the detachment under Santa Cruz. The Chileans on shore now numbered about two thousand, and the assault began. The small burning town and the ground of the railroad station at its northern extremity became the theater of the first desperate struggle. On the last mentioned spot barricades had been formed by sacks full of saltpetre, heaps of coal, and railroad material. Then a rush was made up the steep slope, and the intrenchments above the city were charged. The charge was headed by the battalion Atacama, formed by miners from the Chilean province of that name. plan to attack the left flank and rear of the enemy, so as to cut off his retreat when routed; but he arrived on the high ridge only in time to witness the victory of his first landed troops and the escape of the defeated defenders of the place. Owing to the suddenness of the assault, the allied forces found no time to destroy the resources which they could not carry along. The province being a desert, it possessed water only in very few and very small oases in the interior. For that reason the fresh water supply on the coast was furnishDiffied by condensing machines, established at the beach. These machines were left entirely intact. So were the railroad material, the tanks for carrying water to the stations in the interior, the telegraph office with all its apparatus, and even the books containing the military correspondence up to the very hour of combat. Besides a good supply of ordinary provisions, the victors found in the camp the luxurious stores prepared for the officers of the defeated troops. cult as was the ascent, from its steepness, from the heavy loose sand that covered it, and from the deadly fire of the enemy hidden behind intrenchments or outstanding points of rock, the Atacama, neverthless, advanced rapidly, the soldiers oftentimes having to thrust their bayonets into the soil in order to climb, or to save themselves from sliding. In this manner the Chileans reached intrenchment after intrenchment, and, routing the enemy everywhere, gained the summit of the slope and planted their flag on the high plain. This gave the signal to the men-of war in the bay to cease firing at the enemy's positions there, whilst the assailants took possession of the Peruvian field artillery and camp with the entire outfit of the ambulance. The struggle had lasted five hours. Their victory had cost the two thousand assailants on shore three hundred and fifty men, either wounded or dead, a loss less than that suffered by the routed garrison. The Chileans took seventy prisoners, officers and soldiers. General Buendia and Colonels Villamil and Recabárren escaped to the interior. Whilst the combat was taking place in Pisagua, General Escala, the commander-inchief of the Chilean expedition, landed without resistance with the main body of his troops in Junin, a small shipping place about six miles farther south on the coast, and hidden from view at Pisagua by a high ridge terminating in the bluff that forms the southern extremity of its bay. It was his Three days after the combat at Pisagua, a troop of cavalry, headed by Lieutenant Colonel Vergara, the minister's secretary, was despatched to the interior on a reconnoitering expedition along the railroad. He found plenty of water and provisions in the stations and saltpetre manufacturing establishments abandoned by the enemy. Near the terminus of the track, in the oficina Jermania. about eighteen miles in the interior, lingered still a Perúvian force of cavalry, which superior in number to the Chilean troops but badly mounted, moved on the attack Colonel Vergara made a sham retreat so a to get in upon ground well adapted for cavalry charge; and then he wheeled aroun and came upon the Peruvians with suc force that in a few minutes these were rou ed, leaving sixty on the ground, among the the commander, Don José Ventura Sepu veda. This encounter established fully th superiority of the Chilean cavalry to t Perúvian, and the former became therefo a terror to the allied troops in future counters. Holger Birkedal CHAPTER XXIV. ANNETTA. OUT in the fresh air, under a starlight which broke through the fog, Dan came to himself. to catch a glimpse of Annetta in the garden, he would have gone to speak to her, but she cut off his approach by a formal bow and a chill little smile. The bow reduced him to the status of a What was he that he should expect the distant acquaintance. The smile stabbed priceless jewel of this girl's love? him to the quick. Self-sacrifice was left him. Not something grand, that would cause his name to be sung as a pean in men's ears, but the unheroic duty of serving Rodney Bell faithfully, of waiting so and very patiently-in Annetta's vicinage until she no more needed any help which he might offer; until Rodney