Show the land of broken promises A stirring story by DANE of the mexican tin hidden fool revolution etc latu int by frack A SYNOPSIS end hooker and phil de lancer are forced owan to a revolution in mexico to alve up their mining claim and return to the united states in the border town of gadsden bud meets henry kruer a wealthy miner who makes him a proposition to return to mexico to acquire title to a very rich mine which kruyer had blown up when h found he had been cheated out of the title by one aragaon the mexican had pent a laigre um in an hunsuc attempt to relocate the vein and then had allowed the land to revert for taxes hooker and de lancey start for the mine they arrive at fortuna near where the mine known as the baglo tall Is located and bet information about aragon and mexican name 1 cruz mandex who la friendly to kruer CHAPTER Continued VI qua batca the one eyed one finally inquired what are you look ing tort and when phil answered gold the old man made a motion to the boy to go on and sat down on a neighboring rock do you want to buy a prospect he asked and bud glanced up at him grimly we find our own prospects an phil but I 1 know of a very rich prospect protested mendez very rich I 1 he shrilled his voice to express how rich it waa yest observed phil then why dont you dig the gold out but as for we find our own mines that Is our business segurola Se gurol nodded mendez glancing at their outfit approvingly but I 1 am a poor man very poor I 1 cannot denounce the mine so I 1 wait for some rich americano to come and buy ita I 1 have a friend a very rich man in gadsden but he will not come so I 1 will sell it to you did you get that bud jested phil in english the old man here thinks were rich americans and he wants to sell ua a mine bud laughed silently at this and mr mendez bis hopes somewhat blast ed by their levity began to boast of his find giving the history of the eagle tall with much and explaining that it was a lost padre mine sure observed phil going back to his horse and picking up the bridle that a what they all say all lost padre mines and you can eee them from the door of the church come on bud lets go and so you could this I 1 cried men dez running along after them as they rode slowly up the canyon from the old church that was washed away by the flood this la the very mine inhere the padres dug out all their gold are you going up this way come then and I 1 will show you the very place except that the americano ruined it with a blast he tagged along after them wheedling and protesting while they ban him about his mine until they finally came to the place the ruins of the eagle tall it lay straddled out along the hill side a eurlea of gopher holes dumps and abandoned workings looking more like a badly managed stone quarry than a relic of padre days brugers Kru gers magazine of giant powder exploded in one big blast bad destroyed all traces of his mine besides starting an avalanche of loose shale that had poured down and filled the pocket added to this aragon and his men had rooted around in the debris in search of the vein and the story of their inefficient work was told by great piles of loose rock stacked up beside caved in trenches and a series of timid tunnels driven into the neigh boring ridges under the circumstances it would certainly call tor a mining engineer to locate the lost lead and de lancey looked it over thoughtfully as he began to figure on the work to be done undoubtedly there was a mine there end the remains of an old spanish smelter down the creek showed that the ground had once been very rich but if kruger had not told him in advance he would have passed up the job in a minute well he said turning coldly upon the fawning mendez who was all curves in his desire to please where a your prospecto abul senor replied the mexican pointing to the disrupted rock slide here it was that the americano brooka had his mine rich with gold much gold he shrilled bis voice emphatically and de lancey shrilled his in reply here he exclaimed gazing blankly at the hillside and then he broke into a laugh all right my friend he said giving bud a facetious wink bow much do you want for this four funded dollare answered in tane at once hopeful and apologetic it Is very rich senor brooka shipped some ore that was full ot gold J packed it out tor him on my burros but I 1 am sorry I 1 have no piece of it yea responded de lancey 1 I am borry too so of course we cannot buy the prospecto since have no ore to but I 1 am gl td tor abla senor mendez he continued with kindly salla it shows that you are an honest man or you would have stolen a piece ot ore from the backs so show us now where the gold was found the nearest that you can remember and perhaps it we think we can find it we will pay you to denounce the claim or us at this the one good eye of crux mendez lighted up with a great hope and skipping lightly over the rock piles with his sandaled feet he ran to a certain spot locating it by look ing across the canyon and up and down the creek here cenores senores se nores ho pronounced Is where the mouth of the old tunnel came out standing inside it I 1 could eee that tree over there and looking down the river I 1 could just see the smelter around the point so then the gold must be in there he pointed toward the hill surely