Show y the land of a broken n AA promises X I 1 by DANE COOLIDGE A stirring story A author athor of the th fishtine fool fol of the mexican hidden TI th T bican 1 ste etc revolution Il illustration lustra by don J lavin in 1914 by prank frank A hud bud hooker and phil do lanoy are forced owing to a revolution in me mexico x aco to lo up their mining claim rand return I 1 to 0 the iho united states in the border bonier town of Oai ilen dud bud meets henry lt ruger i a wealthy miner wlm who makem him a tion to return to mexico to acau acquire I 1 re fitin to a very rich mino which krug kriiger er hall had 1 I 1 liloon 1 1 0 up when ho he found ho had lnita been bc en cheated ate out of the title by ono one aragon T alio 0 mexican hail had spent a largo sun um in nil fill tl nou ec e f u I 1 attempt to relocate the vein anil d t lsen had allowed the land irand to revert for moller hooker and do de lancey start for the mine CHAPTER V the journey to fortuna is in a scant fifty miles by measure but within these eight kilometers there Is a lapse of centurion centuries in standards As aa dud and do de lancey rode out of battle scarred agun agua negra negm they traveled a good road well worn by the mexican wood wag one ona that hauled in from the hills then as they left the town to vu and the wood roads scattered the highway changed by degrees to a broad trail dug deep by the feet of pack and marked but lightly with it followed the railroad cutting over hills and down through gulches and by eveni nir they were in the heart of old mexico here wore were men in sandals and women barefoot chickens tied up by the loge legs outside of brush jachles jacales la Ja cales long nosed hogs grunting fiercely as aa they skirmished for food and halt half naked children staring like startled rabbits at tho the strangers the smell of garlic and frech roast ing coffee was in fit the air as aa they drey drew into town tor for the night and their room was waa an adobe chamber with tile floor and iron bars bare across the windows riding hiding south tho the next day they met vaqueros ros mounted on wiry mustangs who saluted them gravely taking no shame for their primitive wooden saddle caddle trees and pommels gommels as broad as soup plates As they left the broad plain and clambered up over the back of a mountain they passed indian houses brush built and thatched with long coarse grasses and by the alres alrea the women I 1 ground corn on stone metates na as their t ancestors had done before the fall for in mexico there are two peoples the spaniards and the natives and the indians indiana still remember the days when they were free it was through such a land that phil and hooker rodo rodd on their gallant ponies leading a pack animal well loaded with supplies from the north and as the people gazed from their miserable hovels bevels and saw their outfit they wondered at their wealth hut but it if they were moved to envy tile the bulk built of a heavy pistol showing through the swell of each coat discouraged them from going farther fart lier and the cold searching look of the tall cowboy as lie ho ambled past stayed in their room main ory long after tho the pleasant adlist Ad loel lost of do lancey had been forgotten americans were scarce in those days and what few camo came by wore were riding to the north how bold then must this big man be who rodo rode in front and certainly lie he had bad some great reward before him to risk such a horse among the so reasoned the simpleminded simple minded natives of the mountains gazing in admiration at copper bottom and for that look in their eyes bud returned his hie forbidding stare there Is something about a good horse that fascinates the average mexican alex perhaps because they breed the inest themselves and are la in a position to judge but hooker had developed a romantic attachment for his hia trim little chestnut mount and lie bo resented their wide eyed tapings as a lover resents glances at his bis lady this and a frontier education rendered him short spoken and gruff with the pal and it was left to the cavalier do de lancey to do the courtesies of the road As the second day wore on they lipped dipped down into a rocky canyon with huge cliffs of red and yellow sandstone glowing in the slanting sun and soon they broke out into a narrow valley well wooded with sycamores amores and mes quits and giant hackberry trees the shrill toots of a dummy engine came suddenly from down below and a mantle of black smoke rose majestically against the sky then at a turn of 0 the trail they topped the last hill and fortuna lay before them in that one moment they were set back again fifty miles clear back across the line for fortuna was american from the powerhouse power house on the creek bank to the mar mammoth concentrator cen on the hill all the buildings bud dings were of stone square and uniform first a central plaza flanked with and warehouses then behind them barracks and lodging houses and trim cottages in orderly rows and over across the canyon loomed the huge bulk of the mill and the concentrator with Us its aerial i tramway and endless row of gliding buckets only on the lower hills bills where the rough country rock cropped up and nature was at its worst only there did the real mexico creep in and assert itself in a crude