THE LIVING CHESSMEN.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 215, 16 October 1909, Page 4

THE LIVING CHESSMEN.

The man sat bolt upright on his big •black hois* at the bead of the revolutionary troop*, and with the jaunty air of a Spanish American who led a body of fightiuj; spirits,spurred the animal on and called, ever and anon, words of eneouragemeut to his followers. He was a tall, well set up, swarthy nillian, with a Spanish sombrero shadiug his sunburnt face from the fierce i rays of the South American eun. It was yet another of the constant periodical outbreaks in one of the small republics; and Zelto Vanderi led the troops that had joined his side and revolted against the Government, because it demanded more tribute and they already paid enough. These men, who had 'been gaining their livelihood in one of the mining camps, refused to yield to extra extortion of the Provincial Government; and the Governor of San Anna, the capital of Santa Rosa, had sent down troops to compel obedience and the payment of additional royalties upon the gold won from the shallow workings of the claims. The miners had refused to pay, a scuffle had ensued, and in the melee one of the troopers had shot a man. That had been sufficient; the whole camp blazed into a wild gtate of red-hot fury. Shooters had slipped from hip pocketj. and half a dozen of the soldiery tad fallen dead from their saddles. The fight had raged for half an hour and had ended in the temporary victory of the Revolutionists, and now the whole country was rising, and there was every e?iance if the brawny Spaniard Zelto was successful that he. himself might at the end of another week become the Governor oT San Anna. The troops were moving on towards the capital and gathering fresh converts, as they marched. The city of San Anna was in a state of ferment as eaeh hour brought news nf the nearer and nearer approach of the Revolutionists and their growing power and force. To reach the capital' there were grcaf swelling uplands to cover, and a long, narrow gorge to be traversed; and It was in this canon, with its high and almost unscalable cliff; rising on each

'. j side, that there was hope of staying the J progress of the oncoming and evergrowing army. 1 i It was well towards evening, with the * sun sinking, a mighty crimson ball, be--1 hind the far headland to the westward, that Zelto and his companions camped' • out for the night. Danger lurked in the long, narrow defile through which they had to pass lo reach the white-walled city of San Anna; and strategy forbade 'the undertaking of the passage in the dark, wh.u from unseen dells in the rock ihe «um ' of ihe Government -troops might "spn. ' forth gouts of lire. But with dawn thev cared less >'i>danger, and pushed forward. , They reached the centre of the ravine j without mishap, without a sound beyond the rustling of the wind through tne . herbage on the hillsides, the echoing o." | their horses' feet upon the hard road- j [ way, and the steely clash of their own i arms and accoutrements. . Then there came the sudden rending I of the silence with the rattle of tiring, , and the long reverberations echoed and re-echoed from end to end of the defile. "Rip, rip, rip-p-p! Ziss ziss, rip. I i rip!" | , The Maxim guns of the Government: troops were blazing death from the hill-1

•side, and the men were dropping to tli earth before the deadly hail of lead. "On! On!" yelled Zelto, as he spurreu His horse and dashed wildly towards U>" coveted goal. Shots whistled over his head and struck the earth at his horse's feet, throwing up spurting fountains of r.'d dust, and now and again another hor»e or man would be hit and suddenly drop jto the ground wounded or dying, but still the flying column pressed on, and , at last those who had liad the good for- : tune to escape a bullet drew rein an 1 I allowed their panting horses to move | at a slower pace. But their numbers were eadly depleted, and fully one half of those who had set out, gay, jubilant, and hopeful of triumph, under that morning's sun, lay silent in the shadows of the grim ravine, its red earth dyed redder still with their blood. And the remnant of the revolution-

ists pressed on towards San Anna and gained the outer gates of the white city with its high surrounding walls. Amongst those who had joined in with Zelto and his troops was one Ralph Dnrrington, an Englishman wlio had been tempting fortune amongst the goM claims. They halted, and Zelto addressed them. "Caramba!" he cried. "It seems that there is no place where we can force an entrance. To retreat is impossible, for we shall come under their guns again, while those marble walls are too high and smooth to scale. Caramba! o''ir day has come. There will be no to-

morrow for some of us." It seemed prophetic truth. The interior of the city might be poorly garrisoned, judging by the number of lie troops whieli hud met them upon

the road through the ravine. Those troops might he returning even now, and if they did not force their way into the city before they arrived, they would in teed find themselves in an imnass".

