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Show feM $A. Romantic Mexican Sloty. , Jm BY WILLIAM HENRY BISHOP. flV . rCopjrifcWea by J. n. IJppinrott Company, and pV "fflH Vfe.-iJ7- Ushed by special arrangement with them.) CHAPTER. XIIL ( CAPT. PHTCEZ AND HIS EETOLCTIOnI . wm of Ifce ingots into cash for Qm expense ex-pense of the expedition. They began at once to make their preparation and plan the necessary subterfuges. , "And Oaiaoir inquired Walter, with some concern. "Ho bus seen nothing of consequence, I feel sure. I kept my discoveries) to myself. I will make him think your being be-ing here is a part of the plan. He i true as steel, and has been with n all along. Ilia place was a convenient point for reunion.', re-union.', and he has been the means of bringing in some of his old cronies for instance, Perfecto Ponce abore, to whom, with your permission, we will now aend np a few signals." Ho and Uhkm.iI thereupon aet np soma '. flags. A messenger hastily came down, and ' was sent off again. Almost immediate ly after there began to steal into the ; canyon a number of peons, such as had been seen about EI Jasmin. They bronght with them the various cages and other contrivances nsed by the charcoal burners, burn-ers, potters and market people generally for carrying their hardens; it was intended in-tended that the valuable freight should be disguised under variety of forms. The men who came from another part of the country, with the example of their hold leaders before them, and being , gathered for a peculiar purpoee, were far leas troubled by the superstition of the Yellow Sunke than those of the immediate immedi-ate neighborhood. Capt Tere. too, made a strong point in Don Walter's favor fa-vor by ropreseutiug that the latter had come there for tho oxpreiw pnrpoee of destroying de-stroying the abode of the monster, and pointed out tho effects of the blasting to show that he had succeeded in doing so. A good supply of maguey fiber bags was also brought in, and Walter, with Perea, guardedly found means to pack all the treasure that had been piled in loose heaps into them in person. Under the eyes of so many witnesses they could take out no more treasure from the exposed ex-posed bed. On the contrary, they devoted de-voted themselves to covering it up as much as possible. Nor oonld they have delayed for any further mining, since tho conditions demanded the utmost haste, "I think we shall do well to begin with a procession," proposed Capt. Perc. "Religion has lieeu used before now as a cloak for many a leas worthy object." "A processionr repeated Walter, puzzled. "Yes; our pilgrims will now natnrally be going back to their home. For a consideration wo can borrow a number of the figure of saints at El Jasmin. W will fill the hollow interiors with our gold, and the figures can be conveyed in publio parado to Rio Frio. There must be some pretext of a celebration, or, say, prayers for rain. It is a gtxnl while, in fact, since we have had rain enough in Rio Frio." TO MB OOSTIWtSK nSXTSATWUlAT. i nave otner affairs. You may hear more of them anon." "You knew my father, and, as I have reason to think, tho cause of bis coming here," said Walter, huskily. "Well, I want to pay it all back." "I did not ask your object I was willing.to help you, no matter what it was." To Walter, lonely and buffeted about as he had been, there was a blessed relief re-lief in having this strong shoulder to Jean upon; and never was he to have any reason to regret the confidence he now bestowed. . - He summed up the vague plans he had thought of for getting the treasure out of the country, feeling only the more clearly how hopeless it would have been for him to attempt it alone. In answer to a suggestion that it should be safely buried to await some change of government govern-ment that might be more, favorable to them, he said: "I haven't a single moment's peace while it remains in Mexico, My idea is that, without waiting to secure any more at present, I ought to reappear in my own proper person, as if returned from my trip, and take every measure to get it to the United States at once." . "To the United States? that is a long way. Still, I suppose a ton or two of the commodity might be run through to the coast." "A ton or two? hut, my dear friend, a single million weighs nearly two tons, and I have over six millions. There will be freight enough for seventy or eighty moles, allowing twelve arrobas, of twenty-five pounds each, per mule. "Six millions? Well, that is something," some-thing," cried the captain, opening his eyes widely at the unexpected amount, but making a prodigious effort to hide bis surprise. "In fact, it is a very pretty sum. And all that has to go for a benevolent be-nevolent object? It does not seom treating treat-ing yourself