Bell should declare himself one way or another. "If he wrongs her by any broken promise-" said Dan: and he lifted his solemn face toward the midnight stars. Annetta's ideas of Dan's behavior began to suffer a sunlight change on the following morning. She remembered the visible joy with which he had come to supper in obedience to her tardy summons. She recalled the too patent agony with which he had rushed from her presence. "But he said so and so." Thus she tacitly bound herself to abide strictly by Dan's words; his suggestion that his sole consideration was due to the man employing him. Dan could not in all decency have allowed her to share with him her suspicions of Rodney Bell, except by resigning his position as Bell's foreman. "And what had I to offer?" Annetta asked. Dan's rebuke was the more severe because before asking his advice Annetta had painfully pondered that question of delicacy. Dan's imaginings also warmed with the sunshine of a new day. Distant self-sacrifice looked vague and chill. He longed passionately to atone for his rudeness, to tell Annetta how gladly he would undertake any active service in her name. When, therefore, by dint of constantly haunting the Bartmore house on a Sunday, he contrived He went away heartbroken to camp, and found that his hanging about the Bartmore house had been observed. The lads who had not feared to gossip in Tom Bartmore's time were busy now, as never so boldly. Bereft of the hoped-for friendly counselor, Annetta did in pain and desperation what she should have done earlier She carried all her doubts and suspicions of Bell, together with the promise, now broken, to let bygones be bygones, to Mr. Cyrus Baring. That law-toughened veteran laughed at what he dubbed her feminine squeamishness, encouraged her to go back to the very beginning of her fears concerning her agent, and having set out by affirming with a grin that Bell was a shrewd rascal, ended by pronouncing him a scoundrel and villain. "I've been waiting for you to come ever since that annual account business," Baring declared. "How could I thrust my advice upon you when that low-lived scrub (no, I won't beg your pardon!) gave me to understand, not once but several times, that the estate was his meat: in short, that he intended to marry you and whatever he could save of your brother's money?" Indignation at this vigorous announcement helped Annetta to remember many things which she hesitated no longer to detail. She went over Dr. Bernard's warnings, her discoveries in the pay-roll book, the circumstances attending the loss of that important volume, Rodney's claim, and his manner of presenting it; and succeeded in eliciting from Baring the most stentorian expressions of championship, mixed with sound ratings for her delay in seeking him. His scolding flushed Annetta's cheeks, and did her good as a counter-irritant. It was something wholly unexpected, to hear that she had been wickedly neglectful of her creditors, while priding herself upon her generosity toward Bell. It was something to be told peremptorily what she must do, although these things were mere inactivities. She must keep quiet, watchful, and above all let Bell gain from her manner no suspicion who was hunting his tracks. Several consultations, rapidly succeeding one another, were held in Baring's office between himself and his fair client, at each of which he showed a fiercer wrath against Bell, and a richer exultation. "He's left his tracks uncovered everywhere!" he cried at last, his eyes fairly scintillating. Then he had Annetta occupy his desk, and pen at his dictation a peremptory summons to Bell to meet her there on the following afternoon. "My clerk must deliver it," he said when the writing had been duly sealed and directed. "Trust Dartman to get it into Bell's hands in time for him to keep your appointment." This, to Baring's intense, personal satisfaction, as he was pocketing Annetta's missive. "And now," he continued, shaking a subjugating finger at her, "I have further orders, for you, Miss Bartmore." Pursuant to these orders, Annetta rose very early on the morrow, dressed herself with more than ordinary care as for a formal call, and at six o'clock was walking toward camp. A fresh breeze with the ocean's wild savor in it blew from the valley, but she did not feel it. Her eyes were feverishly bright, her cheeks flushed, her lips slightly compressed, her step quick yet firm. The many teams ready for the start stood driverless in front of the emptied stables. A clattering of cups and dishes, suggestive of the discharging of small arms, issued from the long, blackened shanty near by; and guttural voices seemed to rush pell-mell upon one another, and to wrestle together in their hurry and eagerness to be heard. She had no Not as Annetta heard