Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1874-11-26
"why, senora do you care to go with

"why, senOr' do you care to go with
Fired by that spirit which in man might
be deemed love Of adventure, and in wo-
man simply curiosity, / replied, IL will
CO." :,
! then threw myself upon rude couch
made of resinous boughs, that exhaled a
ba!nl-like perfume when / lay down upon
them, and in few minutes l was asleep
and dreaming something about dear old
Dickens, and Steerforth, and the wind
blowing over Yarmouth flats.
1t was still dark when Joaquin aroused
me. 1.-The dawn will be here before l
have seen to my shepherd boys" he said.
(Which way will you head ?"
Toward the coast. They will either
push off to some ship. or hide away in the
mountain Businesses
The dawn was coming up dim into a
sky blown free of clouds, as we left the
grassy district and came upon sandy
barren.
Joaquin was mounted on powerful,
apparently loose jointed beast; higil-shoul-
dered almost as giraffe, but with broad
full chest that limited at lungs of immense
strength and stretch. His slow gait was
uneasy and slouching, but there was some
thing in his eye and flexible ears that
chained my attention the instant it was
sufficiently light to see him. BY and by
the dawn spread out full and bright, and
Joaquin's fiery eyes began to wander over
the sandy plain, and the scrubby, prickly
bush country beyond.
The extraordinary horse moved on with
his curtseying gait, while not q word
passed between his rider and myself.
Just as dawn was merging into sunrise,
my companion gave out the most unholy
sound that ever emanated from human
lips. The jungle tigers wounded unto
death, would not have cried more freely
than Joaquin did, as he pointed with his
short goad far away over the plain. !
arose in my stirrups, but at first could dis
cover nothing; after few moments gaz-
ing, however, there came up full against
the eastern horizon-two distinct forms.
The Mexican lifted his cruel goad; it
descended; and horse and rider united in
one Of the most horrible yells that ever
startled the echoes of earth. My steed,
electrified in every nerve, sprang forward
with such force that, hard rider as | was,
it took all my skill to prevent being un-
seated. We had sighted them as they
crossed slight ridge, and now, through
the sloughing sand, and into the bush, we
dashed with the fury of a tornado. Haul
ing little to the right, yet with unbroken
and headlong pace, we cleared all obsta-
cles the Mexican, every moment or two,
standing clear of the saddle to survey the
position of the fugitives.
We were rapidly gaining upon them.
They either had not feared pursuit, or else
their proximity to some mountain fastness
had deadened their vigilance, for we were
near enough to plainly distinguish the
woman's scarlet tunic, before her compan-
ion, arising in his stirrups, discovered us,
as we burst from screen of ferns. We
distinguished his cry of dsmay, as they
both pressed fiercely forward.
On-on-went Fora, with her long,
loose black hair lifting and drifting like a
lions name, and the outline of her grace
full form showing distinctly in the red gar
ment, as she rose and sank with the ami
NAL she rode. A little ahead of her was
her companion but behind the two, with
fiercer speed, came their fate.
CONCLUDED IN SATURDAYS PAPER.]