| Show www f s awn f vf f f e the land of broken promises by DANE A stirring story author of of the mexican th fool ete revolution la tin V f f sf 1914 bf u SYNOPSIS bad hooker and ahli de lancey lorcey owing to a revolution in mexico I 1 give up their mining claim and the united slates ID the border if madsden bud meets henry maltby miner who him a apropo to return to mexico to acquire title t very rich mine which kruger had blown up when he found he bad been cheated out of the title by one aragon the mexican subsequently had spent a wrye earn of money in an to relocate the vein and then al arwed the land to revert for tabea hook w and de lancey arrive at fortuna near here the bale tall mine Is located they engage mendez to acquire the atle for then and begin preliminary rork aragon them of jumping Us claim hooker discovers that mabrl entanglements entangle ments prevent mende ironi acquiring a valid title phil who has been paying attention to gracia ara on decides to turn mexican and acquire he title aragon falls in his attempt to irive them off the claim rebels are re aborted in the vicinity A rich vein of fold Is truck and work on the mine Is topped until the title can be perfected phil Is arrested by manual del key cap ln of the and suitor of gracia s be Is released on promise to stay away om grada phil Is forced to enlist in fahe he asks bud to take care t gracia the rebels are defeated in a battle near fortuna phil deaerts nd returns to the united states bud arns mexican and takes steps to secure title to the mine in his own name CHAPTER continued he looked the adobe house over nought tully listened long to the cewa of the border and of the ru rales aid on their camp and retired to the for the night even dud never mew where he slept somewhere up MI the hillside in caves or clefts in be rocke and not even the most dressing invitation could make him hare the house tor a night to amigo 18 to an animal a house was a trap md he knew that the times were treacherous reach erous so indeed they were as hooker was learn to bis sorrow and but for the fagut and bis murderous knife he sight easily have learned it too late it was evening after a rainless day nd dud was cooking by the open fire irben suddenly amigo vanished and bur men rode in from above they ere armed with rifles as befitted the ames but gave signs of bravado ra vado and after a few words bud in eted them to get down and eat Alu chaa gracyas gra clas senor eald the ader dismounting and laying his rifle a log we are not hungry then have some coffee invited looker who made it a point to teed one who stopped regardless of abir merit and once more the dexl en declined at this bud looked at alm ilm sharply for hie refusal did not well and it struck him the aana face was familiar he was tall or a mexican and heavily built but alth a rather sinister cast of counte lance where have I 1 seen you before T asked bud after trying in vain to lace him in fortuna T no benor answered the mexican politely oli tely 1 I have never been in that aty Is it fart miles by the trail responded by no means reassured and ader pretext of inviting them to eat ie took a look at the other men if hey had not stopped to eat what faan was their errand while the eun aa sinking so kowt and why this aillen refusal of the coffee which every mexican drinks T bad stepped into the house as it on errand and watched them un been from the interior seeing them change glances then he leaned his la just inside the door and went bout his cooking it was one of the chanced he took lying out in the brush but he had some to know this low type of emi bandit all too well and bad small aspect tor their courage in case of amigo was close by in the bocka somewhere probably with bis iun in his hand but with a little pa jence and circumspection the dunwel soma visitors would doubtless move so so he thought but instead they lingered and when aupper was cooked he decided to go to ashow down and it hey again refused to eat be would end them on their way von amidos amigos he said spreading out the tin plates for them come and eat the three low brows glared at their leader who had done what little talk ing there was so tar and seized with sudden animation he immediately rose to bis feet many thanks benor he said with a cringing crin jing and specious we have come far and the trail Is long we will eat the times are hard for poor men now this traitor madero ha made us all hungry it Is by him that we poor working men are driven to insurrection but we know that the americana are our friends yea tenor I 1 take some of your beans and thank you lie filled a plate aa he spoke and lifted a 1 from the oven con hie false patter while the others fell to in silence perhaps you have heard senor he went on the saying which Is in the jund mucho traba joi paco dinaro ao hay frijoles viva macerol much work little money no beans long ur 1 that in truth Is no jest to the mexican people this man has betrayed us all he has ruined the coun try and set brother against brother and now while we starve because the mines are shut down he gathers bis family about him in the city and lives fat on the money be has stolen he ran on in this style after the fashion of the revolt osos and by the very commonplace of his bud was thrown completely off his guard that was the way