Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1873-02-13
"the ace-what then? It has won, I sup

"the ace-what then? 1t has won, sup
pose"
ut has won'
Nay dien. 1t was to be expected it
would, since I went on the king" And,
turning round again, he resumed his tune,
and his gaze on the street.
'Ha de ser RICO" said the Spaniard to
another of the players "He must be
rich. 1t would be difficult to take the loss
of thirty thousand dollars more coolly
than that"
Five minutes elapsed, during which the
bankers were busy counting out their
bank, in order TO see the exact sum due
| to them by the unfortunate loser When
| the jingle of money and rustic of paper
ceased, Vallejo looked round for the sec
ond time.
How much is there, Senores ?" cried
| he.
Thirty thousand four hundred and
thirty dollars, Senior Condo, replied the
old Marquis, with bow of respect for
one who could bear such loss with such
admirable Indifference
Very good" was the Counts answer ;
''and here comes the man who will pay it
you"
Accordingly, the next minute, hasty
step was heard upon the stairs All eyes
were turned to the door, which opened,
and Rafael Solano entered.
"Where is the Count ?" exclaimed he,
in hurried voice and with discomposed
| COuntenance.
Again every head was turned toward
the window; but the count had disap-
peared, AT the same moment, from the
street below, which was quiet and I'M
| ol a
uproar and noise of voices. The monte
players rushed to the windows, and saw
several persons collected round a man
whom they were raising from the ground.
His skull was frightfully fractured. and
the pavement around sprinkled with his
blood. Rafael and some others hurried
down, but before they reached the street
Count Luis Valleja had expired. The
gamblers last stake had been his life.
When .oung Solano reached his fathers
house, and, repairing to the counts apart
nlent, opened the desk of which Nalleja
had given him the key, he found that 1t
contained neither notes nor anything else
of value, but merely few worthless pa
pers. Astonshed at this, and, in spite
Of his prop0ssession in favor of the
count, feeling his suspicious little
reused by what could hardly be an over
sight, he hurried back to the monte
room, where his arrival served as the
signal for the catastrophe that has been
related.
Tie same evening the amount lost was
paid by Rafael Solano into the hands of
the winners. The following day, the
body of the count was privately inferred.
After the lapse Of few weeks, there
came letter from Mexico, in reply to
the one which Don Jose Solano had writ
ten to announce the arrival of Vallea.
His Mexican correspondent wrote in all
haste, anxious, if still possible, to pre-
serve Don Jose from becoming the dupe
of a swindler. The Condo Valleja, he
said, was the last and unworthy son of a
noble and once respected family. From
his early youth he had made himself re-
markable, as we'll for the vices Of his
character, as for the skill with which he
concealed them under a mask Of agreea-
bic accomplishments and fascinating
manners. His father, dying shortly after
he became of age, had left him the I'M
controlled master of his fortune, which
he speedily squandercd; and when it was
gone, he lived for some time by the eXer-
else Of his wits, and by preying on all
who were sufficiently credulous to confide
in him. At length, having exhausted
every resource-when no man of honor
would speak to him, and no Usurer lend
him maravedi at any rate of interest
he had, by an unworthy artitice, duped
the very last person who took any interest
IN him, out of a few hundred dollars, and
taken ship at Vera Cruz for Europe.
1t is scarcely necessary to add that the
letter of credit was a forgery.-H0od's
| jF010@js1