Show THE VALE 7 OF ARAGON by y FRED mclaughlin i gutter of 0 the blade of copyright by bobbt co cm service THE STORY in now new or orlan leang in 1321 loren garde recently an officer under annera general ja jackson ackson is 1 surprised by the app appearance ea rance in ancient spanish cost costume ume of two men and a woman whose beauty enchants him resenting the arrogance a of the older elder of the tb two men garde fighte with him and wounds him he learns hla his opponent la Is adoldo do d ruen fuentes too colonel in the spanish army in venezuela ia garde overhears a plot to ao overthrow rule in venezuela discovered he tights but la is overpowered and made prisoner on the santa lucrecia Luc iship bearing arms for or the venezuelans Venezuela ns on board are the conspirators conspirator the lady of his bis love her brother apo aito and de F fuentes uen tell brou frou tho the girl garde learn her name r n dulce lamartina Lamart lna ile he loves love her but does not reveal his hl love the vessel la is wrecked garde reaches the b venezuelan shore alone ile he encounters a stranger and sees seea dulce the stranger atTiL nger captain llanahan llo nahan of the british legion under bolivar directs him to friends in caracas there sup eup plied piled by monahan with the secret sign of the patriots he I 1 la 1 welcomed welcom ed at the revolutionary h headquarters arters garde attends the wedding wadding of dulce and do da puentes fuentes dulce recognizes him and leaves do de fuentes at the altar she to Is torn from gardes arms he escapes finding garde dulce tells him her wedding to do de fuentes was to have been the price of gardes affo they reveal their mutual love garde aarde Is in made prisoner from do de fuente s he learns dulce has disappeared ile he Is rescued from by a revolutionist manuel manual and with polito sets out tor for Bo livars camp they are intercepted by venezuelan soldiers garde discovers his companion of the night hasteen has been dulce and Is in dla dis bayed by his big lack of perception dulce u ce escapes but garde to Is seized hla his captor to la colonel M pint I 1 garde la in brought before bolivar 0 CHAPTER VII continued 12 manuel rides a horse nowell as well as he be does a ship said eald Francl francisco soo relief in hla his dark eyes aye friend of mine I 1 whispered he Is most opportune for I 1 felt that manuel would save me the sailor bailor pushed through the crowd of curious indians who had gathered molook to look upon the great general and bolivar striding forward to meet him threw his bis arms around the broad shoulders my ugly angel he cried diep deep affection in his voice 1 I have not seen thee for months 1 what W ii at brings thee in such haste from caracas manuel grinned at the rest of na caracas general Is bolling boiling it his dancing eyes considered me where la Is the senorita aye said monahan laughing odid did he not boist 7 the rho next man who asks me about the senorita man manuel uel shall feel the weight of my BL the sailors sa llora keen insight read the menace in the air this man general belongs to us he bisone isone Is one of ne 11 yet he comes in the garb of spain A garb that I 1 myself procured you TOU should have seen me he laughed 1 I am perched like a rooster on the comb of a root roof in the moonlight a piece of heavy tiling in my hand waiting for a tall spanish officer to pass beneath me I 1 was amazed to discover that caracas Is filled with short hort fat officers ae he stopped to laugh again Fina finally llyone one a captain approached upon his head I 1 deposited the piece of tiling and upon his flattened body I 1 deposited myself in two minutes he be was minus the form the americana Amerl cano now wears which in truth to Is grievo grievously inadequate bolivar laughed i a rich ringing laugh that to me and d the city he said Is boiling bevaun because se or of that what more moret there Is in tittle little more general tie th beautiful senorita JA martIna la Is lost and id all the forces of caracas have failed to find h heit hei T my pirt part 0 bithe the escapade of the AMeri cafio who has us I 1 9 0 comes 1 to 0 offer er 1 seral service I CO to our cause was too so BO further stay in the city was impossible lastly la IA torre plans a move against the armies arales of tour four excellency it Is good news manuet tor for we shall hah be ready bolivar R long moment what of the spanish officer who rode last night with thle americanos Americ anol there was waa no spanish officer gen ehalt 1 l who rode with him