| Show t tt t 4 4 t t In the tbt t ands of O tbt th thory 4 4 f 4 t ea G 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 i 31 11 Story ory of oi an anBY tae ew rn a ai ait id 4 4 4 4 4 t BY G A 4 4 t f tt v tt tt tt t Copyright 1 by S S McCare Co Cot I t CHAPTER IlL I The night passed quietly The soil con was soft and s sandy aandy and rolled in his poncho Will slept ept as comfortably as if in a hammock They were in the sad saddle saddIe saddie dIe dle early for tor the days ride would be bea beR a R very long one and Juan intended to give Rive the horses a days rest at Martine Martines Marti Martines nes ne neWe We Ye dont consider sixty miles to be bea a long journey journe here said Juan as they started and indeed if one starts stam on fresh horses horse ho it is a mere nothing no thin but when v hen you y u ride the same day after day lorty miles is i as 8 much as you have haye a aright aright right to expect from them after we ae Ite once fairl fairly on our way may We shall meet I with ith no water today and it is especial especially ly for tor this part of the Journey that we J r 1 v S w VL a 4 rn 1 l tRE PHE ANSWER ARS CAME CAKE PROM FROM THE ROCKS BOCKS YES THE TiE BALL AIMED AID AT ME MY HORSE BUT AM UI brought the with us I no noticed noticed noticed that you did not fill flu them half full tull at the last stream we e crossed No it was i as not necessary n The horses i will ill have a good drink at a stream we shall cross in m a couple of hours and we shall Rhall fill the skins there beyond that we MC enter ener i the mountains and travel through though an extremely difficult pass or rather I should say passes vas es until we come down into the valley The carts carta do not come this way ay They strike the Colorado river many miles down and follow its bank It is at least a third longer but if it were three times as long they would have to go that way the passes are difficult di cult enough for tor horses tut but it would be impossible for wheeled carriages After riding thirty miles they halted for half an hour the tb horses were wa watered watered Watered and the men ate some of the meat they had cooked over night and some cold pancakes that had been fried friedin in deers deer fat They were now far up UD upon UDon upon on the hillside and following a regular track I Another hours sharp climbing and we shall be on top of the summit of the pass paS See to the priming of ot your rifles and pistols If we are not Dot attacked attack be before before before fore we reach the top I shall admit that I have been wrong and nd that the attack upon u On me was after all the work of street ruffians The four vaqueros were ordered to look to their pistols before remount remounting remounting remounting ing they did not carry guns Do you jou ou expect an attack master t 1 j P r S 4 The Nan Man Rolled Boiled Over Like a Log one arke I r have not heard of there being any banes bant on the road just late lately lately lately ly but of ot course there may be some and tl is bit of road is their favorite lurking place as the traffic between San and the valley alley All comes this way I 1 Co o not trot know that tha I expect to be attacked Lopez but I have grounds for of suspecting that it is possible If we should be ambushed dismount at once and take up your position po behind the roil roccY end and fight then them in their own ways a at ac t c o If U the road were goodenough good enough I should say gallop on but it is too tuo steep and too rough for tor that Will Harland soon oon found that his friend had not exaggerated the difficulty ty of the pass On both sides the hills sloped very steeply aI aid a 1 were vera covered by boulders The tract in the middle of the ravine was wa Just wide enough nough for a cart but at a distance of 20 or yards apart the rock had been cut cutaway cutaway cutaway away for some twenty yards so that t two TO or three carts could draw aside there to allow others coming the other way to pass As it was inconvenient for two to ride abreast Juan said We had better go in single s file ile Yes and I will ride first Will replied re fe plied If there should be a fellow I hiding among these thise rocks rock it will be you they are arc after and riding rI first you would present an easy mark t for them whereas if I am ant first Drat the they wont be beable beable beable able to aim at you till yon are pretty nearly abreast of them hem themI hemI I dont like that Juan began but lint butWill butI Will pushed his hie horse horae forward Both I had unsung their rifts rifle from their i shoulders and were carrying them in inI readiness for instant use I Keep your eye Byes Tea 09 oti 0 the rocks Juan JuanI I said to the men mea behind him If It one of I II I I you sees the least movement t give a ashout ashout ashout shout and throw yourselves your elves at once off your horses It would however lave Have been no easy matter to distinguish a mans m ns head among the masses of rock and boulders through which in many places brush brushwood bru h wood woot woo and small trees tree had sprung up and although all kept scanning the I hillsides minutely nothing suspicious auspicious was heard until suddenly a aShot shat was II fired Ared from a spot some forty feet up the rocks on the left hand side Will instantly swung himself to the ground