The Argosy, August 1905 — page 21: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

SP. are st q on - Perote passed sil main. room and paused at the foot of the ladder leading to the upper story. For several moments he remained mo- tionless, then the faint creaking of the ladder marked his cautious ascent. He had now merely to thrust his head through the opening to hear everything that was oceurring in the narrow hall which ran the length of the building, where the soldier guarding the prison- er’s door was sleeping. After a time the listener appeared to be satisfied, for he withdrew his head frem the opening and crept down the ladder. Having reached the lower floor, he passed into the kitchen, took a bundle from the table, and, unbolting and open- ing the door leading into the yard, passed out into the night. It was dark except for the light of countless stars. Perote crossed the yard to the stable, threw off the latch hick fastened the door, and moving cautiously along in the rear of the horses, carefully. counted the animals. Upon reaching the sixth, he stopped, spoke soothingly to the beast, and un- tied the rope which passed through a Ting in the wall above the manger. It was the animal which had been ridden by the Mexican cavalry officer that was thus separated from its fellows. Having loosed the horse, Perote took from a peg a heavy saddle, laid it upon. the beast’s back and adjusted the girth firmly. Having done this, he picked up the bundle he had taken from the table in the kitehen and fastened it behind the saddle. This task being completed, he led the horse to the door of the stable, attached the bridle to a ring in the wall, and, closing the door softly, stepped once more into the night. Upon the ground in the rear of the inn lay a ladder, the same by which Perote had mounted when he nailed the board across the window of the room oceupied by the prisoner. Moving rapidly and silently in the darkness, he now raised this ladder, ear- ried it around the house and placed it; fsa eS SNe ‘ silently across the inst the side of the beets under At the end of another minute a faint, rasping sound was heard. The nails which had been driven into the board were dropped one by one to the ground, and Perote, descending the ladder, laid the piece of plank upon the grass. Then, with the noiselessness of a cat, he crept again upon the rounds, listened for a moment at the aperture, and stepped into the black void of the little room. It required but a few steps to eross it, and Perote stood beside the bed on which lay the American. Had there been light, one might have seen the Mexican draw a knife from his belt, bend down and feel with his free hand for the body of the prisoner. The American stirred and strained at his bonds. Perhaps he felt the presence of the knife in the man’s hand. Perote uttered a sharp, low sentence. “In the name of God, lie quiet, senor, and—listen! ” The strain upon the cords ceased; the prisoner, stretched upon his back, his eyes wide open, was vainly striving to pierce the blackness. “Give heed, senor, for the time is short,” whispered Perote. “ You are of those who have come into the re- public from across the Rio Grande, and they are taking you to the capital, that certain ones may ask questions and afterward kill you. Is it not so?” “It would seem that you are cor- rectly informed; but first they would starve me, as perhaps also you haye observed,” replied the prisoner shortly. Then, in a burst of subdued passion: “What they may do to me afterward falls through the fortune of war; but the last—kill that miserable wretch who denied me even a crust of black bread, and I will die satisfied.” The fingers which grasped the hilt of the knife tightened, but after a mo- ment Perote answered calmly: “T am that one—who denied you before the door. Now I have come, senor, to give you more than bread. Yet, first, you will listen to what I have to say.” The prisoner lay perfectly still, either from astonishment or because he did not know what to answer. — vial 8 Soe first 2m alts tt Know y a acomic books. com