A Newspaper Man's Story.
by John G. Rowe.
Originally published in The Novel Magazine (C. Arthur Pearson, Ltd.) vol.2 #10 (Jan 1906).
Telling of the awkward predicament in which a war-correspondent found himself, and the ingenious way in which he extricated himself.
He was a man who had evidently seen a deal of life, and when he said he had been war-correspondent for a New York daily, we knew we were in for a rattling good story if we could only manage to draw him out.
There were five of us in that cheery commercial room, and all, except the individual to whom I have just referred, were old acquaintances of the road.
The new man travelled in fancy soaps, but it was clear to the most superficial observer that he had not always been a bagman. He was too reserved, and, in many other little ways, quite different from the usual type.
We were dying for a yarn of some kind to while away the time, for the weather outside was execrable, and the usual indoor amusements had fallen rather flat. Now, it was evident, as I think I said before, that this new recruit could tell that yarn if he only had a mind to, so one or two of us proceeded to try to wheedle him into it. With very little trouble we succeeded, the way thereto being considerably smoothed over by the gift of a couple of choice cigars.
"Well, yes," he observed, as he prepared to light up. "I might safely say I have already passed through more dangers and hairbreadth escapes than generally fall to the lot of half-a-dozen men. Once, when I was correspondent for the Pioneer in Chili during the late civil war there, I met with an adventure I shall never forget. I doubt if I was ever nearer death—in fact, it seems a miracle to me even now that I should have escaped with my life.
"You read the papers at the time, and no doubt will remember that for long, through some misunderstanding or another, there were very strained relations between the American Minister for Chili and the Insurgent Congress. As a natural result, a bitter feeling was engendered amongst the more ignorant of the populace against Americans of all classes, and many well-known Yankee residents met with ill-usage.
"The ill-feeling culminated in the attack by a Chilian mob upon some sailors belonging to a United States warship in the streets of Valparaiso, and, as perhaps you know, the incident came pretty near bringing about a war between the two Republics. However, matters were amicably settled; but you can just imagine what risks I had to run in the pursuit of my duties as war-correspondent for a Yankee paper at the time.
"On one occasion I was compelled to take refuge in the American Legation at Santiago, and remain there nearly a week; while on several others I had to hide for days in the houses of friendly Chilians.
"But the incident I am going to relate happened to me towards the end of the war, when the Dictator, Balmaceda, was beginning to feel the full effect of his people's wrath, and when the Congressionalists—that is, the better class of them—were so elated with their repeated successes as to be even indulgent to us Gringoes. The rag-tag, however, were as bitter as ever against us.
"I had been sheltered from a furious mob by a generous Chileno, named Don Alonzo Hurtado, at great risk to himself and his family; and, in all conscience, I had to take the earliest opportunity of slipping away from the vicinity for fear of bringing harm to my kind host. The first dark night, therefore, I took advantage of to quit his hacienda, intending to try to reach a place some thirty miles off before morning.
"I had not gone a quarter of the journey, though, before a heavy storm came on with all the suddenness which so frequently occurs in tropical climates. The rain descended in torrents, the thunder rolled continuously, while the flashes of lightning, dazzling in their momentary brilliancy, served only to increase the inky blackness of the night. I was obliged to dismount and lead my horse, which was trembling with fright and evincing keen anxiety to bolt.
"With great difficulty I calmed the animal's fears, and then attempted to pick my way over the wretched road, which was shortly in a nice state indeed from the heavy downpour.
"On and on I stumbled, now splashing through great puddles, now sinking almost up to the knees in soft mud and clay.
"At length a more vivid flash of lightning than usual revealed to me the unpleasant truth that I had wandered from the main road and was traversing a small by-lane, with vast fields stretching away on either hand and not a house within sight. I plodded on some distance further through the pelting storm, and was almost giving up in despair of reaching a human habitation that night, when the lightning showed me a two-storeyed house, standing some distance back from the lane and partly hidden by a dense grove of trees.
"Hope once more flickered in my breast as I opened the gate and led the horse up the path to the hall door. With the handle of my riding whip I gave two or three loud knocks, which seemed to me—was it only fancy?—to echo through the house like a funeral knell.
"By this time the storm had greatly abated its violence; the flashes of lightning were less frequent, and the thunder crashed only at intervals. The rain, however, still fell in sheets.
"I waited for some time after knocking, but no one came, so I gave several more raps loud enough to wake the dead, and again the noise rang hollowly and uncannily through the silent house.
"Even to this day I do not know why, but a horrid feeling of awe and utter panic came over me. There was a strange, creepy sensation about the region of my scalp, and I felt loath to again rouse the silent echoes.
"With an effort I pulled myself together and again struck long and loudly upon the panels of the door. Was I mistaken, or did my ears catch a slight noise within the house like the subdued whispering of several voices together, and then the closing of a door?
"No, I was not mistaken, for presently I heard footsteps approaching, and soon some one fumbling at the bolts and bars securing the door, which the next minute swung back on its hinges.
