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SLATERS RAID
It was a cosmopolitan group that sat
around the campfires of Slaters Horse
The troop numbered twenty men all
told drawn from every one of the Anglo-Saxon
races of the planet There
were Americans Englishmen Cana
dians Australians and South Afri
cans and they had come from the ends
of the earth to take part in such a row
as promised to follow when Cuba
her flag against that of Spain
Their leader was a Virginian there
tvasndt a Cuban or a Spaniard in the
company and the name of Slaters
Troop was a name of terror to the
government forces from Pinar del Rio
to Sagua la Grande
To see them thus encamped no one
would have supposed that they were
engaged in one of the most daring raids
that had been adventured since the
war opened in 93 The officers there
were but two sat democratically on
the ground among their men there was
a tinkling of banjos and a mingled
sound of confused talking and of jovial
free handed profanity The shadows
of the men loomed big on the back
ground of tropical vegetation where
the red fixe light flashed fitfully from
tirne to time and now the form of a
tethered horse and now the figure of a
sentry leaning against a smooth coated
palm
It was no small affair that these men
were engaged in nothing less in fact
than a raid on the trocha itself It
is not the policy of the Cuban leaders
to risk a pitched battle so to arouse
the enthusiasm of the men and at the
same time keep the enemy on the alert
such expeditions are undertaken from
time to tirue
They have encamped some fifty miles
from the Spanish lines and the attack
was fixed for the next night -A dash
across the country a stealthy advance
on the fortification another dash sa
bre and revolver and a triumphal re
treatthis was the program that Sla
ters Horse proposed to itself
Next morning they rode up and down
the Tolling hills in the early dawn for
two hours and then rested for the
heat of the day in a cool and very se
cluded grove where they would be
screened from any wandering gueril
las Late at night they saddled again
and rode cautiously forward till they
were not more than forty rods from
the trocha itself They could see the
watehfires on the further side of the
great redoubt shining between the
strands of the barbed wire fence
stretched along the brink
Between them and the trocha lay a
dangerous obstacle an ingenious de
fense composed of a number of wires
drawn six inches apart and a foot above
the ground This formed a network
over which it was impossible to ride
and as its width was uncertain was
dangerous to leap Slater knew of tiiis
Impediment however and had made
his plans accordingly Half a dozen
then dismounted in silence and taking
each a pair of nippers from his saddle
bags crept forward into the darkness
The rest of the troop sat silently on
horseback harkening to the sounds and
voices from the Spanish camp and to
the occasional clicking noise right
ahead where their comrades were cut
ting the hostile wires
In the course of half an hour the
men came back and in whispers re
ported the way clear The wires had
been cut and dragged aside so as to
leave a road of sufficient width for the
passage of the troop even in the hur
ried retreat which must follow The
whole party than dismounted and led
the horses stealthily forward till al
most at the very brink of the trocha
The Spaniards on the other side were
clearly visible while they themselves
were hidden in deep shadows and the
rest scrambled into the ditch and up
the other side
So quietly was all this done that the
whole performance passed unobserved
till Slater sprang upon the parapet and
began slashing at the wires with his
machete Then there was a shout
and shot from the nearest Spaniard
followed by a miscellaneous rattle of
rifles along the lines The troops
swarmed out and saw a string of men
hacking furiously at the wires with
one hand and plying a revolver with
the other In the dim fire light their
numbers could not be ascertained
At this amazing spectacle the soldiers
fired a volley that is discharged their
Tifles in the general direction of the
foe When the smoke blew off this
operation seemed to have produced no
effect on the invaders who had now
cut and torn the strands apart and
were actually within the inclosure
They bore down in the line on the Span
lards revolver in one hand blade in
the other No soldier marksmen were
they but men whose lives had often
and often hung upon a pistol shot and
bow their enemies felt the effect In
ten seconds thirty of the gray uniforms
were writhing on the sod and the re
mainder beheld the machetes flashing
In their faces The Castillians are not
without a proverb that teaches that dis
cretion is the better part of valor they
drew back Their shots seemed to
have no effect on these madmen whose
pistols emitted a continuous stream of
jfire The withdrawal became retreat
the retreat a panic They crowded to
gether and ran for the tents a
men routed by seventeen Slater
did not pursue them further The long
roll was sounding up and down the
lines and the firing would bring down
a dozen regiments in five minutes He
had done all that was necessary had
cut up the enemys lines with a small
quarter of a company and without
loss so that it was time to retreat as
swiftly as he had made the attack
come leaving the cut wires and the
rows of dead to mark where they had
passed A minute more and they were
mounted and thundering across the
country again