they all talked these worthless bandit beggars that and telling how they loved the americanos and then it they got a chance they would stick a knife in your back he listened to the big man with a polite toleration being careful not to turn his back and ate a few bites as he waited but though it was coming dusk the mexicans were in no hurry to depart perhaps they hoped to stop for the night and get him in his sleep still they lingered on the leader sit ting on a log and continuing bis harangue then in the middle of a sentence and while bud was bending over the fire the mexican stopped short and leaned to one side A tense silence tell and hooker was waked from his trance by the warning click of a gunlock suddenly bis mind came back to his guests and he ducked like a flash but even as he went down he heard the hammer clack the gun had snapped instantly hookers band leaped to his pistol and he fired from the hip at the would be murderer with a yell to the others one of the mexicans sprang on him from behind and tried to bear him down they struggled for a moment while bud shot blindly with his pistol and went down fighting bud was a giant compared to the stunted mexicans and be threw them about like dogs that hang on to a bear with a man in each hand he rose to his feet crushing them down beneath him then in despair of shaking ott his rider he staggered a few steps and hurled himself over backward into the fire A yell of agony followed their tall and as the live coale bit through the mexicans thin shirt he fought like a cat to get free rocks pots and kettles were kicked in every direction and when hooker leaped to bis feet the mexican scrambled up and rushed madly for the creek but though bud was free the bat tie bad turned against him for in the brief interval of his fight the other two mexicans had run for their guns the instant he rose they covered him their chief who by some miracle had escaped buds shot gave a shout for them about like dogs that hang onto a bear hem to halt cheated of his victim at he first be was claiming the right to hilll As hooker stood blinded by the moke and ashes the fellow took de aim and once more bis rifle then as the other dexl cans stood agape surprised at the failure of the shot the cannon like whang of a mauser rent the air and he leader crumpled down in a heap an instant later a shrill yell rose rom up the canyon and as the two mexicans started and stared amigo came dashing in upon them a spitting pistol in one hand and bis terrible wood chopping knife brandishes brandished bran dished high in the other in the dusk bis eyes and teeth gleamed white hie black hair seemed to bristle with fury and the glint of his long knife made a light as ho vaulted over the last rock and went plunging on their track for at the first glance at this huge pursuing figure the two mexicans had turned and bolted like rabbits and now as the raqul whirled in utter them dud could hear them and a Kite filL as he hunted them down among the rocks it was grim too even for his stomach but hooker let the indian 01 ol low his nature when came back from his hunting there wae no need to ask questions ills eyes shone terribly that hooker said nothing but set about cleaning up camp after bo bad washed the ashes from his eyes and when the fury bad vanished from s face they went as by common consent and gazed at the body of the chief of the desperadoes even in death bis face seemed strangely familiar but as hooker stood gaz ing at him abo raqul picked up his gun looka he eald and pointed to a bullet splash where as the mexican held the gun across bis breast bud s pistol shot bad flattened harmlessly the lock it was that which had saved the mexican chief from in stant death and the jar of the shot bad doubtless broken the rifle and saved bud in turn from the second shot all this was in the raqul s eye as he carefully tested the action but when be threw down the lever a cartridge rose up from the magazine and glided smoothly into the breech with a rifle full of cartridges the ignorant mexican bad been snapping on an empty abam ber not knowing enough to jack up a shell for a moment stared at the gun and the man and hie mouth drew down with contempt ha Pende jol he grunted and kicked the corpse with his foot but it the mexican had been a fool he bad paid the price for the second time be snapped bis gun amico bad shot him through and through CHAPTER in a country where witnesses to a crime are imprisoned along with the principals and kept more or less in definitely in jail a man thinks twice before he reports to the police with four dead mexicans to the account and del rey in charge of the district hooker followed his second thought he said nothing and took his chances on being arrest ed tor murder until tar into the night amigo busied himself along the hill side and when abe sun rose not a sign remained to tell the story of the fight men horses saddles and guns all bad disappeared and after packing a little food in a sack amigo disappeared aleo with a grim smile in prom se of return the sun rose round and hot the same as usual the south wind came up and blew into a bellying mass of clouds which lashed back with the ac customer cus tomed rain and when all the earth was washed clean and fresh the last trace 0 the struggle was gone only by the bums on