The Wichita daily eagle., 1891-09-10
adding, 1--WE DO not care to mine here any

adding, "We DO not care TO mine here any
longer"
HYou are doing It to murder us and steal
our gold, and you have got to leave here at
once" said Jack.
eve are going to leave just As we told
you. But when you say we are murderers
turning to face his comrades to have them
verify his statement
Almost before the words had left his
lips, Jack reached out his left arm, and,
throwing it around Tomas neck, drew
him backward till the Mexican's head lay
on his shoulder. AS he felt the strangling
grasp OF the arm Tomas dropped his gun
and, raising his hands, tried to pull the
arm from his throat. His hands had hard
ly touched the arm when a long bladed
knife rose above his face, grasped so tight
ly that the hand that held it, with its taut
muscles and tense knuckles, looked almost
as white as marble. For an instant the
knife hung in the air that the fierce eyes
looking down over the upturned face of
the Mexican might pick the surest place
to drive it into the throat, drawn so tight
ly backward that one could see the arteries
throbbing beneath the skin. But only for
an instant, and then, SO fast that it
seemed like fash of light, it fell and
entered the neck in the muscles just be-
low the left ear.
For moment it stopped. and then, as
the Mexican's hands reached out as if to
push away the arm that held it, the knife
was pulled from left to right. AS it swept
through the throat, the arm lat had held
the head backward, that the knife might
have clean sweep, was raised, and the man
whose throat had been cut stood alone.
For an instant, to those who had seen it, it
seemed dream, and then as in moment,
the dark, brown face grew ashen gray, as
if painter had drawn a brush across it,
Tomas caught with both hands his throat,
and from the cash across it, through his
tightly closed fingers, spurted jets of blood.
At first slowly, as if the hands were
striving to hold within the body the escap-
ing life, and from the lips came indisguish-
able sounds as if pleading for help, while
the eyes swept the face Of friend and foe
imploringly. Only for an instant though.
Then the jets of blood grew stronger as
the strength in the hands relaxed. The
eves grew dim and CLASSY and the body
for an instant tottered, as if no longer
able to stand erect. One or two steps, as
if blindly striving not to fall even in death,
and then, as the hands stretch out, grasp
ing at the air, the blood that they have
held back pours out in torrents, and down,
with the face into the dirt and dust, goes
what was once Tomas. the hunter.
Both sides are on their feet now, and, as
they stand, the Americans cover the Mexi-
cans with their guns.
"By Godl You had better go and go at
once, and leave your arms behind" says
Jack.
The Mexicans looks at him for an in,
slant, and then, with glance at the body,
they turn and start across the desert. The
Americans watch them until they are out
of sight.
The next day when the pack train, which
has been sent for, has arrived and has been
laden with the gold, it is driven down the
trail by the camp where the body lies. 1t
is still there, swollen and black from the
heat of the sun, while the coyotes have
Tapped up the blood and eaten the face
away, until where it once was the white
teeth and bones glisten in the sunshine
The mules snort with fear as they sniff the
carrion smell in the air, and, though heavily
laden with the gold, try in their fright to
leave the narrow trail.
The men pause for an instant to look at
the corpse.
"Old Tomas" one of them says, ''I al
ways thought him pretty square and rather
liked him. Maybe, after all, they really
did intend to go home without trying to
take the gold, as he said"
Maybe they did," said Jack; "but we
couldn't take chances on any mans hon
esty with all this gold on our hands. -
Buckley O'Neill in Argonaut.