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Show TH6 yellow spring. eA Iomarfic Mexican Stoty. BY WILLIAM HENRY BISHOP. ,' rOryrrghted by J. B. Mppinnott Company, and pr lifihod by-spocial arrangement with ttiunj . . 4 tliil- i "Tier fate interests me and the walk I Is a change from the gardens, which sometimes seem too splendid, and there are plenty of maravillas (a pretty blue j wild flower) there." On one occasion as they the women over their embroidery sat by the basia that did not bubble, the Madre said, casually: casu-ally: "It seems a long time since Don Walter Wal-ter went away; he is au acquaintance that one misses." Amy could hardly forbear crying out, "lie is deadl his bones are whitening in a terrible place! Or he is in danger, and nobody will help him, and I am to blame because I will not tell what I know!" It was. the tenth day since the basin had given any sign. ' The effort to keep back the agony of her mind was growing almost impossible. She Was continually arguing with herself : "Surely time enough has now been allowed al-lowed to by. Why did he not lis an exact ex-act limit? Now I will write to Capt. Pe-rei; Pe-rei; but no; what horror to betray his plan nnd ruin all, if there should be no need of it! A dozen things that could not have been foreseen may have taken him awav. Whv did we not talk more TSo ran Ms final decision. Everyday until now he had 6ent- the message of hie safety to Amy by the spring. With what suffering the dumb current would have pulsed could it have conveyed his own feelings, in these latter days, to her! But for a while the signalmust be abandoned. The third period set for the exchange of lettershad also come round. He determined, deter-mined, therefore, to stop on his way at Las Dolicias, both on account of thelet- they migut wen enougn pass a uiue time, though it in io way compared with the garden and thon he watched them on their return. As soon as the coast was entirely clear he slipped out, and, shielding himself behind one straw stack after the-other, daringly risking detection, went and inspected the depository. depos-itory. Nothing. He hid again in the corral, hoping she might mako another visit in the afternoon; but looking once more in while to take away. The glimpse of a half medixval life she had at this place would have charmed Amy, if her anxiety had Buffered her to take her usual interest in such things. As it was, there was need of all its strangeness to make it a distraction. Sometimes she looked on at the pilgrims in their devotions, sometimes rode with Don Angel short distances round about her fancy galloping faster than the steed toward, the unattainable Barranca of Cimarron and sometimes strolled with Beatriz, a little into the village street. Tho men of the village were highly respectful to all those who wore the insignia of pilgrimage, and most of tho women and girls were taking part in it themselves. Don Walter ,took up a lodging in a wattled hut, furnished only with a few large earthen ;ars and a charcoal fireplace fire-place in tho center, and slept on ma tjt like any peasant. For some reason, the religious observances were much better attend! this year than usual. Delegations Delega-tions of Indians, in their distinctive local lo-cal dress, were present from a number of remote points. Walter prowled among them, looking from a distance at his nearest friends and connections, like one from the dead. He came inadvertently upon Amy and Beatriz face to face, as they Were issuing together from behind the sculptured arches. Changed though he was by long exposure in the canyon and by his disguise, Dona Beatriz recognized recog-nized him at once! : "Don Walter!" she exclaimed, with an impulsive cry. "Don Walter, it is you?" "I call myself Ignacio Gomez. There is some mistake here. I am in Bearch of cattle that have strayed in these parts," he responded, endeavoring to retreat, "No, no, you are Don Walter; I cannot can-not be mistaken. You have not gone to the north; you are here and in hiding. Perhaps you are in trouble and danger. Oh, can I not help you?" "Do you not see that this good man is a mere peasant? What a singular idea you have got in your head!" said Amy to her, severely. "Do not be offended with us, good friend; my companion here sometimes likes to talk at random." And she took her gently by the arm to draw her away.' She checked her own feelings with wonderful calmness, in order to protect fully and arrange all that in advance?" The lengthened suspense had made her so palo and wan that all noticed it. "You are not well," said the general; "you are not keeping up to the standard. stand-ard. We must find some new distraction distrac-tion or cliange of air for you. What would you like? Suppose we run up to Mexico for a few days." ', "No, no," she