Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 150 — page 18: what you’re looking at

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

| -. ~were *- —~ -o-. EE - -_- oe ——- ——— _ - - aoe ee ee eee ee 2 ee S: ’ * a aa = — — SO ee ee ew a _ ' Me —_—-- oe eeow — — — Si _ AO a ’ - » - - ‘ Phe e , a ieee ee ee (Sessa emma to Pepe - swo answered: = Sc ee a ee se — a a — _s —- 18 El Rubio Bravo, King of the Swordsmen. on the cathedral steps holding the bridles of the three horses, for ye retained the animals ca opine from the dits who had attacked them. Olaf looked at him, and when he saw how fat and in what fine order the animal was, he ob- * ve half a mind to change horses for this brute. He looks well, and has a much finer caparison than mine.” ‘I’d do no such thing,” said Brown dryly. “ Why not?” **T knew it would be so. Luckily Carmelita has told me the name of her uncle in Mexico, and wecan see ber there. Pepita is sure to be with her.” This did not much comfort Charley, who was —to use his own words—“ eonsumedly in love,” —but there was no help for it, so they rode away to the southern gate, and as soon as they got outside, Brown exclaimed: ‘* There they are! Look at the beggars! Four | men on horseback and a fifth sitting on the ‘* Because it seems to me you’d be runnitig ‘| your head into needless danger.” “Why? asked the Dane sharply. ground by the cactus clump.” ‘*They mean to try on the trick of which the | ye warned us in Tegucigalpa—four on one, e fifth must be the one you shot, Charley, Easily told. At present the Gomez brothers'|"Didn’t you hit him badly?” don’t know you, never saw you. If you are seen on that horse with the harness on, you will be recognized by them in broad daylight, and then good-by to you.” Olaf snapped his fingers. ‘That for the Gomez crew. I have met them all now and I can beat them all. You say they never saw me. How about to-night?’ “That was a chance meeting in the dark. It would give them no clew to you.” ‘““How are you sure they do not know me now ?”’ | ' “ How should they?’ * Bragamonte may have written.” **He was too much hurt.” “* Possibly; at all events I never flinched from a fight yet and I shall not do it now.” “Then you will take that horse?” “No; now I[ look at him closer he has not the loins of my own, but Ill put the saddle on, and let them come and take it if they dare, I’m sleepy. Good-night.” In another moment both men were resting on the cathedral steps, wrapped in oblivion, CHAPTER XXV. JOSE MARIA, At daybreak next morning our adventurers were up, and Olaf deliberately changed the equipments of the robber’s horse to his own be- fore sunrise, and then set out to find a place ‘where they could buy forage for the animals and food for themselves. In this there was no difficulty; for, while hotels are scarce in the outlying towns of Mexico, posadas and drinking shops are plenti- ful, while one can buy almost anything in the markets which are held in the plazas. They fed their horses, broke their own fast and then the question arose: what next?” ‘* Let us sell the horse,” suggested Ole, They went to the horse-market, but no one would buy the animal. It was too well known, and people feared the Gomez brothers too much. At last up came a tall, dark man with bushy black whiskers and long hair. a do you want for that horse?” he asked. Olat looked at him me rae 6 He bore so omez that the “It depends on your name. What is it?” Thedark man eyed him in turn with a furtive, sullen air. ‘* My name is nothing to you,” he said. ‘I will give you two onzas for the horse.” This was twice what the animal was worth in that land of horses, ‘The animal is yours,” answered Olaf. “He belonged to a dastardly thief called Gomez, whom I shot last night. if you know any of his sr goweng tell them E] Rubio Bravo has r pinked their brother ms their cousin Braga- moray and that he defies them and all their n.’ The dark man had turned very pale, with a blue tinge, as Olaf ke; but he said not a word till he had paid his money and taken the horse. Then he said in a low voice: ‘* You have me now; but if you dare to meet me in the plain, in one hour, with the sword, I will show you that you have not killed all our family yet.” ! ‘**T will be there, senor,” replied the Dane po- litely. ‘“‘By the southern gate, between the gate and the cactus clump, where you hid last nig ” he stranger bowed gravely. “I shall expect you, senor. Gomez, at your service.” He got on the horse barebacked, and rode away across the plaza, the people staring at him but no one offering to stop him. “ A strange country,” mused Olaf; ‘“‘ but the man is no coward,” He told Brown of the arrangement made, and the doctor announced his intention of going along to see fair play. “Tm not good for much just now ina fight with fists, but 1 can shoot as well as ever,” he observed, ‘‘and you don’t know what sort of tricks these beg will try on you.” They went to the convent to ask after the la- dies; but were refused admittance in the most ungracious manner, and Olaf said: Iam Jose Maria ‘* No, confound him; the horses were goin and he was going. I aimed for his body, bu think I only grazed him. It was enough for methat he let go the stirrup. One thing, you potted one of them, and this fellow’s horse.” “Then they wanted the horse we sold to put under the dead horse’s saddle, and mount this fellow. He must be burt or he wouldn’t sit there the way he does.” They went on till they neared the ¢lump of cactus, when Jose Maria Gomez came forward alone to meet them. When he was within fifteen yards, Brown raised his pistol and cried out: ** 'You’re near enough! halt!” The Mexican pulled up and bowed. ‘‘ The cavaliero sees 1 have only asword. I can harm noone, I come only todemand the vengeance of a man on El Rubio Bravo, who boasts he has killed three members of my fam- wk My brother, Jose Jesus Gomez, lies on the os out yonder. One of you shot him, hich was it?’ ‘*T had that honor,” answered Olaf blandly *‘and I will shoot you and your brothers too if you attempt any foul play.” Jose Maria bowed again. ‘‘There is no need of boasting,” he said, “You are in no danger of foul play. We did not know it was you last night, or we should not have assaulted you in the way wedid. Our quarrel is a solemn one.” Indeed, there was a certain dignity in this dark outlaw’s manner as he spoke, that almost me ee respect, and Olaf answered: ‘* Be itso. What would you?’ ‘To fight you on foot wlth the sword, to the death,” replied Jose Maria, gravely. ‘““That is a thing I never did yet,” said the Dane, as gravely. ‘‘I am satisfied as soon as blood is shed in a duel. Death is not a neces- sity of “A bye affair.” ose Maria shook his head, frowning, ‘‘ Our affairs are different. We fight to the death only, after one of our number is hurt, and here you have already killed one.” “That was not in a duel. In short, I will not fight a duel with you unless it is well understood that first blood ends the affair,” returned the swordmaster. Jose Maria shrugged his shoulders. . “Since you are afraid, I have done all I care to make this meeting honorable. Now look to yourself.” He wheeled his horse and galloped off to his brothers, who had been watching with the most eager interest. He said something to them, and if a moment they pulled out from under the trappings of their horses four carbines, and fired a regular volley at the Dane and his friend. But in a contest with firearms the two blondes were more than their match, and the next moment they were peppering the brigands with pistol-shots, and going at full gallop for the gate of the city. Indeed, it was hardly prudent to stay out there any longer. The suddenness and confusion of the attack caused all the shots to miss, except one of Charley Brown’s, which struck Jose Maria’s horse in the shoulder, making a flesh-wound. The bandits galloped after them, loading as they went, and chased them to the gate of the city, where Olaf turned and made a charge with his sword in one hand and a pistol in the other, his lance swinging at his back. He fired five shots, missing every one, and cursing his luck and the lance swinging at his right arm. inally, full of rage, he caught u and cast it like a spear, transfixing and uttering a shout of triumph. “One more of your Terrible Seven gone,” cried the Dane, tauntingly, and just at that mo- ment he heard shouts behind him. The next moment, out of the gate, led by Charley Brown, came a party of young Mexi- can gentlemen, in all their bravery of velveteen and silver buttons, flourishing their long ma- chetes, or broadswords, and yelling valorously: “ Muerta a los gquerrilleros! Muerta a Go- mez !”..