, Costigan slips out of his shelter and "takes a sneak" for the edge of the cliff. In an instant, from half a dozen points above, below, and on both sides, there come tho flash and crack of rifles. The dust is kicked up under his nimble feet, but he reaches unharmed the cleft in which some rudo steps have been hacked and goes, half sliding, half scraping, down into the cooler depths below. "Mother of Moses!" he groans, "but we'll never get the lieut'nant out alive. Shuro they're all around him now." Then bounding down the gorge lie finds McGuffy kneeling at tho point. "They're coming. Barney, " whispers tlio boy, all eager and tremulous with excitement, and pointing down between the vertical walls. "Look!" he says. Gazing ahead to tho next bend, Costigan can see Moreno and his Yankee compadro crouching behind their shelter, their carbines leveled, their attitude betokening intense excitement and suspense. It is evident tho enemy are within view. , "I'll have one shot at 'em, bedad, to pay for tho dozen their brother blackguards let drive at me," mutters Costigan. "Come on, you; it's but a step." And, forgetful for the moment of his orders in his eagerness for fight, tho Irishman runs down the canyon, | leaps tho swirling brook just as he reaches tho point, and obedient to the warning hand held out by their bandit ally drops on his knees at tho bend, ' McGuffy closo at his heels. Off go tneir nais. xnose uroau ornns wouia ' catch an Indian eye even in that gloom. "How many are there coming?" he whispers. Moreno puts his finger on his lips, then throws out his hand, four fingers extended. "Ono apiece then, bejabers! Now, I Little Mac, you're to take tho second j from the right?their right, I mean? and don't you miss him, or I'll break ( every bono in your skin." "Hist!" Down they go upon their faces, then, Indianlike, they crawl a few feet farther where thero is a little ledge. The canyon widens below; tho light is stronger there, and bending double, throwing quick glances at one another, ! then from sheer force of Indian habit shading their eyes with their brown hands as they peer to the front; exchanging noiseless signals, creeping like cats from rock to rock, leaping without faintest sound of the moccasined foot across tho bubbling waters, four swar! thy 6camps are coming stealthily on. Two others nro just appearing around tho next bend beyond. "Ready, boys? They're near enough now. Cover the two leaders! Drop the first two anyhow!" TO UK CONTINUED NKXT WKKK. JttisrcHancous grading. WOMEN AT THE POLLS. I Incident* in Colorado That Show Their Force as Political Factors. Dknvkr, Colo., April 13.?It was demonstrated at the municipal elections in Colorado towns last week that i women will vote. Not only will they vote, but they will see to it that the j more retiring sisters, busy with housework, are waited upon on election days and.dragged to the polls. With but few exceptions the women walked ti> i lie iwillimr tdnocs nr worn hmiii/lit iii carriages, and, stepping up to the judges, they took the ballots, marehed ! quietly into the booths, where, with a scratch of the pen, the ballot was | quickly lixed ready for the box. The law provides that the judges of elecj tion may assist the voters who are unable to manage the intricacies of the Australian ballot when asked so to do, but in very few instances were the judges asked to assist the women voters. The campaign showed that the women are to take an active interest in the respective merits of the candidates put up for odices. At one precinct in Highlands, a residence suburb of Denver, i the wife of one of the candidates at the I polls positively refused to comply with the request of her husband to vote the i straight tiekel, asserting her right by i publicly declaring that she would not vote for such men for any office, and, further adding, to the great amusement of tlie bystanders, that those two men were not lit to hold any public office. One candidate was badly slaughterj ed in the Highlands because it had been stated by a poor woman that the candidate, as an attorney, had defrauded her out of a sum of money in a real | estate deal. A young man wearing a j Republican party badge was working for one candidate not on the regular ticket. A woman of the Republican Party Suffrage League went to the I polls and gave that young man a tongue lashing that he will not soon forget. She told him to take off the badge or work for the entire ticket, and she warned him that the women would not stand nonsense from any man. Several women were out in buggies calling for women voters at their 1 respective domiciles and laboring with them until they were compelled to drop their work and go to the polls. The ! favorite argument was that it was a stern, relentless duty that must not be ignored. Women stood about the booths in the Highlands and distributed bouton{ nicies to the male voters that seemed j more effective than the campaign cigars of odorous nature. All signs of i rioting and ill-tempered discussions | were absent at the city polling places, but as Highlands is a residence district ; strictly, the locality cannot be considered a test of the effect of equal suffrage in cities. In Georgetown the women refused to go in the carriages of the opponents to the People's party ticket and gave it out that they could walk to the polls. Scratching tickets was a favorite diversion in all