protested, in a panic, "I am perfectly well." "Then we might ride up to this pilgrimage pil-grimage at El Jasmin, near the Barranca of Cimarron. The aunivernary has come round, and the Madrecita hero,"- slightly mocking at tho opinions of his wife, "will toll you that it is a very important occasion." Amy brightened up at the montion of tho Barranca of Cimarron. . ' "Would you like it?" he askitL "Very much," she answered. That would he life movement. Anything Any-thing was better than the torture of stagnation. She would leave Trinidad Jose to watch the bubbling of the spring for her, and she vaguely hopod if she approached ap-proached the Barraca some providential way of hearing from him might be found. It had been talkod of before. Dona Beatriz and her companions had desired to go if they could place themsolves under un-der efficient protection, and she was here this very morning to learn the decision of the sonora. The goneral being thoroughly thor-oughly enlisted, it required no long time to make the necessary preparations. Swift messengon were dispatched to town to do what was needed there, and all was got ready for an early start next morning. As Hie group went back through tho garden mazes, Amy turned almost involuntarily for her usual walk out through a side gato in the hedge. One and then another of them decided to ao omTin.nv hor. thnnfrh itwrmlrl bn.vAhAnn ters ana u) reassuro jiiuy Ha mj vuD 'vcooar tion of the signal and the beginning of his' wanderings. "Was she well?" At first thought it seemed almost absurd to fancy anything could happen to one so tenderly cared forin the midstof every luxury, all dangers,, dan-gers,, rather, were reserved for his own lot But he know that pale death, with sickness and calamity as well, knocks equally at regal palaces and at the hovels of the poor, and no small anxiety about her was added to the sum of all the others. His letter to her breathed, even though he tried to guard against it, a sense of his diacouragmnont, fatigue and uncertainty about tho future. He hesitated hesi-tated mnch as to whether he-should put In the confession he had prepared for bar, but decided in the affirmative. Wag there not now all tho more reaeon,for it, since the prospect of success had grown so remote? . - r r , All "vas made ready for departure; he left his belongings in as wild a state as possible, and began to climb the craggy; . wooded path. Here, as once before, he met with an accident. A large stonoi rolled from its place under his touch and 1 bore him down. It pinned him to the earth, yet was stopped by several small obstacles from crushing him with its) ' full weight, He managed to extricato Himself , but was in great pain and unfitted unfit-ted to proceed. A forlorn, wounded creatare.he dragged himself back to his hut, and, his hurts stiffening and taking an even more aggregated ag-gregated form before they got better, hela7 thereof or many days capable only of the efforts necessary to secure such rood and drink as would maintain life. He seemed abandoned by heaven and earth; his lonely unbefrionded condition made a scornful mockery of the golden dreams in which he had so lately indulged. in-dulged. Nevertheless, no bones were the evening, and yet again in the morning, morn-ing, he still found nothing. He thought sho had not been able to secrete an answer an-swer before her companions in the first instance, nor to roturn alone in the second. sec-ond. What was more natural? But now he could wait no longer. Another day at tho corral was not to be thought of. Just as he was about to begin bis detour de-tour of retreat, he saw issuing from the principal gates of Las Delicias a numerous numer-ous cavalcade. There were armed servants serv-ants commanded by the corporal, or principal prin-cipal herdsman, a man who wore a red handkerchief about his head in bandit fashion and was wont to claim to be the titular cacique of some extinct tribe, and there were peons carrying the implements imple-ments needed to dear the road. Mules, bearing provisions for the company for some days, had tho name of the hacienda embroidered on the broad crupper bands in bright colors. A small escort of the leather jacketed rurales, or country police, po-lice, furnished by the Jefe Politico, was also in attendance, whose arms and silver sil-ver trappings jingled as they rode. In the midst were seen Gen. delPrado, Amy, Luz, Dona Beatriz, the Senoritas Arroyo and some other pereons of note from the town. Several of the party vore such badges as weiu used on the occasion of tne pilgrimage pil-grimage to El Jasmin. Walter bethought him that this was the date of it. If it were a pilgrimage to El Jasmin on which they were bound, then let him turn back and pause a little in his vague plan. He discreetly followed their