said de lancey but cheret the old mexican shrugged his ders deprecatingly I 1 do not know senor be answered but if you wish to dig I 1 will denounce the claim tor you for how much inquired de lan cey guardedly for one hundred dollars an mendez and to his delight the american seemed to be considering it he walked back and forth across the slide picking up and looking at them dropping down into the futile trenches of aragon and frowning with studious thought his pardner however eat listlessly orf a boulder and tested the action of his six shooter listen my friend said de lancey coming back and poising bis finger am vely it I 1 should find the ledge the one hundred dollars would be noth ing to me sabe and if I 1 should spend all my money for nothing it would be but one hundred dollars more but listen I 1 have known some false mez leans who when an american paid them to denounce a mine took ad vantage of bis kindness and refused to give it over or it it turned out to sat toying with his pistol be rich they pulled a long face and claimed that they ought to be paid more now if ah no senor clamored mendez holding up his hand in protest I 1 am a poor man but I 1 am honest only give me the hundred dollars not a dollar do you get cried de lancey ct ernly not a dollar until you turn over the concession to the mine and it you play us false he paused impressively cullado cul dado bom bre look out I 1 once more cruz mendez protested his honesty and his fidelity to any trust but de lancey silenced him am patiently enough hombre he said words are nothing to us do you see my friend over theet ha pointed to dud who huge and dominating against the sky line sat toying with hla pistol duen 1 he Is a cowboy sabet A texana you know the te janos eh they do not like dexl cans but my friend there he likes mexicans when they are honest it not no hey dud be called in english what would you do to this fellow it he beat us out of the alnet dud turned upon them with a slow good natured emale oh nothing much he answered putting up bis gun and the deep rumble of his voice struck tear into the old man s heart phil laughed and looked grimly at mendez while he delivered his ulal batum very well my friend he said we will stay and look at this mine it we think it ie good we will take you to the mining agent and get a permit to dig for sixty days we will dig and if we find nothing we will pay you fifty dollars anyway it we find the ledge we will give you a hundred dol lars all right 81 senor 1 I fenorl cried mendez one dollars I 1 when you give us the papers t warned ahll dat remember b care tull the americans do not like men who talk and come to the hotel at fortuna tomorrow then we will let you know and you bill buy the alnet begged mendez backing off with his bat in hla hand perhaps answered de lancey we will tell you tomorrow cuenl bowed mendez and many thanks I 1 it Is nothing replied de lancey politely and then with a crooked smile he gazed after the old man as he went hurrying off down the canyon well he observed 1 I guess we ve got mr mendez started just about right bhatt now it we can keep him without the price 0 a drink until we get our papers we stand a chance to win that a right bald dud but I 1 wish he bad two good eyes I 1 knowel a one eyed mex up in arizona and he was sure a thieving son ot a goat CHAPTER VII there are doubtless many philanthropists in the back day regions of boston who would consider the whip sawing of cruz mendez a very reprehensible hen sible act and one hundred dol lars mex was certainly a very small reward tor the service that he was to perform but bud and phil were not traveling for any particular uplift society and one hundred apesos pesos was a lot of money to cruz mendez more than that it they bad offered him a thousand dol lara for the same service he would have got avaricious and demanded ten thousand he came to the hotel very early the next morning and lingered around an hour or so waiting tor the american gentleman to arise and tell him his fate A hundred dollars would buy everything that he could think of in eluding quantity of mescal ilia throat dried at the thought of it then the gentlemen appeared and asked him many questions whether he was married according to law whether his wife would sign the pa pere with him and it he believed in a hereafter tor those who played false with americans having answered all these in the affirmative he was taken to the agenten mineral and after sign ing his name hla one teat in penman ship to several imposing documents he was given the precious permit then there was another trip to the grounds with a surveyor to make report that the claim was actually va cant and mendez went back to bis normal duties as a packer in return for this service as a dum my locator and to keep him under their eye the americans engaged el huerto tuerto the one eyed to pack out a few tools and supplies for them and then to keep him busy they employed him further to build a stone bouse all these activities were of course not lost on don Cl priano aragon y tres palacios Pala clos since by a crafty ar ran gement of fences be bad made it impossible for anyone to reach the lower country without passing through the crooked street of old fortuna during the first and the second trip of the strange americans be kept within his