the towns. There are several towns that for years have fought ineffectually the saloon element but this year, with the aid of the women, the saloons will now I be compelled to move out. Longmot, i Evans, Rocky Ford, Delta, Julesburg, j Rerthoud, and Littleton were some of the towns where prohibition won. Only one stirring incident is reporti ed where the women caused a sensation. In the town of De Beque, in Western Colorado, the mayor made himself obnoxious to the women voters, and later in the day fifteen of them appeared at the polling place armed with horsewhips, but the mayor had judiciously disappeared, and he did not become visible again until the polls were closed. Women were out for offices this spring and a few of them were elected. In Highlands Mrs. Carrie West was I elected city clerk by a large majority vote. Mrs. 1). L. Kelly, of Berthoud, was elected alderman. Mrs. Helen Rodgers, of Durango, city clerk. Frank Coxk's Latest Troi hlk.? A correspondent of the Atlanta Journal, writing from New York under reI cent date, says: "Franklin Coxe, who is known to many Atlanta people, and whose mbther lives in Greenville, S. t\, and is worth two million dollars, was arraigned in police court here j yesterday afternoon charged with failing to support his wife. Coxe was originally from North Carolina, but has traveled extensively over the coun! try and spent money lavishly. He was known at one time as the "Bayside millionaire," having a magnificent country place at Bayside, L. I., where he kept fast horses, fine dogs and a yacht. "He was divorced from his first wife, who was a beautiful and aeccomplished daughter of a prominent family in j Charlotte, N. C. His present wife has ! led him a dusty chase. She developed a most intense passion for gambling on horse races, was known on the turf as "the little plunger," kept company ' with sporting men and lost money and iliiimonds hand over fist. The nair separated some months ago. Coxc was arrested for failing to support her. He was ordered to pay her eight dollars a week and will probably sue for | a divorce. He is the only heir to his mother's property and cuts quite a swell on upper Broadway. "Franklin t'oxe has a brother, Joseph I j C. Coxc, who was married in Atlanta, and who resides at present in (ireonville, S. ('. The t'oxe family are interested in Pennsylvania coal mines, J from which the greater portion of | their wealth is said to he derived." A COOL MAN. Reading an article published in The Tribune in which were described the ; experience of two men in a railroad i i wreck, where a car rolled over and ; over down an embankment into a river, reminded a New Yorker of a similar accident. "There isn't anything in the world 1 that I know," he said, "that makes a j i man lose his senses so completely as 1 being tumbled over and over in a fall ing car, and yet I met a man once who seemed the personification of coolness in just such a situation. As ' i soon as our car left the track we were ' i all shot from our berths in various di- j rections, being tumbled up and down ' and around as the car kept on turning somersaults. Like the people I read 1 about, we landed in the water, and J when the car came to a standstill after ; its terrifying bumping and crashing, I was so frightened that I could scarcely ? i move my arms to keep my head above i water. j "Near me, however, was a man who : kept his head. i " 'Don't splash around so,' he said. | ; 'You'll cut yourself. The ear is full ! i of broken glass, lamps, wrenched rods and rails, and you'll hack yourself to ! pieces.' I "Hut I thought I was drowning, and I shouted my fears to him. " 'Oh, no,' he said, 'we are not drowning ; we'll get out of this easily.' "But it was not so easy to escape as my cool friend assured me. The whole inside work had been shattered, ! and there was nothing by which we ! | could climb to the windows, which j ! were high above us, as our car was overturned, lying on its roof. "We made so many efforts to jump i up, always falling back into the water, : that I became exhausted. My friend,, however, kept on encouraging me. "Finally, with his assistance, I man! aged to clutch a window-frame, and I : got out. He followed me shortly j i afterward. "The first thing he did when he I j had climbed outside was to examine ; himself for cuts and other wounds. "'Well, I guess I am alive,' he said, 1 with a laugh. "After we had sat there for awhile ! watching with shivers the wreckers working out to us, my friend declared ; that he was going to crawl back to the ; car. " 'Great heavens !' I begged, 'don't ( do that; we were lucky to get out | once. You might get pinned there or j i drowned by the rising water." "'I have a waistcoat in there,'lie j I answered, 'and in the inside pocket j | there's over one thousand dollars. I j ; atn going back for that waistcoat. My j | berth was an end one, and I might be j ! able to find it. "Hi the face of my protest he crawl- j : ed back through the window, and j j when he dropped down with a loud ! ! splash, I was as'rattled'as if I had been j j there again myself. I could hear him I j puffing around in the water down there ' for a long time, while he fished for his | j waistcoat. Finally, his wet head came i i through the window once more, and I j was never more glad to see a man. " 'I got it!' he said, with a trium- j pliant laugh. "Pretty wet, but the ! bills seem