Wichita eagle., 1888-06-16

Then, with soft ahem and flourish of
his handkerchief, he leaned forward, and
casting bewitching glance as the lady,
murInured:
''Buenos dias, sonora. Habeis vosotros-er
that is-como esta veya"
The lady made no answer; In fact, seemed
not to hear, but the judge was in nowise dis
concated
"Reckon she was thinkin' Of the late Ia
mented, and didn't wholly catch on to my
idee," be remarked, pleasantly. "TTn open
another Lead" and again he smiled as be
murmured:
These misunderstanding Us with a
graceful and comprehensive sweep-"bein'
gentlemen, and well acquainted with good
sassiety, hev asked me to pass their compli-
ments to you, nla'am, which l now do. Err
Ell tempo es bien inconstanty, sonora, and
sta-er"-the judge concluded the sentence
with gesture. "It's little remark in the
vernacular Of the French" be explained, "an'
reckon it'll fetch herr
1t certainly did seem to have some effect,
for the lady uttered a sound strangely like a
chuckie, but said nothing.
Judge" said the colonel after waiting q
reasonable time for an answer, "Pm afraid
tempered with. I've always allowed there
Spanish myself"
The judge waxed indignant. "a jokes a
joke an all right" he said, "but didn't
s'pose there was man here but knowed the
roots OF the two langwidges was the same,
an If you can only confine your taIkin' to
rooss-an' you centrally can in genteel sas-
siety-it makes no odds whether it is French
or Spanish"
"Ail right, Judge, all right" said the
colonel soothingly; ''of course, we now'd
that well an good, but man must have his
little joke now an then. But ask her-in
your roots-if she's any objection to smoke
The judge, partly modified, did not essay
this IN speech. but beginning even father
back than ''roots, managed to ask the ques-
ton by signs The lady nodded her assent
with vivacity, and drawing silver case
from her pocket, took therefrom a cigarette,
which, after raising her veil a little, she
placed between her lips At first we were
amazed, but the colonel, with the savoir
vivre which had always distinguished him
and made him so popular with the sex,
quickly recovered himself, and geIlantly
offered the lady light, which she graciously
accepted. Then murmurs of admiration
were heard The majo audibly compared
her to "a butterfly and wnip-poor- by
gad!' The colonel swore that ''she took him,
blamed if she didn't" while the judge re-
peated his former opinion, and declared that
''she was a regular Cle-op-e-try from the word
60" The professor was silent, but | have
reason for believing that he indorsed all the
others
"What / admire in lovely wimmin,n said
the colonel, as we sat there quietly smoking,
sis the er-the ability she possesses to adapt
herself to circumstances, as illustrated in the
above. We are all friends herein course
so we can be comfortable, but Pm safe in
sayin' / shall be glad to git to Leadville
That little matter of 81 900 got sewed finto
my-judge, sure the lady cont understand
English-my-in fact, gentlemen, my shirt"
said the colonel, frankly, again indicating
the exact location Of the treasure, ''is tax
on my mind, an l want to git it off,"
Outside, the snow had ceased falling, and
the dusk OF a winters evening was slowly
deepening into darkness. High up on the
slope that rose ON our right stood solitary
pine tree, that had pushed its way through
the rocks, and now stood, lonesome and sad,
by night and day, keeping a melancholy
watch on the valley. The sun, long since
hidden to US below, shot ray as O good
night message, and for an instant the tree
was ablaze; then the light died quickly out
and we were in semi-dariness again. The
road wound its way around the face of
high cliff; on one side lowered a wall of rock
sheer 300 feet; on the other sunk an unsound-
able chasm. Tommy sat on the box, his two
lamps Lit, and his tongue playing rapid &C
compartment to his whip. Inside, the small
reflector at the end of the coach only served
to make the night without seem darker than
it was Silently we sat there smoking, the
ends of our cigars alternately glowing and
dimrnins in the dingy air. An unusual vol-
ley OF oaths from the box, a cracking Of
whips, shouting, and then the stopping Of
the coach with iurch startled us out of our
quiet. Then q shout from Tom as he spoke
to his cattle, and a voice, ringing like
bugle, was heard from the rocks above:
'iCome! none O thatl Make a straight haul
for 1t, d-n you! Throw off that bo1i Lively
now! Put up your hands an git down.
Every ono Of you, git DOWN.
Sorrowfuliy we obeyed. The description
the professor had given, few hours before,
of our preoable sensations, was exactly true.
A pair Of SIX shooters, held up in the hands
of stalwart man, whose face was partly
concealed by black mask, fastened our
descent, and In q moment we found ourselves
ranged in line, with our hands above our
heads, a meek, unhnppy, cowed group. At
one end of the hne stood the colonel, cool,
impressive, digniied, confident In tho security
Of his treasure. The hast to descend was the
widow, but q widow no longer, for out of
the coach there sprang an active young fell
low, Of slender but snewy build, smooth
shaver, dressed in the conventional garb of
the western rider, and carrying in his hand a
michel plated SIX shooter. And this was Mrs
Smitt-who did not speak English. Any ono
standing near the judge at that time might
have heard an exclamation both forcible and
profane The widow" heard it, for with a
little laugh he Tor she) touched his finger to
his lips and said.
"Hush, judgei that's cussin', an you draw
the line there, you know"
And then he proceeded 10 search the peck.
cts of his fellow travellers, as if it were a
very common place affair, which it certainly
was not and relieve them OF their varuables,
his associate keeping guard meantime
Down the line he went, doing his worb
quickly but carefully, bat before be was done
the other began TO grow impatient.
Hurry up, Jimi" he said, ''ain't you most
through We're laten
"All done but this one" said Jim, the
quondarn widow, as he halted before the
colonel; "he's got $4,000 sewed plum TO his
shirt reckon I'll hev to rip the old coon
open to git it" Saying which he drew his
knife, and with quick movement, as II to
disernbowa the colonel, slipped the point
through his clothing. and with q wrench
pulled out the package