The Marines Have Landed

by L. T. Meade

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  Dick's Map of Camp Pendleton]

  DICK'S MAP OF CAMP PENDLETON

  The map was made by Dick, and is a fairly good one, though manynecessary things have been omitted. The Railroad from Granada toCorinno through Leon goes south to north. Captain Henderson's companywas in the woods at S.W. corner of map. The outpost near bridge was toprevent damage to structure.

  The camp was named after Colonel Joseph H. Pendleton, U.S.M.C., whocommanded all the marines on this expedition, but the camp itself wascommanded by Lieutenant Colonel Charles G. Long, U.S.M.C. One battalionof marines, a battalion of sailors from the U.S.S. _Colorado_,Quartermaster Depot, Navy Medical Unit, and Wireless Outfit, wereencamped in the enclosed area and occupied about two-thirds of thespace. This camp was made on September 11-12, 1912.

  The map shows no contours, but a gentle slope, and from E to W gaveexcellent drainage, and Leon, a mile distant, was in full view. Thesingle dotted lines are trails. The double dotted lines are unfencedroads and the rectangles are generally houses, except in camp, wherethey represent tents.

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  "Come on, ye lazy bones, roll out of yer hammicks," called Dorlancheerily, "and if ye foller that path down by the shack acrost the roadye'll reach the river and a good place to wash, only don't go too fardown-stream, as there's a bunch o' buzzards cleanin' up some dead men,and the sight ain't extry fine on an empty stummick."

  It was not long before Dick had finished his ablutions, and as he hadavoided the buzzard's feast he felt quite capable of doing justice tothe breakfast the mess cooks prepared.

  The day was spent in fixing up the camp, preparing it for defense,reconnaissance work, and sorting stores. That the rebel general feltkindly towards the Americans might have been implied from the fact thathe sent two beeves to the Colonel Commanding, with his compliments, butthese were returned with expressions of thanks, as the Colonel did notfeel he could accept the gift. Many parties of rebel soldiers passedthe camp during the day and curiously watched the soldiers from thegreat Northern Republic at their varied occupations. Other daysfollowed, some filled with flurries of excitement, some slow andmonotonous. The rest of the regiment passed on towards the capital anda battalion of sailors came to augment the force, and for the time theywere ashore, absorbed the Marine Corps spirit, "hook, line and dipsey."

  One day a rebel "armored" train came puffing along from Leon, where theykept it carefully locked up in the station shed, and proceeded towardsLa Paz, with red flags streaming and a poor edition of Joan d'Arcastride the cow-catcher brandishing a big machete and cheering on thedeluded soldiers.

  "Viva Luis Mena! Viva Leon!"[#] they shouted to the marines, and wavingtheir guns wildly, passed on.

  [#] "Hurrah for Louis Mena! Hurrah for Leon!"--Mena was the rebelcandidate for presidential honors and after the battle of Coyotepe hewas taken under guard by the marines to Corinto and deported.

  "They are off for a fight," hazarded the onlookers, but it was only aforaging party out for wood and fresh beef which they confiscated asthey found it. One of the flat cars was arranged with sand bags, andover the parapet thus formed a Hotchkiss machine-gun menacingly stuckits baleful snout. This rebel train was an eye-sore to the Americanofficers; for as long as General Rivas, who commanded at Leon, had thistrain and locomotive locked up in the station, so long it was sure to bea menace. The marines were in Nicaragua primarily to keep open therailroad, which was American-owned, and orders now came from the Admiralcommanding the forces afloat and ashore to demand the surrender of thetrain. This Rivas refused, feeling confident that the few Yankeesencamped across the river were neither strong enough nor brave enough toattempt to force him, and should they do so then it was quite certainthey were no longer impartial. One Sunday morning in September, to hisastonishment, three trains filled with marines and sailors pulled intothe sidings at Leon. The attitude of the officers and men on this trainwas such that Rivas considered surrender the better part of valor,though at one time it looked as though his enraged men would precipitatea bloody struggle. Anyway, the train was taken out from its shed; therebels were permitted to remove their gun, and amid the curses andexecrations of the multitude gathered at the station, it was towed backto the American camp.

  As for Richard Comstock, he found the life exciting and full ofadventure. Following his application, he had had his rank changed tothat of a private, and accompanied Sergeant Dorlan, who had beenappointed special messenger to carry despatches, up and down the line.The situation was getting more critical every day. Then came orders tosend all the field artillery from Leon to Managua, and on the train thattook them went Dorlan and Dick, bearing special despatches to theAdmiral who had gone on to the capital city for a conference. Therebels near the Leon camp looked gloomily upon this move. A few daysbefore a train bearing marines, on passing through Masaya, a city southof Managua, had been fired upon, some men being killed and wounded onboth sides.

