Show SAVED BYA BY A BURROS FAN FANCY GY mexican burros RS as a rule are sociable creatures creature and will keep together in a herd or pack train so closely that you have hard work to separate one from the rest reel santago Sin tago the one I 1 am go going fig seemed no exception to tell you about lie he was a plain everyday every day dav donk y aith fill regulation ears drab skin and black ill his is shoulders mark of the cross between lie he had behaved so well before thet it surprised us all when he gave us the slip one day and v what hat was worse look his pack I 1 pad load along with him it caked coked ift misfortune when it happened but it proved good I 1 uck luck for me in the end santago was in the burro train train which packed ore from the buena chinchi mine in burro mountains down to cavallo station on the wagon trail but none of us knew then that his first master had been a gam brusino who had driven him packed willi mith stolen ore in and out of these so 0 many times that sint ago knew all the trails and short shortcuts cuts as well a the apaches did at tile the time lime was charge of all freighting for t the he buena cincha chincha and had started from the mine with still a train iraln of twenty burros to loaded abed u viila ith orein ore in mck flacks at cavallo sta elation tion four our wagons were waiting wailing for or me inc to arrive alive their loads wilh ill there I 1 was to lo complete and on with ahe ile the ore I 1 brought go wagons to silver city this was in the P when the apaches were very trouble troublesome bome for or the Chiti chiricahua cahua rene gades the remnant ot Coc hUes band were hid hiding ingin in the sierra madre down across the mexican border and they raided up tip into new mexico and arizona every little while r for my tra n ot of twenty burror there mere three mexican packers I 1 rode my harbt in 10 advance to see that the way w as clear ahead one odthe ot the came dext tient heading tile the train and anatlie the other two brought tip tile the rear where they could watch the burros and their packs santago was lit in the middle of tile the train and he tarried carried two sacks racks filled with choice specimen ore to be ellowe in helping through a mine deal that mas a on 1 at l silver city the mine owners ond and the representative ot of a syndicate that proposed to float on r stock lock were there walling waiting for line inc from the mine to the station elation was a long days day trip it wa vas some time near the middle of the afternoon when hen sir sin tage lago left led the train though nobody saw him go ile he managed the matter very neatly it was in a canyon at a place where the trail made a harp charp turn so that after pasting passing it santago was war out of sight ight from the mexicans behind for a minute or two he turned short off the took five or six steps into the 8 and stopped behind abig a big rock tile the iatros aro behind him following the sound of ottlie the bell ahead kept to the trail and had clofed up the gap before the two mexicans got round the turn they did riot not notice that one was gone and it was wa not until we got near the he station at 4 that I 1 found out that Sin santago tago with ith the specimens was missing at the station the wagons were w all ing of 01 course I 1 could not g go 0 with mith ibm and leave cave these specimens be behind Ind it took look but a ew minutes to load on oil the pre tacit sacks and start the A off then I 1 went back on the mountain trail taking along with me antonio anton 0 one of 0 the packers a reliable man and good trailer I 1 had found a bronco lor for him at tile the il atlon and I 1 rode my own horte orse the bronco would serve at as a pack horte horse if riece y to bring the ore out boutot of the mountains we rode hot foot and before darkness felt ell we had found where the burro had bad turned off ob the trail and waited behind the rock we traced his hl course coure up the mountains it a little distance aud then nent ent back to the canyon found a graer place w here our horses could feed and picketing them lay down to steep until morning with the f first gleam of day we ae were sere I 1 off 1 I up the mountain side none but an experienced trailer could have followed of it over the rocks and hard earthon earth 0 the tle 1 moun molin t in side lint antonio managed to trace them blithe but he take much stock in our finding santago finding him alive at least LOS los leones they get him first he sau sal los apaches hebbe in fit the course of an hour we came to where tile tracks turned off into an old horse hore trail and after that mat the burros course was wa easily followed two hours four later we came to a little valley where santago had stopped to graze and then had started on the trail wound among the mountains making many crooks and turns but I 1 could see sec that its general course was easterly it was a reg ged road to travel and and we were not in a mood to enjoy the fine landscape views sometimes it skirted the brink of steep precipices and again would lie along some grassy upland valley it was avas at one of these that antonio who rode ahead pulled rein and motioned for me file to come up there in the moist earth waa the track oi of a grizzly bear following the burro antonio shook his head that fellow get santago Sin tago he said I we get the pack debbe but the bur 7 ro 0 lie he eat eal up by this time the bears track kept on with sin tago lagot and at the next valley at a green moitt moist l pot a bew track appeared