Show ay s the land of broken promises by DANE A stirring story author of fool of the mexican hidden ete revolution bavm ff WAS 1914 hr awk A cud hooker and phil da lancey are forced owing to a revolution in mexico to give up their mining claim and return to the united states in the border town jot madsden bud roeita henry kruger a wealthy miner who makes him a apropo lauon to return to mexico to acquire to a very rich mine which kruger had blown up when he found he had been cheated out ot the title by on aragon the mexican subsequently spent a large urn in an unsuccessful attempt to relo cate the vein and then allowed the land to revert for taxes hooker and de lan L an accy arrive at fortuna near where the nine known aj the cagle tall la lo 10 bated they engage the services of cruz mendez who haa been friendly to kruger to acquire the title for them and get a bermit to do preliminary work aragon protests and accuses them of jumping hla bad discovers that matrimonial prevent mendez perfecting a valid title phil who haa been laying attention to aragon s daughter gracca decides to turn meak an and get tb title ji his own name dud objects to phils attentions to oracia aragon in his attempt to drive them oft the claim rebels are reported in the vicinity stories of rapine and bloodshed are brought in aud and phil begin work in arnedt on their claim i CHAPTER XIII continued I 1 it was alow work blower than they bad thought and the gang of dexl cana that they had hired tor duckers muckers were marvels of ineptitude left to themselves they accomplished noth lag elace each problem they seemed to present to them some element of insuperable difficulty to dolve which they either went into cau UA or waited for the boea to the mexicans of sonora bedardo bravo was the personification of all the malevolent qualities he being a bandit chief who bad turned first gen eral and then rebel under madero and the act that he had at last been driven out of chihuahua and therefore over into sonora made bis malevolence all the more imminent undoubtedly somewhere over to the east where the sierras towered like a blue wall bernardo Der nardo and bis outlaw followers were gathering for a raid and the raid would bring death to sonora ha was a bad man this bedardo bravo and it halt of the current stories were true he killed men when ever they failed to give him money and was never too hurried to take a alt daughter of the country up behind falm provided she took bis fancy yes surely he was a bad man but that did not clear away the rock for the farat week phil took charge ot the gang urging directing and ca them and the work went merrily on though rather slowly the mexicans liked to work for don felepe be was so polite and spoke such good spanish but at the end of the week it developed that bud could get more results out of them every time phil started to explain anything to one mexican all the oth rs stopped to listen to him and that took time but bud s favorite way of directing a man was by grunts and feigns and bending his own back to the task also he refused to under stand spanish and cut off all long winded explanations and suggestions by an impatient motion to go to work which the trabajadores obeyed with shrugs and grins bo don felepe turned powder man and blacksmith sharpening up the doriua at the little forge they had fash boned and loading the boles with dy when it became necessary to break a rock while bud bossed the unwilling mexicans in an old tunnel behind their tent they set a heavy gate and behind it they stored their precious powder then camo the portable forge and tb blacksmith shop just inside the mouth of the cave and the tent backed up it tor protection for if there Is any one thing next to horses that the rebels are wont to steal it is giant powder to blow up culverts lverts cu with or to lay on the counters of timorous country merchants and frighten them into making contributions As tor their horses bud kept thorn boiled and hobbled close to the bouse and no one ever saw him without his arun in the morning when be got up ho took it from under bis pillow and bung it on his belt and there it stayed until bedtime he also kept a sharp watch on the trail above and below and what few men did pass through were conscious of his eye therefore it was all the snore surprising when one day look ang up suddenly from heaving at a great rock he saw the big raqul eol dier amago gazing down at him from the cut bank yes it was tho same man but with a ills rifle and cartridge belts were absent and his clothes were torn by the brush but the came good natured competent smile was there and after a few words with bud he leaped nimbly down the bank and kaid bold upon the rock they pulled together and the boulder that had balked bud s gang of mexicans moved easily for the two of them then amago belted a crowbar and it into a cranny and showed hem a few things about moving rocks for halt an hour or more he worked along seemingly bent on his skill then be sat down on the bank and watched tb mexicans with tolerant halt amused eyes va if he vaa hungry be showed it only by the cigarettes he smoked and hooker studying up the chances be would take by hiring a deserter let him wait until he came to a decision hoyez oyez amigo be hailed at last and rubbing bis band around on his