As they rode Slater said to the man
nearest him a graduate of Harvard
We have singed the Spanish kings
beard eh
And the other replied Precisely
Then after a mile or so -They wont
let this pass do you think
What do you mean That theyll
follow us
Yes
Nonsense Not a bit of it
He was wrong for there was at that
moment rage and cursing in the Span
ish camp The officer in command at
that point had laid a heavy wager
that the rebels would never break the
lines Naturally he was furious That
the majesty of the powers of Spain
should be slighted that the works
should be broken that his men should
be slaughtered this was bad enough
in all conscience but that he should
lose his gold doubloons this was un
bearable He fumed and swore and
called to him a captain of guerilla cav
alry
Captain
Senior
You have a hundred men in your
troop
A hundred and fifty
that the guerillas were riding down the
field they had just passed through
Tho pursuit was gaining fast In an
other minute there was a roar of shouts
and cheers from behind and turning
they saw the hill side crested with a
would be more than enough to lead
them into safety Down the long slope
the two bands swept a full mile be
tween them and up another when an
astonishing sight met them as they
topped the rise
Away to the left in the following val
ley smoke was rising from a burning
house The yard before it was filled
with Spanish soldiery Two women
stood bound in the midst There seem
ed to be an altercation A soldier be
gan to reeve a rope over a convenient
tree bough
All this flashed before the mens
eyes in a moment There was no
A torch was thrust into the nearest tation nor were there any orders giv
cluster of tents the Maxim guns within en- Tuse of Slaters troop were ac
reach were tumbled into the ditch and customed to follow -when Slater led
the little band went back as thev had ana tney gauopeu at nis neeis as ne
i i
spurred furiously down the hulslope i
The Spaniards by the house were sud 1
denly aware of a mingled rattle of
hoofs and pistol shots and beheld a
rush or men sweeping down upon
them brandishing weapons and volley
ing forth curses and bullets at once
A moment and they were struck
crushed ridden down The sheer
weight of Slaters headlong charge
scattered them in every direction At
the same time the deadly machete and
more deadly sixshooter were at work
Throw the women across your shoul
ders roared Slater They were jerk
ed up in an instant by two brawny
troopers It was no time for ceremo
ny
Now hard ahead And before the
Spaniards had recovered from the
shock their assailants were dashing
past the outbuildings of the hacienda
and had disappeared behind the sheds
At the same time the guerillas swarm
ed in and the soldiers also mounted
and followed the chase
Meanwhile Slaters men had met un
expected obstacles A high and strong
wire fence stood firmly across their
way it was apparently designed to be
horse proof There was no gate and
the ends were not in sight
Well cut it then shouted the lead
er with a rattle of oaths when its im
pregnability became apparent and
d n quick too He drew his ma-
The guerillas were well mounted and
Slaters horses were not fresh The
pearly dawn came up before them
and then the sun was trailing long
shadows behind them as they galloped
It was 4 oclock and forty miles back
to the trocha
And now at last they seemed to have
distanced their pursuers for no rum
ble came out of the west They fed
their horses a few armf uls of the green
tops of the sugar cane refreshing and
stimulating and gave them a little
water from a roadside broot ana
rubbed them down as time would per
mit That was not much for before
they had finished the sounds of pur
suit again grew upon them
Forty miles farther and we will be
in our own lines remarked Slater
For three hours more the wiry little
Cuban horses bore their riders swiftly
though the sun grew high and angry
They had struck off the highway rid
den through a field of cane and were
now galloping down a wide stretch of
sloping prairie dotted with cocoa
palms They scarcely expected that
the enemy would fail to notice where
the chase had left the road so they
were not disappointed when the long
crash of breaking stalks announced
A RUSH OF MEN SWEEPING DOWN UPON THEM
Good Pursue these accursed Amer
icans There are not more than thirty
Follow them to Santiago if necessary
but catch them dead or alive
Very well General replied the
guerilla and retired to muster his men
and to sound the Boots and Saddles
A hundred to twenty would be long
odds even for Slaters Horse
So it came about that when Slaters
men drew rein fifteen miles from the
trocha and sat silent a clustered black
spot on the moonlit road they heard
a low thunder come rolling up from
the west the thunder of pounding
hoofs
By Jove said the Englishman who
was related to the eminent author
Not three miles away asserted the
Canadian who had just come from
the Egyptian Soudan
Forward then said Slater and
away they went up and down the roll
ing hills whither the ill made road led
them The country was too rough to
allow of taking to the fields where the
Spaniards might be thrown off the
trail but it would be smoother in the
course of a few leagues All night
they rode hard and sometimes the
following thunder was loud and often
faint but never wholly died away
chete and slashed as furiously at these
wires as he had done at those of the
trocha
In a minute or less an opening had
been made and the riders were