hie hands was hooker aware of the fight and of the treachery which had reared its head against him like a snake which has been warmed and fed nowhere but in mexico where the low apelado pelado classes have made such deeds a subtlety could the man be found to dissimulate like that false assassin ln calef to pause suddenly in a protracted speech swing over and pick up a gun and halt bis victim for the shooting by the preparatory click of the lock that indeed called for a brand of cunning rarely found in the united states there was one thing about the affair that vaguely haunted hooker why was it that a man cunning as that had failed to load his gun 7 twice and with everything in his favor he had raised his rifle to fire and both times it had snapped in his hands certainly he must have been inept at arms or accustomed to single shot guns the reputed magic of the swift clr ing rifles evidently had been his undoing but where had he got his new gunt and who was he anyway with those two baffling questions bud wres tied as he sat beside his door and at evening hie answer came the eun was swinging low and be was collecting wood down the gulch for a fire when with a sudden thud of hoofs a horseman rounded the point and came abruptly to a halt it was aragon and be was spying on the camp a full minute be scanned tho bouse tent and mine with a look so snaky and sinister that bud could read his heart like a book here was the man who bad sent the assassins and he bad come to view their work I 1 very slowly bud s hand crept toward his six shooter but slight as was the motion aragon caught it and sat frozen in his place then with an inarticulate cry he fell flat on bis horse e neck and went spurring out of sight the answer to buds questions was very easy now the mexican who had led the attempt on his life was one of aragon s bad men one of the four gunmen whom hooker had looked over so carefully when they came to drive him from the mine and aragon had fitted him out with new arms to make the result more sure but with that question answered there came up another and another until in a sud den clarity of vision bud saw through the plot and beheld the master As man to man aragon would not dare to face him now tor he knew that bo merited death by his sly approach by the look in his eyes and the dismay of bis frenzied retreat he had ic more surely than by words his guilty knowledge of the raid coming to a camp where he expected to find all dead and athi he had found himself face to face with the very man he had sought to kill how then had the american escaped destruction and what bad occurred to his men perhaps in Us ignorance aragon y was raging at his hireling because they had shirked their task perhaps not knowing that they were dead he was batting in a fever ot impatience for them to accomplish the deed however it was bud saw that he held the high card and he was not slow to act in the morning he saddled copper bottom who had been confined to the corral for weeks and went galloping into town there be lingered about the hotel until he saw his man and started boldly toward him surprise alarm and pitiful tear chased them selves across aragons face as he stood but bud walked proudly by good morning fenorl waa all bud said but the look in his eyes was eloquent of a grim hereafter and instead of hurrying back to guard his precious mine hooker lol carelessly about town his F the artillery drove them back mine was sate now and he was sate aragon dared not raise a hand so he eat himself down on the broad veranda and listened with boyish interest to don juan s account ot the war what have you not heard of the battle cried portly don juan delight ed to have a fresh listener agua negra has been taken and re taken and the railroad will soon be repaired my gracious have you been out in the hills that long why it was two weeks ago that the rebels captured the town by a coup and eight days later the federals took it back ah there has been a real war mr bud I 1 you who have laughed at the courage of the mexicans what do you think of bedardo bravo and his men they captured the last up train from fortuna loaded all the men into the ore cars and empty coaches and while the federate were still in their barracks the train ran clear into the station and took the town by storm and eight days later at sundown the federals took it back ah there was awful slaughter averted lenort but for the fact that the fuse went aut two hundred raqul indians who led the charge would have been blown into eternity yes great was the charge of dynamite that the rebels bad laid in their mine that not a house in agatia negra would have been left standing if the fuse had done its work to tons of dynamite I 1 think of that my friend 1 but these were as ignorant of its power as they were of laying a train the walked into the town at sundown and found it deserted every man woman and child had fled to gadsden and the rebels had sed to the west but listen here was the way it happened actually and not as corn mon report has it for the country Is all in an uproar and the real facts were never known when bernardo bravo captured the town of agua negra the people acclaimed his a hero he sent word to the junta at el paso and set up a new form of gov eminent all was enthus laem and several americans joined bis |
