The Argosy, January 1907 — page 19: what you’re looking at

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

IN THE He, too, was sitting up, and over him stood a big negro, who held a gun, coy- ering him. At the sight there swept over me “a realization of the catastrophe. [| saw that for the present at least any effort to escape was an impossibility, | for our guns were nowhere in sight, and I shuddered. What the future might hold I could not guess, but it was cer- tain that for the time being we were trapped, and the recovery of the money delayed for an uncertain period, if in- deed it should ever be achieved. Again I shuddered as I met Billy’s eye. In it I read my own despair. And it was all the fault of our carelessness in not mounting guard when we were in the stronghold of the enemy. ‘Fio! ho!” the ruffian jeered. “ You thought that José had his eyes shut when you followed him. _Ho! ho!” He leered at us in triumph. I was able to get his meaning, for we had both a fair knowledge of Spanish, but we had no spirit to answer him. We were at his mercy. He had the con- queror’s right to taunt us. Under the muzzles of the guns we were not inclined to reply in kind to his jeers. So we remained quiet, waiting. ‘You are strong, healthy young men,” the bandit continued. ‘ You will make good slaves, valuable slaves. [I have a friend who will pay me well for you to work on his plantation.” “You would not dare ” Billy began. But José interrupted him contemptu- ously. “Vou do not know José. José not dare! Ho! ho!” “But the law———” I began in turn, only to be interrupted as Billy had been. ‘The law—what is that down there? The only law you will know will be the lash of the overseer if you are lazy. The law! Ho! ho!” For the instant I was tempted to risk all in a desperate attempt to overpower the ruffian, despite the threatening guns. Put I could not catch Billy’s eye, to sig- nal my desire to him, and presently saner judgment prevailed. It were folly to attempt violence now. José was huge and robust, and the negro gave every promise of strength superior to either Billy’s or my own. And there Die THS- OE DISASTER. 201 were the guns, while our own were out of reach, No, we must bide our time, take coun- sel together, and then on a fitting oc- casion make our effort, when there was promise of success. lain might slay us both. For the present we were helpless, and must bow to our unhappy fate as repre- sented by the will of José. That will was straightway made manifest. “Give me your gun,” José said to the negro, ‘and bind their hands.” The negro promptly handed his gun to the outlaw, and then produced from his pocket some strands of rather fine but exceedingly strong rope, with which he securely fastened together the wrists of each of us in turn. Then José lined us up in single file behind the negro, while he himself remained in the rear. ‘“ March,” he ordered; and we obedi- ently moved forward, following the negro down the barranca toward the south, We held our course steadily through- out the day, with but a single halt, when José and the negro, Sanchez, made a hasty meal from some provisions carried by the latter. But Billy and I were given nothing to eat, and we had not brought anything with us. As the result of our long fast—for we had had nothing since the night be- fore—we lagged as the day waned, and were only prodded to an increased pace by the muzzles of the cocked guns. José freely threatened to shoot us for the de- lay we caused. It was just on the edge of dusk when we staggered down a rough path between the narrowed walls of the barranca. Those walls were greatly lowered, too, so that what had been a mighty cafion was now merely a ravine. And so, at last, we issued from it into a little valley where a narrow stream ran west and then curved. with the valley somewhat toward the south. Just before us was a tiny cove, and in this lay a yawl, at anchor. We halted on the bank of the stream, and Sanchez prepared a hasty meal. José and the negro ate, and then, while José stood guard over us with cocked gun, Sanchez unbound our hands and al- lowed us to satisfy in part our hunger. CORNICLOOOKS Otherwise, the vil- ~ . (C@)