gave a sharp slap on his horses quarters quarters quarters and e himself behind a arock arock arock rock while the animal relieved r from the weight of his rider made his way rapidly along alon the path The first shot had been followed by half a dozen oth others others ers erB These rr lese came from both sides of the ravine and a ball striking the rock close to Wp Wills 5 head showed him that his bis position was no more safe there than it would have haye been on horseback He therefore made a rush upward and took up a position between two rocks which covered him from either side Then he took advantage of some bushes and crawled some yards further along until he came to a spot pot where he could lie in shelter and yet obtain a view through the bushes both above and be below below below low him Are you all right Juan Tuan he shout shouted ed edThe The answer came from froni rocks rooks on the theother theother theother other side Yes the ball bun aimed fined at me has killed my horse out but I am unhurt I Lopez Lopea L pez is killed For some time shots sho were fired at in intervals intervals intervals Juan shouted to the vaqueros I not to use u e their pistols You would have no chance of hitting them he said saad and they would only pick you off one by one Lie quiet for forthe forthe forthe the present keep your shots till tin they come to close quarters Now Will he said in English you watch the rocks above me and I will wUl watch those above you Mark if you can where a shot is fired lie with your y ur riffe rifle pointed at it until the fellow stands up to fire again and then let him have it I Four Fou shots were fired almost together from wars Witts side the assailants aiming in the direction from which the voice volee had come but Will wm had no doubt that Juan had foreseen this and was in shelter shel shelter shelter ter when he spoke Presently he saw sawa a puff putt of smoke s coke shoot out from the side of ot a large rock He brought his rifle to bear upon it and watched intently Three minutes minute later a ahead head appeared cautiously round the rook rock then a 8 ghoul shoulder shoulder der appeared and wd a rI le was pointed toward the spot behind which he had first sheltered He fired red there was a sharp scream the Title rifle went clattering down dOWD exploding as it fen fell The moment that he had fired Will drew back into the shelter of the stone Ste st Two other shots rung out and the balls ls cut up and scattered the small pebbles on which he be had been lying He was wag aole a le to ob observe observe observe serve however the position of one of his assailants While he was reloading he heard the crack of Juans rifle fol lowed by at exclamation of I tion That is two of them WUl They will wUl this I soon BOOn get tired of this game same The distances were so short In in fact that it was almost impossible for even eve evean even an Indifferent shot to miss his aim when he once caught sight of the head of an enemy eneny Presently another shot struck the rock close to Will It was fired tired some BOrne paces paceM from the stone that he was watching matching and showed that the as 35 assailants assailants were using the same tactics that he had done and were shifting their ir p po u inns after firing He Ike moved a few leiv yards jartis away and did lid not answer t b bt t 4 to the next nest two or three shots that were fired He is done for he heard one of ot the themen themen themen men on the other side of the ravine say They were but some same fifty feet teet away from him and arid it was was therefore easy to catch their words wards as the they shouted from fromm one to th other l J JWell Well then go down and attack the theman theman theman man we want another voice vol e said S Jd No Noone Noone To Toone one but the Englishman had a rifle over there so sa you are quite safe You had better come and show us the way We did not bargain for this sort of thing You said we should settle it all in one volley So you Jou would have done don you YOp fools tools if you could have shot straight Who could have supposed sUD that thal you were all going to miss at that distance Why a achild achild child chUd of Id 18 years old would have fired straighter However I am ready to lend the way You over there make a rush when we Jo do JoWill JoWill Will wm marked mar d the exact position of the speaker It was behind a large boulder some fifteen yards up the hill and as much ahead of him he saw that to join the men who had 11 d been firing he would have to pass Dass an open space be between between between tween that and some other large masses of rock and he laid his sights on that snot ot The speaker who was evidently confident that he ne was killed and that therefore there was no danger of a shot 1 beIng fired at him while he moved to join the others ap appeared appeared half a minute later He was stooping and held Id a pistol in each hand The moment his body appeared In Jn the fine line of or fire lire Will wm pressed the trig trigger trigger trigger ger and the man rolled over like a log logA A cry of dismay burst from the hill hillside hillside hillside side above Harland the pen men had evidently been watching also for their leader to join his comrades and give the signal sIgna for a rush rushI I 1 have have shot Melon Melos Juan Will shouted At