'J.'hf.v would be crushed against the' ver marble ivi!!s tint rose in front of tuff Slowly they pursued their way roun the outer walls, anil had all biit com Dieted the circle, when on a hilltop ii the distance gleamed a flash of light. Ii was the glint of the sun upon the barrels of the guns of the returning troops, flashing like a heliograph. A hundred yards more brought the.n to the northern gate. It seemed loss

'guarded than that on the.southern side, and here, if one final desperate onslaught was to be made, was the place to make it. So they hurled themselves upon the

gateway, and to their amazement tiic (door swung open, and one stared an-1 solitary man stood before them, while | from the entrance they could gaze right up the sunlit vista of marble houses towards the Government House of San Anna on the hilltop in the centre of t'.ie city. Not a soul w:is visible in the long ' street where the blazing sunshine poured down in a flood of golden glory; thei'O was no sound but the rustle of a dn

turbed lizard upon the wall, which dart. Ed away like a Hash of living emerald. Zclto leaned from His saddle, seized the seared doorkeej.*r by the shoulder, mid demanded what it all meant, wh ire were the troops, why was the place deserted and silent like a city of the dead ? | "Sonor," he said, "the troops arc all at the southern gate: I alone am here." 1 "It's a trap," said Z;lto, "an ambuscade, an attempt to delude us into fal.-<> security, and then to surprise and taw us una wares." "No, senor, no." "A lie!" was Zelto's retort, lli« hand went swiftly to hie holster and dref out a pistol; he raised it, but on ,-ucond thoughts returned it. lie would not

risk the noise of a report. The wreteliej : man was bound and gagged, and they , piish'd forward again, up tile banking [streets towards the heart of the city. i They were half day there; not a soul had shown from doorway or window, not a horse or man had appeared at any of the cross roads they passed; then suudenly from the right and left, where the roads sloped down to the central i'lasu, with its splashing fountain, its great ring of greensward and its plumed palm trees, an irresistible body of men plunged like waves of the sea upon them. They swept round them, before and behind, and circled them about. They were indeed trapped, heminjd in in a circle of soldiery in the very heart of the coveted city of San Anna. Then a narrow line opened throug'i the living mass; the Governor himself, Mereldo Montana, rode to the centre of the circle. "Ah, yon rebels!" he hissed. "Yoa were nicely caught! You cowards!" "You needn't insult us," cried Ralpu, "we're no cowards. We've got to faen death, I suppose, now, hutJoVll face it iike men. We're checkmated, but, by the Union Jack, we'll die game." "Checkmated, eh?" said Mereldo, and an ugly smile shot across his features. "Checkmated! It seems you play ciess, eh?"

"Yes, I do, and I know when the game is over—it's over now." "Chess," the other repeated. "Chess! You shall play for vour lives!" "Play?" "Yes, a game with me. So far I am unbeaten. If you win, all this reliil crowd shall go free. If you lose, you will be hanged or shot." "I agree. I'll play." Mereldo smiled an ugly smile. "Then we play here and now, but not on any mimic board, not with any mere bits of wood or ivory for our puppeU, but with real men to be taken, real men to be lost."' The face 0/ the Englishman showed wild and wondering. "What?" he cried. "A game that I have always meant to play when Fate gave mo the chance, a game I have yearned for, ever since I have read in your English papers of how you gain nionev at your bazaars .with living chc-s. Your line men and your pretty girls decked out in fancy dresses of red and white. That is the game we'll play today—a game of Jivi.ig chess!" "Here," he cried, "mark badges for the men upon these shields and make n great ches-boanl there. Right on the Plaza between these balconies." and lie pointed to a large patch of smooth grass, as level as a tennis lawn. Then from amongst the capture'! 'revolutionists thirty - two men wvre chosen. Sixteen were marched to each side of the board and ranged upon the squares. Then Mereldo took his seat upon one of the balconies where he could overlook with ease the field of battle and shout forth his commands. Ralph was placed upon the opposite balcony, and they faced each other with the board of green turf peopled with living chessmen in between them. Mercldo laughed a sour laugh as be repeated the terms of the game. / "Each man T take remains a prisoner here," he said. "Each man you capture shall go away free. Tf you win them . all who remain shall go. If I win, all shall be captives. Begin!" And so they played. Wonderful as Mereldo was at chess, he had found an' equal in the Englishman. j The first success went to Ralph, and the man so taken was set free. Then came■ Mereldo's turn; ho also took a pawn, and the man was inarched off to be taken to the prison on the hill. . Thus the battle raged, lasting for hours. From time to tiirr another man was freed, .from time to time another was doomed to prison perhaps to death. Ralph played more carefully than he had ever played before, for h> had the twofold desire to win. and yet to sacrifice as few men as possible in the process. . The sun blazed down, the silent troops stood round, the (i«ht dragged slowly 1 on, until at last Mereldo was beaten. and an ex-ultant crv of "Mate!" showed 1 "Ralph had won, and all the rebels' lives : were saved. , ' And afterwards they patched uu st ! armed peace. The remnant of the ri-vn- , lutionists returned to their gold claims. i and still pav a royaltv .on the metal I that thev find.—By Charles H. Mansi field, in M.A.P,