Show d How Don pon Q fi By K and Don Dealt LUIse ith T h f e Ch rODIC I I es 0 f D On OD Q H Pr II The British government having been be n put to some trouble in the mat matter matter ter of immediately and Im ImpEriously demanded that the brIgand Who originated the unpleasantness should be forthwith caught and pun punished punIshed Whereupon the authorities at Madrid sent down a strongly worded T remonstrance monstrance to Don Feupe governor of the town by the sea inquirIng why Don Q the brigand in question had hadnot hadnot not been plucked from his eyrie eyrle and executed long ago So it came to pass that Felipe Ma Majada Majada jada sat in his chair and cursed the British government by the length and breadth and to the depth and Height of the Spanish language Thrown upon his own resources and realizing that somethIng must be bedone bedone done which It seemed the ordinary agencies of the law could not effect he be fell feU back upon the devIce of em employing employIng private enterprise n It was upon this business that he journeyed to Malaga to meet a certain tain tam Don Luis Luls del Monte who ap appeared appeared to him extraordinarily quail fled for the task to be performed In Spain as in other countries there is always a sufficiency of broken gentle gentlemen gentlemen men ready to lend a hand to any wen well paid job Luis Luls del Monte lIonte was one of these At the time Don Felipe summoned bim he was living In aching poverty above a shop where they sold tobacco and stamps The governor entered into the bust busi business bustness ness with a new zest To pit Don Luis against Don Q meant bloodshed and in fat Pelipe Felipe Majada the instinct of the bullring awakened Sit down he said aloud I will explain the plan I 1 have formed Then he told the story of detention by the brigands ith the matter of the ransom and added man many other details given by former fonner captives until del Monte felt he was in possession of all the needful facts of the case Between them stood wine and short brown Spanish cigarettes rolled in sweetened paper not innocent of saltpetre Don Luis smoked one after another as he listened gazing out with absent eyes over oyer the two harbors of Malaga When Majada ceased he began beganI I have heard much of Don Q He appears to be a fine sort of fellow who has made the best use of his opportunities up yonder I had thoughts of going into the business myself Mean Meanwhile while hUe what do you want me to do doThe doThe The governor of the little white town tonn put his wish plainly if largely We must rid ourselves of this he said So 1 It v ill ll be worth your while added That is as it may be The risk is great L True But one does rn Ml r I lothing What 10 o you ou propose to pay pay the theroan theman roan man who undertakes it One thousand pesetas Don Luis del Monte laughed and snapped his fingers in contempt Two thousand pesetas then Don Luis shook his head Dollars he said parenthetically Impossible Would you ruin the No no You forget I know better Thy my dear senor I 1 have already in my time explored her pockets myself Two thousand dollars The question was not settled in a but eventually Don Luis Luts del Montes debonair inflexibility on the point prevailed The price of my life he said and n ii beggarly bad bargain For the government amended Don Felipe Besides you will live to enjoy it in Malaga How then do ou propose to get to work I 1 must be captured and you ou will arrange the ransom They say down here lere that the brigand recognizes a gentleman and treats him handsomely pending the arrival of the ransom and the arrangement of his affairs If he does I 1 am an old soldier Meanwhile I shall have five days in his company By St Peter Cold steel and close quarters cried Don Felipe with ris rising ing excitement Senor you are not IL coward Nor or a fool rejoined the other cold Then you have some other deal yes J Certainly I have a design less les blar ng than yours I shall start m in the early morning Stay How will you deal with him bim himAs As a goatherd and the farmer deal with the other oth r I will nm poison polson him He shall share the death of the vultures and the wolves I r shall shaH have five full whole hole d days s with him I tell teU you How can he escape rue mp rueI I 1 do not know Don Felipe said dubiously as he watched the thIn sin sinister later ister face opposite him with a smug interest But I have heard him called n a bad enemy And I will conquer him by being a abad abad bad friend which is just twice as for formidable Yet and Don Felipe lowered his voice olce instinctively he has other friends I came hither to Malaga for forin forin in ray my own house across the bay some ear would have heard and some foot have been ready to carry the matter up yonder I Don Luis made no answer n He put a of the governors cigarettes in his pocket and prepared to go goI I must have money to repair my toilet to buy a horse and lay Jay the affair in train It is necess necessary ry to be generous senor This may be bemy bemy my last night of pleasure and then began the song with children mimic the clerks chant hant at comes next Who knows Don Luis Luls del Monte swaggered gracefully down the dim stone atone passage with Its high barrel windows and so out into the street Ashe As he went along alonga a woman