Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 150 — page 17: what you’re looking at

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

> El Rubio Bravo, King of the Swordsmen. 17 comes to-night, nothing will come that is worth taking he . Jose irez has gone that way, atid he leaves bare bones behind him.” ey settled themselves to watch for prey like wild beasts that they were. CHAPTER XXIII THE BANDITS. THe clump of cactus in which the Gomez brothers lay was one characteristic of the re- a of Mexico in the tierra caliente, or hot t. In sand and dryness such as prevails there only the cactus will grow, and without it the people would be badly off. ere are hundreds of varieties of cactus in Mexico, but the most universal and striking in —— ce to a stranger are the organ cactus and maguey. The organ cactus rises in spires like the pipes of an organ, and sometimes borders the roads for miles as hedges, interspersed with shorter spreading varieties. The maguey has inany virtues. In its center rises a shoot which flowers once in seven years, eae natnin do.dot.generely’ allow At’ bo jut the e do not gene ow i flower. Tonteed, they cut out the shoot and scoop a hollow, from which every day they get @ pailful of juice. And this juice, fermented, under the name of pulque, is the national drink of all Mexico, the substitute for lager beer, which everybody drinks. Out of the leaves of the ma ey. they make matting, cordage, paper, cover their houses with them; in fact, Stexico would be nothing with- out the a To the Gomez brothers it had the further merit, in conjunction with the organ cactus, of hiding their horses from view while they watched the open plain. Presently the moon rose, very near the full, and they saw a couple of moving spots, faraway on the plain. “Travelers at last!” quoth Jose Jesus Gomez with a tone of great joy. “Only two. Who’l go out and stop them. It’s not worth while for us all to get up.” **One can never be too cautious,” quoth Gil Gomez, sententiously. ‘‘ Let three, at least, go. They may have guns.” It was finally arranged that Jose Jesus, Jose Maria and Domingo should go, and they mount- ed their horses heal sallied out on the plain, rid- ing leisurely toward the two dark specks ap- proaching so slowly. . As they rode on, the moon got higher, and the on plainer. he dark specks were about five miles off when they first saw them, and they resolved them, as they came closer, into two horsemen. But when they got still closer, Jose Jesus sud- on pent oad dowble, D d ey ing dowble, Domingo, and one has a girl behind him,” oy This soon became plain as the strangers came closer still. One of them had a woman riding behind him, the other a boy in Mexican dress. ** Lassoes, bermanos,” said Domingo, as soon as they ascertained this fact. The others understood him, | : Hitherto they had been walking their horses slowly along, as had the strangers; but now they put them to s and rode down on the travelers, taking the lassoes in their hands as they went, ; ere was no longer Bay emnee of their pur- pose, nor did they care longer deceive the new-comers. , But just as they were almost within throwing distance came a couple of flashes from the stran- rs, who had halted in silence, and down went mingo’s horse, head over heels, all in a heap, his rider leaping off in a manner that showed his consummate horsemanship, while . Jose Jesus uttered a yell: ‘Jesu Maria! Carajo!” In another moment he fell off his horse which re dead short, while Jose Maria wheeled and galloped away as hard as he could go. The three bandits had caught more than they bargained for. As for Domingo, now unhorsed by the death of his animal, he ran for his brother’s horse, and would have seized it when another flash came from one of the travelers who called out warningly: “OQuidado! Anda!" [Take away !] Bal The bullet went through Domingo’s hat and zed his head with such force as to drop him the earth senseless, when the traveler who had fired observed in English: ‘“We’ye made one horse, orgy Drop Pepita and let her go up to the beast. He might scare at our double loads.” The Mexican boy—nothing less than Pepita Garcia, jumped off from behind Charley Brown and cau sly approached the black horse that stood mutely by its dead master. She would care! Go not have been a Spanish-American born and bred, had she not known how to ride like a man, and it was no trouble to her to climb into the saddle. Once there she cried: ‘‘He is a beauty, but the stirrups are too long, aud I have no spurs.” Olaf dismounted, took the spurs from the body of the dead robber and put them on her feet, after which he shortened the stirrups for her and asked: ‘Could you take care of yourself now if they followed you?” ; ‘‘T could run at least,” said the girl, “and what’s more, I can throw a lasso too.’ Olaf nodded. ‘*You’ll do. The lasso is better than a sword if well handled,” He returned to Charley Brown who had his left arm in a sling, and said to him: ‘‘ We are not through our troubles yet.” ‘““Why not?’ asked Charley dolefully. “I swear I’m in no condition to-do much more fighting to-night.” ‘You can shoot as well as ever, can’t you?’ * Yes, but—” * That’s all I want you todo.” “Then load up my pistol for me. I can’t do it, and I lost two charges.” Olaf took the lon pany Colt, Charley’s old favorite, and loaded it before he returned it. In the mean time Pepita was caracoling on her new horsein the vicinity, very much elated at their luck. Suddenly she cried out: ‘‘Take care. Here are four men coming at full speed, and the fifth is not dead. He is stir- “we in, Ah!” e had been not far from the fallen figure of Domingo, and as she uttered the last shriek the maby bay , who had been only shamming death, made a Le Pye leap from the ground and caught hold of one of her stirrups. Ina moment Charley Brown, forgetting all his weakness and pain, dashed after them as Pepita’s horse ran away, and the next minute there was the bandit running like a deer by the horse, Pepita trying to beat him over the head with a lasso coil, and Doctor Charley closing up, cursing rolen'y in English, but not daring to fire for fear of hitting Pe ta Olaf saw it; and saw the four remaining ban- dits coming from the clump of cactus, and in a moment realized that they were in a bad pre- mesa that would