through When the Spaniards arrived
at the same point their greater num
ber and the narrowness of the gap
caused a tremendous crush which gave
the insurgents a much needed start
It was soon lost however The fresh
horses of the Spanish reinforcement
rapidly overhauled the little troop
And to add to their difficulties a deep
ravine suddenly appeared ahead To
scramble in and out of it with suffi
cient rapidity would be impossible for
the tired horses two of which car
ried double loads To have cast the
women aside might have facilitated
their escape but no one seemed to
dream of such an act nor was there
a word of regret for the delay which
had caused them to be overtaken Sla
ter drew in his horse and the others
gathered round
Ways closed said the leader sen
tentiously Got to fight here or sur
render
Or cut our way through suggest
ed the man from Harvard
The women remarked Slater and
the other accepted the fact
If they were only mounted mut
tered a trooper
The Spanish riders were now draw
ing in and a volley of carabines ran
before They had aimed high with
the result that three men of the troop
toppled from their saddles This left
the number of mounts free
Cant you ride Senora said Sla
ter Both replied in the affirmative
Then mount here if you please We
must try to cut our way out
Are you afraid
It is the privilege of a Cuban wom
an to fear nothing except capture by
these
The man from Harvard was struck
by her courage but he could not stop
to admire it The women were helped
astride the dead troopers saddles it
was no time for false modesty and
the rest formed up around them One
of the women held out her hand to
ward Slaters holsters but he pointed
out the fact that there were pistols al
ready in the holsters before them They
took these out and handled them with
familiarity
The Spaniards had paused a few hun
dred yards away and were scrutiniz
ing the men they had pursued I do
not know why tkey did not rush down
and overwhelm them by sheer weigbt
Possibly so much coolness made them
suspect a ruse or ambuscade At any
rate they stood still a moment till they
saw the band form in hollow square
long line of galloping gray coated men i with the women in the center and
The peril was Imminent yet the charge down upon them
staunch beasts had the material in them
for a good ten mile burst yet and this
r fiii fi
Slater was leading The guerillas as
sayed to move forward to meet the at
tack and when they came within fifty
yards the pistols began to crackle on
both sides A charging horse stum
bled heavily to the ground throwing
his rider headlong An incessant vol
ley poured from the deft revolvers
of the assailants and the Spaniards
recoiled from the spot on which it was
directed where men and horses rolled
together on the earth A moment and
the little company with the impetus
of a bullet had crashed into this
shrinking spot and sunk right in for
five horses lengths There was a shim-
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HE WAS AIOXE
mer all about as the men swung the
machetes above their heads and urged
on the plunging horses The Span
iards directly in front strove to get
clear to have more room for fighting
and the insurgents pushed forward to
the furthest Inch It really seemed
for a little that they would win through
the Spanish ranks
The guerillas next the troop were
exchanging desperate sword strokes
with their antagonists while those far
ther out were pressing closer and fir
ing wildly into the swirl of fight with
revolvers Five of Slaters men had
gone down beneath the blows that
came from the front and rear alike
There were but twelve left and these
redoubled their efforts to break through
the trap that held them fast Slater
rode in front slashing to right and left
with a huge machete He cut down
an opposing trooper pistoled the horse
as the rider fell and spurred forwaru
into the space thus provided His
men followed and by sheer dint of
blows managed to gain a few yards
more But the foe gathered close and
again two of the handful went down
The air was all a quiver with steel
blades about the fight but now that
the insurgents had got fairly in mo
tion once more they were slowly yet
surely thrusting their way through the
circling crowd But they lost a man
for every yard they won Pistol bul
lets hummed through the melee strik
ing down friend and foe alike One
of the women was hit as she fifed into
the dense gray ranks the other either
wounded or fainting slid from her sad
dle and both disappeared beneath the
press
While Slaters horse thus melted
apace Slater rode in the front and
knew not how the others fared He
only knew that he was hewing his
desperate way forward as a bushman
hews his way through the tropical jun
gle He had lost his hat and his hair
was clotted and dripping with blood
but he took no heed of the wounds aal
his effort was to roach the open space
beyond And at last bleeding horse
and man he swayc into the clear
ground and looked about for his men
Not one had followed he was alone
The women he had rescued were gone
too He stared about as if dazed
while the Spaniards stood and wonder
ed f t the man who had done so might
ily in the battle The blood was pom
ing from a deep cut in the neck of his
horse The animals knees began to
totter and presently it sank to the
ground
Slater fell with it The troops rust
ed forward but when they came to
him he was dead with the red blade
still clinched in his fingers
And the women for whom this scortt
of men had recklessly thrown awaj