passed him with a soft S thern la laugh gh For the rest of the evEning she evinced a quite made 4 quate interest in his movements i a S By early dawn before the light broke a man from the sierra waited in the prosaic shadow of Malaga railway sta station station tion where presently r a woman with sith her head and shoulders wrapped up against the chUl of dawn came to him the woman whose cadences of laugh laught t tei Don Luis had heard for the first th tibe e as he bowed to her in the tortuous Malaga on thE pre previous evening Robledo was her lover who had come comedown comedown down from the sierra to see her wIth wItha a price upon his head and the light of adventure In his eyes Isabella liked him for his good looks though he al already already ready was careworn after the manner of mountaIneers but for his reckless courage her heart loved him Any account o of their conversation would be superfluous Robledo went away in the earliest train that left the city thus It came to pass when Don Luis del Monte arrived b by a round roundabout roundabout about route at the foothills the news of his coming and his hi errand had al already already ready been thoroughly handled bandIed in the thc I remote glen where Don Q lived In his solitary greatness like the vulture I whose name he bore Robledo had made matle extraordinary i haste to carry to his chief of f the danger that threatened for ru rumors rumors mors of Don Felipe Majadas from Madrid and his anger there thereat at with his perplexity as to how they should be carried out had afforded the last weeks talk in the mountain gorge EvenIng was once more drawing on when Robledo sprang up the narrow windIng path to the mouth of cf the cave in the rock face where Don Q chose to house himself apart from his followers The chief sat moodily in the cave cac wIth his concentrated glare upon the young robber And although Robledo wal wa a brave man he crossed himself furtively Then the Chief put a question or two and Robledo told his story at fun full length He had followed the governor to Malaga after that so much was isas known so much was guessed but the I plot was fairly understood and hung well together For Don Luis had told nothing he was far too experienced for that but something had been over heard ald a good flea inferred from the purchases he had made and In fact Robledo had proved himself a avery avery very creditable detective As he grew more excited with his story he gave way to those picturesque exclamations and gestures which the loves And Don Q listened here and there tenderly as a man laughs who sees a subtle and hidden hUmor When the tale was finished and the chief fen fell Into thought when he looked up he asked And what is your counsel Roble do But Robledo knew his master too well My lord orders he answered glib I ly There Is no knowledge nor Will Ill In the sierra but my lords Don Q closed his delicate hand That is well Robledo my child for if there were it would dl die Robledo crossed himself again sud denly and And why that Robledo said he I was thinkIng of the soul of this Don Luis del Monte replied with ready untruthfulness Ah thin then bring Gaspar and An dres dresIn dresIn In a very few moments the three men stood In a silent line before him Robledo he said you will go down beyond the valley alIe of the cork trees and wait on the southern track to Ronda Take men with you for It may be that Don Luis will come by that way And you ou wilt will deal gently with him You Andreas will go to toward toward ward the passes for it also is a travel travelers travelers ers path through the sierra You win bring this cabellero to me very safely And listen Robledo Yes lord We share a secret between us usand usand and andYes Yes lord When It ceases to be a secret yoU win will cease to be a man Now go The two men turned a away wa from the terrace and Don Q followed the lean sinewy figures till their scarlet disappeared down the slope then seeming to forget the presence of the third his head drooped upon his breast and he remained sun still and mute like some big bird sleeping bird for half an hour Meantime Gaspar stood and waited without moving hand or foot And for you Gaspar said Don Q abruptly but In the same tone as if he be had just ceased speaking and for YOU Gasp Gaspar r a pe peaceful the shrIne of San Pedro You will see the Fathers Yes lord Take with you ou this ba bag of pesetas and ask them to say masses beginning next Friday for forDon forDon Don Q paused Gaspar stood in the same patent uneager attitude The soul of Don Luis del Monte Meanwhile Don Luis rode rooe on un unknowing unknowing knowing On the second morning he had left the open stretches of he heath th and palmetto behind him and was mounting the lower spurs of the sierra He had no guide but Don Qs net swept a wide vIde circle about the Boca tIe e Lobo and capture was equally anywhere upon the sierra In Inthe the lining of his hat del Monte ha had se secured Secured cured the means whereby he hoped to take Don Qs life Beyond that on one resolution hs plans were ere in the clouds but he relied as he be had had reason to todo todo do in many other crises of his career on chance treachery and a good wit At length he entered upon UDon a wide valley of corkwoods and ilex trees where he rested during the heat of the day and as