The Argosy, August 1905 — page 63: what you’re looking at

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

: ‘ ,. - “ ek = Pe - ~The presence of the dead man lying in the ditch near by held no terror for him, but the Texan chafed at inactivity. A pistol shot, the sound of hoof-beats, the voices of men riding in the moon- hight would bring twoseore yelling dev- ils from cover, but none of these things came. Only silence and the play of the weird shadows upon the hills. He knew that Haddon was some- where in his rear, watching the highway from the north. Did they come at all, that was the road over which the de- tachment of American scouts would approach the imn. For want of better occupation, he drew hi? knife and began to hack at the roots of the bush behind which he lay. Suddenly he paused, the blade sus- pended in the air. Somewhere on his right, some dis- tance off, the sound of approaching feet broke the stillness of the night. He sat upright and listened. The sound grew clearer—the crunch, erunch of feet upon the flinty soil. Sergeant Bradley transferred the knife to his left hand and with his right drew from his sash a pistol. Acute of hearing, he knew that not more than one or two persons were approaching. Was it Haddon or an enemy? The crunching upon the stones drew nearer, and peeping through the bushes the Texan could make out the forms of two men silhouetted in the moonlight. The grasp of his fingers upon his weapons tightened. The men were Mexicans. A voice broke the silence with a few words uttered in Spanish, but they told Sergeant Bradley what he wished to know—why the soldiers of Santa Anna had appeared suddenly before him. It was an officer with his escort making the rounds of the guards who formed the circle enclosing the inn. It was Ma- zatlan’s desire to see that none of these guards was sleeping. A wild hope found birth in the Tex- an’s breast, and he leaned eagerly for- ward. What if the officer should be Ma- zatian himself! He had sworn to shoot Mazatlan, The Mexicans were standing motion- less a geant Bradley could not distinguish 7 é « ma) » ey is dozen rods away—so far that Ser- ~ 53 faces. The one who had before spoken turned toward his companion. *“ He is stationed somewhere on this hill. It will be bad for him if we find him asleep among the bushes,” said he roughly. “With Seftor Valeno’s permission I will go forward and look for him,” an- swered the second Mexican. Sergeant Bradley experienced a pang of disappointment. It was not, then, Mazatlan—only a miserable Mexican officer, the man who had talked with Mazatlan opposite the stone house in Chaleo. The soldier evidently obtained silent consent to fellow his suggestion, for he walked across the slope of the hill, pass- ing some distance to the right of the crouching American. Captain Valeno remained alone, leaning carelessly on his saber. Several minutes passed. The silence became oppressive. Sergeant Bradley, lurking behind his bush, began to won- der what had become of the absent soldier. .The thought even came to him to crawl noiselessly upon the waiting offi- cer and strike before he could ery out. But he only smiled grimify. It would be time enough for action if the second Mexican discovered the guard was miss- ing or that his body lay at the bottom of the dry ditch. Impatient as he was to throw him- self upon a hated enemy, the Texan knew a false move might be fatal to the instructions Haddon had given him. It was his duty to watch, not to engage in a combat on the hilltop, with a dozen of Mazailan’s guerrilleros within hearing distance. He would fight only if it be- came necessary. The time lengthened. Captain Va- leno moved impatiently and began to look carefully about him. He advanced a few yards nearer to the silent Texan, stopped, and swore fiercely. “ Where are you, Sartillo? Why in the devil’s name are you loitering; is the guard not here?” he called in an angry voice. . Sergeant Bradley expected to hear a reply, but only silence answered the im- tient demand. Captain Valeno Sroreae . 'P > ‘ “t+ © 4 ep ee . rv : comicbooks.com