quite fairly. If it had been my case, I think I should have drawn off a little more of the golden milk for my own benefit." , "You are forgotting that the supply gave out, though there is no telling what there may be in these beds beneath us yet. I may have half ton or so extra for contingencies. You must certainly take a liberal share of this, and no doubt in better times the beds can be worked, when the product Bhall be as much yours as mine. I cannot tell you what a source of chagrin it is to me now not to be able to offer you one-half of the whole." "No more of this, my boy. Nothing shall be deducted from the amount except ex-cept for necessary expenses. Take your treasure for which you have toiled in such an unheard of way? not I, indeed!" "We will discuss that point afterward." after-ward." "It's a clear case," said Perez, resuming resum-ing a blunt, peremptory manner; "thero is just one tiling to be done, and nothing else. We must get up a revolution." "How? A revolution?" protested Walter, Wal-ter, in complete repugnance and alarm. "And carry it away under cover of the ensuing difficulties." "I would never consent to anything so infamous for a scheme of private advantage. advan-tage. It would be worse than to lose it all." "WeU, that is my way; I am at homo j to give time for the ferment at the north. I was left at Rio Frio with a large force of men who had been gathered in ready for tfie outbreak, and with nothing for them to do. I sent part of them in various vari-ous bands on the pretext of making the pilgrimage to El Jasmin, and with another an-other part I have affected to take service under theJefe Politico and search for , Kaufmann. Don Tomas Coroovedo and I ' are, for the nonce, better friends than we nsed to be," he added, with a laugh. "He is a dangerous m.m, sot so stupid as he seems, and in dealing with him you are running a great risk." "He is nervous about the stato of the country just now, and seems glad of any even apparent accession to the armed force of which he is the head. He will be more arrogant again when he receives the reinforcements he expects to keep his district in order." "I shall be extremely grateful for any aid you may give me consistent with your own project. What do you propose?' "While my men are idle they are likely either to desert or get into some serious mischief that will betray us. I propose that they give up the farce of playiug at pilgrims, come down here, and transport , your property on their backs. We may i bring down a few mules, too; our horses showed that the path was practicable. My idea is that tli gold ought to be out-1 aide the Barranca at some point where it could be easily accessible, if an oppor-' tunity should offor, for a rapid dash to the coast." "What point would yon suggest?" j "You say you have some of it hidden on the shore of the lake, and more of it at Cuernavaco. Why not oollect it all at Rio Frio? That is my headquarters, beyond the jurisdiction of your treacher ' on Jefe Politico, tho scene selected for the uprising, and a convenient point of departure for a military movement to the sea." "And after that?" "The ruet will naturally need planning somewhat as we go on. I have a friend, Capt. Carvajal, who has a schooner on j the coast engaged in our business. I; don't mkid telling yon that he brought 1 back the liberator from his exile. Hoj himself must be somewhere near Puebla now, having come up to visit his family. I will open communications with him and try to see him personally. Carvajal is a Biscayan by birth, a bold fellow, j who has been in all sorts of hazardous undertakings, and if we can get him he will be just our man." "Good!" assonted Walter heartily, "The difficulties of the enterprise seem to be already clearing away. But, natn ! rally, it cannot be conveyed openly all ' at once; it must go piecemeal, by strategy. strate-gy. And are you sure your men can bo trusted? WiU it do to let them know what they are dealing with?" I "Of course not. They must never see a sign of it. They are only to think they are transporting arms and supplies for the cause, disguised as sulphate of copper. They are not up in fine point ; of weight and the like. We must keep ' the bovs well paid, and tn " depended upon. It will, be a delightful novelty for them and nobody will get ahead of us on that score." Peres charged himself with turning obsequious politeness. Walter turnea fiercely toward him. i "He is all right," interposed Perez, assuming a confidential relation. "Antonio "An-tonio is one of those persons whom it ia perfectly proper to trust." ' : "I am from this part of the country," exclaimed Gassol; "so I return once in a while to see how my native village is getting get-ting along. Wo have come down" "Yes, to see if we could get some sulphate