dignity doping perhaps that they would stop at bis store where they could be engaged in con vers atlon but upon their return from a third trip after cruz mendez had gone through with their supplies be cast bla proud spanish reserve to the winds and waylaid them on the street duenas bardes tardes se nores be ed as they rode past hie store and then seeing that they did not break their gait he held up bis band for them to stop excuse me gentlemen he said speaking genially but with an affected spanish lisp I 1 have seen you ride past several times are you working for the big company up at new fortuna no senor answered de lancey courteously we are working tor ourselves goedl responded aragon with fatherly approval it ie better so and are you looking at mines 7 yes said de lancey non commet tally we are looking at mines that Is good too observed ara gon and I 1 wish you well but since you are strangers to this country and perhaps do not know the people as well as some I 1 desire to warn you against that one eyed man cruz men dez with whom I 1 have seen you rid ing he is a worthless fellow a very pela 0 mexican one who has nothing and yet be is always seeking to im pose upon strangers by selling them old mines which have no value I 1 have no desire to speak of my neighbors but since he has moved into the house up the river 1 have lost several fine little pigs and his eye as I 1 know was torn from his head as he was chasing another man s cow I 1 have not buffered him on my ranch tor years tor he is such a thief and yet he has the effrontery to represent himself to strangers as a poor but bonet man I 1 nope that he has not imposed upon you in any wayt no not at all thank you respond ed de lancey as bud raised his bridle reins to go we hired him to pack out our tools and supplies and he has done it very reasonably but many thanks sir tor your warning adelos he touched bis bat and waved bis band in parting and bud grinned as be settled own to a trot you can t help pa lavering cm can you phlp be said no matter what you think about em you got to be poll fc haven t you well that A the way you get drawn in next time you go by now the old man will pump you dry you see no sir the only way to ft along with these mexicans is not to have a thing to do with em no savvy teats my motto TU gracli is mine ab served de lancey it doean doesn t cost anything and it buys a whole lot sure agreed bud but we aln t buying nothing from him he a the one particular hombre we want to steer clear of and keep him guessing as long as we can that a my view of it pardner oh that a all right laughed de lancey he wont get anything out of me that Is nothing but a bunch of hot air say bee a shrewd looking old guinea isn t he did you notice that game eye he kept it kind of drooped ini inmost ost shut until be came to the point and then he opened it up real fierce reminds me of a big fighting owl waking up in the day time but you just watch me handle him and if I 1 dont tool the old boy at every turn it 11 be because I 1 run out of bull well you can band him the bull it you want to grumbled bud but the first time you give anything away I 1 m going to pick such a row with the old cuss that we 11 have to make a new trail to get by so leave am alone it you ever expect to see that gurll A close association with phil de lancey had left bud not unaware of his weaknesses and phil was undoubtedly romantic given a barred and silent house shut off from the street by whitened walls and a ve ran da screened with flowers and the questing eyes of mr de lancey would turned to those barred windows as as the needle seeks the pole on every trip coming and going be bad conned the aragon bouse from the vine covered corredor in front to the walled in summer garden behind hoping to surprise a view of the beautiful daughter of the bouse and unless ru mor and don juan were at fault she was indeed worthy of his solicitude a gay and sprightly creature brown eyed like her mother and with the same glorious chestnut hair already those dark mischievous eyes bad been busy and at the last big dance at fortuna she had set many beads awhirl twice within two years her father in a rage had sent her away to school in order to break oft some ill considered love affair and now a battle royal was being waged between manuel del rey the dashing captain of the euralea stationed at fortuna and feliz luna son of a rich down in the hot country tor the honor of her hand what more romantic then than that a handsome american stepping gracefully into the breach should keep the haughty lovers from slaying each other by bearing off the prize himself so reasoned philip de lancey musing upon the ease with which he could act the part but for prudential pur poses he said nothing of bis vaunting ambitions knowing full well that they would receive an active veto from bud for while de lancey did most of the talking and a great deal of the thinking tor the partnership hooker was not lacking in positive opinions and upon sufficient occasion be would express himself though often with more force than delicacy therefore upon this unexpected sally about the girl phil changed the subject abruptly and said no more of aragon or the hopes within his heart it was not so easy however to avoid aragon tor that gentleman had apparently taken the pains to |