Iron County register., 1896-07-02

| 1eS, LnaG Will De better, answered
the senor, and he staggered tc an empty
/ chair, placed not far from the table at
| which remained, and was served with
| spirits and cigars. Here he sat watch
ing the play and listened to the conyer-
sation of the gamblers.
| All this while sat at the little table
| where my dinner had been served. saw
| ing nothing, for none spoke to NE, but
| within hearing of everything that
| passed. There I sat quiet, my arms
| folded on my breast, listening a7ten-
lively to the tales of outrage, wrong.
and murder practised by these wicked
ones upon my countrymen.
Presently Don Smith called out:
Look at that Indian rascal, friend1
| he is as proud as turkey cock In spring
| time; why, he reminds me of the figures
! of the king in that ruin where we laid
up last year waiting for the sencra and
| don't you, Jose? can hear her squeaks
| now," and he laughed brutalIy, and add
| ed: ''Colne, King, and have drink
| Gracious, senor," / answered, ''I
have drunk"
''Then smoke cigar, o king"
Gracious, senior, do not smoke TO-
night
MY lord cacique of all the Indians
| won't drink and won't smoke said
/
| cense," and taking a plate he filed it
| with dry tobacco and cigarette paper,
| to which he set fire. Then he placed
| the plate on the table before me, so
that the fumes of the tobacco rose into
| the air about my head.
''There, now he looks like real god, !"
said the Americana, clapping his hands,
Il say, Jose, let us make a sacrifice to
him. There is the girl who Runaway
| last week, and whom we caught with
| the dogs"
'sNo, no, comrade," broke in Jose;
''none of your jokes tonight; you for
| get that we have a visitor. Not but
| what should like to sacrifice this old
| demonio of an Indian himself" he
added, in an outburst of drunken fury.
| Course him! he insulted me and my
| father and mother, yonder on board
the ship"
And are you going to put up with
| that from this wooden old Indian god?
Why, if were in your place, by now I
| would have filed him as full of holes as
coffee roaster, just to let the lies out. :"
'That's what want to do" said Jose,
gnashing his teeth; "he has inSulted
me and threatened me, and ought to
pay for it, the black thief" And draw
ing large knife he fourished it in my
face.
L
much as suffer my eyelidS to tremble:
though the steel flashed within an inch
of them, for 1 knew that if once I
showed fear he would strike. There
fore l said calmly:
You are pleased to jest, senor, and
your jestS are somewhat rude. but I
pass them by, for know that you cam
not harm me because l am your guest,
and those who kill a guest are not gen.
1D,1t =
born Don Jose Moreno could never be"
''Stick the pig, Jose," said Smith.
''He is insulting you again. 1t will
save trouble afterward."
Then as Don Jose again advanced up
on me with the knife, of a sudden the
senior sprang up from his chair and
stood between us.
"Come, friend" he said, "a joke is a
joke, but you are carrying this too far,
according to your CUSTOM" and seizing
the man by the shoulders. he put out
all his great strength and swung him
back with such force that, striking
against the long table with his thighs,
he rolled on to and over it, falling heav-
lily to the ground on the further side,
whence he rose cursing with rage.
By now Don Pedro, who had wakened,
thought that the time had come to in
terfere.
peace, little ones, peaceI" he cried
sleepily from his hammock. ''Remem-
Der that the men are guests, and cease
brawling. Let them go to bed; it is
time for them to go to bed, and they
need rest, and by tomorrow your differ
ences will be healed up forever"
''I take the hint" said the senor, with
forced gayety, Come, lgnatio, let us
sleep off our hosts good wine. Gentle
,6T.oo RI nd "a
walked across the room, followed by
myself
At the door 1 turned my head and
looked back. Every man in the room
was watching intently, and it seemed
to me that the drunkenness had passed
from their faces, scared away by a
sense of some great -siC2zedress waiting
to be worked. Don Smith was whisper
ing into the ear of Jose, who still held
the knife in his hand, but the rest were
staring at us as people stare at men
passing to the scaffold.
Even Don Pedro, wide awake now,
sat up in the hammock and peered with
his horny eyes while the Indian girl,
Luisa, her hand upon the cord, watched
our departure with some such face as
mourners watch the outbearing of
corpse. All this / noted in a moment
as / crossed the threshold and went for
ward down the passage, and as l went
shivered, for the scene was uncanny
and fateful.
Presently we were in the abbot's
chamber, our sleeping place, and had
locked the door behind us. Near the
washstand, on which burned single
candle, set IN the neck of a bottle, sat
Molas, his face buried in his hands.
Have they brought you no supper
that you look so sad?" asked the senor
THE woman Luisa gave me to eat,"
he answered. Listen, lord, and you,
Senor Strickland, our fears are well
founded; there is a plot to murder us
tonight; of this the woman is sure, for
she heard some words pass between
Don Pedro and a white man called
Smith; also she saw one of the half
breeds fetch some spades from the gar
den and place them in readiness, which
spades are to be used in the following
of our graves beneath this floor"
''I am afraid that we have been too
venturesome in coming here" I said,
''and unless we can escape at once we
must be prepared to pay the price Of
our folly with our lives. ="
''Do not be downcast, lord" said
Molas, ''for you have not heard all the
tale. The woman has shown me .
means whereby you can save yourselves
from death, at any rate for tonight.
Come here" and leading us across the
room he lnelt upon the floor at spot
almost opposite the picture of the abb
bot and pressed upon a panel in the low
wainscoting of cedar wood with which
the wall was clothed to a height of
about three feet.
The panel slid aside, leaving q space
ho-al,, iarro onoupb for a man 70 T1aSS