their lives lay trampled and crushed
beneath the hoofs of the guerilla horse
But shall it therefore be said of Slateri
troops that their sacrifice was madt
in vain
Morn Youll Keep
Some years ago an old sign painter
was very cross very gruff and i
little deaf was engaged to paint the
Ten Commandments on some tablets
in a church not five miles from Buffalo
He worked two days at it and at th6
end of the second day the pastor of the
church came to see how the work prog
ressed
The old man stood by smoking a
short pipe as the reverend gentleman
ran his eyes over the tablets
Eh said the pastor as his familiar
eye detected something wrong in the
working of the precepts why you
careless old man you have left a part
of one of the commandments entirely
out dont you see
No no such thing said the old man
putting on his spectacles no nothing
left out where
Why there persisted the pastor
look at it in the Bible you have left
some of that commandment oJt
Well what if I have raid old
Obstinacy as he ran his eye compla
cently over his work what if I have
Theres more there now than youll
keep
Another and a more correct artist was
employed the next day
A Good Thing
A Lewiston Me confectioner has ap
plied for a patent on a process by which
pasteboardboxesmay be so treated that
ice cream packed in them will remain
solidly frozen for twenty four hours
JUST TEN SCHOLARS
HAS THIS QUEER SCHOOL ON
AN ISLAND
bequest fora Teacher Comes to the San
Francisco School Board from the
Strangest School District in All
America
Out in the Pacific
A few weeks ago a little modest peti
tion on paper as white as the wing of
a seabird or the wandering foam drift
ed in before the Sun Francisco Board
of School Directors In brief its mes
sage was Send us a school teacher for
our little children and we will pay the
salary and furnish board The pathos
in this little petition could not be un
derstood without knowledge of the en
vironments of the petitioners and of
the children for whose welfare they are
solicitous
Surrounded by the deep Pacific
Ocean lies the South Farallon Island
the largest of the Farallon group Its
shores rise abruptly and form an etern
al barrier of stone against the waves
which thunder against adamantine
ramparts Devoid nearly of vegetar
tion and swept ceaselessly by the
winds from north south and west it is
like a stern and frowning outpost es
tablished for the safety of the white
winged and majestic ships that sweep
by it proudly in sunshine and creep tim
orously past when the fog wraithlike
hovers over or settles down and hides
its buried and threatening rocks under
a mantle more dreadful than night
Cut off from the California mainland by
a broad belt of heaving sea its nearest
western neighbors are the Hawaiian
Islands S00 leagues distant Here the
tempests of winter wreak their full
force and old Neptune with the trump
ets of the storm winds calls the bil
lows to the charge
-
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2tT - - s
5B2TC
jzy
Once every quarter the Cnited States-
Government through the lighthouse
tending steamer comes plowing Iw
way proudly to the island with a load
of supplies Then there is a holiday
for the children come In contact with
the wonders of that outer world in a
faint way which Is ordinarily ouly a
mysterious but magnificent and huge
something replete with the joys andj
terrors of real life tne visble outer1
boundary of which is only a shore line
piled with breakers and whitened witn
foam
A teacher Is wanted in this queer
school district There have been sdr i
eral off there The last two were young
ladies who taught awhile and them
sought once more the more numerous
attractions of the shore A gentleman
taught there for awhile and he found
his little charges attentive bright and
easily interested Here is a chance
says the San Francisco Call for any-
one who can appreciate the ever abid j
ing majesty of the ocean and who
covets a quiet place in which to readi
and reflect
Sympathy
In what way motive flavors acts at
the same time that it induces them Is
beyond the power of metaphysician to
reveal But that it does flavor them
we well know There is a subtle chem
istry that works silently but forcefully
between mind and mind whose laws
have not yet been discovered by some
of theelementsthatenter into this magic
play of forces are easily palapable One
of these elements in motive that plays
back and forth between teacher and
pupil in the business of education is
sympathy that keen and loving ap
preciation of difficulty and of need on
the part of one that awakes latent good
and stimulates slumbering activity in
another Where learning and logic and
shrewdness stand strengthless the look
of sympathy can touch the heart and
move the will Who would teach the
child must reach him and would reach
him must feel with childhood He must
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CgiS gj
THE STfcANGE SCHOOL UJSTKICT AND ALL THERE IS OF IT
High upon a peak 300 feet above the
level of the all encircling ocean is
superimposed a tall lighthouse whose
eye of fire like a cyclops glares angri
ly through the thickness and blackness
6f night upon -watery wastes look
ing to the north west and south seem
shoreless To the east and southeast
upon a clear night other cyclones leer
at the sea and at the ships which sail
or which trail long banners of smoke
athwart the sky line In the fog these
kin monitors of like isolation are not
seen by the dwellers on the South
