The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1895-01-24
HE BEAT THE SMUGGLER,
But Don Mauricio Slew His Only
Daughter in Doing It.
An Interesting and Thrilling Tale of the
Southwestern Frontler-An Episode OF
Summer Day Down In the Mes
quite Country.

quite Country.
Billings was sitting delicately poise'
on a chair that had passed through
its transitory cane bottom stage an
| had entered upon the enduring era o
| rawhide. His heels, somewhat abov
the elevation of his head, reste,
against the mesquite corner post of tn
veranda, as we euphemistically callet
the brush shade in front of the ranch
house. Saddles, blankets and othe
equine paraphernalia hung upon peg
driven into companion posts, and Edge
worth and | were repairing some o
our horse furniture preparatory t
riding out. Within the kid" wa!
doing what he called sweeping out
not as woman sweeps, but with ire
mendous strokes of his implement
that drove the more solid aggregations
of dirt before it, as shots from a cata
pult, while the smaller particles OF
dust rose about him like a dense swarm
of gnats, angry at being disturbed
and settled back again as the sweeper
shifted his position. Edgeworth was
IN Englishman, and the kid" Hins'
ley. by name, was some relative of his,
who had recently come out from the
old country to try ranch;ng in south.
west Texas, and differed not from
and general uselessness. He had, or
had had at the time of his coming,
the usual ideas regarding the dragons
and chimeras dire which he would be
called upon to encounter in the remote
occident, and Edgeworth. not to
thwart his aspirations, benevolently
allowed him to cook, make beds and
sweep out as an initiation to the ro-
mantle life of the frontier.
We made it a point to do those
things that ought to be done during
the cool of the morning, and followed
the Mexican habit of sleeping, or pre-
tending to do so, during the heat of
the day; all save Billings, who had an
unholy doctrine that since a part of
the day was to be devoted to loafng,
the loafng should be done at a time
when you could enjoy it, which you
could not do, he argued,
while the perspiration rolled off you
as you lay on your blanket and the
flies, d legion of devils from the pit,
pestered, you into state of homicidal
ferocity.
He carried out this doctrine-mucl,,
we secretly held, to his own discom-
fort-by being exasperatingly indus-
trious during the hours of the siesta,
and correspondingly i1dolent while
the rest of us were at work, though it
Is not to be inferred that any of US al
lowed the primeval curse to press very
heavily upon us.
So, in the morning of which write.
Billings was doing nothing, and doing
it in a manner to reflect credit on one
Of Mr.. Gilbert's lords. He seemed to
be absorbing the weird beauty of the
wide view that lay before US in the
inc, dry air. Near at hand a level.
stretch, dotted with
:lu1nps or mesquite: half mile away,
to simmer in the increas-
ne heat, a little knob of hill, the Som
oretillo, at the base Of which the Rio
Bravo del Norte, pouring from tho
vest, turned sharply with turnu]tuous
'apids to the south; beyond, the roll
ng hills of the state OF Tamaulipas,
covered with chaparra prieta, and be-
:inning to grow purple in the dis
ance: and beyond-nothing but the
lear, pale blue of the sky dome, where
t rested upon the earth, unbroken,
ave where, some sixty miles to tho
huge mass of deeper tint,
hrust sharply into it, marked the
Mountains of Lampasas.
Edgeworth and myself purposed rid
ng to the south five or six miles,
where our fence came down to the
liver. to straighten a loose corner post,
eported by a vaquero the day before,
md tighten the wires. We had not
'et completed our preparations when
Billings observant eye remarked some
'ody riding from the northwest along
he road which curved round the base
# the Sombretillo on the side away
rom the river. Whoever it might be,
lie was riding at a rapid gait, as the
lorse's hoofs were raising a cloud Of
lust that hung in long trail in the
'reathless air along the winding road.
IS it was probably some Mexican COW
10Y, Edgeworth and paid no further
,ttention to the approaching figure
'eyond the first glance. Billings, hav-
ng nothing more pressing to engage
lis tention, kept idly watching the
lorseman as he drew nearer, when
PRESENTLY he remarked:
st looks as if there were two on
hat horse.''
Now, there was nothing unusual in
his. The robust conscience of the
lexican permits him to ride double,
ot infrequently triple, upon beast
o which the burden of it's own exist
nee would appear to be sufficient
Dad.
Zone of 'em woman, by Jove!" con-
inued Billings, after an interval of
bservation.
This was interesting. Not but what
We might any day see a Mexican with
is fat sonora in front or behind him,
lodding at a sobre paso gait along the
usty road that ran in front of our es-
But going at full gallop,
hat was different. Any little Incl
ent, however trivial, is a welcome