Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1890-02-14

| that nice man, Pedro Gonsalvez, the
brig and captain, who seems to be ter
rorizing the whole country at this
time"
The speaker was no other than our
friend, Harry White, now grown into
a tail young man, and revisiting, af
ter a five years absence beyond the At
lanttc, his former haunts in southern
Spain.
He had certainly good cause to feel
unco comfortable just then. To lose
one way in a gloomy forest among
the Spanish mountains, with night at
hand and a storm coming on, is not
a pleasant experience in any case;
but when to all this is added very
strong probability OF falling in with
band of robbers, whose usual mode
of demanding ransom for captiveis
to mail his ears or noso to his anx-
iOus friends as hint that speedy
payment is requested" he must in
deed be brave man who can face the
situation without fiinching.
What Harry feared came only too
soon. A hoarse shout was suddenly
heard among the bushes, and before
he could draw his revolver he was
surrounded by gang of fierce look
ing men, whose grim, ruffianly faces
and scowling eyes BODIED him no
good.
A smart stroke from the butt of
Harry Whites heavy whip felled the
foremost man, but the rest at once
dragged him from his horse, and, in
spite of his furious struggles, bound
him hand and foot.
LET me kill the dog!" roared the
injured robber, whose head was bleed
ing freely. "He shall never strike
Spaniard again!'
"Not so fast, Brother JUAN" said
another. HE looks like an English.
man, and the English are all rich.
Wen make him pay a fat ransom"
"And ifhe don'tpay itquickly," put
in u third, with defiant whisk of
his knife close to the prisoners eur,
"hs friends won't find him quite so
handsome the next time they see
him :"
Harry's blood ran cold at the hor-
ribld threat and the roar of brutal
laughtet that followed it. He was
now completely disenchanted, for the
brilliant and chivalrous bandits of
his boyish dreams were utterly diff
ferent from these ragged, hang-dog
ruffians, who almost choked him
with the sitting odor OF garlic and
bad tobacco.
Then his horror turned to rage at
the thought of being plundered and
insulted by these brutal rascals, and
he inwardly vowed that when he did
get free he would spend all the money
he had in hunting them down. But,
as we shall see, he never got the
chance OF doing SO.
The robbers laid their prisoner on
the horse and led him up a steep,
zigzhg path to kind of rocky plat
form, walled in on three sides by I'M
scalable cliffs, while on the fourth lay
n precipice of several hundred feet.
Here about twenty more brigands
were encamped; and Harry White,
suddenly remembering his silver
cross, looked eagerly to see if the
mar who had given it to him was one
of the band; he could see no one in the
least like him.
"Has Capt. Gonsalvez come back
yet? ~ asked one of his conductors.
"No," was the reply; "but we are
expecting him every moment"
just then a hasty step was heard
below, and a tall dark figure, spring
ing up the rocks MS nimbly as a
mountain goat, came bounding on
to the platform.
"Up with you, comrades" shouted
the new conner, who was no other
than the formidable Pedro Gonsal-
vez himself. I'VE have been BETRAYED,
and all the soldiers from La Redon-
da are upon our trail. We must re-
treat at once. Hal who is this-a
prisoner"
Owe took him in the valley yon-
der, and have kept him for ransom"
replied one of the bandits.
''There is no time to think of ram
SONS now, when our very lives are at
stake" said the robber chief, stern
ly. "Take what money he has on
him, and then fling him over the
precipice.
instantly dozen eager hands were
rihiHg Harry pockets, and the brave
lad, giving himself up for lost, pre-
pared to die like n man. But, as his
watch was dragged forth by the rob-
bers, the silver cross that hung to
its c hahn caught the eye ofGonsalvez
who sprang forward and asked hur-
riedly:
"Where did you get that CROSSE"
1T was given to me five years ago
by a smuggler of these parts, whom
helped to escape when he was Grip
pied by fall" replied Harry, look
ing fxedly at him.
And am the man who gave it,"
said Gonsalvez. grasping his hand
warmly; "and for that good deed
you shall depart free and unframed.
Comrades, give him back all that
you have taken. Follow that path,
Sendr Americana, which will lead you
to the village of San Tomas; and
when you tell this story to your
friends, tell them also that kindness
is never thrown away, even upon "a
brighnd. david Kerr in Golden
Days.