the re semblance ambiance between the senorita and her cr brother lieutenant polito Is a very striking thing ron mean to ten tell us manura that ithe her r aye generali general I the sairy swarthy sailor bailor hed she used broken beai ead and his cold and the allea all ea cloak to hide her identity md and she fihe rides it a barq as well as aa any one bouvar bolivar smiled yet the tale that he brought rought li as was so impossible I 1 turned to the liberator if ilia HH excellency having forgiven me cares to make use of a stupid clod I 1 would offer service to him I 1 can at least furnish a mans portion of brawn now bolivar took me by the hand band and smiled into ray my eyes francisco has told me much moch of you if andrew jackson has haa looked upon you with favor francisco interrupted 1 I 1 have the proof excellency here in my pocket 11 ile ho drew out the thin leathern wallet that tha thad had beau in my possession when I 1 had played so poorly the part of san isidro in that wallet I 1 had bad carried since a few days after the battle of chalmette a piece of paper torn from the flyleaf fly hy leaf genf of my french grammar upon which gen andrew jackson had written a statement the night he had stayed at my fathers house a statement which worthless in itself has ban been my dearest possession may I 1 read excellency what I 1 have found in the wallet of young garde bolivar turned to me aye excellency if it will make of me a soldier under your banner so francisco bearing in mind the generals limited knowledge of english read it very slowly major loren garde has haa offered valiant service to his country he has fought foughi with conspicuous gallantry at talladega at horseshoe bend at pensacola Pen gacola and at chalmette A worthy son of a worthy soldier fa ther 11 it la Is signed excellency francisco said andrew jackson one could not have come to toe me it said eaid bolivar more highly decol recommended if general jackson has seen a fit t to commission you a major surely I 1 can do no less but excellency I 1 cried itla too much it la Is more than I 1 deserve I 1 cannot hope P it shall be done major francisco hr hursald sald you will make a good soldier and Francis cos judgment Is never at fault such was my first meeting with the liberator to whom halt half of south america owes its independence and allf the western world offers ho homage in a ge colonel pint the sophist extended hla his hand 1 I congratulate you major intuition told me that pint would never be my friend a contingency which worried me not at all 0 0 0 0 0 0 the weeks that followed my first meeting with general bolivar were busy weeks indeed for la torre was massing the forces of spain to break the ever tightening republican lines and the liberator moved to meet him my days filled with feverish activity went by and quiet nights under the stars were given over to worship at the shrine alfrine e of love lov for the face of dulce was ever before me she lemed to be calling calling and I 1 have awakened crying out br bar name came from dreams that were ito so real I 1 could almost have touched her and because of the desperation of my love I 1 became a better soldier knowing that this nightmare of murder as she called it would be over only when bolivar had won for he was not a man to atop stop short of victory then I 1 could seek her out I 1 met during those days gen daniel oleary irish soldier and outstanding figure of the british legion to whom venezuela today renders homage moore bolivard Bo livars doctor a vivacious english gentleman marl marino no his bis chief of staff gen belford wilson veteran and son of sir robert wilson allson of peninsular fame paez chief of the Ila llaneros neros and later president of venezuela more than once and cedeno bermudez plaza and urdaneta tho the high sounding rank and titles that they carried took the place of pay they receive under us were english irish portuguese negroes half breeds In indians findlan dlan lean Ila llaneros neros the mixed riffraff of cities and strew a few american adventurers from the states A motley crowd indeed and hardly one that a man might pick to win an empire yet the genius of bolivar won them over touched them with tie the divine of patriotism and made of this composite crew an army that finally crushed the power of spain in venezuela On emild may morning as the bun stood an hour above the heights 0 of o f san we f loke oke through th the e carabobo Car abobo hills and descended upon umi the attle city of cura cum having no sar gar