them. interest in any strident jest or boisterous assertion. She merely waited their ceasing, standing alert between them and the disarray of carts. The noise of breakfast suddenly gave way to sounds of uprising. Instantly the rude. stream of life began to rush forth. Annetta's face turned as white as it had been red. A sibilation went from bearded lip to lip. The foremost laborers, seeing Annetta, stopped to wonder at her unexpected presence and unusual attitude. Those in the rear were pushing and crowding to discover what was going on. The doorway opening behind, an irregular crush of shapeless hats soon filled with curious faces, among them Mrs. McArdle's, and later, Dan's. When Annetta spoke, it was in clear, resolute tones: "Acting under the advice of my attorney, Mr. Cyrus Baring, I am here to order these horses back into their stalls, and to forbid any one of you to remove anything from my stables until further notice." Having said what she came to say, and, however tempted to soften or explain away the seeming harshness of her commands, no more, Annetta bowed slightly and set her face homeward, to live over the little scene, and to suffer because of her unavoidable part in it, through a heavy forenoon whose silence remained unbroken by any irregular sounds of outgoing and incoming teams. Seeing Maggy reënter the house after a short absence, and suspecting a flying trip to camp, Annetta questioned, a trifle eagerly, after the condition of affairs there. Maggy's instinct prompted her to answer evasively; but, pressed close, she did not appear greatly to mind franker speech. "The boys thinks it mighty harrd to be put from airnin' their honest wages. They're afther layin' the blame on Misther-Dinner Bell quite as much as on yoursel'." Annetta noted Maggy's resolute attitude and heightened color. She noted that sou briquet conferred upon her agent, in reference, doubtless, to his frequent irruptions at meal-times; why should she rebuke it as before now she had rebuked Maggy's avowed dislike of Rodney? She was too deeply concerned to perceive that for the first time in the history of their relationship as mistress and servant, Maggy's sympathies were curdled against her. She answered petulantly: "O, Maggy! how you do love to work up a grievance. I've no doubt the men are saying bitter things of me. Well, they enjoy it; they enjoy belaboring anybody who displeases them. As for letting Rodney Bell wear and tear my property-my horses, my teams-without paying me a dollar, I will not do it, so there! You're for taking the men's part, I see. Will they be seriously injured by one holiday, or a half-dozen, for that matter? Isn't the best man among them only too eager to scare up an excuse for laying off?" "There's wan iv the boys is niver afther axcusin' himsel'," cried Maggy, her very ears scorching. "I "O, Dan!" still more petulantly, irritated to find in not excepting him she had provided the girl with a triumphant retort. get so tired of 'Dan' here and 'Dan' there. The camp hero and perfection itself!" In a flash Annetta repented her scornfulness of word and air. She repented-but not unto confession. Let Maggy stand bursting with indignation, suppressed only because it knew not in what phrases to signalize itself, if Maggy pleased. "Dan behaved ill to me," Annetta told herself. And though since that last interview with him she had found it in her heart to interpret his behavior as resistance against a fierce hurt, yet there were occasions when she recollected too minutely to be forgiving. Such was Annetta's proneness to impulses of commiseration, she could not have persisted in her coldness toward the poor fellow, but by reason of a sustaining assurance that it was really the best course. being!" she reflected sometimes, half quizzical, half dolorous; mindful of her unhappy attempt at frankness in Rodney Bell's case. "You oughtn't to shpake so, Miss Bairtmore!" cried Maggy, by and by, with a quivering sense of the inadequacy of words. "There's thim among us as has shtud by yez through the thick an' thin o' manny days an' manny doins!" Through camp-gossip, Maggy might have explained; for even then her mind was full of tingling memories of sturdy defence. And through sickness and bitter sorrow. But involuntarily seething with special instances, Maggy disdained enumeration. "An' where's the differ?" she went on, catching her breath as it fluttered. only the dirt under your feet, Miss Bairt more !" "We'se This exhibition of temper was so unlike Maggy, that Annetta could account for it in no way save one humiliating to herself. She owed Maggy two months' wages. She blazed up in a moment. "I know I know your conduct is all because of of the money, Maggy! O, the ingratitude of people!" "The ingratitude of people, that's what I