The Crime of the Trenches: or, Clif Faraday's Last Cartridge — page 23: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

y > oo TRUE BLUE. He might have gone to the Spanish camp—it was not unlikely that the treacherous scoundrel was in touch with the dons—he might have proceeded to Mana to join Bruce. Clif did not feel called on'to venture to the former place. The cut was now clear, but beyond its other end the Spaniards ere still entrenched, and the naval ficer felt that he could gain no immaterial point by again running the gauntlet. ‘“TIt is Mana,’’ he decided, ‘‘fast and straight! I feel that I have a solemn duty to perform, the delivery to justice of the murderer of that poor soldier boy, but the woes of the living as well call for attention. To find Bruce, the missing marine, the kidnaped girl, Edna Dan- vers, is to find Parr eventually, for even if he has not gone at once to Mana, his plots are closely concerned with the do- ings of those three, and eventually, I shall have him!’? Besides this, Vic must be at Mana, with possible important information to impart, and Clif turned his stéps west- ward, calculating how speedily he could manage to cover the twenty miles be* tween himself and his proposed point of destination. | The condition of the district he knew to be uncertain and unsafe for a casual stroller in uniforin. * ; The Americans occupied several towns and many strategetical points outside. of them, but here and there the Spaniards were massed, and the shifting tactics of various annoying guerilla hordes made vigilance and caution extremely neces- sary. ~ “Tt 7g no man’s. land for four miles ahead,’’ ruminated Clif. ‘‘Then I can diverge to the camp at Las Dervia, if I choose, secure a horse, and put on faster. There is a light!’ _ Clif, pursuing a furtive, guarded course, came upon the gleams of tle sane sinanating from what seemed to be an isolated hut in a kind of a hollow. - So many former residents in this par- ticular section had been scared out or outed out since the closing in on San- jago had begun, that the circumstances ade him somewhat furious. The light was set prominently, too—a -coming—‘‘the general.’’ 21 lantern in a window—and scouting duty seemed to call for at least a cursory in- vestigation of the circumstance. 7 Clif edged towards the hut in a round- about way. He could make no one out inside the place, although both door and window were open. ‘‘T won’t sneddle here anv further,’’ he decided preparatory to making a detour, but halted again behind a big tree stump. The sound of voices reached the ears of the lurker. Then dimly he made out two forms flitting in the shadows at the side of the house. Clif strained his hearing to catch some intelligent word. It came—witlh a shock. ‘‘T have waited over an hour—how much longer ?”’ Perfectly familiar—from -recent close contact—with the tones, Clif Faraday recognized the speaker instantly. A kind of wondering, extravagant joy possessed him. In the widest range of possibility he could scarcely have hoped that luck, fate, would so soon place him again so near to the man who was now the practical centre of all his interest and plaiis. | It was Parr—the accents were unmis- takable. As his restless proinenade took him momentarily across the bars of light emanating from the window, face and fori were distinctly outlined. With him was a low-browed, hunch- shouldered specimen of the lowest type of Spaniard, “te will be here,’’ this individual was saying eagerly—‘‘you will have no fear. The hour appointed is not yet past. It is important. The general must see you. It is coin, favor, to your score. All is arranged. SY The general! Clif Faraday pricked up his ears. Parr was training in high com- pany, it seemed. What new plot of this ravenous wolf was he destined to run across? . ‘ He had the man at his mercy now— - two crippling shots, a brisk assault, and Clif was not afraid but that he could handle both these fellows. The words of the Spaniard, however, had aroused him. Some one else was _A sinister proceeding Clif noted it, the Do You Want To Know About Theatrical Life? Read the Tip Th. ~~ '_« « 2 - ut 7) wes : * 7% *, : < | Beg ~ 5 * ~~ x ~ - et —_ sa. _, 2 * “ , a / , ,. i a « & ce - - a. res = a GON i ie