THE RUBBER BOOM.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 377, 30 April 1910, Page 9

THE RUBBER BOOM.

PLUCK OF RUBBER COLLECTORS IN CENTRAL AMERICA.

Seven years ago. when rubber was fetching prices almost as high as thus;' of to-dav, rumor had it that the turner reaches of the Patuca river, in the Republic of Honduras, in Central America, were almost entirely unexploited. and simply teemed with rubber. For once Dame Rumor told the truth; and when Roland'W. Cater and his partner Anson pitched their camp on the river bank, at a distance of about forty-live miles from the coast, they found runher trees abounded in quite extensive patches. :m\ none of them appeared to have Ih-:i tapped before. Their jubilation was shared by their "crew" of ten men—nine (Y.vibs and an Indian whose name was Diego Casco: for. in addition to a monthly wage, i a<-h man was entitled to a premium of two pesos, or native dollars, for every hundredweight of rubber lie brought into the camp. Little did Cater or Anson know, however, that of the winning thieves, lazy vagabonds, and out-and-out scoundrels there was none to beat Diego.

The first insight which the two prospectors got into Diego's character came on the third day, when he refused to take Ms turn to hunt for fresh meat, and mutinously declared that as inere was plenty of reserve of finned meat he meant to have some of that. Anson thereupon threatened him with strong measures. A MARVELLOUS ESCAPE. "Bah! What could you do?" rejoined the Indian. "See —I have you nicely covered," he continued, nonchalantly. And, suiting the action to the word, he raised his gun to his shoulder and. screwing up one eve, glanced along the barrel in a very ugly fashion with the other. Whether the native really intended to shoot at Anson or not is still an open question, but shoot he did, for Anson—naturally alarmed at Diego's action—instinctively .put his hand to his hip for his revolver and —well, that did it!

Considering that scarcely ten paces separated them, it is little short of marvellous that Anson was not blown' to pieces. Instead, however, one tiny shot alone reached him. lodging in his forearm and causing quite a minor wound. With, a savage howl, lie rushed towards the Indian just as Cater arrived upon the scene with the nine Caribs, fortunately in time to prevent further trouble. Diego was soon overpowered and disarmed, and, precaution being the better part of valor, the two partners had him bound aud deposited in his quarters. A STARTLING DISCOVERY. Xext morning, however, Diego express sorrow for his action, saying that he was drunk at the time; and the partners decided to forget the affair, merely resolving to keep a closer eye on the Indian and never again permitting him ■to handle firearms. But Diego was merely biding his time. He was out for revenge. On the twelfth day, Cater and Anson decided, as the near supply of rubber was exhausted, to abandon the first camp and travel farther up the stream.

Two or three nights before moving the camp, however, Cater, who had been unable to sleep on account of the mosquitoes, and who had gone outside the little apartment which he shared with Anson fed" a smoke, observed a light gleaming through the trees in the direction of the crew's camp, which was situated some forty or fifty yards further along the bank. Creeping up, he discovered Diego and one of the Caribs carrying bale after bale or rubber to the boats, evidently' with the intention of making off with a goodly portion before sunrise. TWO TO ONE. "What does this mean?" he queried. "It means, boss, dat we doan got no mo' use for' you at presen," was his impertinent response; and with the last word he rushed at Cater, aiming a nasty blow at his head with a cudgel. Stepping aside pust in time to avoid the blow, with a lucky shot from his right hand Cater sent him reeling backwards, and, tripping over a sapling behind him, he fell upon his back. "I lost no time in springing upon him," says Cater, "and pinning him to the ground, but my advantage was short-lived, for a moment afterwards I myself lay beside him. Diego Caseo had come to his confederate's assistance, and creeping up in the rear, felled me with ! an unexpected and terrific blow upon the ]>< Mid, which stunned me at once." IN THE NICK OF TIME. About an hour later Cater recovered consciousness. He aroused the.camp, and as the robbers had taken the two boats they made a raft of canes and some bales of the remaining rubber and paddled in pursuit, accompanied by three of the Caribs. After several hours they came up with the two boats moored by the river bank. Cater and Anson immediately landed, and instructing the Caribs to secure the boats, they crept to the spot where Diego and his confederate had made their camp. To their amazement they discovered one of the Caribs on his knees earnestly pleading for his life, while Diego stood over him with a cruel looking knife. Diego did not want to share the rubber with the Carib, neither did he want the man-alive who could tell the story of the robbery. He raised his knife ready for the blow which was intended to rid him at once of his confederate and a possible witness against him, when the Caribs upon the raft hailed the would-be murderer.

Diego was so startled by the unexpected salute that he seemed to be quite dazed for a while, and stood there gazing vacantly towards the river. But he was not long in regaining his composure, and a few seconds later darted to the water's edge and sprang upon the raft.

THE FATE OF DIEGO. Seeing himself cornered the scoundrel dived headlong into the river, and, '■Well," to quote Cater's own words, "there is a great deal of soft mud at the bottom of the Patuca in places, and huge boulders hidden beneath the water in others, with innumerable alligators, occasional sharks, and no end of strong currents; so that in the absence of evidence it would amount merely to speculation were I to attempt an explanation as to why he never came to the surface again. "That is how we recovered a goodly portion of our stolen rubber. Delighted with the success of our chase, we shook hands with ourselves and each other all the way back to camp, journeying throughout the night. Then came the hardest blow of all —the live men we had left in charge had disappeared, and so had the remainder of our rubber! Evidently taking a leaf from Anson's book, they had fashioned a raft similar to his, followed us closely down stream, passed us under cover of night, and probably by then had disposed of their illgotten gains and reached a safe hidingplace!"