The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1895-01-05

augured i'll for the runaways should
he overtake them. But the suddenness
of his arrival and the abruptness of
his question gave me no time to equiv
ocate, and before had realized what
l had done had answered that we had
seen such couple as he described
How far were they ahead?"
about half an hour"
1.-The ladron! The contrabandists.'
(The Don himself had not escaped the
suspicion of the river guards on ac-
count of certain transactions in mes
CALI "rhe horse thief! He is of that
tribe of smuggling scoundrels who
live on the other side of the great
corral below the ford of the whit
rocks. The bribonest Many q fine
mare have they driven to Mexico from
my bunch, and never could prove it
The cursed smugglers! And this lizard
of a Guadalupe had the audacity to
come and ask me. for Anita! Anita,
who will have, when l am dead. the
lands, and the sheep, and the cattle,
and the mares! Dios milo! What eff
frontery! l told him would kill him
or any of his cursed kin that ever
dared tread my ground again. But
early this morning, an hour before the
coming out of tho sun, he came to the
house while was sleeping, and Anita
look you the faithlessness OF the
giri!-stole softly from the house and
| met with him. Caramba, if catch himl
Jose, here, who had got up to let out
the goats from the corral, saw them
go and told me, and we mounted and
followed. But we lose time. Vamono.
Josef ADDS, senores."
And he was off in a whirlwind .of
dust and profanity.
s"Well," said Edgeworth after q
pause. ~ shouldn't care to be In that
young smuggler's shoes ii Manricio
catches him."
Il say" exclaimed Hensley, who
scented an agreeable variation to cook
ing and sweeping; '.let's follow them
There'l be jolly row when the old
chap comes up with them"
"very jolly. indeed" g rowled Edge
worth, who knew of what the Mexican
nature is capable. "l'm not yearning
to, be witness in the next term OF
court"
But the kid. was off at gallop
and there was nothing for it but to
| follow him. In q few minutes we
reached our fence; the gate through
| which the road ran was wide open
under ordinary circumstances an un-
forgiving neglect-and in the open
country. beyond, which had been
stripped of it's mesquite by Mexican
woodmen, we had a panoramic view OF
pursuers and pursued. A thousand
yards in front of US Don Mauricio and
his man were dashing furiously along,
numerically quirting their horses; q
mile or more in advance Of them on a
trail that swung of to the right tow
ards the river and which we knew led
to the ford of the white rocks, little
cloud of dust marked the course Of the
gallant Guadalupe and his bride. He
was making a bold push for safety,
i well knowing that once he could reach
his kinsfolk on the other side, even
| fierce old Mauricio would hardly at
tempt rescue. We saw that the
chase must soon be decided in favor OF
I one party or the other, and as Edge
worth and had now caught some Of
Hinsley's curiosity we all pushed for
ward at a lively rate Ito be in" al
Hiusley jocularly remarked, ''at the
death"
4 The Rio Bravo del Norte, as tn,
Mexicans call the Rio Grande, has here
| NJ To-
, below the surrou nding country, and
| tue trail along which the smugglel
| was flying came down to the wate
through one of the numerous arroyo
or goages that open upon the river
Don Mauricio had already turned int
the trail as Guadalupe and the girl dis
appeared in the arroyo; so. not to b.
late for the denouernent, we left tn
road and took short cut across tn
plain to the bluffs overlooking thu
4 ford. 1t was only few minutes al
l,,op, and when we refined upand lookes
do,vn at the scene below us this !
what we saw: g fe'
The river here widens out to twic
its usual width. and the water flows II
i t,,;n sbeess over a rifle that runs mp
stream at an angle with our shore. Be
| low the rifle he channel sharply con
i tracts again, aud the water. masse'
together, boils in swift, rough rapid
20 a smooth stretch on stream severa
/ hundred Yards below: Upon the Mex
icau shore, at the other END OF tn
rifle, was great corral, with numeI
Gus liats clustered nearit, t. nome o
Guadalupe. Midway Of the riAne wer
several large, wbitish rocks. froI
which the ford got It's name, ~na
was at these that the runaways IA
arrived as we reached the bluff ar>
, took in the scene One hundred yards
. | more and iuadalupe would land hi
: prize, and he was now triumphant,
! waving his hat in answer to the shouts
| of xxalcor,a of several men, who CAM