to be here. Watch is gone, j Too bad, too; it was given to. me, | but one can't expect to- save every- j thing out of a railroad wreck," he I added, cheerfully. "He was a cool man, that fellow, ' ! and nothing could disturb his good j humor." ARMIES OF THE WORLD. China has a regular army of 300,000 ! men and a war footing of 1,000,000. Turkey has a regular army of 355,000 men, a war footing of 010,200, and the annual cost of the army is $19,042,000. Italy has a regular army of 736,592, j a war footing of 1,718,933, and the ; | annual cost of the army is $42,947,263. I j Japan has a regular army of 36,777 j men, a war footing of 51,721, and the i I annual cost of the army is $6,151,000. j Spain has a regular army of 90,000 j ' men, a war footing of 450,000, and the j annual cost of the army is $24,802,j 930. Russia has a regular army of 974,771 ! men, a war footing of 2,733,305, and i ' the annual cost of the army is $131,812,202. . France has a regular army of 502,764 men, a war footing of 3,753,305, : and the annual cost of the army is $114,279,761. Germany has a regular army of 445,402 men, a war footing of 1,491,104, and the annual cost of the army is I ] : $98,330,429. | j Great Britain has a regular army of . 131,6S6 men, a war footing of 577,906, J i and the annual cost of the army is j $74,901,500. j i India (British) has a regular army of I 189,597 men, a war footing of 308,000, ( and the annual cost of the army is ( $84,481,195. , Austria-Hungary has a regular army of 2S9,li)0 men, a war footing of 1,12.1,838, and the annual cost of the army j is $53,380,915. i The United States has a regular | | annv of 25,745 men, a war footing of ( 3,105,000, and the annual cost of the ' army is $40,460,460.?Journal of Edit- j cation. < A KKMAKKABLK 1)06. I My grandfather once owned a dog ? that was a cross between a mastill'and : Newfoundland. He was as large in size | as the largest-mentioned breed, and in ; color that of an African lion, and ] strange to say, had a mane like one. < His eyes, also, had the intelligent look ] of that animal. ] Mars was his name. He was noted < for his almost human intelligence. He 1 never was known to hark as dogs are < won't to do, but, when angry, rattled j I his teeth by shaking his head violently, so that they could be heard at a < distance. This he never did except 1 as a warning, and woe unto the intruder that passed unheeding. His 1 disposition was mild and even play- i fill with those of the household, but < < friend or foe never approached the < house unchallenged tit night. Mars ; had a deep, sonorous voice, when lie ] chose to let it out, which was very : seldom; then it was more akin to a : lion's roar than to anything else earth- < ly. He seemed to know instinctively < what was his duty, and when and > where his vigilance was needed. ! Our grandfather, who was a clergy- i man, was recommended to reside in * the country 011 account of feeble 1 health; hence the family retired for several years to a beautiful farm in Indiana. It was there that Mars's J finest faculties were developed. His < usual place at night was the large j 1 barn that stood about four hundred 1 yards from the dwelling. The master 1 of the house had frequent occasions to < be absent several days and nights. Without one word or sign from any- 1 one, during the nights on these occa- ; sions, Mars would invariably lie across i the threshold of grandmother's door, 1 which opened out intoa wide passage: ' 1 but as soon as the master returned 1 Mars resumed his usual place in the > barn. Our grandfather was a copartner in a dry goods establishment in the village, about a mile from his home, r Our uncle, who resided with him, was ] chief clerk. Mars was much attached j t to him and would frequently attend I t uncle lhero, (lien return. As evening approached he would go to the store, as if hi guard him on his return. In winter or in stormy weather, uncle would often ride on horseback to and from the place of business. One stormy winter evening, with Mars, as usual, in waiting, he hastily closed the store, locked the door, and leaped onto his horse to ride home. When Mars saw the horse wheeled for home, he jumped and gently held uncle by the punts. Thinking that Mars was only glad at seeing him start, he shook him oil and proceeded briskly on. Again the dog leaped up and rattled bis teeth ominously. Uncle stopped. Mars gently wagged his tail and trotted a few steps back. Uncle pondered as tcrwhut he meant. He knew the dog well enough to know that something was wrong; but what? With his eyes fixed on Mars, he slowly started again homeward. In an instant Mars arrested him as before. He then turned his horse's head and retraced his way toward the store; while Mars, full of apparent joy, ran on before, but still turning every moment to see if he was followed. On they went. On coming again in front of the store, uncle perceived at once the cause of the dogs' strange actions: for, although he had locked the door, he had forgotten to take the key out. He instantly dismounted and secured the key ; seeing which Mars ran homeward without further pause, but with a look of assured content in his splendid eyes which uncle never forgot.? Chicago Field. CURIOSITIES OF HOUSE MOVING. "The moving of houses, either of brick, stone, or wood, for long distances is a very simple matter nowadays," said Judge Robert Campbell, of