the cooler airs of evening blew over the ridges from the sea he mounted again and pushed upward The first dew was beginning to fall when he halted under a white outlying limestone crag to look around On eVer every side range beyond range the sierra rose gray stony and sinister The utter loneliness of the scene the fact that he Was bound on a desperate errand that there was no help hem possible against the bloodthirsty men Into whose power he was about to give himself mIght well have made him pause but del Montes single thought at that mo moment moment ment was sui su cess and the supply of money it promised promise him for another fling at the tables A stone rolled down the perpendicular lar face of the crag and fell feU at the horses feet but Don pon Luis was lighting a cigarette and seemed too busy to lo look lookup k kup up Then a shot whizzed past his head ripping a shred of felt from his broad brimmed hat but he finished wIth his cig cigarette rette threw away the match and was about to raise his eyes when a loop of rope rODe fell feU sharply over him and he was jerked from his saddle upward The rho indignity of hs position as he was hauled u the face of the cUff cliff amidst the jeers of the bandits roused H r tJ It i t r rt I P k 11 r f r 10 r t Ei tv rIV 1 1 J 7 r I t r o Jn Ul I If IUN Y UN f fh t 1 T 10 r Pt 1 x I fJ rp l rrt VlA xv UM A i c v 1 rEf or Y r L J v 11 Ir l r Y J fJ IJ r I o I II rJ I u M 7 11 I t tv v I II df 1 l I i c l x r iii W P J r 1 A AV V V VI I 1 IJ 7 I S I 0 It 4 It O o x 4 1 I Q ok toe x C 6 Y x WITH 11 P MOVeMENT 7 J Ie 7 rs ANO RIY INTO 77 del Monte who passed a bad quarter or of an h dangling furious at the ropes end until compelled him to allow himself to be secured j Nearly all that night the men drove him stumbling wearily through the higher mountain tracks At the end of his journey Don Luis was blindfolded and led by winding turns and through the chill of an un underground underground passage into the enclosed glen where the brigand chief waited for his coming While Robledo went up into the cave to make his report del Monte was left with a couple of sullen guards in inthe inthe the valley vaHey One happened to be Gas Gaspar Gaspar par whose errand to the fathers had been happily concluded My friend began Don Luis pres presently presently is this captain of yours aU all one hears of him down there in the plains Is it true that he buries his prIsoners alive When he does not crucify th replied Gaspar shortly It is often too great a labor to dig holes in our rocks And you Do not some of you taste death a like manner ask asked asked ed Don Lutz Luis insolently It has been heard of was the un im imperturbable reply J a And you love him better after afterwards afterwards wards In the mountains love and fear are areAt one al At length led the khe captive into the presence of Don Q The cave struck warm yet et the chief was muffled in his cloak but he bared his head in greeting as del Monte entered The two men stood face to face and sur surveyed surveyed each other silently before Don Q spoke Your mother senor was of the family of the De he asked with entire courtesy The strangeness of the question startled Don Luis as mu much h as the ap appearance appearance of the man who put it itI itI I did not think you OU would be likely to interest yourself in these matters he replied haughtily And why not returned Don Q with ith extreme softness Yet Don Luis only by an extreme effort kept up the manner in which he had begun the con conversation A gentleman oC of your our profession he begun uA A gentleman is still gentleman a in my profession Answer my ques question question tion senor if you please The other shrugged his shoulders You knew her then senor that you ask me this Don Qs thickened eyelIds qU quivered ered he raised with a fine gesture pleasure was mine her hervery ery well lie he answered simply You have her eyes beautiful exceed exceedingly exceedingly but you cannot look another In Inthe Inthe the face any more than she could It was a very little defect Of nature put in del Monte half laughing as the other hesitated I was about to say of the heart beart But these things belong to the past and only concern us tOda today in that they prove you to be of gentle blood on sides I c cannot perceive the advantage to tome tome me just now Don Q continued gravely Because I may on that account 0 of offer fer you my hospitality he s said id In retUrn for your our parole It is thus her one deals with equals Last year 1 was deceived into offering hospitality to a merchant who sold dried fruits and flour I assure you the mans manner of breathing offended me so much that I hadt had to rid myself of him before the arrival of his ransom You will therefore comprehend my reasons for troubling you And If you will now give me your parole we may have havea a pleasant time pending the arrange arrangement arrangement ment of your affairs I 1 give it answered del Monte with a very ery present thought that death would soon on free him from hIs Word I foresee that I shall enjoy m my visit isit to the sierra senor although I 1 hope you will wUl not be very severe In the matter of a ransom It Is unfortunately one of the exi exigencIes of my position that I have my children to maintain Don Q in indicated indicated the figures of |