course, his skill in woodcraft standing him in good stead. Time was really no great object with him now; an opportunity would surely present itself, on such an excursion, excur-sion, to speak to her, and many tilings could be settled by word of month which could not be by a fitful, enigmatic core Bpondence. CHAPTER XI. 1 TIM FAMILY BJDE TO EL JASMIN. him. But one of the painful thoughts by which Walter immediately began to be troubled was that she also had not recog-nizod recog-nizod him. He had clearly seen the surprise sur-prise dawn and grow on her face. The intuition of Beatriz was the quicker. They separated, but it is certain that all looked forward to another interview that might gratify the special desire of each. Sister Beatriz, struggling with a strange mixture of motives, being there partly to pray t against her own weakness weak-ness and partly drawn on by her heart, would not absent herself from the presence pres-ence of Amy. ui - ' The second day of their stay was coming com-ing to its close; , they were to leave on the morrow, and Walter had made no progress. He called to him an Indian woman wo-man bearing a jar of water on her head. "Amiguita, there are some Sisters of Charity over there, or sisters of some kind or other " said he to her. "You have a great deal of respect for them, have you not, though the government treats them so roughly?" "Yes, indeed I have," roplied the woman, wo-man, sturdily. tjjj "And you would like to hold some improving conversation with them, would you not?" , "Yes, I would like that, too; but they can't be expected to pay much attention to such as I." . c "I think it would have a good effect upon your soul's salvation. I am so anxious to have you enjoy this benefit that I will give half a dollar if you will go and select the handsome young Sister Sis-ter sitting on the bench yonder at tho door of the chapter house and engage her in, talk fo)- ten ' minutes. . I will double the amount if you make it fifteen." fif-teen." ' Z1 "--v ' "They have no worldly ideas. Well, you are a forward one, you are." "That's it, that's it; I see you understand under-stand what I mean," in a hearty, confidential confi-dential way. "This . is a perfectly straight affair." The woman was puzzled, but there was the silver awaiting her, and even a portion of it already in her hand as an earnest. At the same time, if the moment you begin to talk to her you carefully drop this note in the .lap of the lady sitting tiext to her the one with the bright hair that is another dollar. You see, I can afford it, as I act for somebody else. Who it is makes,1 no difference either to you or mo. These comfortable caballeros can pay well for their nonsense." , The woman went and set down her iar. reamiriflrfirl ..-wit.li a nmnll fnw broken, nor was any lasting injury wrought, and, though the torment of mental activity retarded his recovery,, he slowly regained sufficient of his forces to be about again. Then he went back to look at the locality lo-cality of the Yellow Snake, beset by the secret hope that in this long interval it must have come forth again. But there lay the scene made desolate by his imprudent im-prudent labors, as still and devoid of any trace of it as ever, and so once more ho sot out for the upper world in a state : cf great depression. ' In all this time he had not once touched the signal, nor could he now renew re-new it. He only bestowed upon it a sad smile in passing to think how far beyond his strength it was to replace the apparatus appa-ratus which by precaution ho had unshipped. un-shipped. The visit to the hacienda, therefore, there-fore, was all the more imperative. Those were the days that had well nigh broken Amy's heart. Ho thought often of her anxiety, but he could not help her. There was nothing to be done; he could only hope for the best. Thore was uoniething revivifying in tho air of the higher levels and in having hav-ing to use his powors of strategy, and ho began to improve at once. He reached the vicinity of Las Delicias, concealed himself a part of the day in the Pedro-gal, Pedro-gal, or lava field, and wont at night to look for his letter. He was right in supposing sup-posing Amy would go often to the trys-tiug trys-tiug place under such unusual circumstances. circum-stances. He found a letter from her, full of alarm at the prolonged rupture of communications. For tho rest, besides the collected news from New York, she gave him some of the uneventful gossip, of the hacienda. "I told you all of it before," she said, "in the letter I left for you a long time, and then had to take back, because you did not come. Now I toll you again; perhaps I shall have to take this back . also. Thore is little to- say about our quiet life; you could almost invent it all for yourself. But it