above the beira the big round footprints of 0 an immense mountain lion which had crossed the low marshy place in long bounds things certainly looked bad for santago Sin tago but antonio said they have big fight those fellows bout santago Sin tago both want to eat him same tinie lime one get licked knebbe they fight before they ketch him the three tracks kept on together for a halt mile or so and then where the path followed the shelf 0 of rock round the side of a precipice we came to the place where the mountain lion has overtaken the grizzly there had been a fight and no mistake there was war blood and hair and other marks of a fierce struggle ruggle kt bt showing that business had begun shortly after they got together but neither jeither bear nor lion was to be seen and we could find no traces of 0 either leading from the although we starched searched tor for them forward and back along the tr trail ail antonio went to the edge of the precipice which fell sheer for full feet lie ile steadied himself by a scrub oak tree that grew out from the brink and looked down there they bee both those fellows tie he said eaid they tumble off and both get killed 6 antonio topped stepped back to give if me ie a chance to see and with him holding me fast by my illy belt I 1 clat el nichea clutched ched the tree trunk and looked down the dizzy depth at the foot of the cliff both animals were lying alyin g still the bear a shapeless eha heap the lion stretched on its his side and both dead 5 was scafe from them b but tit is where here was he for we had not once conic in tight sight of him we were hungry for it WM was now afternoon and we had eaten the last morsel of bread and bacon we hai brought with lit its from the hie ata 11 ll llon on starting arling el out in tile orning ni we had to stop mop an a hour and kletthe let the horses rest red and feed and then we took the trail t a 11 again for tile the ens mutt it just be recovered anil and we must Sili tage choe chabe to load I 1 thought of 0 the wagons lumbering aloni along g low toward ard silver city and the c comfortable dinner and tt it did not help my feeling to think what the mine owners would ray bay when tile the wagons came in without me or tile the specimens pec but boon acre was something closer at hand to think of I 1 had fallen a little behind antonio and when I 1 came up with sy ith him he was waa looking very serious te riou ile he pointed to the path and there acro across jt 1 I wt war the trail of fifteen or twenty po nice that had passed within an hour going it 9 to the south the depth of the hoof prints print and the way they had traveled in single ingle file ale showed that they had carried indian riders rider los Ap said antonio looking fearfully around and both of us clutched our firearms asif a if the indians indian were 1 94 put t the v were n in n sight bight and they had been going in III a hurry for or riot not one of them ha I 1 turned to follow Sint agos tracks which must h have ave been fresh when they passed we went on keeping a sharp lookout look out for indians for when the apaches are out there is no safe cafe place for any white while man about the burro mountains we hurried on but still could see no trace of santago it was plain that lit he knew where he was going but we it might have been to silver city or some mexican pl azetta it might be an indian camp or robbers den in the mountains at last as the sun was going down behind the peaks we saw raw the burro far ahead just entering a narrow canyon we set spurs to our horses took the tail t ail down the long steep mountain side on a run and came out on the plain with the mountains all behind us Ahead find and disappearing like a shadow in the twilight was santago Sin tago still carrying ills his pack and heading straight for city whose lights were gleaming five miles mile away glad enough we were to see those lights and our horses horres at the sight of them quickened their pace we soon overtook santago moving smartly along at a half trot looking none the worse for wear though he ha had d been carrying ills his pack for thirty six hours through a mountain country we kept him ahead of us and in another hour we all halted in front of the legal tender corral in silver city with the wag ons not due until the next day at noon deput we put our animal in the corral and went to the hotel taking the sacks backi 01 of specimens caimens with us that evening I 1 met the mine owners and the syndicate man at porter crawfords Craw fords store with the specimen ores to exhibit a day ahead of time and the deal was made then and there then I 1 went to tile the hotel and to bed for I 1 was very tired at three in tile the morning I 1 was awakened by tin landlord bringing news A courier had just come over tit tha strange trail he said ind he says the A jumped your wagon outfit into tejon gulch last evening they killed all the teamsters ran the stock off and burned the wagons the sheriff is get ting ling up a parly to go out and get the bodies at daylight and I 1 thought lake to go along 1 I went with the paty party to the scene of the massacre there were the butil abed bodies of the teamsters lying as they had failen ft ilen by the charred wheels of the wagons I 1 should have been lying there with them had it not been tor for Sint agob strange fancy for a trip over the mountains which kept me from going along with the wagons the one break it in tits his good record so much anxiety and trouble had been the means of saying saving my life |