say, too," retorted the girl. Each fronted the other, recalling innumerable favors shown. "Haven't I told you, Maggy," panted Annetta, "yes, a dozen times, not to remain here if you doubt-" "An' haven't I told you a thousand times I'd shtay wid yez if I niver got a cint, till yez was through your throubles, wan way or t'other, Miss Bairtmore?" "If it isn't the money that's come up between us," exclaimed Annetta, passionate still, "what is it ?" "It's that I'm taught an' tould as how I'm not wanted here!" Maggy burst out robustly, the angrier because she could not bring herself to revert to Dan's name, and so she must let Annetta's sneer against him stand. And having thus delivered herself, she flung impulsively from the room and house. Whither should she carry her wounded feelings, her roused indignation, save to "One cannot treat a lover like a human camp? Not that by going thither she committed herself to any open unfriendliness toward her mistress-kind and indulgent, these four years. The tumult in camp far from subsiding during Maggy's absence, was increased. Rodney Bell's looks and actions when he had heard of Annetta's move were under loud discussion. Besides using some very bad language, he had angrily charged Annetta with trying to break up his business, an accusation traceable to his excitement. "An', begorra!" added Barney Flynn, who had been foremost in telling Maggy the garnished tale, "she's niver brought anything but dissinsions under my roof." "Dissinsions!" echoed Maggy with a hearty contempt, which surprised herself quite as much as Mr. Flynn. "Is dissinsions made iv flour an' eggs, an' butther? Does dissinsions have sleeves an' collars an' butthon-holes an' embroidery? Go 'long wid you, you ould murtherin' shperit o' bad whisky an' worse timper! It's manny the cake an' custard I've baked be Miss Bairtmore's ordhers for your shtarvin' house. An' its manny the jacket an' trousers she's made for poor little Jo!" Such was the force of Maggy's attack that it carried more listeners than him against whom it was directed off their feet. The truth of her utterance none, indeed, dare deny. Even in the camp's exasperation, a loud, coarse laugh at Barney's complete discomfiture could not be dispensed with. "An' as for Mister Rodney Cow-Bell or Dinner-Bell, or whatsomiver yez call him," continued Maggy, her fuel by no means exhausted, "that"-snapping her thumb and finger-" for his aisy lies! Yez might as well thry to get butther out iv a hungry dog's throat as the trewt out o' hisn!" trewt, an' that's no lie! I tell yez squarely, in my opinion Bell an' the young wummin at the big house is much iv a muchness; in other sintences, this is a put-up job betwixt 'em to chate the creditors!" "Nonsense, Cronin!" interposed a deep vibrant tone that struck through Maggy like something trenchant, fiercely thrust. "Nonsense, all of you! Miss Bartmore is in the right. Bell's owing her for the teams, and won't pay till she makes him.” Better for Maggy's impulsive championship of Annetta that Dan's had not been. Maggy dropped back out of sight. She was on fire with her own feelings. "It's well for yez, Misther Dan'l Meagher!" cried Mrs. McArdle, her studied syllables as her steadfast attitude, standing with arms akimbo, threatening each instant to break forth into a lashing fury. "It's well for yez as had ivery cint the boss was owin' yez long afore he was tuck!" "It's well for yez," came rumbling from a deep chest, "as has a gould mine to back your empty pocket an' shtarvin' stummick." Thus Heavy Weather, lately returned to the old haunts after a temporary absence, and in his slow, stolid fashion, expressed the belief prevalent that Dan had somehow managed to secure for himself a fat slice of the Devine's auriferous loaf. "An no dead man's childer to feed, begorra," added Heavy Weather, in allusion, doubtless, to certain progeny hastily married in marrying his second wife. "It's well for yez, indade an' indade! gabbled Barney Flynn, who loved his kind no better for his treatment at Maggy's un sparing hands. "It's well for the lad as i Miss Annitta's pet an' favor-ite along c Misther Bell, who's another, or I'm a liar." The words were nothing to the manne A speech which commanded some ap- Malignant meanings darted from Barney proval. "Be the power o' good an' evil," exclaimed Patsey Cronin, with an evident enjoyment of his own strident voice, "I'm more than moinded to think Maggy has a bit iv sense, if she is freckled"-here an engaging leer. "The talk about lies is pretty near the eyes. What wonder Dan seized the altern tive Barney had offered him as a weaponand used it forcibly, seconded by his po erful fist. "Now, you liar!" he shouted, in a ra that fairly set him ablaze, and while the ne est bystanders were picking Barney up, |