be very difficult to get out of. The presence of the girls was the element of embarrassment. He knew that he could not catch them, doubly weighted as he was, and could only watch. Presently he saw a flash, and back came Charley and Pepita full gallop, with four men hard after them, whirling their lassoes over- head. ‘‘Only four left,” he muttered. ‘‘ Now for it ” The Englishman and the girl dashed by at full speed and Olaf began to fire at the pursu- ers, keeping bis horse still. He emptied his revolver, quickly, but with as ood an aim as he could take in the dark, and had the satisfaction of seeing the four bandits swerve off and gallop away to the cactus clump from which they had emerged, while Brown and Pepita went on at the same wild speed to the ci y. ‘He is right,” muttered the Dane. “In love every man for his own girl. But I otght to have given that horse to Carmelita,” He rode on without further molestation to the gates of Chiapas, and entered at last the famous city of cathedrals and chocolate, where the first get he saw were the Englishman and Pepita with a crowd of idlers round them, telling their story of assault in all probability. As soon as Charley saw them enter he called out: ‘* Hello, Olaf, who do you suppose it was set on us outside?” ‘** How should I know, my friend,” returned ‘You took care not the Dane, a little testily. to stop and inquire.” ** What else could I do?’ remonstrated the Englishman. “I had my girl to take care of and they were almost on us, with me not able to fight. But that’s neither here nor there. What [ want to say is this. Those fellows were the six Gomez brothers. That’s all, old boy.” CHAPTER XXV. CHIAPAS, OnE great difference between Mexico and the Central American republics is that in Guate. mala, Nicaragua, Honduras and Costa Rica they do their fighting for the most part fairly, while in Mexico assassination is the rule, battle the exception. Even the decent members of society, so called—seem to feel no wonder when they hear of murders and highway robberies. They call ita ‘‘ lucky eseape” if a person gets off from such attempts with his life, but take no steps to stop the practice. Their chief topic of consolation in Chiapas to the travelers was: ‘The Gomez brothers are bad ones; but the won't come back into the town after this ure.” ‘‘l am rejoiced to hear it,” answered Olaf, very politely. ‘‘ There is, then, some limit to the impudence of robbers, even in Mexico.” The question then arose, being in pe ee how they should dispose of the girls and of themselves; for there were no hotels. “The convent of Our Lady of Guadalupe will accommodate the senorita,” suggested one by- stander, ‘‘and you three senores can go to the bishop’s house, He is always hospitable.” It was impossible to tell the crowd in the street that they were mistaken in the sex of Pepita, and not advisable either, so they rode off to the convent, where i) rung at the bell, asked for the abbess, and left the two girls in safety, no questions being asked. As they turned their horses’ heads toward the plaza, Charley observed thoughtfully: “TI tell you what it is, old fellow, I w brought up the strictest kind of a Protestant with an idea that these monks and nuns were regular heathens; but by Jove, wecouldn’t have landed two girls in such a nice place in any Pro- testant country in the world.” ‘‘And now I suppose, we’d better claim the bishop’s hospitality,” replied his friend. ‘ Then you'll be converted for good,” Charley laughed. “No danger of that. But seriously, what shall we do. Have you got any money left.” “Only what was on my horse, and my diamonds.” . ‘*The same with me.” ‘** Did you lose mach in the fight yonder?” ““A mule, a lot of clothes and about ten ounces of gold.” , ‘*Then weare not so badly off as when we — rpm Si “| should say not. at do you propose to do? Get marta at once?” - I would, but there is one difficulty about A: gnc! pee ae J 0 priest would marry us. ‘Why not?” ‘* Carmelita is under age.” “What of that? Her father’s dead and so is Pepita’s father. We are their only living pro- tectors.” ‘‘T know that; but—” “But what? We must get married or else leave them. It’s not proper to go on in this pia The girls would both lose all their char- ac rs. ‘Yes, I know, but—” ** But what, Ole?’ : “* Well, it seams that they both have relatives in the city of Mexico.” , ! ‘‘ Whom they never saw.” ‘* All the same, the abbess and the priests will insist on their joining them. You see, we are ereticos—heretics—and they would not let two Catholic girls marry us if they could help it.” Charley Brown pursed up his lips. ‘IT never thought of that. Confound their popish peers e ‘*T thought you liked them just now,” re- marked Olaf, dryly. Charley could not help smiling. ‘“‘Tt’s confounded inconvenient. Then I sup- os we shall have trouble to get them away rom that convent.” ‘* Assuredly. I never dreamed otherwise.” ** And yet you let them go in there.” “Ce nly.” ‘And why?” ‘* Because it was my duty.” The Dane’s face was grave as he said this, and Charley stared. “Why your duty? The girls were alone, un- der our protection.” “For a while, but that was only because it could not be helped. We saved their lives when they had lost all their natural pro- tectors.” - “T know that, but—” ‘** But as soon as we came near a town, it was our duty to put them in charge of those against ge suspicion could oui os » ‘** But sup we never see them in “We shidt 260 them again.” eu “How do you know?” ‘Because the sisters will not want to keep them. They took them in for charity, but my it word on it, they will question them closely, and find out whence they came and who are their friends in Mexico.” ‘** And will they send them there?” ‘Of course they will. Even nuns cannot keep a free hotel for all comers, and these girls come of rich families. They will be sent on to Mex- ico, and their friends will ‘come down’ to the church without asking.” ** And where shall we go pee Ole?” “T think we might as well bivouac on the one tity the beggars. I don’t want to go to e bishop’s palace, for they would put us into the paupers cells. It’s a fine night, and we can get all we want toeat in the morning.” They rode into the plaza, watered their horses at the public fountain, and then went to sleep com Ebooks s e ’ ’ : 7) EE LL EE EG RN TR