stomach be questioningly whereat the raqul nodded bis bead avidly eald ven and he left bis mexicans to dawdle as they would while he led the indian to camp there he showed him the coffeepot coffee pot and tb kettle of beans by the fire set lut a slab of dutch oven bread and a sack of jerked beet some stewed fruit and a can of and left him to do his worst in the course of halt an hour or so he came back and found the raqul sopping up barup with the last of the bread and humming a little tune so they eat down and smoked a cigarette and came to the business at band where you go inquired dud but amago only shrugged enigmatically you like to work continued cud and the indian broke into a smile of assent muy blen said hooker with final ity 1 I give mexicans two dollars a day I 1 give you four Is that enough 81 nodded the raqul and without more words he followed bud back to the cut there in halt a day he ac more than all the dexl cane put together leaping boldly up the bank to dislodge hanging boulders boosting them by main strength up onto the ramshackle tram they had constructed and trundling them out to the dump with the shove of a mighty hand he was a willing worker using his head every minute but though he was such a and made their puny efforts seem so ineffectual by compari son he managed in some mysterious way to gain the immediate approval of the mexicans perhaps it was bis all pervasive good nature or the respect inspired by his hardihood perhaps the qualities of natural leadership which had made him a picked man among his brother but when late in the afternoon bud came back from a trip to the tent be found amago in charge of the gang heaving and struggling and making motions with his head good enough he muttered after watching him for a minute in silence and leaving the new boss in command he went back and started supper that was the beginning of a new day at the eagle tall and when de lancey came back from town bud was doing the er he went whenever he could conjure up an errand he found that tor once be bad not been malseed bud was doing the blacksmithing amago was directing the gang and a fresh mess of beans was on the fire the first kettleful having gone to rein force the raqul s backbone but they were beans well spent and bud did not regret the raid on his grub pile if he could get halt as much work jor what he fed the mexicans he could well rest content but how did this indian happen to find you demanded phil when his pardner had explained his acquisition say he must have deserted from his company when they brought them back from zumal boren likely assented bud he ain t talking much but I 1 notice he keeps bis eye out shoot him tor a deserter it they could ketch him id hate to see him go that way well if be s as good as this lets take care of halml cried phil with enthusiasm tell you bud there s something big coming off pretty soon and I 1 d like to atay around town a little more it I 1 could I 1 want to keep track of things pr instance T suggested hooker dryly it had struck him that phil was spending a good deal of time in town already well there s this revolution sure as shooting going to pull one oon there two thousand mexican I 1 miner working at bortuna Por tuna and they ay very one of em has got rifle burled now beginning to quit and drift out into the hills and were likely to hear from teem any time all the more naamon tor staying in camp then remarked bud tell you phil I 1 need you here that dogged ledge la lost good and plenty and I 1 need you to say wowe to dig we aln t doing much better than old aragon did just roeung around in that rock pile let a do ft little umber ing and sink you can t timber that rock an de lancey decidedly and besides its cheaper to make a cut twenty feet deep than it Is to tunnel or sink a shaft walt till we get to that porphyry contact then well know where were at all right grumbled bud but seems like we re a long time getting there what s the news downtown well the fireworks have begun again over in chihuahua orozco and salazar and that bunch but it seems there was something to this mode zuma scare after all I 1 was talking to an american mining man from down that way and be told me that the fed brals marched out to where the rebels were and then sat down and watched them cross the river without firing on them some bind of an understanding between bernardo bravo and these blackleg federals the only fighting there was was when a bunch ot twenty got away from their officers in the rough country and went after bedardo bra vo by their lonesome that threw a big scare into him too but be man aged to fight them off and it I 1 was making a guess I 1 d bet that your raqul friend was one ot that fighting twenty I 1 reckon assented bud but don t you say nothing I 1 need that hombre in my business come on let s go up and look at that cut 1 come across an old board today down in the muck and I 1 bet you it s a piece that kruger left funny we dont come across some of his tools though or the bole where the powder went off when we do that observed phil we II 11 be where we re going nothing to do then but lay off the men and wait till I 1 get my papers that s why I 1 say don t hurry eo hard we haven t got our title to this claim pardner and we won t get it either not for some time yet suppose hit this ledge