sul-phate of copper to use in my arras tra at La Fortuna," said his principal, cutting him short. "I pound out a few dollars from the ore on my place when I have nothing else to do. Antonio, will you kindly go and take a look at the horses? The roan seems to have tangled himself up in his lariat" "You do not appear surprised to find me here," said Walter. "I make it a rule not to be surprised. So many remarkable things are always happening, I have left myself little capacity ca-pacity for it. You were quite mysterious in your goings and comings for some time, then your horse turned np, giving . us all a scare lest you had been murdered, and finally I learned the othor day that a peasant corresponding to your description de-scription had been heard earnestly talking talk-ing English with the rair American or the hacienda of Las Delicias. ' I put thii and that together and made up my mini you were not in the North American republic, re-public, but still ' in our own. I did not know where, of course, but in the hut just now I recognized some of your property pardon me for entering it without permission, but I thought it desertedand de-sertedand presently I saw you walking toward me as natural as life." Somewhat confused at this calm way of taking it, Walter muttered something about a scientific mission that had had no great results. "Yes, a bright, hard metal that looks even finer than the real gold?' suggested Perez. "But goes off chiefly in fumes and turns out to be only sulphuret of iron. I don't mind admitting that my search was partly for treasure." "And again, the bluish galena, containing con-taining silver, but in too small supply to be' worked, and then the yellow grains scattered through some of the limestone, but still in too slight quantities to pay for extraction?" "How do you know all that?" "Bless you, Tve been through it myself. my-self. I could have posted you if you had come to me. You may not recollect my telling you I had been here once, long before be-fore you were born. But, now, how - - -zr These are the shocks that shorten men's - ' . . liuea. On re-entering the canyon, Walter saw , , at once that a cliff near his headquarters ' viad fallen.: It might hwe been from J this that the great cloud had gone up, ' which was dust rather than smoke. . The jar had acted chiefly along the central line of the chasm.'opened new 1 rents, dried up the bubbling lava of La Caldera, shaken his spring house to ruin, and altered the aspect of the -travertine basin and terraces. His cliff caverns, l with their treasure, were hardly dis-" dis-" turbed.. -.V . . ". . -It was only by his habitation, still intact, in-tact, that he could recognize the place of . jkii principal labora. What a wholesale change had taken place there! The central cairn was toppled over. There . was no longer any cold spring. There was no more any hot spring; or at least the Btream that now existed at a litUe , distance could not be identified with the . flood of boiling waters that used to surge so wildly around the spot. . The ever rising hope in Ddn Walter' breast prompted him to look again to ee if the ' Yellow Snake had not come back as one of the vagaries of the convulsion; con-vulsion; but nowhere was any glint of Its dull golden luster to be seen.-' It was . sot for some little time he realized that another haunting dream of his had ac-..tually ac-..tually come to pass; the hot stream, was turned out of its courso.. Its fierce . caloric- had no longer to be guarded . against. .'There lay the wreck of his i timber barricades and his conduit; there j lay tho flat rock on which the Yellow i here, and speak only of what I know," rejoined the captain, coolly. "Why, to convoy such a train of animals as you need requires a regular military operation." opera-tion." "Say no more: it can never be done, rhis is the sort of morality tlmt might have justified my distrust of you, Peres." "Wait a little, friend Walter; what if, instead of starting a revolution, we found one already inado?" ' "How can that be. Please explain." "You have given me your confidence, and I will give you mine just as sure it will be hold sacred. Why do you think I am here?" "One might guess fifty times and not strike it." "Ostensibly to look for Kaufmann, the abducted foreman, for whose recapture a reward has been offered, but really to see what kind of place this would be for keeping out of sight a body of men till they were wanted." "If Kaufmann has been abduoted he takes it very easily," said Walter, as he had thought, before, describing his adventure ad-venture with that person not long ago. "To be sure he does; he is one of the society one of pur college chums, as it were. His disappearance was only a piece of diplomacy, and he has his work to do elsewhere." i Walter gave a