| Show THE VALE OF 1 ta ARAGON sp by bj FRED author audbor of the blade of op copyright by bv bobbs merrul co service THE STORY in new orleans in 1821 loren garde recently an officer under general jackson Is surprised by the appearance in ancient spanish costume of 0 two men and a woman whose beauty enchants anchan t a him resenting the arrogance of the older elder of the two men garde fights with him and wounds him he learns his opponent Is adolfo de fuentes Fu entea colonel in the spanish army in venezuela garde overhears a plot to overthrow spanish rule in venezuela discovered he fights but Is overpowered and made prisoner on the santa lucrecia Luc ship chip bearing arms for or the venezuelans Venezuela ns on board are the conspirators the lady of 0 his love her brother po alto and de fuentes prom from the girl garde cards learns her name Is 1 3 dulce lamartina Lamart lna he loves her but does not reveal his love the vessel Is wrecked garde reaches the venezuelan shore alone ile he encounters a stranger and sees gees dulce the stranger captain monahan of the british lesion leg on under bolivar directs him to friends in caracas there supplied by monahan with the secret sign of the patriots he la Is welcomed at the revolutionary headquarters garde attends the wedding of dulco dulce and do de fuentes dulce recognizes him and leaves do de fuentes at the altar she to li torn from gardes arms ile he escapes finding garde dulce tells him her wedding to do de fuentes was to have been the price of gardes life they reveal their mutual love garde Is made prisoner from de puente fuentes 5 0 he learns dulce has disappeared d ile he Is rescued from prison by a revolutionist manuel and with polito sets out tor for bolivard Bo livars camp they are intercepted by venezuelan soldiers garde discovers his companion ot of the night has been dulce and to Is dismayed by his lack ot of perception dulce escapes but garde Is so seized zed ills his captor to Is colonel pint garde garda Is brought before bolivar CHAPTER VII continued 12 manvel rides a horse h orse as well as he does a ship said francisco relief in his bis dark eyes aye friend of mine I 1 whispered he la Is most opportune for I 1 felt that manuel would save me the sailor pushed through the crowd of curious indians who had gathered 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 deep affection in his voice 1 I have not seen thee for months what brings thee in such haste from caracas manuel grinned at the rest of us na caracas general Is boiling nis nia dancing eyes considered me where Is the senorita aye said monahan laughing did he not boast the next man who asks me about the senorita manuel shall feel the weight of my list fist 11 the sailors keen insight read the menace in the air this man general belongs to us he la Is one of ris rg 11 yet he be 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 tat fat off officers leers 11 ile he stopped to laugh again finally one a captain approached upon his head I 1 deposited the piece of tiling and upon his fla flattened bened body I 1 deposited myself in two minutes he was minus the uniform unito to rm the americano Amerl Amer feano cano now wears which in truth Is grievously inadequate bolivar laughed a rich ringing laugh that meant life to me and tho the city he said is 13 boiling because of that what more there Is little more general the beautiful senorita lamartina Lamart lna Is lost and nil all the tha forces of caracas have failed to find her my part of the escapade of the americano Amerl cano who has aided us tremendously and who comes to offer service to our cause was too evident so ao further stay in the city was impossible lastly la torre plans a move against the armies of your excellency it Is good news neva manuel for we shall be ready randy bolivar considered a long moment what of the spanish officer who rode last night with this americano Amerl cano there wag wa no spanish officer general who rr rf je ie with him the resemblance bi litween tween the senorita and her brother lieutenant polito is a very striking tiling thing you mean to tell us manuel anuel SI that she aye general the swarthy sailor laughed she used collton Poll roll ton to broken head and his cold and tho the allen all enveloping ve cloak to hide her identity and she tea ides a horse as aa well as aa anyone bolivar smiled yet tet the tale that he brought us was so BO impossible I 1 turned to the liberator it if ilia hla 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 now bolivar took me by the hand band and smiled into my eyes francisco has told me much of you it if andrew jackson lias has looked upon you with favor francisco interrupted 1 I 1 have the proof excellency here in my pocket ile he drew out the thin leathern wallet that had been in my possession when I 1 had played so poorly the part of san isidro in that wallet I 1 had carried since a few days after the battle of chalmette a piece of paper torn from the flyleaf fly leaf of my french grammar upon which gen andrew jackson had written a statement the night he had stay edat my fathers father shouse house a statement which worthless in itself has 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 offered vallant valiant service to his country he has fought with conspicuous gallantry at talladega at horseshoe bend at pensacola Pensa rens coln acola and at chalmette A worthy son of a worthy soldier father 11 it Is signed excellency E xcell ency francisco said andrew jackson one could not have come to me said bolivar more highly recommended reco m if general jackson has seen fit to commission you a major su surely rely I 1 can do no less but excellency I 1 cried it Is too much it Is more than I 1 deserve I 1 cannot