least if he is as you sup suppose SUPpose suppose pose their leader lender Well done indeed We shall shan have no cio difficulty with the rest of them if their paymaster is dead they will think of nothing now but saving their own wretched lives The arties on the opposite sides of the ravine now shouted to each e other others 1 Two or three of them urged their com companions companions companions to make a general rush nigh rUl h but butth the majority were altogether against again t this Why should we throw away M ay our lives one said They have all got pis pistols Lois and even if we get the best of them four or five of be likely to go p down before belore we had finished with them Indeed they would shoot us down directly we showed ourselves and half of us would never reach the bottom bot bottom bottom tom There was 85 a silence which showed that there was a general feeling that he was right Then the same speaker went on Caballeros we have been cruelly misled we are poor men and have lIen yaen led lad into this Two of us have been killed kil ed we ask your mercy As he ceased there was a general cry of Mercy mercy You dos does Juan shouted back if I it were not that all an of your lives are not worth as much as a drop of the honest blood of those with me I would not move from here until I had put an end to the last of you However you ha have e had a lesson now Come down one oneat oneat oneat at a time into the i road oad When you get there drop your you pistols and knives to the ground and then go down the hill When one man has started let the next man come down How many are there thereof of you 1 I There are six of us alive the man marl answered We were eight besides our leader hi My Mr brother was killed by Mott ou in San Diego the other night and if ii I it had not been for that I should riot not have hays come Look here Juan said I shall see every one of your faces plainly as you come down and when whon you have haye thrown down your pour our arms you ou will stand and face this rock so 80 that I may have hae b a I good look at you I warn you ou to leave San Diego as soon as YOU ou get back for when I return I will have the town searched for you and any of you found there will pay for this with your lives Now you come down first One by one the six men came down placed their weapons upon th the ground turned to the rock where Juan was I lying and then wont want down down the pass without a word being baing uttered When I Ithe ithe the last had bad gone ne Juan stepped ed down into the road and was at once joined I by Will who had kept his rifle pointed on each man as u he i reached the road in incase incase n case he should intend treachery against 3 Juan Two of the vaqueros also out Where is Pedro Juan ae a aHe He is dead sir He was sr I ugh Hugh the body but had just st i to throw himself in among the ss I heard him groaning just at ht t but buthe buthe buthe he was soon silent I T could co ld ee e him from where I lay lILY and he has hR not moved since S See if he be is death dead Sancho This is a abad 8 abad bad business busine s The man returned in a minute He is s dead senOr senor Where is the tha man you shot Will Wm I f l y 0 s r tic The Two Vaqueros Counted Over the Gold Pieces Let us see if my suspicions are cor correct correct reet Will led the way to the spot followed followed by the ethers others Juan glanced at the dead man manIt manIt manIt It is as I thought he said aid Then he turned to the vaqueros You mayas well search him It Is likely he has money upon him He has a bag ba and a heavy one sir one of them said as he lifted a canvas bag from the da d id mans sash Let us see the ilie valued my life Jire at Juan replied The two vaqueros counted over the gold pieces There are eighty of them Ten apiece Juan remarked rem Put aside sixty for the widows o of Pedro and Lopez and take ten each ach your yourselves yourselves yourselves selves Shall we do anything with the senor Fetch some big stones and pile pHe ti m mover mover over it There will be no search for him for you may be sure he be has not mentioned to any anyone one In town what he was going to do or where w ere he was going He probably asked for f fora ra a weeks leave of absence and would likely enough say that he lIe was going up to Los Angeles or Santa Barbara and when he do does s not return it will Be fie sup supposed supposed posed that he has been murdered mur ered on the way va When ben you ou have done with him you jou ou had better do dOI the same thing I with the bodies of your two comrades The ground is too r to dig graves I and they will sleep as well sell th re as elsewhere It would be impossible for fors forus us s to carry them home An hours labor and the work was finished Will wm assisted the men in the work Juan did not offer to do so soI soI 41 I have a bullet in my shoulder he said sid Another fellow fired the instant I stant that I shot his comrade He luckily hit my shoulder Instead of my head I will get you to fetch Pedros sash and make a sling for my arm arts We can do doI nothing I for tor it until we go down to Mon Monterey Monterey on terey Have the horses gone far do you think Juan No uNo We shall shan probably find them a afew afew afew l I few hundred yards up the pass They are trained not to go on without riders and when wh their first alarm at |