slight whistle. "It kindles still more the flume of discontent dis-content against the government at Mexico Mex-ico on the ground of the prevailing lack of security for person and . property. Though, to be sure, there are valid complaints com-plaints enough without inventing them. What do you think it did the other day? Broke into Mr, Wharton's house at the capital, and took from his coffers, though they were under the seals of the British legation, seven hundred thousand dollars. dol-lars. Just before that their general at Tepic seized twenty mule loads of silver under pretext that it was being clandestinely clandes-tinely exported. Another time a whole conducta of two million dollars, on the way to Tampico, was confiscated. Repayment Re-payment was promised when the troubles trou-bles in that part of the country were settled. . It will be a long time, I can tell you, before that day comes. Things are in a desperate way, and no mistake." about this bed close by? It seems to contain con-tain some very good nuggets. Are they of the same sort as those I noticed on the ' shelves in your cabin?" Walter, in fierce agitation and resolve, here drew forth his revolver without further fur-ther hesitation. The secret was out; he was betrayed. ' , " : "What I have found I have a special use for; I cannot give it up, nor even chare it. If you ha'vo come here with design upas it, let us settle it once for 11. Do you take your pistol, as I will mine, and stand off at twelve paces. Gassol will make as good a second as another. Whatever of value is here shall belong to the survivor." 'fHave you then no more confidence ia ' me than this, my old friend?" inquired the captain, showing no trace of resentment. resent-ment. ."You who knew my devotion to you should have treated me better." "No, nolj in such an affair. I feared the temptation might be too great; not for you alone, but for any man. I had an object. If it had been an ordinary matter" , "But it is precisely in extraordinary matters that I am most to be trusted. You should have known me better than my enemies. Whatever else I have done, my integrity has. never been impeached. im-peached. In all my campaigning, I have never once engaged in plunder. A man's virtues are much according to his temperament, I suppose; and my weakness does not lie in that direction." Don Walter began to breathe more freely, and even to be a little ashamed. ' "See here, now, what claim have you on me? What service did you do for me when you were the merest kid?" went on Perez, with cordial bluffness. "I don't ' remember," answered the young man, evasively. 'Well, I will remind you. I was a captive in the hands of my bitterest foes, who were taking me along to a certain execution. They camped over night alongside tho ranch where you lived then with your father. You were a lad and allowed to run freely about the camp. I asked you if you had a knife and could cut leather. You said yoa had, and used it upon the thongs with which I was bound I feel their infernal, . Snake had been Wonj? to sun itself, free and open now to whoever would approach. ap-proach. Below it was a cavernous de- pression filled with irregular fragments . resembling those usually found in the Wpat.btjdpjf-a,sjreain, some blackened , with slime, others partly colored with chemical incrustations. But over the urface could be mado out certain sinuous sinu-ous lines and vague suggestions of shapes that caused Don Walter's heart to stand still for a moment, then to beat . with a force that made him dizzy. - . ' ' He clambered down to the spot. It ' hardly needed his hammer and acids to Terify what he found there. Everything pointed to the belief that he had discovered discov-ered a large part, at least, of the nuggets ' . formed by all the past plunging over of v the golden-stream.- Let the Yellow ..Snake go now without a thought, for here was its progeny in limitless supply. Never, even at the time of the first discovery, dis-covery, had Walter been so overcome. The possibility that ,he might secure : riches for himself, even after his honorable honor-able ambition wa3 attained, now greeted him. Figurations seemed to durt before be-fore his .eyes;; He fell upon his knees in a mood of the sincerest piety, i "If I have been often rebellious under . the scourging hand of heaven, ''he prayed, "let me now give devout thanks and the iuost heartfelt gratitude when it is so good to me. Hereafter I will mend my ways." . v i In two days he was able to take out . , enough from this new' source to com-, , plete the coveted amount, and not a lit-tle.over. lit-tle.over. From each of his trips to the 'caverns" he brought -back sections of dried trees and branches and threw them upon the deposit to give an appearance of natural wreckage. The bed would hardly have