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Show ! Tike Vsile I .Affai& i By Fred. McLawMixa ;j !i Author of (tTbe Blade of Pkardy" ! Copyright b7 Bobba-Morrill Co. WNU Service.) army will be broken, so that, half ac-coutered ac-coutered and without ammunition, we will be lost?" "How gloomy a tale do you bring me in this, the hour of my happiness." Ills acquisitive eyes took in the slim beauty of the Senorita, and I could have throttled him for the evil in his Jook. "Does your American cowardice come to the fore at such a time as this; do you not realize that, of the entire line of attack, only we have broken through?" "Aye, and I realize also that the Spaniard will close in behind us. And this American cowardice of mine, Senor, does not presume to celebrate a half-victory with drunkenness and other unseemly conduct." I'inI brought the pistol to bear upon me. "Do you speak thus to me, your colonel, your commanding officer?" "Under similar conditions, my colonel, col-onel, I would speak so to Bolivar himself, him-self, had he fallen so low ; a thing I cannot imagine, for, of all our officers, I think Colonel Pinl Is the only man who might have planned an act so vile." Madness? Aye, a veritable madness mad-ness ; yet his eyes had offered insult to the Senorita, and I worshiped her. "Ah, Loren," she cried, fear in her voice and love, I think, as well. "IIow vast a blunder. Can you not see ?" Plni laughed. "'Loren'? Well!" His voice was icy, menacing. "Ah, Dulce mia," I gasped, "I cannot can-not think ; I love thee !" "Very pretty," said Pini. He offered a sour smile. "I have waited, Garde, for such a time as this." He thought a moment. "It is the Senorita Lamar- the circumstances or the provocation, could mean but one thing: a court and a decree of death. So, with the weight of my body, and the strength of my legs, I held, him against the wall while my fingers did their work. I even laughed, a shrill maniacal outburst, out-burst, and I talked : "Do you see, Dulce, my own, how a craven dies?" "No, Loren, no ; it is murder 1 If you love me, dear heart, you will not do it!" "But he offered Insult to thee . . . shall I not kill him for that, does he not deserve ?" "Listen, Loren, do you not hear it?" Now there came to us the clear high notes of a bugle, a penetrating, electric elec-tric summons. I guess I am, and have always been, first a soldier, for that call to arms cleansed my mind of hatred and found a soldier's ready acquiescence in my heart. Colonel Pinl, freed at last, staggered to the table and braced his swaying body with his hands. "You will pay for this, Senor," he rasped through a tortured throat. Wild yells followed the call of the bugle, and intermittent thudding of guns, then an orderly fusillade. I knew that the Spaniards, having reformed re-formed behind us to cut us off, were Investing the city. "I expect to pay, colonel, and you will doubtless pay when Bolivar hears how you have thrown away the fruits of a dearly bought victory." "After this skirmish," he said, moving mov-ing unsteadily toward the wreckage of the doorway, "there will be a court." "I shall be ready, my colonel." "Ah, Loren, that you should have found me thus!" "I am thankful that I was able to find you at all." I went to my knees and pressed my lips against a slim hand, for my love for her has been the sort of worship that mortals offer up to saints. "Am I not forgiven, Senorita, that I was so blind as not to see through your masquerade?" She put her hand upon my head. "It is light again your hair. I am glad, Loren." The tumult of conflict approached, and I knew the force of Colonel Pini, drunk with a false victory and too much wine, and Insufficiently outfitted with guns and ammunition, were beaten, and moving back. "Do they lose your men?" I nodded. "I am sorry ; Spain does not belong in Venezuela. I have seen. You must go, you must save yourself. Your life" "Dp you love me, Dulce mia?" Now she came to her knees beside me. "Ah, Loren mio, there is nothing noth-ing in my life but love for thee !" "Then you forgive?" "Aye, dear heart I Kiss me, kiss me and hold me, hold me close, then . . . Loren, you are wounded, there is blood. Ah, God preserve thee !" "My arm only, but I can hold thee well with one." I laughed in an excess ex-cess of happiness. So I kissed the shining hair, the tear-dimmed eyes, and the tender lips, and I held her close to my heart again, for I knew that this would be the end. Defeat or victory for the forces of Bolivar, my fate was sealed. "Pollio," I said, "lies wounded, but not seriously, In an adobe house less than two hundred meters south from here." Now she clung to me, face upraised In pleading. "Is there blame In thy heart, Loren, that Polito should be fighting for the Spanish?" "A soldier may not turn his back upon his country, my sweet ; Polito owes his service to his king." "Bless thee, my own . . . Adios!" (TO BE CONTINUED.) fkfb Ji CHAPTER VIII 13 I The Bugle of Maracay 1 Emerging again Into the sunlight I found the Irish captain still offering Bturdy support to the adobe wall. ''Every time our colonel wins a battle," bat-tle," said he, "he thinks he's Alexander." Alex-ander." "You speak In parables, Monahan; Pini fall a deal