The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1893-01-06

tea record OF that interval between the es-
cape and the TecaDture. when the little CON-
pany wandered. lost and helpless, among
the Businesses Of unfamiliar mountains; no
record Of those ten days and nights, when
the sun rose and SET, but 10 mark another
and darker experience in the calendar or
human pain.
Ned Foster and Harvey Armstrong were
among the number. Stronger than the
multiplied threads of the cable had
grown the bond of friendship etween
these two men in the awful realism OF dam
ger and suffering.
For four days the weary and footsore
band travelled down deep canyon whose
steep sides narrowed and narrowed until
they closed and barred them in. Then
the retracIDg of those same steps.
a few, sorely weakened, gave up the
struggle and dropped out of the ranks.
Some became deranged, and. wandering
| of, slipped down the rocky ravines and
were killed.
On the evening OF the tenth day they
were met by body of Mexican cavalry and
| hidden 10 halt and give up their arms.
After a three days rest, in which their
! half-spent lives were restored By those arts
| of healing the Mexicans know SO well, they
were carried, handeuffed in pairs, into
Saltillo. and thence TO Salado.
The hoary walls OF the old hacienda
! looked down in sinister strength as the
| thinned ranks fled 10. Eight Mexicsns
! were outside digging a trench. Ned ex-
changed look with Harvey, his companion
in-irons, and whispered; That means
/ DEATH" He was not wrong. At 2 o'clock
! Of the same day the prisoners were ordered
| out and ranged in double line against one Of
| The walls
| The officer in command then read the
written decree Of Santa Ana, President OF
Mexico, a decree which pronounced for
| these men a fate so ingenious in its torture
- min ar az hat / m
| conceived in the subtle brain Of Her0d.
Every tenth man was 10 be killed, the
decision to be made by lottery.
! Into jar was TO be dropped ITO beans
153 white and II black.
Each man was to take out a beau. Those
! drawing the black ones were to be shot be-
fore the sun went down; the rest spared
| death, but retained as prisoners.
1t was a dark and cloudy day, this 18th OF
| March, with high winds that whipped the
sand into great waves and blew it across
| the plains.
Beyond tho door Of the courtyard nothing
! could be seen but the flying sand.
Over all spread the dusky canopy of the
| heavens.
A Mexican soldier mounted stool and
held aoft the fatal pitcher.
The roll was called.
as each hand was slowly lifted and poised
for one single Instant above the mouth of
the jug, Life and Death must have met anu
maze salute.
The game was for souls, and the die was
! Mexican bean
Fosters name was called near the last,
and he carelessly dropped in his left hand.
with perchance "reminiscences of childish
| days when he had done such things "lor
| luck" and found he had picked up a white
| bean.
As be returned to his place Harvey passed
| him. and Ned saw In the white drawn face
| of his friend no sign of fear. but the mental
anguish # Gethsemane.
What was it he had said last night In one
| OF the pauses Of that long march?
That perhaps, even now. baby voice
was waking faint echoes in his little home,
| and that the anxiety he was Daring for an
other was sharper with pain than any ply
| steal torture he had experienced.
Ned looked at the smooth, white oval OF
the vegetable seed in his hand and made a
resolve.
When he looked up Harvey was just
raising his hand. Ned noticed how it
trembed.
When the fingers were Withdrawn there
was something black outlined against their
| bloodless tips.
The change in his face was that of death
| With a quick movement toward his
! friend, Foster made a sudden thrust and
| gesture, and-how it was no one could ever
| explaIn-but after the slight confusion and
| peremptoTy orders TO fall in line, Harvey
was seen standing in his old place staring
with bewildered gaze at white object in
bis open palm, and Ned, erect and calm,
| with brow OF more than mortal beauty,
awaiting the signal of death.
As soon as Harvey regained control of his
confused faculties be made frantic, pitiable
| efforts to communicate with his friend, but
was silenced at the point of musket and
compelled to throw himself lace downward
| with the rest while the seventeen doomed
4 MI
cords. their eyes bandaged and shot repeat
eddy until life was extinct. They asked the
| privilege of being shot from the front, but
| were refused, and made to sit upon a log