Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1877-10-20
IN ARIZONA ROMANCE.
A Tale Of Principles and q Pony vs.
Beauty and cold Untold l. How
fountain Joe Bought the Beast and
Wen the Beauty

FOUNTAIN Joe Bought the Beast and
Wen the Beauty.
Correspondence Piftsb,ro Teleoruphl
TUCSON, ARIZONA, August 2s-Every-
thlng mere is on a magnificent scale, from
me spiders that spin webs to the frontiers
yarns, guess had better tell you q little
story that has just been related to me. 1t
viii give you faint idea of what kind of
certain which, they raise out here.
There comes Mountain joe on his
pony" said my friend, Col. Fleance Fitz
Roy, TO day, as We were seated in the shade
OF a spreading mulberry, IN the Grand Plaza.
Inc person referred 10 was handsorae-look-
Ing young man OF perhaps 80, something
rage, and agile appearance. He was armed
with a half carbine, half navy revolver. that
hung In a belt by his left side, and was clad
in buckskin suit.
"'Mountain Joe, as you call him, Colo
Eel, seems TO be rather a fine specimen of the
frontieIsman, but don't see anything re-
markable about his pony, TO which you par
ticularly refer"
Thereby hangs tale, which l will un-
fold if you feel like listening TO It,"
$50 on; tell il by all means"
"'Mountain Joe,' as he is called was born
somewhere In the eastern states, aud, in
fatuated with the Indian stories 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 S5 worth of
It, You see, few years ago old Senior Ro-
road, owned that pony aud one of the love-
liest daughters in all these parts. He was
immensely wealthy and owned several VAL
liable mines, and there waS no telling how
much gold and silver bullion he hal stored
away.
Now, all the young fellows around here
were crazy after the girl Inez. but j ~ set MS
heart ON the pony, aud wanted to buy il. He
is fellow who always has his own way
and IL IL blessed good thing that his n cad is
always right, otherwise somebody would get
when II tria IN hsry fI,a
once.
8" The Senior asked sos for 1t, aud Joe dug
alOuCd TO saise the money. He raised il, ali
except 20, and wanted Romuldo to trust him
fol The rest OF Ii tfll he would come back from
a hunting expedition. This the old Spanish
curmudgeOn refused to do, and Joe Vsidiy
appealed To his friends to loan him the other
'. Failing, he got mai and swOre that ne
would not live In sucn a community. One
day he LEFT and was not heard from for near
~ a year.
- In the meantime band of KickaDoo In
dams sWooped down upon RO nuido's rancho,
during MS absence In town, ran off MS stock
and carried the pretty fneZ way into their
mountain Businesses. Several parties went
out in search OF the captive, only to be am
pushed aud whipped Then it was that Senior
Romuldo began To bewaii the absence of
Mountain joe for everybody bai faith
that he could have rescued the lovely Inez
from the dreadful fate in store for her.
" Finally, just as the unhappy Spaniari
Was giving up in despair, Toe suddenly pat
IN an appearance. IF you will recover my
child said RomuldO, / will civ Won : / O0D,
coo. You may have half my property and
Whatever else you may ask i am not par.
ticular about the reward said joe bat I'll
try and rescue the GIRL
| 50 And then he set about making prepara
tons for the undertaking. Several gallant
young fellows volunteered to go with him.
but be declined their services. He oiled up
that overgrown revolver OF his, slowed away
about 400 cartridges and about ten pounds of
jerked meat in his clothes, and, taxing the
trail OF the kic8apOOs, set out i'm the early
morning. He followed II all day, cautiously,
and by night he was far up in the mou ntains'
Inc next day, near noon, as ne reached the
brow OF an immense precipice, the redskins
opened upon him in the rear.
80 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
rock, he opened with his shooting iron and
made 1t lively FOR the ambusher5. Every
shot told, and soon dozen dead Indians
were stretched out on the mountain top. But
their comrades were undaunted and nearly
hundred OF Them made a dash To seize hi M
de had already killed twenty-six OF them
but he saw that he must sool bs overeoy-
cred
" Flight was impossible, and, pfeterrihg to
Kill himself rather than be tortured by the
Indians, he rushed TO tue precipice, fully
2 600 feet high, and ieaped bodily INTO space.
:. But during his fearful descent he did not
lose his presence of mind. He was going
that stuDted pines aud bemlocks grew out of
the frequent crevices. He began grasping in
the tops of them, which first Dent and thea
broke, bat lie found that he was breaking the
force of his fall For the last 800 feet the
brushes were thick, and Joe was soon going
down, dropping from one 10 the other in per-
feet safety.
AT last he reached the bottom, SUITE ing
from few bruises and several raiuer ser .0us
wounds received In the contest with the Ia
d1ans overhead. Just as he was congrdJ-
n O Ing hi Ea4f ~
another pack of red devils broke from tu,
chapral and opened fire. Another hand-to
hand contest took place, aud Joe killed nine
OF his enemies. He then started to run along
The base Of the cliff, when on a sudden the
earth gave way under him and he fell into
deep assure. The Indians were Immediately
upon HIM, and fired two or three vOleys
down the hole and then covered 1t up with
immense bOulders.
Joe had fallen some twenty feet, and,
realizing the danger fro N shots from above,
got under the shelving of the rock aud thus
avoided the balls. The Indians, supposing
him dead, made no further INVESTIGATIONS
Realizing his desperate situation, Joe set
about extricating himself, and found that he
was in vast cave with large number of
ramiticatiOns. In the midst of pitchy dark
ness he began his exploration, which contin.
ued for four or five days, but which TO him
seemed as many years.
''The jerked meat on his person satisfied
the cravings OF his appetite, and he found
plenty of pure water To drink. AT last he
gave up, and lay down TO die. Listening iu-
tently, ne heard what seemed like human
voices, and this once more gave him heart
Crawling in the direction from which the
sounds came, he al length reached q point
from which he was able 10 look into a vast
roiuDda, fitted up In barbarlc splendOr, and
lighted with pine knots a ID sputtaring lamps,
ana there, reclining on q couch OF bear skins,
he beheld Inez Romuldo talking with an old
Indian squaw, WAC apparently was her
Jailor.
'.At length the old bag withdrew in an op-
pOsite direction, and Joe speedily ma ie has
presence known to the fair captive. A nur-
ried consultation followed, and the waoie
situation was taken in.
Inez explained that she was held a pris-
oner by The Chief OF the tribe, Red L agile,
who was determined she should marry him
Red Eagle was a half blood, his father being
SpaniaTd. The entrance to the cave was
narrow, well concealed, aud its existence
known only TO a few OF the Iodiins. They
still swarmed in the mountains, bat in two
weeks were going south for raid upon the
settlements, aud only small guard were to
be left in the cave.
All this Inez hurriedly explained to Joe,
and il was agreed that he was to lie con-
cealed in the UNEMPLOYED PORTIONS of the cave
TO the rear, recover from his wounds, and
wait till the Indians left before attem pting q
rescue, while Inez was to furnish him with
provisions from her own allowance.
g. The Chief, Red Eagle, in the meantime