Farallon No the whole world seems
whelmed in a universe of impenetrable
vapor and while the sturdy men who
tend the light and keep the siren going
are busied at their lonely posts their
families their little children be
leagued by all the sea sleep far away
from city joys and diversions and com
panionships Through the darkness
above the sound of the breaking waves
booms the fog siren answered by its
hoarse neighbor at Point Reyes and its
blasts fall upon the ears of the be
leaguered listeners with the regularity
of the tolling of a bell that might be
rung by implacable fate doling out life
in periods
There are eight rosy little children
on the South Farallon and two older
ones They are there because their
parents are earning a living for them
selves and their families in the gov
ernment service maintaining the light
and the siren It was in their behalf
that their parents have asked for a
teacher Ten children are all the pupils
there are in this strangest school dis
trict in all the earth They have one
room fitted up for school purposes in
which there are little desks benches
and blackboards and a supply of
schoolbooks a globe which represents
the round earth of which they occupy
so small a portion and that time-honored
institution the teachers desk
From the windows of the schoolroom
and hard by is the engine house and
siren house one furnishing the voice
which comes from the other punc
tuating the wash of the waters and the
voices of the children and their teach
erwhen they have one During a cer
tain season of about three months dur
ation hundreds of thousands of sea
birds in great flights circle about the
schoolhouse with their discordant
cries and settle upon the barren rocks
where they make their nests
As the children study their thoughts
are led to wander by the occasional
sight of a passing ocean steamer laden
with many passengers who seem to be
free to come and go and the steamer
and its freedom stimulates their im
agination before and after It sinks in
to oblivion below the far horizon line
where the sky and ocean meet
As they bend over their tasks they
know that there will no parades pro
cessions circuses theaters concerts or
crowds to divert them later in the day
They occupy a world of their own ed
ucational and workaday into wMeh
outsiders very seldom intrude Weeks
may pass without a daily newspaper
coming to them TugDoats visit them
very seldom if ever There are about
four great days in the year when ex
citement runs high among the little
schoolchildren
know its sources of joy its hills of diffi
culty its miry paths he must have the
boy alive inside of him Who has so far
withdrawn from his own childhood and
satisfaction in its enjoyments tbatthei
ooy or girl within has long ago beenV
solemnly buried has lost the key flower
that admits to the treasure house ofj
youth Midland Schools
The Bishop Is Rijrht
Said Bishop Spaulding before the
N E A I have noticed that we are
proud of our school buildings I do
not care about that I want to know
what kind of life Is fostered there I
say that many of these factory like
structures thwart the cause of
tion I say the little country school-
house discolored and not larger than
a dry goqds box is a better place for
education than the barracks of our
city school life The nearer we get to
nature the closer we get to truth City
life is decadent and it would die out
if it were not constantly augmented
from the country I tell you how to
educate city children is a serious
lem We wear out the teachers andj
make a herd rather than an
tion of individuals And again We
shall never get the best schools until
we get the best talent and we shall
never get the best talent until we can
offer better Inducements It is wise
to turn our attention to the profesion j
al improvement of the teachers But
let us also work for better Induce- V
ments and more independence And S
the Bishop is right Popular Educator 1
A Day Sfcfaen All Goes Wrong
Do you ever have a day in schojol
when everything goes wrong Wlen
the children do everything they should
not do and leave undone everything
they ought to do When by 4 oclock
you feel as if your nerves were bare
and the evenings work seems like a
mountain before you We all havej
such days Let me tell you how to avoid
a recurrence of such an experience on
the morrow First temporize with your
conscience and let part of that
tain of evening work go Be sure to goj
to bed early that night if you never do
again In the morning put on yourt
prettiest gown and do your hair up the
most becoming way and I promise you
that instead of the day of war you arej
expecting you will find your pupils like
little angek A B C in School Edur
cation
Siirn of the Times
The students in a Scotch university
have the power of impeaching a pro
fessor before the university court and
of forcing his dismissal if they can
prove that he has neglected his duty to
the institution A curious case of this
sort has just been brought to public
notice Aberdeen undergraduates
says the London correspondent of thei
New York Times have just succeed-
ed in a suit of this sort and secureJ
the dismissal of the professor of Bib i
lical criticism on the quaint ground
that he is too orthodox and hence fail i
ed to initiate them into the higher
forms of modern criticism That such
a complaint should be regarded as val J
id in Aberdeen of all places on earth
strikes Englishmen as a remarkably
i sign of the times
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