huddle of half fridl andl iu huts the dwellings of the carefree care free tree natives well by jovel exclaimed do laner bwy surveying the scene with an ap calsing eyo eye thab look very much mexico or a revolution ei therl no it dont admitted bud everything running full bloat blast too look at that oro ore train coming around the hilll goo gee what a burgl burg I 1 raved phil 11 say theroa theres some class to this what it if I 1 mistake not well be able to find a few congenial spirits here to help us spend our money talk about a corn com pany town ill bet you their barroom la Is full of americans theres the corral down below lets ride by and leave our horses and see the price of drinks they cant me whatever it to Is wo doubled our money at the line financially considered they had done just that for tor for every amori can dollar in their pockets they could get two that were just as good ox copt for or tho the picture on the side elde this in itself was a great inducement for a ready spender and finding good cota coin pany dany at the fortuna hotel bar phil bought five dollars worth of drinke throw threw down a five dollar bill and got back five doll dollars ars 1 mex 4 ex tile the proprietor a largo large and jovial bont boneface face pulled oft off life hla fiscal miracle with the greatest good humor and then having invited them to partake of a very exquisite mixture of his own invention propped himself upon hla his elbows across tho the bar and inquired with an ingenuous smile well which way are you be boys yo traveling it I 1 may ask oil oh down below A ways answered do lancey who always constituted himself the board of strategy just rambling around a little hows the country around hero here now oh quiet quie tIO assured their host these mexicans dont like the cold weather much they would freeze you know it if it was not tor for that garape which they wind about thern sol lie made a motion BB as of a native 40 L N I 1 4 which way are you boys boy traveling wrapping life his entire wardrobe about his neck and smiled and de lancey knew that he was no mexican and yet that soft which away of hla his betrayed a spanish tongue ah excuse me lie he said taking quick advantage of his guess but from the way you pronounce that word Iza garape za rape rapo I 1 take it that you speak spanish no one better replied the host smiling pleasantly at being taken at his true worth since I 1 was born in fit the city of burgos where they speak the true castilian it Is a different language bellevo believe me from this bastard mexican tongue and do you speak spanish also he inquired falling failing back into the staccato of castile no indeed I 1 protested do de lancey in a very creditable imitation nothing but a little mexican to got along with the natives my friend and I 1 are mining men passing through the country and we speak tho the best beat wo we can how Is this district here for work alora aboc our una line none bett better ert I 1 cried the spaniard shaking his bis finger emphatically it is of the best and bellevo believe me my friend wo we should be glad to have you stop with us the coultry down below Is a little dangerous not now perhaps but later when the warm weather comes ou on hut but in fortuna nol here we are on the railroad the camp Is controlled by americans americana and because es ac many have left the country the mexicans will sell their prospects cheap then again it you develop a mine near by it will be very easy tu sell it and it if you wish to work it that la Is easy too I 1 am only the proprietor of the hotel but it you can use my poor services in any way I 1 shall hall bo be very happy to please you A room one of the best and it you stay a week or more I 1 will give you the lowest rate they passed up tho the winding stairs and down a long corridor ut at the end of which the proprietor showed them into a room throwing open the outer doors and sh shutters to let them see the tha i view from the window iler hero I 1 is a little balcony lie he sat aall stepping outside where you can 1 sa I and look down on the plaza we have bavo the band and music when the weather Is flue fine and you can watch the pretty girls from here bore but you have been in mexico you know all chati and he gave phil a roguish dig bien roy my frien I 1 am glad to meet you lie ho held out hla his hand in welcome and do lancey gave hilvin return my name lie be continued te is juan do de dios Dracha monto y escalon Eo Ea calon but with these americans that dies des not go as you say bay so BO la in general they call me don juan there Is something about that tiame name I 1 do not know that makes the college boys laugh perhaps it la Is that poet byron who wrote so BO scandalously about ue spaniards but certainly lie ho know nothing of our lan language gudge for he bo rhymes don juan with now new onland one and true onell one still I 1 read part of that poem and it Is IB in places very interesting yes very interesting but don too na aal habl lie throw threw up his hand in despair nod aud do de lancey broke into a jollying laugh well don juan he cried im glad to meet you my name is philip de lancey and my pardner here Is mr hooker shako shake hands banda with him don juan do de blosl but certainly a man so ao devoutly named could never descend to reading much of don joo