The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1877-10-20
A Romance Of Arizona.

n
am Just up from the City of Mexico,
and, as I promised you a letter from
here, l must resume specie payments.
There are plenty of things to write about,
but one don't know what to give the pre-
ference Everything is on magnificent
scale, from the spiders that spin webs to
the frontiersman who spins yarns, and,
speaking of yarns, l guess l had better
tell you little story that has just been
related to me. 1t will give you faint
idea of what kind of story-tellers, or
Indian fighters, am not certain which,
they raise out here.
"EThere comes Mountain joe on his
pony" said my friend, Col. Fleance Fitz
Roy, to-day, as we were seated in the
shade of spreading mulberry, in the
Grand Plaza. The person referred to
was handsome-looking young man of
perhaps thirty-ive, something above the
medium height, of graceful carriage, and
agile appearance. He was armed with
half.carbine and half-navy revolver,
that hung in belt by his left side, and
was clad in buckskin suit.
&c Mountain Joe,' as you call him,
Colonel, seems to be a rather fine speci-
men of the frontiersman, but don't see
anything remarkable about his pony, to
which you particularly refer"
" Thereby hangs a tale, which I will
unfold if you feel like listening to it,"
" Go on; tell it by all means"
Mountain Joe,' as he is called, was
born somewhere in the Eastern States
| 60 ha In ofo
he had read, ran away from his parents
and came to the Southwest But he has
had some hard knocks since, and the
hardest were received in earning that
pony, or rather five dollars worth of it,
You see, a few years ago old Senior Ro
muldo, whose rancho lies out along the
Pinto road, owned that pony and one of
the loveliest daughters in all these parts
He was immensely wealthy and owned
several valuable mines, and there was no
telling how much gold and silver bullion
he had stored away.
Now all the young fellows around
here were crazy after the girl Inez,
but Joe set his heart on the pony,
and wanted to buy it. He is fellow
who always has his own way, and it is a
blessed good thing that his head is al
ways right, otherwise somebody would
get into trouble. But when Joe tried to
buy the pony everybody thought he was
baked for once.
"The Senior asked him sixty-ive dol
lars for it, and Joe dug around to raise
the money. He raised it, all except five
dollars, and wanted Romuldo to trust
him for the rest of it till he would come
back from hunting expedition. This
the old Spanish curmudgeon refused to
do, and Joe vainly appealed to his
friends to loan him the otherV. Failing,
he got mad and swore that he would not
live in such a community. One day he
left ard was not heard from for nearly a
year
I" In the meantime band of Kiokapoo
Indians swooped down upon Romuldo's
rancho, during his absence in town, ran
off his stock and carried the pretty Inez
away into their mountain businesses.
Several parties went out in search of the
captive, only to be ambushed and
whipped. Then it was that Senior Ro-
muldo began to bewail the absence of
Mountain Joe,' for everybody had faith
that he could have rescued the lovely
Inez from the dreadful fate in store for
her.
" Finally, just as the unhappy Span
lard was giving up in despair, Joe sud
denly put in an appearance. If you
will recover my child, said Romuldo,
will give you million dollars. You may
have half my property, and whatever
else you may ask l am not particular
about the reward said Joe, but I'll try
and rescue the girl
And he set about to make prepare
tions for the undertaking. Several gal
liant fellows volunteered to go with him,
but he declined their services. He oiled
up that overgrown revolver of his,
slowed away about 500 cartridges and
about ten pounds of jerked meat in his
clothes, and, taking the trail of the Kick.
apoos, set out early in the morning.
He followed it all day cautiously, and
by night was far up in the mountains.
The next day, near noon, as he reached
the brow of an immense precipice, the red
skins opened upon him in the rear.
He was completely trapped. All
means of retreat were cut off, and there
was death both before and behind him
But Joe made up his mind to die game.
Dodging behind a rock, he opened with
his shooting-iron and made it lively for
the ambushers. Every shot told, and
soon dozen dead Indians were stretched
out on the mountain top. But their
comrades were undaunted, and nearly a
hundred of them made dash to seize
him. He had already killed twenty six
of them, but he saw that he must soon
be oyerpowered.
Flight was impossible, and, prefer
ring to kill himself rather than be tor
tured by the Indians, he rushed to the
precipice, fully 1900 feet high, and
leaped boldly into space.
I" But during this fearful descent he
did not lose his presence of mind. He
was going down near the face of the
rocks, and observed that stunted pines
and hemlocks grew out of the frequent
crevices. He began grasping the tops
of them, which first bent and broke, but
he found that he was breaking the force
of his fall For the last 800 feet the
bushes were thick, and Joe was soon
going down, dropping from one to the
other in perfect safety.
AT last he reached the bottom, suf-