"A dark, repulsive face, that of a man, appeared in the opening. He held a lantern aloft in one hand, while with the other he maintained a firm grip of the door, as though he meditated shutting it in my face the moment after he had seen who was there.
"'Can you put me up for the night here?' I asked in Spanish. 'I have lost my way, and cannot go on in this weather.'
"'No, this is not an inn," he growled in a surly tone, and he attempted to close the door. But I was desperate with cold and the prospect of having to pass the night wandering about in the slush and rain, so I quickly put my foot inside the door in such a manner as to prevent its being shut.
"'Come, you surely will not spurn me from your door in such weather as this?' I remonstrated. 'Is this the boasted Chilian hospitality?'
"'This is not an inn,' he only sulkily repeated.
"'Well, confound it," said I, nettled at the fellow's churlish behaviour, "if you won't offer me shelter, I'll force my way in.'
"Instantly a knife flashed before my eyes, and I had barely time to step quickly back to avoid being stabbed. As it was, the blow spent itself on empty air, and, before the would-be assassin could recover himself. I had doubled my fist and given it to him between the eyes. He went down with a crash, smashing and extinguishing the lantern in his fall.
"At the noise, a door at the end of the passage was flung open, and several Chilian soldiers came rushing out with fixed bayonets.
"To have attempted resistance would have been madness, and it was too late to think of escape by flight. I had to submit with the best grace possible to being disarmed of my pocket pistol and bound with my hands behind my back.
"Then, without so much as a single word being uttered by one of my captors, I was dragged into a brilliantly-lighted room, which looked snugly warm and cheery after my experiences of the inclement weather outside.
"So sudden a change, though, from almost total darkness to bright light, dazzled my eyes for a few minutes; and it was not until they had grown more accustomed to the illumination of dozens of wax tapers and several lanterns that I was able to take stock of my surroundings.
"The room was large but low-ceilinged, and, in the day time, was lighted by two windows, which were now, however, closely shuttered. A long table occupied the whole of the middle of the floor, and round this were seated about a dozen richly uniformed officers of the Chilian army. They were all, on my entrance, intently listening to the words of a tall, well-made man, with handsome, debonair features, whom I had no difficulty whatever in recognising as Balmaceda, the deposed President and would-be Dictator of Chili, from the numerous portraits of him I had seen.
"As I was roughly hustled into the room, all the officers turned their eyes upon me; and Balmaceda himself, giving me a keen, penetrating glance, queried: 'Who is this, Tomas?'
"'An insolent fellow, your Excellency, who attempted to force his way into the house,' replied the porter, whose only half-concealed fury scarcely allowed him to speak coherently.
"'Well, señor, what have you to say for yourself? Who are you, and what do you mean by trying to force your way in here?'
"'I am an English citizen, at present acting in the capacity of war-correspondent for a New York newspaper, the Pioneer. I simply wanted shelter from the storm outside. This man here, pointing to the angry Tomas, 'refused me admittance, and, rendered desperate at the thought of having to pass the night in the open, I am sorry to say I was so far led away as to use violence to gain an entry.'
"'Bah,' sneered the ex-President. 'Do you think such a story will go down with us? What were you doing about here in such weather? This house is not on the high road to any town of importance, and your very presence in its vicinity is decidedly suspicious. Come, now, confess you are nothing better than a Congressionalist spy.'
"'I am no spy,' I retorted. 'I am an English journalist working for an American paper, and I warn you, Don José Balmaceda, to pause if you think of offering me harm. Remember, your foes are already embroiled in a quarrel with the United States over the outrages committed upon unoffending American residents in Valparaiso. You wouldn't care to attract unpleasant attentions from Britain too, would you?'
"'What! What!' cried the tyrant, flaming with sudden wrath. 'Do you dare to threaten? Caramba, I'll teach you to use such language to me. If you are as you say, a journalist, all the more reason why you should suffer. You newspaper men have held me up to the execration of the whole world. You have all taken sides against me, and stigmatise me as a cruel and usurping despot. I have just longed for this opportunity of wringing one of your confounded necks, and teaching your profession that they cannot make me a laughing-stock with impunity. Here, Carlos! Manuel! Put this fellow in one of the vaults, and see you guard him well. Tomas, tell Sergeant Gomez to have a good strong rope ready for use at daybreak!'
"Struggling and remonstrating, I was dragged from the room and consigned to the rayless, subterranean vaults, where, as may be imagined, I passed anything but a pleasant night. I was torn with doubt as to whether Balmaceda, whose cruel disposition I knew was only equalled by his unscrupulousness, would carry into effect the horrid hint he had thrown out.
"To be hanged as a spy at daybreak! The prospect was by no means cheerful.
