The Argosy, November 1908 — page 33: what you’re looking at

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

BY BULLET PERSUASION, tion, so far as calmness and peace of mind were concerned, the entire crowd started in my direction. CHAPTER XII, A RIDE FOR LIFE. I HAD read and heard a good deal of the fierceness of the Yaquis, and the long period of fighting between them and the soldiers of Mexico. But I knew nothing of their methods or habits. I could see them, and there was no reason why they should not be able to see me. I was on the very summit of the hill, and the scanty growth of tim- ber did not serve to shield me. Then I suddenly awoke to the fact that I was in imminent and deadly peril. Whatever the plans of Billy Barefoot had been in trying to surround a town of huts with six men I did not know, and at that moment I did not particu- larly care. The thing was to save my own life if I could. The shouts of the Yaquis could be heard plainly. I made a leap from stupid inactivity to what I think was the liveliest time of my existence before or since. Springing toward the line of horses, I cut my own away, and, grabbing my rifle, I jumped into the saddle. That horse, though not a very aston- ishing animal in the matter of intel- ligence, must have felt some surprise when I began to urge him to a sudden and furious speed. I turned down the other side of the hill and spurred away on the poor beast’s flanks as though I had gone suddenly insane. I am neither the bravest man in the world nor the greatest coward. I sup- pose that I am about the same as the average man in time of danger. But to sit waiting for something that I expected Billy Barefoot to do in my own interest, and then suddenly see a mob of howling and murderous Indians come pell-mell in my direction, was a little too much for my nerve. It would have been surely an act of insanity fer me to make any attempt to fight. Whatever immediate effect the few shots I might be able to fire might 599 have, the inevitable result would be to infuriate the Indians all the more. I glanced behind me, when I had put a fairly safe distance between me and the top of the hill, and saw something that did not cause me to let up on the horse. Those precious Yaquis had gained the top, and now six of them, mounted on the horses I had left, were racing down the hill after me. The beginning of my mad ride for life was easy enough; but as I drew nearer the foot of the hill, the road was noth- ing but a rough path made by hunters, and the country became rough and rocky. Then, to make matters worse, I had not the slightest idea where I was going. I knew the danger that was behind me, and not very far behind, either. And there was every likelihood that I was getting nearer to dangers that lay ahead. I cursed Billy Barefoot roundly. My horse kept stumbling, and I was in constant terror lest he fall and break his neck and my own. The surfaee of the land, after I left the hill, was all cut up. Great chasms yawned on the right, and to leave the crazy road that went along the edge was simply to go galloping over boulders and logs to certain destruction. | Even the road itself was unsafe. And when I glanced down into that ravine I shuddered. But I had. to go on and take my chances, for the six yelling Yaquis seemed to be gaining. I dared not take time to stop the horse and take a shot at my pursuers. My rifle was slung over my shoulder, and was just then more of a nuisance than anything else. I looked in vain for shelter. If there had been some sort of hut, or an old ruin like those of San Miguel, I might have made a stand. But this miserable country had nothing. And then the inevitable Pas pene’ My horse had slipped so often that he .was much ‘more exhausted than a run three times as far on a good road would make him, and he now stepped on a stone that rolled. He plunged to the ground, and, without knowing whether he was dead or hurt, I went sailing over his head and down into the ravine. comicloooks.corn