ali ah DO protested don juan rolling life his da dark tk eyes and smiling rakishly bly not moch only the most interesting in passa passages geol lie he saluted and disappeared in a roar of laughter and do de lancey turned triumphantly on his bis companion a self satisfied smile upon his lips ahal aha he said you see bee what five dollars worth of booze will do in opening up too the way heros heres our old friend don juan willing nay an anxious to help Us all he can he sees im a lle wire and wants to keep heep me around pretty soon well get him feeling good and hell tell us all he knows dont you yon never try to make me sign the pledge again brother a few shots just gets my intellect to working right and im crafty as a fox did you notice that coup I 1 made asking him it he was a spaniard theres nothing in the world makes a spaniard so mad as to take him for a mexican on the other hand nothing makes him your friend tor for life like recognizing him for a blue blooded castilian Castl llan now maybe our old friend don juan has haa got a tow few drops of moorish blood in his veins to put it politely but ho he raised his tenor voice paid and improvised jest because my hair Is burly dats data no reason to call me sh nel inet no agreed bud feeling cautiously of tho the walls walla and jest because youre happy to Is no reason tor for singing so BO loud neither these here partitions are made of inch boards covered with paper do you get that well then considering chos probably listening it strikes me that mr nonte Is t the ho real thing in spanish gentleman and ive heard that all span lards have their hair curly jest like a huh but do de lancey made suddenly aware of his indiscretion was making all kinds of exaggerated signs for st bl lence and bud stopped with a slow alow good natured smile S s astl hissed do lancey touching hla his finger to his lips dont say it somebody might hear bear youl you all right agreed dud bud and dont you say it either I 1 hate to knock phil he added but sometimes I 1 think the old man was right when ho he said you talk too much chided de lancey shaking hie finger like a tiptoeing softly over to duo buo aie ie whispered in his ear sest S e st I 1 cart can hear bear the teller feller in the next room shaving himself himsel ft laughing heartly at this joke they wen went t down stairs for supper CHAPTER VI it if the eagle tall mine hall had been located in arizona or even farther down in old mexico tho the method of jumping the claim would have been delightfully simple the title had lapsed and the land had reverted to the government all it needed in arizona was a new set ot of monuments a location notice at the discovery shaft a pick and shovel thrown into the hole bole and a few legal formalities dut but in mexico it Is different not that the legal formalities are lacking tar far from it but the whole theory of mines and mining Is different in mexico a mining title Is in a way a lease a concession from the general government giving the the right to work a certain piece of ground and to hold field it as song long as he pays a mining tax of three dollars an acre pear year but no final papers or patents are ever houed the possession of the surface of the ground does not go with the right to mine abenath it and in certain parts of mexico no foreigner can hold title to either mines or land A prohibited or frontier zone eighty kilometers in width lies along the international ter national boundary line and in that neutral zone no foreigner can denounce a mining claim iud iu d no foreign corporation can acquire ft a title to one the eagle tall tail was just inside the zone nut but there to Is always a but when you go to a good lawyer while tor for purposes of war and national safety foreigners aro are not allowed to hold land along the line they are at perfect liberty to hold stock in mexican corporations owning P property within the prohibited ro zono zone and here Is where the graft cornue in they may even hold title in their own name if they first obtain express permission pel mission the that 1 chief executive of tile republic not having any drag with tile tho chief cliplef executive and not caring to risk their title to tho the whims of succeeding administrations hooker aud and de lancey lancet upon the advice of a mining lawyer in gadsdeu gadsden had organized themselves into the iagle hagle tall tail mining company under the tha laws of the republic of mex ice with headquarters at agun agua negra it was their plan to get some mexican to locate the mine for them and then for a consideration transfer it to the company the one weak spot in this selie ne me was tho the mexican by trusting aragon honry kruger had not only lost title to his mine but he be had bad been outlawed from tho the republic and now he had bad 0 feeling cautiously of the walls walla bestowed upon hooker and do de lancey the task of finding an honest mexican and keeping him honest until he made mad the transfer while the papers were being made out there might be a great many temptations placed before that mexican either to keep the property for himself or to hold out tor for a bigger reward than had been specified after hla his experience with the aristocratic don cipriano aragon y tres trea Pala Vala cloa clos kruger was in favor of taking a chance on |