attracted the attention of a superficial eye as.it was; but he wished to make assurance doubly sure, i The evening 'of the second day he thought he saw armed men and horses . silhbuetfcd on the lofty verge of the Barranca, Bar-ranca, like the god of Walhalla riding in the sky. Ha. fancied this must be only '.a j deceptive appearance of the bushes, as before: but this time it was a portent IhatHvas to be corroborated by extraordinary "events. "And the meaning of all this is" "That a new era is dawning for onr unhappy country. Our central committee commit-tee at Mexico has long been pulling the wires; the proclamation are prepared; the blow is abont to be Btruck. My old general, my hero, my idol, ha returned." He looked cautiously around, hardly daring to breathe tho secret even in such a place. "When we fought for him before, he did not have fair chance, but this time he will succeed. Ho will put an end to these wretched dissensions, dissen-sions, and give Mexico at last a government govern-ment worthy of the name." "When? When is it to be? for I have those to whose eafrty I mnst look. In my hermit life here I have heard nothing of all this." "You would have heard scarcely more if you had been outwde, for the secret ' has been excellently kept. Nothing is yet felt here beyond a ogue uneasiness. The besotted government itself, rushing from one folly to another, does not appreciate ap-preciate tho importance of the crisis. But I have means of knowing that the state of Durango, Jalisco, ami Jfiehoa-can Jfiehoa-can are already aflame, ami the signal may be expected here at almost any moment." mo-ment." "With such pressing interest awaiting await-ing you, I can hardly expect your attest- ', tion to my affair.". "On the contrary, your affair is likely to be a godsend tots; you see the obligation obli-gation will not be all on one side. The appointed date ha been postponed on ixwantof the sickness of omr chief, and cramping knots nowso that at a favorable favor-able moment I was able to escape." "It was no trouble to me." "But it was a way of uparing me such a very considerable trouble that I have wanted to do you a good turn ever since. Putting you in the line of a little hunting hunt-ing does not fill the bill. Estimate the thing as I do. Now, here yoa are in a difficult and dangerous box, perhaps even more dangerous than you know; let me help you out of it." His hearer struggled with a lurking doubt whether this were not, after all, only a specious means of throwing him off his guard. "I put myself at yonr disposal squarely, square-ly, honestly, without a shadow of reserve; re-serve; I will aid you to the best of my abilityand by every means in my power." "Iam conquered; I am overwhelmed with shame," said Walter. "I trust you entirely. Forgive me! And, ee, Perez, what I have gained here is destined for a high and worthy end, in which my enjoyment en-joyment has no part, but after that end is accomplished there will be something over, which you must share. 4 And, further fur-ther than that, much more of this liberal bounty of nature still remains to become available at some furore time. "We will do nothing of the kind. Believe Be-lieve it who will, money has never had any temptation for me, and it is now too late to change. Look at me; what I most wanted in youth I could not have, and after that Well, suffice it to say I am a rod tinnf. end si present What was pis auazement, on returning return-ing from his usual mission the following day, o see two armed men in the canyon on the very field fit his ojierations, and two horses picketed at a little distance! ' Onp of the men climbed up to him from the cavernous bed of the stream, the Other appeared from behind his hut. , He recognized the tot as Capt. Perez, the other as Antonio Gassol, keeper of the Alma de Mesiao restaurant at Caer-navaca. Caer-navaca. 11 These are the shocks that shorten men's Uvea; and Walter had had so many of them crowded into his late experience that he showed clearly the effects of the lack and strain. ' ! Capt Perez advanced towards him in hearty way with extended hand. Walter Wal-ter was inclined to lay his own upon his revolver instead. Ho drew back repel-lently repel-lently and kept on the defensive, i "Ah, you do not like onr intruding?" aid the enptain. i "Oh, as to that," shrugging his shoulders, shoul-ders, "we don't have a great many visit-I visit-I ra hare, and it -was a triflo unexpected. " HefelWheimpohcyof.hisconduct,yet tad been too flustered acd was too trem- f hlingly alive to the magnitude of the in- jterests at stake to have adopted any tier. "So yon are not in the United States, (after Ur J "Good day,enor Arroyo! We do not toe yon often at the Alma de Mexico aowadays, 8enor Arroyo," interrupted . iAstanfe QawoL iy-nil'g u with a most |