The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1897-07-27
PERRO.
A Tale of the ~Cerro-ouemado

what he was pleased to term an I'm
warranted interruption, and, unless
you allowed him to address you first,
you were apt to be guilty of one, in the
worthy doctors opinion.
"Dog" said he, with an ominoue
scowl at the slight brown figure before
him, oblivious Of the fact that it had
stood there hesitatingly, sombrero in
hand, for perhaps a quarter of an hour.
Dog, could you not wait until I had
f1nishedQ"
1t would have puzzled the doctor to
have told what was the thing he would
have finished, except, perhaps, that it
might have been the digestion Of his
dinner; but that was a minor detail
that did not merit his attention.
Pardon, senior, 1 had not meant
I did not think"
"You did not Think None of you
do; it is like you Indian perros. You,
who have no capacity for thought, can
not appreciate such a thing. I would
say you were brainless had I not
carved so many of you"
IL will retire, senor."
"Y0u will remain where you are.
That is like you, too, faith! You would
retire-to come again, that again you
might interrupt me. No. Now that
the mischief is done, at least remain to
give your excuse"
81 heard that you wished a mozo."
"And, if 1 do-do you know of one9"
81 do but speak of myself, senor."
"You a mozo-You-do you call
yourself a man9 Why, you are a child,
a spear of grass-a reed that has not
yet budded. How many years do you
claim, sir9"
my mother could not tell that, Sc
nor. 1 am young, but strong and
faithful"
The doctors frown relaxed. 1t was
with almost a good natured smile that
he regarded the Indian boy, who stood
nervously tapping a sandaled foot and
thumbing his straw sombrero. AS the
smile broadened, betraying the truly
tender heart that lay beneath his gruf
exterior, the doctor glanced up at the
smoking peak that was outlined against
the distant horizon, and for a moment
drank in the beauties of purple and
bronze with which the sinking sun
dyed it. Their he lightly rose from his
hammock. Laying one hand on the
boys shoulder, and with the other
pointing toward the distant peak, he
said:
"You say you are faithful. Suppose
that I asked you to scale yonder peak,
and by sunrise to bring me a mineral
found there"
What is the mineral, senor7"
sit is a yellow substance that boils
up from the volcano. It is that which
burns with a blush light"
"And a smell that is like I~nterno9"
The doctor laughed. Yes; that is
what we call sulphur"
"Then I will bring it to you"
Ere the doctor could protest he had
gone.
"Wel, WELL" muttered the doctor,
"it he does he will make a good. re
~triever; but these dogs take a lot Of
breaking" With which he returned
to his seat in the hammock, and ban,
ishing the Indian boy from his
thoughts, resumed the interrupted task
Of digestion.
The doctor was wont to call punctu
ality the foremost Of the virtues. He
loved punctuality-in others. That he
did not practice it more himself was
always the fault of circumstance. He
knew that he possessed it's essence in
more than an ordinary degree, and he
was fond Of looking forward to the
time when that grim monster, circum-
stance, will allow him to exercise it.
Next to punctuality, in the doctors
J mind, was the virtue of early rising,
and of this he was sometimes guilty.
The first faint streaks of amber were
tinging the eastern edge of the sky as
he opened his eyes the next morning.
He sprang from his bed of stretched
rawhide, threw the door open to fill his
lungs with the cool, bracing air, bath
ed and rubbed himself vigorously, and
dressed in great good humor, pleased
to know that he had beaten the sun
and so stolen an hour from life's han.
dicap.
"Juan, you rascal" he shouted;
"Juan, lazy dog. would you sleep all
days"
Coming, senior, coming"
T,,o~ -o. +bo IookorSa hOSUoT1awS