THRILLS IN MEXICO.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 26 November 1924, Page 6

THRILLS IN MEXICO.

YOUNG GIRL’S ADVENTURES

UNDER MACHHNE GUN EIRE

TRACKED BY BLOODHOUNDS

Although Gloria Faure, the charming granddaughter of the famous French President of that name, is only 20, she has crowded into her young life as many thrills as any girl could ask for. She was in the thick of the struggle between the Mexican Revolutionaries under Huerta and the Obregon. Government ; a price was set on her head ais a dangerous person, and she had to fly hy night, with armed men and bloodhounds on her trail, and the knowledge that if caught she would certainly have to face a firing squad. !t was while trying to earn her living as secretary to One of the Mexican public men implicated in the plots of Huerta that Mile. Faure was brought face to face with the adventurous side of life in wildest Mexico. The monotony of office routine was relieved occasionally by the arrival of Government troops with machine guns placed in position, so that all persons passing to or from the building came under fire.

An additional thrill was provided by the presence of sharpshooters on the adjoining roofs taking occasional potshots. “Taking down dictation punctuated by the crash of glass and the spluttering of rifle or machine gun bullets against the wall behind one is not exactly a nerve tonic,” said Mile. Faure, in discussing this phase of her experience with a representative of the London Daily News. “But it adds zest to life and once I got used to it the day did not seem complete without this diversion.

“It was not always comic opera warfare. One day, as I was taking down an important message from the assistant of my ohijef, there was a crash, followed by a sharp gasp of pain; the words I was taking down suddenly ceased, and the man in the chair sat still and white. He had been shot dead. I moved towards him in spite of the horror that seized me, but as I moved there was a rain of bullets and several passed within an inch or two of me, forcing me to /seek safety in flight; On one occasion, after being on the move all day, the - Government troops pressing ihartf on their heels, Mile. Faure and the staff of the revolutionary chiefs reached a farm that was supposed to be a secure retreat. As they vvere settling down for the night to enjoy their .first sleep for many days, they discovered that their (secret had been given away. The place was surrounded by the Government troops, who, from trees and other vantage points, commanded every window and door of the house. There was nothing for it but to run the gauntlet of the fire.

In her .flight the young girl lost touch with the others, and for four days and nights she wandered . about in a country entirely unknown to her, with armed men and bloodhounds on her trail. Twice, a© she lay hiding in the undergrowth, her pursuers passed within a few yards of lier, and it was little short of a miracle that the do<vs failed to find her: - ■ ■ “

Worn out with hunger and exposure, slie was making for a deserted farmhouse in the early morning of the fifth day when she heard the dogs on her trail once more, and the whistling of bullets told her she vvas again a target for her foes. She had still a few hundred yards to cover before reaching the farmhouse, and even then there was no guarantee that she would be safe.

“How I .managed it,” Mile. Faure says, “I leannot tell; but somehow I struggled on, with the dogs growling as they gained on me, anJd the whistling bullets menacing, my terror added to by the shouts of the men, who now seemed to be dosing in on me from ail sides. Suddenly forms appeared in the courtyard of the farm. Jets of flame shot out, accompanied by the unmistakable crack of rifles, and to my joy it wa® at the pursuing men and dogs that the shots were aimed, and not at me. I had stumbled on friends. I was utterly exhausted, but strong aims cluthed me as I stumbled by the gate.”

Even then the plucky girl was not out of danger, for the revolutionary band had to endure the ordeal of a ten days’ siege in their farm fortress, and rest was next to impossible. One night, hearing a noise at her window, heavily shuttered, Mile. Faure saw the shutters forced hack and the form of a man with a revolver in his hand stand outlined in the window. She had not time to' utter a' cry of alarm before there was a yell of agony and the intruder dropped to death in the courtyard below. He had been seen by one of the revolutionaries on guard outside, and bad been shot as lie was forcing back the shutters. This attempt at entry was only part of a general attempt to rush the house, and when the attackers found themselves foiled by the watchfulness of the inmates they set the greater part of the farm alight and drew their lines closer round the farm buildings, ready to shoot down those who sought safety in flight. But all the inmates made their escape through the one gap in the investing lines that had been left to them, and after two days of wandering they reached safety in Texas. Now Mile. Faure is going back to Mexico City, in the belief that the amnesty granted will cover her case ; but she has no illusions about the value of .such provisions in Mexico. “I know all the risks,” she says, “hut I prefer to take them.

“Possibly I shall many and settle down either in Mexico or the United States, or I may go to France to' join my grandfather’s people. Or I. may die by the hand of an assassin just as Mrs Evans did. Life is none too secure in Mexico to-day, and our sex is not always an extra safeguard. “I have had my share of ‘adventures. and at times have been in tight corners that made me feel that death is not always a pleasant companion: but I suppose I have got some pleasure out of my wild life.”