OCR Text |
Show YAQUIS AS TRAILERS, laeldaata Illo.trat.lns Their Skill at (aane ot Mronilns. j "The Yk;i;I Indians are wonderful , natural trailers." said a former XI xl-can xl-can trader, relate the New Orleans Times-lVnioi rat. They ought to make the best scouts In the world. Soma i years eo I us stopping at a place J called YsU tl, near the east coast ol Yucatan.'ul, u my tal ln robbed j one nlf;ht of several hundred dollars In goll. I Lired a very Intelligent Ya-qui Ya-qui named IV dro to h'!p me chase th j thief, and we started at on-e. Th t thief who did the Job had fled cn ' horseback, striking noithwest, and before be-fore lotiR my gu.de? had a pretty accurate ac-curate Idea of his personal appearance. He picked up his Information a scrap at a time, beginning with the discov- ery tiat be was un lerslze.l. When I I asked how he knew, he pointed to a i willow tree from w'aioh one of the ' lower branch's had been recently ; broken. The ra-cal had dismounted I there for a rc.-t. and weveral flat j stones were piled on the ground under the broken branch. I'ejro surmised j that he wanted a whlo and had to I stand on the stones to reach the limb, j which was really not very high. I mention this Incident because It seemed seem-ed to me at the time to be very far- fetched ftui.sins. but It t:rnd out! afterward to be absolutely correct. He knew thevcolors of the man's sadd.o blanket from a fev shreds caupht on ' a thorn biifh. and harried that he ear-Tied ear-Tied a native water Ix ttle by Us print ' In the sc ft dirt near a spring. What astout-hed me especially, however. wai , tho e.u-e w i'.li which he followed th ! train of the horse over flinty, sun- ' cake) streteiies, where not the f lint-rl siFH of Its passage was visible to try ' blui.fr vision. We ciught up with ' tiie thief on the second day. and all ol : Pedro's precictinns were verified to the litter. He was a prowling half-breed, and wh. n hard pressed had hidden th', money cniU r a lug In a dense thicket. My Indian located It In almost lefs time than It takes to tell the story, and laughed contemptuously at the other's lack of flnese. Yet he was not an exceptional trailer. I have met dozens j of the tribe who were equally clever. |