What Nelson might have said, right there on Hillside Avenue, too—even what he might have done!—will never be known; for here Marty suddenly appeared running wildly and shrieking at the top of his lungs for them to stop.
"Hi! hi! what's the matter wi' you folks?" he yelled, his face red, and his breath fairly gasping in his throat. "I been yellin' after ye all down High Street. Look what I found!"
"Looks like a newspaper, Marty," said Nelson, calmly.
"But what is in it?" cried Janice, turning pale.
Nelson seized the paper and held it open. He read rapidly:
"'Great battle fought southwest of Chihuahua. Federal forces thoroughly whipped. Rebels led by the redoubtable General Juan Dicampa, whose reported death last Spring was only a ruse to blind the eyes of the Federals to his movements. At the head of a large force of regular troops and Yaqui Indians, Dicampa fell upon the headquarters of General Cesta, capturing or killing his entire command, and becoming possessed of quantities of munition and a great store of supplies. A telling blow that may bring about the secure establishment of a de facto government in our ensanguined sister Republic."
"Goodness me, Janice! what do you think of that? There is a lot more of it, too."
"Then—if Juan Dicampa is not dead——" began the girl.
"Sure, Uncle Brocky ain't dead!" finished Marty.
"At least, dear girl," said Nelson, sympathetically, "there is every reason to believe that what Marty says is true."