Evening star., 1896-01-03
cussIon. They resesin quivering shriIlness.

l at the far end OF the room. This stfff and
mechanical movement, accomplished entire
| ~ by the muscles of the wrist. must have
looked like the rising of corpse in the
wan moonlight, which gave everything a
| hue Of the grave.
My friend. takf my advice and never be
the English lang4age 1t, or anything that
resembles 1t, is t4esanost difficult of deaths.
The tumultuous esrotions Of Richardson's
| terror destroyed nat slow and careful pro-
! cess OF thought ~. means of which he un-
| derstood Mexicar tThen he used his instinc-
| tive comprehensive of the first and uni
yersal language, (which is tone. Still it is
disheartening MOTTO be able to understand
| the detail of threats against the blood of
| your body.
Suddenly, the clamor of voices ceased.
There was sile1 ce-a silence of decision.
The blanket was flung aside. and the red
! light Of torch flared into the room: 1t
was held high by a fat. round-faced Mexi-
| can, whose little snake-like mustache was
/ ss black as his eyes, and whose eyes were
black as jet. He was insane with the wild
| rage of a man whose liquor is duly burn
| ing at his brain. Five or six Of his fellows
crowded after him. The guitar, which had
oeen thrummed doggedly during the time
1 OF the high words. now suddenly stopped.
They contemplated each other. Richard
son sat very straight and still, his right
hand lost in the folds Of his blanket The
| Mexicans jostled in the light of the torch,
| their eyes blinking and glittering.
| The fat one posed In the manner of a
grandee. Presently his hand dropped to
| his belt and from his lips there spun an
epithet-a hideous word which often fore
shadows knife blows word peculiarly of
| Mexico, where people have to dig deep to
hnd an insult that has not lost its savor.
! The American did not move He was
| staring at the fat Mexican with strange
| fixedness of gaze. not fearful, not daunt-
| less, not anything that could be interpreted.
| He simply stared.
The fat Mexican must have been discon-
| certed, for he continued to pose
| grandee, with mere and more sublimity,
until it would have been easy for him to
| ions We're swaying in a very drunken man
| ner. They still blinked their little beady
eyes at Richardson. Ah well. sirs, here
was mystery. At the approach of their
! menacine company, why did not this Amer
lean cry out and turn pale, run, pray
them mercy? The animal merely sat still.
and stared, and waited for them to begin.
| Well. evidently he was great fighter; or
perhaps he was an idiot. Indeed, this was
an embarrassing situation. for who was
| going forward to discover whether he was
a great fighter or an idiot?
| To Richardson, whose nerves were ting
/ ling and twitching like live wires, and
1 whose heart jolted inside him. this pause
| was lcng horror; and for these men who
| could so frighten him there began to swell
| in him fierce hatred-a hatred that made
| him long to be capable of fighting all of
| them, hatred that made him capable of
fighting all Of them A 44-caiiber revolver
4
| boys to shoot marbles through, and there
| was certain fat Mexican with a mustache
| like snake who came extremely near to
| have eaten his last tomale merely because
| he frightened man too much.
| Jose had slept the first part of the night
| in his fashion-his body hunched into
aeap, his legs crooked, his head touching
| his knees Shadows had obscured him from
| the sight of the invaders. AT this point he
| arose and began to prowl quakngly over
toward Richardson.I as if he meant to hide
OF a sudden the lit Mexican gave howl
| of glee. Jose had come within the torch's
circle of light With rcars of singular fe-
rocity the whole group of Mexicans
pounced on the American servant.
| He shrank shuadering away from them,
| Deseeching by every device of word and
| gesture. They pushed him this way and
that They beat him with their fists They
| eled on his knees s6the fat Mexican took
| him by the throat and said: Il am going
| to kill you!' And continually they turned
their eyes to see if they were to succeed in
causing the initial demonstration by the
American
| Richardson locked on impassiyely. Under
| the blanket. however, his fingers were
| clinched as rigidly as iron upon the handle
| of his revolver
Here. suddenly, two brilliant claa hing
| chords from the guitar were heard. and n
! woman's voice, full of laughter and conf
| dence cried from without: Hello! Hello!
| Where are you?
| The lurching company of Mexic1ns in
| stantly paused and looked at the ground.
| One said. as he stood with his legs wide
| apart. i'll order to balance himself: "lt is
| the girls. They have comet" lie screamed
| in answer to the question of the woman:
| "Here!' And. without waiting, he started
| on a pilgrimage toward the blankat-covered
| door. One could now hear nu,nper Of
| female voices gigglins and chatteri.,g..
Two other MeXicanS said:. Yes, Ii il the
girls! Yes!" They also started quietly
| away. Even the fat Mexican's ferDclly
| seemed to be affa,ted. lie looked uncer-
| tainly at the stiH immovable American.
| Two OF his friends graSped him Eayly:
| Come, the girls are here: Comet He
| cast another glover at Richardson. Bat
| this he began. Laughing, his comrades
hustled him toward The door. On its thrcsh-
| old and holding back the blanket with one
| hand he turned his yellow face with last
| challenging glare .owar1 the American.
! Jose bewailing his stlse in little sohs of
| utter despair and woe, ,.rept to Richardson
| and huddled near his knee. Then the cries
| of the Mexicans meeting the girls were
| heard. and the guitar burst out in joyous
humming.
| The moon clouled .n'l but Il faint square
| of light fell through tie open main door OF
| the house. The Goals IF :he tire wer. silent
| save for occasional sputters. Richardson
| did not change his position. He remained
| staring at the blanket which hid the slrate-
gic door in the far c1i. AT his knees Jose
| was arguing in u low, asgrevei tone with
| the saints. Without the Mexicsrs laughed
land danced, and-it would appear from the
Fsound-drank more.
In the stiffness and night I:har,lSon sat,
| wondering If some serpent-iike Mexican
| was sliding toward niln in the darkness
| and if the first thing lie knew of it would
| be the deadly sting of Ihe knife. "Sssh,"
| he whispered to Jose. He drew his revolver
| from under the blanket and held it on his
| leg.
| The blanket over the door fascinated him.
| 1t was a vague form, black AMI u:llnoving.
| Through the opening it shielded was to
| come, probably, menace. death. Sometimes
| he thought he saw 1t move.
i he cnpcli,ded tnraarrayr