The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1889-11-29
THE OLD TOWER.
4 Story Of Adventure on the Isthmus
Of Panama.
BY j. II. SPENCER.

BY j. II. SPENCER.
1T is no use, Senior; we cannot get
the horses to Senior Gutierrez's hacienda
tonight. There is plenty of the weed
I've been telling you about. growing
under the shed where we left them when
we sought shelter from the storm in the
old house on the plateau, and they have
eaten of it. They will not be fit to ride
in, ut least, six hours"
The speaker was my young Spanish
American guide, Marco segundo. We
had been riding along one of the roads
that wind among the mountains on the
Isthmus of Panama, when, Just
as the last rays of the
u We're gliding the submits
of the highest mountains our horses
We're taken violently sick. They were
now showing signs of great agony, while
their hair was wet with sweat, and
clouds of steam were rising from their
bodies.
But what are we to do, Marco?" I
asked. Must we spend the night here
in the forest?"
"There is a ruined church, the tower
OF which is in good preservation, about
an eighth of aleague ahead of lis, Senior.
We can get our horses there before
dark, and sleep very comfortably in the
old tower. We have two hammocks
with us, and there is something left
from our dinner which we brought from
Panama this morning-enough for u
supper, I'm sure. L saved it, thinking
we might be hungry before we reached
Senior Gutierrez's hacienda"
1t was with no little difficulty that We
managed to lead the horses to the old
tower. 1t stood neal the ruins of a
large village, and. as Marco had said,
was in good preservation, although it
had stood, at least, two centuries. Be-
hind the tower were the remains of a
great ediice, with portions of it's wall
standing thirty feet in height, and the
interior overgrown with short, coarse
grass.
"Are you sure it will not tumble
down upon us, as the old house on the
plateau came near doing, this afternoon,
Marco?" I sked.
81 see no gully, Senor," returned
Marco, smiling, as he glanced down at
the base of the tower.
By 8 o'clock our horses were much
better; and leaving them within the
walls of the ruined church, where we
had led them, we swung our hammocks
in the second story room of the tower,
and was soon asleep.
l was awakened about half an lour
later by voices in the room below us
those of q man and a woman, evidently.
The mans voice was low and pleading
and the woman seemed to be indignant.
J. could hear enough to understand that
she was refusing him some request, for
his tones became loud and threatening,
and at last | heard him say:
You shall never return to you
fathers hacienda again, except as my
wife. l am the leader of a gang OF
thieves, who will be here within ian
hour. They have gone to bring q
priest, who will marry you to me, in
spite of all that you can say or do"
[ waited to hear no more. Giving
Marco, who was sleeping soundly, a
shake, I dashed down stairs to the
room from whence the voices came.
As I gained the foot of the stairs,
Marco rushed past me, and before the
mana tall, spare young fellow, with
an evil, swarthy face-could realize
what had happened, he dealt him a
blow between the eyes, which laid him
sprawling on the floor. The next in
slant I had torn his knife and pistols
from his belt and flung them out of the
window.
Finding himself unarmed, the villain
sprang to his feet, and as we happened
to be between him and the door, ran up
tho stairs, madly followed by Marco.
The moon was shining with extraor-
binary b%rilliancy, and by its light ]
could see that the woman-or girl, for
she was not over sixteen years of age
possessed the most beautiful form and
features that I ever saw.
aThe Good Virgin has sent you here,
Senior, to save me" said she, as soon as
she had recovered from her surprise.
But let us follow Marco-that wretch
may kill him."
We hurried to the top Of the tower
which was, at least, fifty feet high
where we found Marco and the young
villain engaged in deadly combat. They
clinched, struggled, fell together, and
rolled to the low rampant.
I.sprang forward to assist my guide,
but before / could reach him, he had
with strength I had not thought him
capable of-risen to his feet, bearing
his adversary in his arms, and the next
instant he had flung him over the ram,
part. There was the sound Of a mufled
crash from below, then all was still.
He is dead" said thetgirl, after lis
teningfo q few moments. MARCO. how
can Lever thank you and this Senior 70,
what you have done for ne to-nigbyt2s