"Day dawned at last, and, to my extreme horror, I found that the brutal Dictator fully intended to take vengeance upon me for the way in which my colleagues of the pen had helped to blacken his character before the world. I was led out before the soldiers, who were drawn up expectantly in the grounds; and a noose was placed round my neck, the other end of the rope being thrown over the projecting limb of a tree. Then Balmaceda and several officers approached me and told me they would grant me my life if I informed them of the whereabouts and numerical strength of the Congressional army. I insisted that I knew absolutely nothing, not having been at the seat of the war for weeks; and, as I am but simple flesh and blood, and have no aspirations for martyrdom, I pleaded hard for my life.
"But in vain; the brutal wretches only mocked at my intreaties, and Balmaceda himself, turning away with a jeering remark, commanded a squad of men, who stood by ready to act the part of executioners, to proceed with their dastardly work.
"Only too eager to obey the mandate, they began to pull on the loose end of the rope, and the noose tightened about my throat. As I felt it gradually compressing my windpipe, and knew that in a few more minutes I would be dangling a lifeless corpse, I realised all the unspeakable horrors of a man face to face with death.
"What passed through my mind in those brief moments, which I thought to be my last, I could never tell. My mind was a perfect chaos in which fear—yes, I frankly confess it—downright, awful fear of that unknown world into which I would presently be launched, struggled fiercely for the mastery with regret at leaving all the friends and pleasures of this so abruptly and ignominiously.
"But this terrible dread of death, which I suppose we all feel some day, and to which I will, at any rate, be no stranger next time it assails me, far from numbing my wits, seemed rather to sharpen them.
"Even as I began to gasp and pant for breath, and instinctively rose upon my toes to ease the painful pressure on my throat, a wild, almost insane, plan of escape flashed across my brain. In a moment I had used the little breath left within me in the shout:
"'Hold! hold! I will confess all; I can give you valuable information!'
"Without waiting for orders, the men who were pulling on the rope instantly slackened it, and I was able to breathe more freely.
"Balmaceda and his officers, too, turned towards me with newly-awakened interest, and it was evident the first part of my scheme, mad as it seemed, had succeeded admirably.
"'Well, what is this valuable information you can give us?' demanded the Dictator impatiently.
"'Let your men unbind my hands, your Excellency, and I will explain by a diagram on the ground the position of the Congressional forces, who are bivouacked not twelve miles from here.'
"This barefaced invention, remarkable to relate, was swallowed by Balmaceda, who gave the word to one of the soldiers to release me. It was clear from the glances he exchanged with his officers that my statement as to the proximity of the opposition army had rendered him very ill at ease. My bonds were quickly cut, and now there came the necessity of my carrying into effect the most desperate part of the whole hastily conceived scheme. Bracing myself for the effort, and striving to appear as calm as possible, I approached the spot where the dictator stood surrounded by his officers.
"I had previously taken in the whole of my surroundings at a glance, and had seen that a soldier was walking my own horse, ready saddled and bridled, up and down only a short distance away. Could I only manage to reach the noble animal and leap into the saddle I might be able to get clear away before any of the troopers could mount in pursuit. Truly a desperate scheme, and one which in my more sober moments I would have scouted as impossible. But I was in terrible straits then and eager to seize upon any loophole of escape, no matter how great the odds might be against success.
"When I was within a few feet of the group of officers I suddenly called to my aid all my courage, and, springing upon the nearest individual, tore from his belt a brace of handsomely-chased six-chambered revolvers. Then, wheeling like lightning upon the astonished group, I let drive several shots at them in quick succession, and, turning, dashed at headlong speed towards where the soldier was slowly pacing to and fro with my horse.
"How I was ever able to gain it in safety I can only ascribe to a direct interposition of Providence on my behalf.
"A bullet, which I sent whizzing within a few inches of his skull, caused the fellow in charge of the horse to duck, let go the bridle, and run for the shelter of a clump of trees. In another moment I had sprawled upon the animal's back, and was careering madly across the grounds, with leaden missiles humming unpleasantly close about my ears.
"Probably, as the group of officers lay between me and the mass of the soldiers, those gentlemen to a certain extent acted as a cover for me and prevented the marksmen taking surer aim.
"As it was, though, before the gallant beast. under me could clear the wall separating the estate from the road, which it did eventually with an ease and grace worthy of a steeple chaser, I was struck in no fewer than three places. Fortunately the injuries were mere trifles and I managed to keep my saddle.
"Once free of the grounds, I felt tolerably secure, and urging my mount to its fullest speed, tore across country like a rocket. Soon the sounds of pursuit died away in the distance, but I never once drew rein until at last I ran full tilt into a picket of Congressional cavalry.
"At first I thought it might be a case of out of the frying-pan into the fire, but I was agreeably disappointed. The insurgents made me out quite a hero when they heard of my marvellous escape from the merciless clutches of the hated Dictator, and after doctoring up my wounds, their leader furnished me with an escort to the nearest sea-port, where you may rest assured I stayed no longer than necessary to book a passage upon a packet steamer for New York.
"I had had enough of Chili and its indifferent regard for the sanctity of human life, and I took the earliest opportunity of resigning my post as war-correspondent for the Pioneer, and adopting a profession involving less peril to life or limb, if somewhat tamer and not so exciting."