Show By FRANK H. SPEARMAN Frank H. CHAPTER XI Continued 11 you had to obey Kit But I'd never think It of Your brother Mose never would have done that you know that as well as I It's snapped much put out at the there's no use talking about Where you Bowie had picked up his rifle was shaking his just as I told up the river to bears V hold your horses till you talk to the old not talking to He can't hire me to murder decent peaceable boys like the De don't talk so you old Stay overnight and think it You've picked on the only mean job he ever put on I'm on my No effort at persuasion Bowie shook hands with Kit and his friends and exchanged raillery with them but went his Everything at Sutter's Fort pleased Captain Sutter had charged the whole atmosphere with his own magnetic When he persuaded Bowie to remain for a time with him it was to be on Bowie's own if Bowie would name In the end Sutter named for his new recruit so liberal a percentage on his fur business that Bowie himself insisted on reducing Captain Sutter had at his command the services of former mission Indians on the despoiling of the missions by the Mexican had found themselves adrift and thrown on their own Some fell back into savagery and Imitating their Mexican of the better sought service where they many were in the employ of These men were tractable and were expert with the bow and the Even who was placed in sole charge of these was often amazed at their No less a source of amazement to although he had thought himself familiar with the was its limitless wealth in game and fur-bearing Elk supplied tallow worth more commercially than that of Deer were a and bears were hunted for their heavy The rivers and the tule beds swarmed with beavers and land The quantities of skins brought in by the Indians astonished Sutter and with every shipment down the river he deposited with Nathan his factor at Yerba a sum of money for Bowie's For to Sutter ascribed the unlooked-for increase in the returns from his Indian The lively frontier atmosphere at the fort the daily excitement owing to the constant succession of wanderers and travelers singly and in in large and small companies with amazing stories of stark tragedy and even cannibalism served to keep Bowie's mind busy with interest in the strange frontier characters he encountered and in their strange tales of snow and All their stories had a common feature their deserts were their mountains their valleys like their rivers treacherous and mad to Some told of trees so great of girth and so tall that no listener could believe his others of mysterious valleys where boiling water gushed hundreds of feet into the air and ice froze on the edges of their But even marvels lose their Even the adventure of the chase becomes commonplace when at last For nearly two years Bowie made an active part of the enterprise of Captain something suppressed but gnawing at his feelings urged him to seek new new to deaden a vague sense of When he told Captain Sutter he was leaving him there was an But it was a good-natured and the two parted Bowie promised to come back sometime if he could make it Leaving the valley with one Bowie worked South along the sleeping under the stars and killing such small game as he needed for food passing the he stopped at the Mission San only to learn that a state of war existed between Mexican factions and that the south-em end of the department for one side pr the under CHAPTER XII Bowie had no intention of mixing in a squabble between Mexican California and to avoid the sham battle lines he kept well inland in order to reach San He meant to outfit there and strike across the desert for which he had not seen for He reached San Diego late at He had intended to sleep outside the town But toward night fall rain had begun to fall arid when he reached the presidio there was a heavy Hi rode up to the presidio where he was challenged by a whom he answered in good Spanish and asked for The sentry called the captain of the guard out into the rain from a game of Whether this was unpleasant for the whether the call spoiled a winning or whether the captain had had too much Bowie never could figure out But he was very He ordered j Bowie to dismount ordered him searched and No answer that the Texan could make to his insolent questioning would satisfy He pronounced Bowie a put him arrest and sent him to the The Texan's surprise was equaled by his annoyance and his contempt for his he reflected that a night in the dry guardhouse would be better than a night In the But to find himself for the first time in his California life without his his or his rifle and his ammunition was something to disturb He tossed all night and could console himself only by thinking that in the morning he would easily satisfy the com-andante that his arrest was owing to the drunken stupidity of the After much palaver the next morning he was brought before an underling of the governor and subjected to a grilling that astonished His own simple tale of who he was and what he was doing in San Diego was brushed aside as of no and he was questioned closely as to what his relations were with the faction that Governor Pico of the department feared was planning an attack on him personally After hours of examination which naturally developed nothing Bowie was remanded to the There he fretted and fumed day after day until his resentment wore itself He was summoned at last before the governor the prisoner felt would be the end of it Such was not the Pico bore a name that inspired all who sought justice at his hands with But the Texan knew nothing of the mentality that characterized this leader of the mission Again Bowie told his it on deaf The strange revolver taken from him was not merely evidence but proof conclusive in Pico's judgment that Bowie was a His protestations availed him At three o'clock he was notified that he would be shot as a spy next Bowie took the silent and hard from the guard who brought it But with his wits keyed high by the amazing he studied closely through the bars of the peephole in the cell door the features of the Indian soldier who bore the It flashed suddenly on Bowie that he had seen that man he said thank you for telling me The Indian started at the utterance of his thank continued unmoved by the stolid guard's you and I are old You do not recognize I am covered with half a beard and unwashed and eaten by Look Bowie lowered his voice I am whom you knew at We fought together in the canyon of the Santa Maria did we Sanchez stared hard at Bowie's very quiet pierced the sluggishness of his Indian he speaking low and with the utmost remember I did