[Death to the robbers! Death to Go- mez!] Six men had terrorized the town; but now that the citizens saw two men fight them, the cowardly Mexicans took heart and came on, —— to one, to finish the battle. As for the Gomez brothers, they did not wait to be overwhelmed; but, firing a parting volley the lance ose Maria, —_—-_— in revenge, they turned and fled, and Chiapas was at peace for a time, as El] Rubio Bravo rode in at the gate. CHAPTER XXXVI. MEXICO. THERE is no city on the continent of North America that has so many elements of beauty as Mexico the magnificent. Situated on a grand table-land, with just enough elevation above the sea to make the cli- mate delightful all the year round, it is sur- rounded by the grandest mountains to be seen near any city in the world, | Popocatepetl and Iztacilwatl raise their snow- crowned summits to the skies, forty miles away, ‘and between them lies the pass of Otumba, whence Cortez and Scott advanced to their vic- tories, The city boasts of broad streets, generous plazas, the Alameda—a grand park with rides and drives called kaseos in all directions—and crowds of picturesque costumes in every street and on all the corners, Rancheros and jarochos from the country around, in their dashing velveteen and silver, rance about on their blooded horses, and bow the ladies driving on the paseo, in the cool of the evening. The great cathedral, with its flat roof, looks down over the plaza and its crowds, and the bells are clanging for a festival. Out on the paseo, among the horsemen, two men were ially noticeable as being Rubios, in that land of swart men. They wore the Mexican dress and rode fine horses with silver- studded harness, but they did not look like Mexicans, and there was a difference in the way they sat their animals. exicans always ride with a straight leg, by the balance alone, but these men had shortened their stirrups to a position more like that used in Europe, with knees slightly bent. They rode well enough, however, to show that there are more styles of equitation than one, and more than a dozen of the fair occupants of the carriages cast admiring glances at them; for a Rubio is generally a favorite with Mexi- can ladies. : The two friends, however, did not seem in- clined to respond to the advances of the ladies, and one of them said to the other in English: ‘*Tt’s no use, colonel. You were so sure we should find them here, but 1 don’t see anything that looks like them.” “Don’t be impatient, my friend,” retorted the Dane lightly: “I have not lived amony: moe ge for nothing. We shall see them ere. They rode slowly ene scrutinizing all the carriages, for they were of course searching for the ladies of their respective affections who—as they knew—had been sent to the city of Mexico from the convent of Chiapas. The paseo on which they were riding ran out the Alameda toward the castle of Chepul- pec about three miles off, but as they went on of noticed that all the water-carts had stop- ped and turned round about without any ap- parent reason. The road was as good as ever further on, but the carriages and horsemen kept in the track of the water-carts and like them turned round and came back. Not a horseman or vehicle ventured beyond this intangible boundary till our two friends rode up there and | outside. Their conduct excited immediate remark, and a moment later they heard a voice calling: ‘* Senores, senores, un momento |” (Gentlemen! Gentlemen, a moment!] Charley turned his head to look. ‘‘ What's the matter, [ wonder? By Jove, it’s one of those good-for-nothing Greasers after us.” . Good-for-nothing or not, he was a very nice, gray bearded old Pape a well and on a fine horse, and he doffed his hat with the true Spanish grace as he came up, saying: ‘*T crave a thousand pardons of be honerk- ble gentlemen, but I take the privilege of age and our common Christianity to excuse the liberty of addressing you without previous ac- quaintance.” Olaf’s hat was off before the other had finished speaking, and he answered sweetly: “Senor, you have no need of any excuse to those who can see in your benevolent face the sure index of a Christian gentleman’s disposi- er What may be your honorable plea- sure? Charley Brown, who began by this time to understand Spanish oe well, grumbled to himself in his native British: ‘“Too blooming polite by half. I hate these Greasers.” But the old gentleman had come on a friendly errand, for he went on: . ‘‘T presume from your riding on here, that you are strangers in this city.” “We arrived here this morning,” answered Olaf promptly. ‘What about this road, senor? “Simply that if you ride a quarter of a mile further on, now that it = gone dark, you will be robbed and murde That is all. It is com 900 Cc <S Sad ) i