well it I 1 hit it remarked bud ill stay with it you can trust me tor that hello the raqul found T As they came up the cut amago quit work and while the mexicans followed suit and gathered expectantly behind him be picked up three rusty drills and an iron drill spoon and presented them to bud evidently he had learned the object of their search from the mexicans but if he looked for any demonstrations of delight at eight ot these much sought for tools be was doomed to disappoint ment for both bud and phil had schooled themselves to keep their faces straight said bud old drills where you find them the raqul led the way to the face of the cut and showed the spot a bole beneath the pile ot riven rock and a mexican not to be outdone out done grabbed up a handful of porphyry and andl bated where the dynamite had pulverized it blen said phil pawing solemnly around in the bottom of the hole and then filling his handkerchief with fine dirt he carried it down to the creek there in a miners pan he washed it out carefully slopping the waste over the edge and swirling the water around until at last only a little dirt was left in the bottom of the pan then while all the mexicans looked on he tailed this toward the edge scanning the last remnant for gold and quit without a color nadal he cried throwing down the pan and in some way the cans sensed the fact that the mine bad turned out a failure three times he went back to the cut and scooped up the barren dust and then be told the men they could quit no more work he said affecting a dejected bitterness no hay nada there Is nothing and with this sad but by no means unusual ending to their labors the mexicans went away to their camp speculating among themselves as to whether they could got their pay but when the last of them had gone phil beckoned bud into the tent and showed him a piece of quartz just take a look at that he said and a single glance told hooker that it was full of fine particles of gold I 1 picked that up when they t looking whispered de lancey bis eyes dancing with triumph its the same rock the same as kruger s well put er there then pardner cried bud grabbing at de lancey s hand wove struck it I 1 and with a broad grin on their deceitful faces they danced silently around the tent after which they paid off the mexicans and bade them CHAPTER XIV it is a great sensation striking it rich one of the greatest in the world some men punch a burro over the desert all their lives in the hope ot achieving it once bud and phil had taken a chance and the prize now lay within their grasp only a little while now a month maybe if the officials were alow and the title would be theirs the mexican miners blinded by their ignorance went their way well contented to get their money nobody knew there was nothing to do but u A f to wait but to wait as some people know to the hardest work in the world for the first few days they lingered about the mine gloating over it in secret laughing back and forth sing ing gay songe then as the ecstasy passed and the weariness of waiting set la they went two ways some fascination unexplained to bud drew de lancey to the town he left in the morning and came back at night but hooker stayed at the mine day and night weekdays week days and sun days he watched it jealously lest someone should slip in and surprise their secret and tor company he had bis pet horse copper bottom and the raqul indian amago ignacio was the indian s real name for the are all good catholics and named uniformly after the saints but bud bad started to call him amigo or friend and ignacio had conferred the same name on him poor ignacios 1 ills tour dollar aday a day job bad gone glimmering in half a day but when the mexican laborers departed he lingered around the camp doing odd jobs until be won a place for himself at night be slept up in the rocks where no treachery could take him unaware but at the first peep of dawn it wae always amago who arose and lit the fire then if no one got up be cooked a breakfast after his own ideas boiling the coffee until it was as strong as lye broiling meat on sticks and went to turn out the horses with the memory of many envious glances cast at copper bottom hooker had built a stout corral where he kept the horses up at night allowing them to graze close hobbled in the daytime A mexican on foot Is a contradiction of terms it there are any horses or mules in the country and several bands of ex miners from fortuna had gone through their camp in that condition with new rifles in their hands but it they bad any designs on the eagle tall live stock they speedily gave them up for while he would feed them and even listen to their false tales of patriotism bud had no respect for numbers when it came to admiring his horse even with the raqul much as be trusted him be bad reservations about copper bottom and once when he found him petting him and stroking his nose be shook hie head forbid and from that day on though be watered copper bottom and cared for bis wants amago was careful never to caress him but in all other matters even to lending him bis gun bud trusted the raqul absolutely it was about a week after he came to camp that amago sighted a deer and when bud loaned him his rifle he killed it with a single shot soon afterward be came loping back from a scouting trip and |