Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1896-02-20

self discovers his loss. He ma
never know it unless the party i
numerous and makes too big haul
Then again, these fellows are al
ways armed, and ready to fight fo
their plunder, or to get away. il
anybody does run up on them
They fight to kill, too. All thii
talk aboat Q Mexican being cowart
and being afraid to stand up against
. white man is DID nonsense. I'd
as soon run up against any kind Of
desperate, and little rather, than
Mexican cattle shiefs
Now the Almighty couldn't have
made a better country to order fol
a COW or a horse thief to operate in.
The river amounts to nothing as an
obstacle in going and coming. Mos,
OF the year it can be forded, and
when not the border raider swims
his horse across, holding at the side
Of the saddle or on to the pony's
tail. A full river never stops him,
aud he makes the stolen cattle swim.
too, If necessary. From Ell Paso
down two-thirds of the way the
country is mountainous, rough,
broken, perfect desert of steep
slopes, rocks, brush and hidden
canyons. The hardest kind of a
country to hunt as cunning aa4 ami
NAL as a man in, and even a stupid
man there could keep out of most
anybody's way. On the lower third
the country gets more level, but
does not improve bit for any of
the uses of an honest man. Barr
ing a few open prairie spots the
whole region is covered with q dense
chaparral high enough to hide a
man on horseback, and into which
one can see but a few steps. Un-
der foot on the ground are dozens
of kinds Of low growing cactus.
Every cussed one of them has hooks,
claws or needles all over it. About
as high as your knee grows the soap
weed, plant with scores of marrow
blade like leaves, and each leaf nj
its end turns into hard, sharp
sticker that goes through leather,
cloth, skin and flesh with perfect
ease. A little taller grows the
Spanish bayonet. a perfect porcu-
pine of a growth. Above all, high
er than a mounted mans head,
grow the mesquite trees and 'huis-
ache bushes, each of them full of
thorns. There are but few roads,
many miles apart, and through the
thorny thickets are occasional cattle
trails. Water is scarce away from
the Rio Grande, and a knowledge
of its whereabouts absolutely neces-
sarv &c the traveller. Now, the cat
tie thief knows all this country, the
roads, trails and water holes. By
far too big proportion of the scan
ty population stand in with the
outlaw, too, and protect and shelter
him. Many q hard pushed rustler
dismounts, turns his pony loose,
and becomes a member of the fam
lily. How does the ranger know on
coming up whether the lazy 'pelado'
taking his siesta in the shade of the
doorless doorway is father, brother,
son, harmless dweller or horse thief,
from over the river? This is the
country where the CARA revolution
ran its elusive course. Some of
these raiders do worse things than
stealing stock or raising revolutions,
however. Ranches and stores are
often plundered and burned, and
outrages perpetrated on the inmates
that / can only hint at. Most of
these border outlaws have Indian
blood IN them, and you know what
that means.
well, the thirty Rangers went
over to the Rio Grande, and the
vast country swallowed them up,
but they did the best they knsw
how. They divided into half
dozen small parties, SO as to cover
all the ground possible. but it was
q good deal like going in to plant
hundred acre field with half peck
of seed corn. took charge of q
squad Of five, and we went down in
to the very heart Of the thorny
chaparral below Laredo, and just
about where the three counties,
Webb, Encinal and Zapata, come
together.
We secuted around, rode hither
and yon, holding up every fellow
we met, making him tell who he