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


While we were working our way. /
heard Fatty shout behind me:
by G.! l left the pot boiling
and all the coffee back in the road.
The idea Of thinking Of such n
thing at such q time. It shows
how peculiar are the mental varia-
tons of mankind.
we had gone through the brush
for about a mile, when we came to
an open, and the path dipped right
down into the wide sandy bed of q
waterless creek. In the middle
was a man with long handled
shovel, standing over a hole in the
sand, waiting for the water to seep
through and fill it. There's always
water under the surface in such
places. Behind him was q barrel,
on runners, and his horse was
standing over on one side in the
shade, with the gears thrown up
over his back. A Winchester
rested against the barrel, and on
top was big, bright dipper.
we asked him hurriedly if any
one had passed that way.
Yes. Two Mexicans and q kid.
Come down jist a minute before ye
an put ont up the crick. What's
the matter p
'Ccw thieves we shouted, as we
hurried on.
Hold on Pm with you. DIN
thievin' SOULS we heard him sing
out, and then we heard his horses
trace chains rattle as he came flying
after us.
The creek bed was level and wide
and beat a road bad. Away from
the centre the sand was packed
and made good running. We put
our ponies right down toit. Around
a bend we few, and right in sight
was the enemy. The man wasn't
200 yards in front, his horse was
nearly blown and some distance
ahead was the kid. / think our
three Winchesters cracked as one
gun the moment we sighted them.
The man reeled, fell forward in the
saddle, clutched his pony's name,
hung a moment and then fell head
long down in the sand. l raised
my gun to fire at the other, for |
was crazy with the desire to kill.
Don't said Fatty. Hes only
kid. He's got no gun and we can
catch him.
Il didn't, and have thanked God
ever since for it.
in moment we came up to our
victim. He had fallen on his face,
but had turned over, and was look
ing at us. Two bullets had struck
him in the back, gone clear through
him and another had shattered his
shoulder. Just then our friend of
the creek came up and said:
Got him, hey! Sorry l want
in time. Whar's the other ?
The kid had stopped when the
man had fallen and was coming
back, now afoot and crying. l
knew we had q dead man on our
hands and couldn't help pitying
him. / noticed then how young he
was. Handsome, too. The sand
was red around him, and there was
red ooze gathering on his lips. i
had soiled handkerchief and wiped
it away.
'Gracias, senor,' (thanks, senior, J
he gasped.
Just at that moment the kid
came running up, sobbing, drop
ped on one knee by the PROSTATE
mans side.
'Ah, Madre de Dios y he said.
His hat fell back and disclosed a
mass of long black hair. Some
thing tugged at my heart strings
and | heard Pablo say:
Great Godermitey! It's a wo-
man.
1T was q woman. 1t was old
Hernandez's daughter. The dying
man gave her look / will never
forget. She took his hand as he
hurmured, 'Cara mia, buenos no.
ches' GOOD night, my DEAR and
then all was over with him.
when she realized that he was
dead she raised shrek after shrek.
All, God 1t was awful. Then
she looked around at Us, at the sky
above, and began to laugh and play
In the wet, red sand. This was
worse than all.