St. Louis. "While at Wichita, recently,a gentleman told me, 'We are improving very fast; houses are being moved into the city every day.' He referred to the fact that during the Witchita boom streets with granitoid walks were run away out into the cornfields of the prairie, and handsome villas were built several miles from town by the suddenly enriched populace, who imagined that in a few years their suburban sites would be centrally located. The boom collapsed, Wichita lots again became farms, and these suburban villas bought for a song, are now being hauled into town, to its vast improvement. "The most remarkable case of house moving that I ever heard of was at Nauvoo, 111. When the Mormons were driven out of Missouri by an armed force they built the town of Nauvoo on the banks of the Mississippi. Here they erected their temple and constructed a thriving town. Then the Illinois people arose, burned the temple, murdered the prophet, Joseph Smith, and the entire community fled to Utah. Mennonites from Russia came along and bought the land. They had 110 use for the 350 buildings in the town. They wanted the land to plant vineyards upon. 'I hey sold the houses to a Missourian by the name of Boyd for a trifle. The next winter he put rollers under the houses, slid them down the banks to the frozen river, and them slid and rolled and pushed them six miles up the river, and founded the town of Fort Madison, la.; all except about forty of the houses which are today on the left bank of the river, opposite the extinct town of Nauvoo." J80TThe government recently sent out a circular to all employees of the various departments in Washington, requesting them to state whether or not each had relatives in the government employ. The circular is understood to be the initial step of an eflbrt to weed out chronic ollice-holders in the District of Columbia. The District, which, under the statutes, is entitled to fifty-eight employees in the department service, actually has 5,1(J8 in the departments. For a generation, people in the District of Columbia have been holding office. In several instances families of five and six, including father, mother and all the * children, arc on the pay rolls in different departments. In some cases grand-fathers and grand-children arc in the same bureau. It is not the intention of the government to foster an oflice-holding class, and the belief is general that a movement will be made to confine ofliceholding to one member of each family. What Farm Kit Peters Heard.? "Fine sermon wasn't it?" asked one of Farmer Petcrs's hoarders, referring to a scholarly discourse with which the Meadowville meeting house congregation had been favored that morning by a city clergyman. "Mebbe," returned Farmer Peters. "Why," persisted the boarder, "that man knows more about the Bible, he lias made a deeper study of Biblical history and geography, than almost my other minister in this country." "Has he now?" inquired Farmer Peters, mildly. "Well, then, I reckon the trouble inust've been with me. Vou see, I'd cal'lated I sh'd hear someihin' about the way to heaven, an' I anly learned the way from Jerusalem to Jericho." flag"" In a treatise on the subject of tlcohol, Mr. Dawson 'fait, an English luthority, exhonerates the human race from the imputation of being the only features that naturally take to drink. Wasps, he says, have the same procliv\f.. l???c u-nt/ilwul tin* wncnc [IV* i'l 1 1 Cll I IlilO ?? UlVliWt tuv IIMW|/V ?agerly attacking over-ripe fruits, alien the sugar had in some degree been converted into alcohol. 'Around >uch fruits, especially rotten plums ind grapes, the wasps may lie seen lighting and struggling for precedence; ind afterwards, when they are absolutely drunk with the spirit, they Luawl away in a torpid condition, and hide themselves in the grass till they have slept oil' the orgie. The wasp is ;ven more quarrelsome than usual in his cups, and will sting most venomjusly on the slightest provocation. - A Won lit: it it J, Old Man.?The shiest postmaster in continuous service, and perhaps in years, in the L'nited States, resides at Hammonds* cille, Jefferson county. Ohio. His name is W. 11. Wallace and he is ighty-two years old. He has been in :hc service for the last sixty-three, rears, having been appointed to his present position during Andrew Jackson's administration. Mr. Wallace is ilso credited by the Adams Kxpress iompany as the oldest agent in its ?nipioy, both in years and continuous service, and is also the oldest station igent on the Cleveland & l'ittsburg railroad, if not in America, having served in that capacity since 18">2. He ears his years lightly. A I.onu Lkvki. 1'niu:k thk I'acifIC.?Any person interested in the work ^ 1* euiM'iivml I lie r'nlilo J1 II1C \ CMl'in n nil 11 r>ui tvj VM outc bet with Hawaii ami the Califorlia coast who would like to see the survey made by the Thetis, can inspect the . hart now in the ollice of this paper. I'hey would be surprised to see how /cry level the ocean bed is?"so level," is one of the oilieers remarked, "that, f on dry land, a railroad train could un over a stretch of AGO miles of the led at a speed of Go miles an hour ivithout the grade being altered anyxhere."?1'acilic Commercial Adveriscr. It is a remarkable fact that the trea of land assigned to patatoes in France is equal to the combined potao areas of the I'nited Kingdom and he United States,