short of Alexander." . He grinned, and bent his red head to indicate a massive rock house a stone's throw to the north of us. ''That's his headquarters or will be until the Spaniards run us out again. Ha has lately entered It, with a lady ... a reluctant lady, It's true, but the manner of Pinl was gently but firmly coercive, so . . ." "I shall apprise him of our danger at once; we must re-form, and we must keep In touch with the main body of Bolivar's army, else we are lost, for our ammunition " "Sure," he said. He caught hold of piy arm as I turned away. "Is your pistol loaded, Garde?" There was a strange light In his blue eyes, and under his air of seeming Indifference I read a definite tenseness. "Do I require a pistol to approach jour colonel?" He shrugged. "Go ahead; you went In Caracas without a gun and out again. This lion's den should be vastly vast-ly simpler. A Providence watches jover you." The heavy wooden door with its exquisite ex-quisite carvings stood open and as I would have entered, a sentry put a gun across the doorway. "The colonel has Issued orders that he Is not to be disturbed; will the major wait?" "The major won't ; will you tell the colonel ?" He showed white teeth in a wide grin. "I cannot ; It would be as much as my life Is worth to disturb him." While I waited, wondering what should be done, the colonel's tenor, carrying the burden of a caress, came down the hallway: "Would not the wines of Montalban caress thy palate, Bonita?" . I failed to catch Bonita's reply, but It was not acquiescence, for the colonel col-onel spoke again : "When the Span-. Span-. fards take a city, Senorita, they take nil that is in It; may we, then, do less?" ! He laughed at her rejoinder and continued: "Had I known Maracay held- so gorgeous a beauty I should have taken It long ago ; so fair a .Vision of loveliness may not be kept for a mere Spaniard ... he cannot properly appreciate. Be not so cold," he pleaded ; "a little wine, a little " : "No, no," she cried, "ah, no !" ' Name of G d the one voice in all the world! It had called to me in my dreams, it had ridden the wings of ' the wind, and now . . . With no thought of consequences I thrust the sentry aside with a sweep of my arm, sped along the hallway and threw my body against the door, which crashed Inward under the impact im-pact of my fall. By the time I had regained my feet Pini, pistol held ready, was standing across the table from me, and the Senorita Lamartina leaned against the wall, fear in her pale face and slim hands pressed against her bosom. "Senor!" she gasped. "Dulce !" Colonel Pini, misunderstanding me, jlaughed. ''Aye, dulce indeed, Major arde, for she Is the sweetest by far of all those that the stupid Spaniard has yet brought over. But why do 'you enter my quarters by such forceful force-ful means?" I Think! I must think, I must control con-trol myself ; blind luck so far had .been my portion, but now . . . Gracious Gra-cious G d, give me the use of my ,brain ! Pini did not recognize her, did not realize the value of the prize that he had won ; then, manifestly, he should remain in ignorance. ! "A vision, in truth !" said I, laughing. laugh-ing. "But do you not know, my colonel, col-onel, that the taking of Maracay has cost us over a hundred men? We would hasten." She looked at me in amazement, resentment re-sentment in the deep blue eyes, and I thought, an expression . of pleading also. ' "Aye." Pinl agreed, "a hundred men Indeed but it's worth It ; the Senorita alone is worth two hundred." I think the garrulous colonel had partaken too freely of the wines of Montalban. "Yet there is much to do." "Did not Bolivar say to take the city, and have I not done so?" j "Yes, but General Bolivar also said to hold It. Do you not know, my colonel, col-onel, that half our Indian soldiers, having fired away their remaining ammunition am-munition In celebration of our victory, have discarded their guns, assuming them empty to be of no further uie?" He laughed. "A misfortune, but nothing tragic; It has ever been the habit of the stupid savages. A thing to be discounted as inevitable." "And," I continued, "that the forces of Paez and i'laza have fallen back before the Spaniards, freeing the two wings that may now close in upon us; that if we do not move swiftly our lines of communication with Bolivar's "Did Not Bolivar Say to Take the City, and Have I Not Done So?" tina no? Then she shall see how we deal with insubordination, a grievous crime. At such a time I may be judge and jury and executioner, for it is my right." "The pistol Is not made, my colonel," col-onel," I said, "that may kill me instantly, in-stantly, and if I am given so much as half a minute " "No," said Dulce, "no !" She came forward, arms outstretched, toward the man who waited, weapon pointing at my heart. "Anything, Colonel Pinl, but" I thrust her aside. "No !' I cried, leaping toward him as the gun roared, filling the room with thunder. Flame traversed my arm and sent the red-hot red-hot pain coursing through my body. My right arm fell, useless, and the fingers of my left hand found his throat, and held. No matter what befell I knew that only death awaited me, for this attack upon a superior officer, regardless of |