hope 11 it shall be done major francisco has haa said you will make a good soldier and Francis cos judgment Is never at fault such was my first meeting with the liberator to whom half of south america owes its independence and all of the western world offers homage colonel pint the sophist extended 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 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 dass filled with feverish activity went by and quiet nights under the stars were given over to worship at the shrine of love for the face of dulce was ever before me she lemed to be calling railing calling and I 1 have awakened crying ci out u t her name from dreams that were so real I 1 could almost have touched her 1 er and 1 because of the desperation of my love I 1 became a better soldier knowin knowing that this nightmare of murder as she called it would be over only when bolivar had won for he wl was as not a man to 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 hom venezuela today renders homage moore bolivard Bo livars doctor a vivacious english gentleman marino marine his chief of staff gen belford wilson veteran and son of sir robert hobert wilson of peninsular fame paez chief of the llaneros and later president of venezuela more than once and cedeno bermudez plaza and urdaneta 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 indians lean Ila llaneros neros the mixed riffraff of cities and 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 overl over touched thorn them with the divine spark of patriotism and made of this composite crew an army that finally crushed the power of spain in venezuela one mild may morning as the sun sen stood an hour above the heights of san we broke through the carabobo Car abobo hills and descended upon the little city of cura cara having navin no garrison it fell readily into 0 our ur hands then we deployed east and west and north to invest the town of Mar karacay maracay acay for that was our goal that the first long stride in the race for puerto cabello I 1 remembered well th the i last words of bolivar to him who commanded the center olour of our attacking lines lie ile had embraced our colonel and had said remember pint we take the town of maracay karacay and hold it and colonel pint had saluted proud of this glorious mission tor for pint however much he may have failed had bad no lack ot of courage on the broad fertile valley that lies to the east of lake valencia we met the enemy paez east of us and plaza to the west attacking at the same time the history of venezuela calls this battle only a skirmish for it failed of its goal because tho the body cannot go forward if the wings are dragging in our unit were two hundred of the british legion and over four hundred indians and despite the dragging wings we pushed on onward w ard until we touched the town which lifter after an hour of fiercely contested fighting tell 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 dr drinks inks to satisfy them and so 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 BO squads were roaming over the city carrying to the nearest available houses wounded men for treatment at one of these houses I 1 found cap tain fain monahan ite he was leaning against an adobe wall hands in the pockets of his tan and gray jacket noisome pipe tilted at a rakish angle and idle eyes upon a western sun why do you stand there I 1 laughed will the poor walls fall it if you remove your support 1 I am waiting said he disregarding my levity for colonel pint to come to his senses then yo you u have a long wait my captain for pint will never arrive the lamartina Lamart lna boy Is inside he pointed over his shoulder with an indifferent thumb lie wants to sea you Is he wounded monahan 1 not much did he say anything about his y to me the irishman grinned again im not chasing moonbeams moon beams garde im no sighing romeo im a soldier and a good one my friend said 1 I stooping to pass the portal polito very pale very trail frail lay U upon pon a crude bed of straw ilia his eyes lighted up when he saw me and as he raised a left hand I 1 assumed that his bis right was useless the the moon wraith he said I 1 opened his jacket thrust the shirt aside and found a bullet wound below the collarbone collar bone not so bad 1 1 assured rolito it missed the lung I 1 am certain you should be out in a month who was in command of this sector polito Poll to adolfo lie ile tried to smile a very sorry effort why did did aa you not keep her senor when you yon had the c hance chance she rode away from caracas with you and I 1 sent her back to the lines of spain realizing too late that she was not yourself the revolutionists approached and her life would have been endangered my love for her should have seen through so simple a masquerade I 1 seem always to fall did she I 1 had some difficulty with my voice olce did she marry colonel fuentes he shook his head bead sighing the while adolfo waits ile he offered another feeble smile dulce Is difficult senor does she speak of of me Poll to lie he nodded 1 I think she feels that your regard should have read a mere disguise and so it should senor had I 1 been thinking less of my own affairs forgive me polito I 1 am thinking as usual only of myself J I 1 shall see that a medico comes to attend you at once 1 I would repay you ile he thought a long moment you cannot hold the advantage you have gained senor tor for paez and plaza having failed will permit our wings to close in upon the city I 1 nodded your lines of communication once broken 11 I 1 nodded again for I 1 knew then why monahan awaited the pleasure of colonel pint and I 1 realized the danger ii of the dill atory tactics of ct our colonel TO DB CONTINUED |