  Now it was apparent that the Yankees were going to assist the Federaltroops. What would be the outcome? Would they attempt to attack therebels at Barrancas and Coyotepe? If they did they could never takethose positions. No troops had ever yet wrested those strongholds fromthe soldiers defending them. It had never been done in the history ofthe republic and its many wars. Secretly General Rivas despatched bodiesof mounted men to augment the rebels in the vicinity of the threatenedpoints.

  When the artillery train stopped for watering the engine at La Paz,hundreds of Federal troops met it with a band at their head and cheeringvociferously:

  "Viva los Americanos! Viva los Federales!" they shouted till theirthroats were hoarse.

  "Let's get off and buy some fruit, Sergeant," said Dick, who was ridingon the engine with his companion.

  "You go along, Dick, but hurry back, as I heard the engineer say we'llbe pullin' out o' here in a jiffy."

  Climbing down from his seat, Dick elbowed his way through the crowd tillhe came to a fruit stand at the far side of the station platform. Afterselecting some oranges and mangoes he was hurrying back when the broadshoulders, red neck and blond, bristly hair of a foreigner standing atthe edge of the crowd drew his attention. Beside him was a tall manwhose tanned face could not hide the fact that he too was a strangerfrom another land. Under the brim of the taller man's hat was a whitespot of hair over and behind one ear, and the left hand, as he raisedit, showed half the middle finger missing.

  "The German and the Englishman!"

  Dick almost said the words aloud in his excitement over the discovery.Both men were watching the crowd in front of them with great interest,and conversing in rather loud tones in order to make themselves heardabove the din made by the enthusiastic soldiers cheering the train.Unobserved, Dick stopped directly behind them.

  "Just our blooming bad luck to have them go through during daylight,after we have been waiting for this very move for several days," saidthe Englishman in a drawling voice.

  "I never expected they would make the move by day, or I should have madebetter arrangements. If it were dark, as we expected it would be, wecould pull off the same kind of game we worked in Masaya when Butler'sBattalion went through there. I had to do that trick against GeneralZeladon's wishes. If he had consented to let me work it as I wishedthat train-load of marines never would have lived to get through as theydid. I had to make it appear an unpremeditated affair, and as a resultnot half the people joined in the fight. A single defeat of theseYankees to the credit of the rebels, and the whole country would havejoined us, Mena would have been president without a doubt, and our planswould be well under way towards consummation."

  "You made a mistake, though, Mein Herr. You should never have made itappear that the rebels began the shooting. Our policy is to lead theseAmericans to believe that the Federal troops are against theirinterference."

  "Bah! You don't know wh
at you are talking about," said the German inthe same arrogant way of speaking that Dick remembered so well.

  "Well, don't let us get ratty over it; you know, old top, we have otherthings to think about. Now if we might delay this train in some way itwould still be possible to work the game here."

  "No chance at all! Not a chance!" exclaimed the big man impatiently,"but it would have been a fine opportunity to turn the tables had itonly been dark. Our men here would have been enough to make thembelieve the whole outfit of Federals were shooting them up, and in theexcitement the marines would have returned the fire, and the fight wouldhave become general."

  "Will the other trick work?" the Englishman now asked. "Will thosepapers implicating Chamorra come into the Americans' hands in aperfectly natural way?"

  "Yes, and it is our last hope, outside of actual defeat of this Yankeerabble by the rebels, and I believe that is a possibility. These menare nothing but play soldiers. What do they know about war? And as fortaking Coyotepe away from Zeladon and his men, bah! they can never doit! They will have to declare war first, and get down their miserablearmy. That will delay them long enough for us to defeat the Federals,and Mena and his men will be in supreme power. Hello, the train is off.Donder und Blitzen! How I wish it were night!" and the speaker stampedin wrath upon the gravel of the roadway.

  So interested was Dick in the conversation of these two men which for asecond time had been overheard by him that he had failed to note thetrain was moving away. To his consternation he saw now that he couldnot catch it because of the crowd between him and the last car, whichwas passing as he looked over the sea of heads. Running to thetelegraph office where, owing to many previous visits with Dorlan, hewas well known, he dictated a wire to be sent on to Nagarote, the nextstopping place along the line, explaining briefly that he had missed thetrain. Then he turned to the operator, and before the man knew what washappening had divested that surprised individual of his coat.

  "Quick, Frederico, loan me your coat and hat," he said. "Take charge ofmy canteen and haversack till I return. Oh, yes, I'll borrow yournecktie too," he added, stripping it off the neck of the open-mouthednative, and after pulling off his leggins and putting on the things hehad commandeered, he sped out through the doorway in pursuit of the twomen whose rapid strides were even then carrying them towards the centerof the town.