may interest you to hear that our exemplary friend the Jefe ' Politioo, Senor'Don Tomas Corcovedo, ; has formally proposed for the hand of - Luz, and has been rejected. You would have. learned it from my former letter, for it happened a good whilo ago. Senor Corcovedo has shown himself very indignant in-dignant in, consequence, and has tried to be disagreeable in various ways. I hear that he has let fall to the general grum- bling.iiaJf threatening expressions about people who are lukewarm in their do-votion do-votion totho government. But this surely f could not have been intended for our dear general; for nobody is more truly patriotio than ho. "But why do; I talk of other tilings? "Where are you? what has happened? I come-to look, so often, and find nothing. Am I wrong to be so oppressed and anxious?" anx-ious?" . Walter replaced it with his own, as on f ormeroccasion, adding a few words to the effect that he would not go at once, but would try to wait about to receive Kme little further communication from her. He found the ancient corral, that had been' Trinidad Jose's, deserted, and look refuge there for the night. There would have been an excellent view of the memorial cross, hi the morning, from behind its low rambling walls, except that a number of yellow straw stacks Were scattered over the space between, the faces of some of them rudely sculptured, sculpt-ured, after a not unusual custom, into baa-reliefs of saints. He saw Amy go by from a distance, however, with a group of the family about her. The children sported in ad-Vance, ad-Vance, and with the elders among others Was Sister Beatriz. How his heart beat as Amy went byl He fanciod, from his hanoteness, she looked pale. She leaned n the. arm of Sonora del Prado, too, as If she were not very strong. "Can it be in any degree on my ac-. ac-. eouut?" he wondered. "If so, she is soon to be reassured." Tho company remained an hour or toiorait was a nkasant rural snot wh much more to her liking to have tho children alone. ' Beatriz, too, had noticed her devotion to the walk, and even her peculiar proceedings proceed-ings at tho cross. This time, while Amy, not to seem to go there too directly, led the children away a little distance, Beatriz Bea-triz whether out of pure goodness of heart and desirous to be first in decorating decorat-ing the cross, or obeying some secret suspicion, went to it before her. The cross was of wood, with a rude canopy, and hud vines running up the post, on which hung three red earthenwar pitchers. She had in her hand a bunch of the beautiful white flowers of St. John. Sha was about to put them in the largest of the pitchers, when, sho knew not by what extraordinary intuition, she first thrust her hand down into it. A crisp paper crackled to her touch. With great self control she gathered it up with hor white nosegay, which she carried then by a natural gesture to her breast. Acting Act-ing upon a second thought, she left no flowers behind her in the pitcher excopt some faded ones already there, and it was all done with such deft rapidity that when Amy turned round she was with the others at a large ceiba tree, and no indication of what she had done remained. Amy's own visit was made with more difficulty. She waited a good half hour before she could feel sufficiently free from observation. Sho looked in. Nothing Noth-ing there. That was singular; for she recognized with an exulting throb that her own hud gone. Perhaps Walter had been surprised at the moment of effecting effect-ing tho exchange, perhaps he had been obliged to leave his missive behind him, or had been unable to write one in the wanderings in which ho might now be driven about. She had no reason to suspect sus-pect anybody; had not hor former lotters, and this one too, lain thore week in and week Out undisturbed? At any rate, hers was gone, Don Walter had it, he had been near her, sho was reassured as to his safety, and in tolerable peace of mind she could await the clearing up of the rest. Sho was no longer so eager for the expedition, but no pretext could now bo found for abandoning it. As for Dona Beatriz, she assured herself, singularly moved: "Whore Amy is, he will not be far distant," dis-tant," The procession moved slowly up the mountain. Now and again there was a halt while the advance niado some parts of the way more practicable for ladies than they had been. Wulter hung on the skirts of it, but tho opportunity of which he was in search did not present itaelf before tho village was readied. Ho foil back, therefore, to await his chance. Ho mingled with other peasaut3 going up. In the course of talk with them he became sensible that there was an uneasy political fooling in the air; people were dreading that something was about to happen, they hardly knew what or why. The