not know How can I help If I let you out they will shoot nothing of that as soon as you bring me something to eat and pass me a good That's all Tell them I will be Sanchez proved not Bowie's contempt for everything and everyone concerned in his imprisonment was not lessened by the threat of immediate But he set to within a minute after the knife was in his to dig himself out of his crude Working feverishly for an hour in the clay underlying the stone he had made progress in his tunnel although no sound reached his the scant light through the peephole of his door lessened just enough to make him realize someone was looking Expecting a bullet in the back of his he turned as unconcernedly as possible from the bunk near which he was Behind the bunk lay the loose earth scooped from under the He glanced toward the A face was But the aperture was so narrow and high that he could see only the face sitting on the studied keenly the eyes that studied For a long moment there came a calm voice from the barred I am a May I speak a moment with Bowie was annoyed but prudent He stepped to the cell can I do for he asked In a courteous though inwardly guard will be here present continued the will open the Is not We can talk here face to face quite as quite so my I would rather sit down with you a few moments that we may speak said Bowie am at my please leave me in I have but a few hours to is why I wish to speak with my You were at your That is Are you a Bowie was not You see Footsteps were heard comes the said the turning to him open the door just a my I promise I will not annoy After locking the cell the guard had leaving the two men in Bowie's narrow leg is not very You notice my said the I sit Motioning his unbidden guest to the one three-legged stool and seating himself on his Bowie yon but I'd never think it of hoped the searching eyes would detect nothing of the loose earth piled underneath it Yet to the uneasy prisoner it seemed almost too much to His industry had made noticeable tell my that you are a began the padre they tell returned slightly acid in his is it continued his Is answered Bowie have had no not a shred of evidence lies against The truth Padre your governor wants for himself a new and unusual firearm it is called a revolver that his men took from And he Is putting me out of the way to get a clear to my say I am not an officer of the Mexican I am a My sole earthly quest in California is the salvation of You may be a spy though I do not believe it for the whole story has Been told me or you may be twenty times a that matters nothing to But since you are condemned to death let me what of your what of You are an Americano what my echoed the Francis still searching Bowie's face narrowly and speaking as if musing or as if placing in his mind a fact at a time to serve as for a possible did you first come to ten or twelve years demanded Bowie that to do with this trumped-up charge against nothing my But if you will be patient it may have something to do with what I have in By what route did you come to the Rio Colorado and the desert of the The padre's interest seemed to spoke on with slight but increasing you must have come in not very far from San he still did so continued the padre gently you spoke Spanish when you came to I came to California neither I nor my companions could speak a word of did not come Texan scouts came with of The white-haired his penetrating eyes bent closely on hesitated an He spoke then did you and your companions hear about that time of Indian have heard of many Indian murders since coming to speak of a raid and a murder in which a Spanish ranchero and his two vaqueros were his house burned and two of his little girls carried Into captivity by the Bowie eyed the Franciscan for a moment without He was completely The priest's features were do remember such an returned Bowie Then with his curiosity do you The questioning padre straightened on his stooL he said are the Texan who brought those two girls back from the I am the priest in whose care you left I have been looking for you for twelve years Is It that It must These years have taken their toll of your health and Give me the you take the It Is a little If I were a Catholic I would confess to you that the reason I did not ask you to the better seat is because I do not think you will betray He lowered his digging a tunnel to get out of this had already perceived as Bowie In spite of as the dry Is certainly that you and I should meet again after twelve under circumstances such as thesel queer things happen in Those were two nice little girls I remember them But they were scared Whatever became of I have not seen these girls for almost ten They live far north in California But to your present He lowered his voice to a your attempt to escape you face a terrible You may face a firing squad within a few Padre I shall face no These Mexican dogs I should feel disgraced to be shot by such If you sympathize with my predicament dismiss your fears for myself I have but one where to find a horse when I get man on foot In Only you padres can stand have a whispered the if I could provide a horse how could a stranger find sit here with me on the Bowie spoke in whispers to one on whose good faith he was practically staking his shall not use this tunneL It is a to protect a I shall walk out of the door tonight A to whom I once did a good will aid Before daybreak I shall be I can have a horse at the back of this guardhouse at a certain time tonight can you get to certainly can and I will thank you the I could see the stars I could tell said I have no A I could hear that What time will the moon until after by ten All will be quiet you could not get two easily as the guard will go with Two low whistles will tell me the horses are I shall be eternally after said the shall pass your cell door Be alert If I do not the horses will be And now we must think about If you are discovered you will be instantly A heavy footstep approached in the It was the He knocked roughly with his keys on the cell my time asked the quietly as the guard stuck his face against the bars of the long past your he answered in surly me but two pleaded the minute no roared the whispered do not know how to make confession of whispered the padre to his do not tell me for I think your heart is' good in the face ol possible tell me you are sorry for your Can you honestly I do my Bowie see no Padre why I should not do as you he said at being sorry for your owl tell my sou that you forgive those who have sinned Is different only seems These men are nothing in your lift you will forget Forgive Tell me you DE |