rason lt ft fell readily into our ban bands do then we deployed east and west and north to invest the to town of maranar maracay Mar Ma acay for that was our goal that thai the first long iong stride in the race for puerto Cabe cabello flo I 1 remember edwell thelast the baat words of bolivar to him who torn ore banded the center of our attacking lines he had bad embraced our colonel and had said bald remember pint we talethe tah take ethe the town 0 of maracay karacay and hold it and colonel pint had saluted a proud of this glorious mission for pint however much he h may have failed had no lack of courage on the broad fertile valley that lies iles to the east of lake lak valencia we met the enemy paes paea east of us and plaza to the west attacking at the same time the history of venezuela calls this battle t only a skirmish for or it failed of its gorki goal because the body cannot go forward if the wings are dragging idour in our unit were two hundred of thid the british legion and over four hundred indians and despite the dragging wings we pushed onward until we touched the town which after an hour of fiercely contested fighting fell our indian soldiers out of hand with joy over this hard won victory ran yelling and shooting through the narrow streets in an hour they had found wine and rum and other drinks to satisfy them and so BO became at last more tractable under the commands of their officers I 1 had given strict orders to my battalion that no captives wounded or well should be murdered which had been up to this time the general procedure in the frightful war of death that morales had inaugurated and that both sides were waging so squads were roaming over the city carrying to the nearest available houses wounded men for treatment at one of these houses housea I 1 found cap cal tain monahan lie ile was leaning lea ning against an adobe wall hands in the pockets of his tan and gray jacket noisome pipe tilted tilled at a rakish angle and idle eyes upon a western bun aun why do you stand there I 1 laughed will the poor walls wall fall it if you remove your support a up port 1 I am waiting said he disregarding my levity for colonel pint to come to his senses then you have a long wait my captain for will never arrive the Lamir lamertina lamartina lna tina boy tr liff inside he pointed over hla his shoulder with an indifferent thumb olele he wants to see bee you la Is he wounded Mona monahan hanl not much did DIA he may eay anything about hla his f to roe me the irishman grinned again im not chasing moonbeams moon beams garde im no BO sighing romeo im a soldier cold ler and a good one my friend said 1 I stooping to pass the portal polito very pale very frail lay upon a crude bed of straw hla his eyes lighted up when he be saw me and as h he ral raised seda a left hand I 1 assumed that hla his right was wa useless the the moon wraith lt he said I 1 opened hla his jacket thrust the shirt aside and found a bullet wound below the collarbone collar bone not so 0 o bad 1 assured rolito it missed the lung I 1 am certain you ton should be outs out in a month who was jn in command of this sector polito Poll to adolfo he tried to smile a very sorry effort why did MA did yo you u not keep her senor when boulad you had the chance she rode away from caracas with you and I 1 sent cent her back to the linex line of spain realizing too late that she was not yourself the revolutionists approached and her life ilfe would have been endangered 31 my y love for lier her should have seen through so sample a masquerade I 1 seem always to fall did she I 1 had some with my voice edid idid did she marry colonel fuentes esl he shook hla his head sighing the while adolfo watts waits he offered another feeble smile dulce dim cult culi senor acs she speak of of me polito politer he nodded III 1 I think shi ahe feels feela that your regard should have read mera disguise and so it should senor benor had I 1 been beem thinking lesa jess of my own affairs forgive me polito I 1 am thinking a as usual only of myself I 1 shall see aee that rl a medico comes to attend you at once 1 I would repay you he ha thought a long moment you can cannot hold the th advantage ge you have gained senor tor for paez and plaza having failed will permit our wings to clo close clopein seIn la upon the city I 1 nodded your lines of communication ones once broken I 1 nodded again for I 1 knew then why monahan awaited avral ted the pleasure r of colonel plat and 1 I realized the danger of the dill atory cf our colonel TO |