government at Mexico Mex-ico was committing many unwarranted and arbitrary acta, a sign of weakness and by no means of strength, and vague rumors of revolution came from the north. , The pilgrimage church of El Jasmin had a few arches remaining of what had once been a beautiful sculptured gateway. It had perhaps been established whore it was as a counteracting influence to pestilent pes-tilent local superstitions, and especially to the worship of a serpent idol in a large cavo near there. It stood on a gentle rise of ground, facing the plaza, and thero was attached to it a chapter house, or kind of sacred hoijfelry, for the accommodation of pilgrim pil-grim guests. In this last a few camp beds, that had been brought for the more delicate deli-cate travelers, were set up, whilo the hardy were fain to be content with spreading their blankets and some disused dis-used carpets on the brick floor. The long rooms had scarce any other furniftire, save very dark old paintings which it Kd not been thought worth -anybody's fruit, and proceeded on her mission. Amy was presontly aware of a robust Indian woman in rebeso and petticoat of the blue stuff woven in the place push-ing.almost push-ing.almost rudely between her and Dona Beatriz and addressing some affecting appeal for sympathy to the latter. At the same moment a note fell in her lap. It was of the following purport: "Can the scnorita see for a moment the poor man she has sometimes aided, who speaks a little English? He is at the bells, and they are easily reached by passing through the house and out the main door of the church. " Amy slipiwd within on the instant. Beatriz was detained behind by the mystery mys-tery in tho woman's manner and then by a persistence that amounted almost to force. The bronze bells of the quaint rococo church had been taken down from their tower, which had been ruined by an earthquake, and set up temporarily in a low rustic pavilion. Walter was there. TO BE CONTINUED NEXT SATURDAY. A crisp paper crackled to her touch. But two days after the impulsive disclosure dis-closure of her affection for Walter, Dona Beatriz had sought at the hacienda to disavow it, in a passion of confusion and remorse. "My conscience was dead to every consideration that should have restrained me when I talked so," Bhe Baid. "I had neither self respect nor shame. I come to beg you to think no more of it, and nover to breathe a word of it to any other person. Does he know?" Amy was as non-committal as possible, to save her feelings, but sho had to admit ad-mit some portion of what had taken place. "1 hoped to be in time," said Beatriz, with a quivering sigh, and flushing deeply deep-ly rod in her shamefiiceduoss. "It is a part of my punishment, then, that he knows. I must never eoe him again." She shut herself up for a long time after this, in peculiarly close seclusiou, keeping away from nil thoso she had known. The Arroyo ladies she naturally avoided most. Thus it resulted that she knew nothing of Walter's departure for the United States. Her sincere effort to do right in this struggle with herself was shown in her nover making inquiries for him. It was only by accident that she learned of it, and after that, the two older sisters, her companions, began to report that thoy feared her health would give out, and urged her forth to take more exercise. Then she occasionally came again to the hacienda. It did not consist with the magnanimity of Amy to feel the jealousy that is said to be entertained by women who are rivals for the affections of tho same man. "Walter has traits to make him any woman's hero," she said; "he unites strength and courage with physical beauty, a generous heart, a frank and open character, and a considerate nature. na-ture. He is a man such as all men ought to be when the race is perfected. What more natural than that she should feel so? Besides, what claim have I to vaunt myself over her? We are both in tho hands of Providence, which will dispose of us in its own good way." They spoke of him no more; but it was plain to Amy whither her companion's fancies often wandered. The trying days came when the basin by the glass pavilion no longer bubbled. As each one passed" without tho signal it was to Amy as if a definite portion of her vitality were daily subtracted. She would go many times in the day instead of one to see if it might not take place at some different hour. She got Trinidad Trini-dad Jose and the little children also to watch the basin for her, alleging a groat interest in the bubbling as a phenomenon. phenom-enon. As ofjn as she deemed it safe, and oftener, too, for she forgot her prudence in her anxioty, she went to tho place of deposit for letters. "Why do you go so much to the cross of the English governess?" the family asked her. i |