The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1897-01-09
A QUEER ELOPEMENT.

coffee. Ana When the trains are late III
either direction, you havo 40 alternative
but to accept tho hospitality of old
mamma, as the railroad men call her -
And my pleasant acquaintance Of an
hour or so led mo 80 the small entrance
of II hut matched with tulcs. The little
mud structure was builU against tho face
of y hill. There were i,irdcagcs filled
With variety o. beautiful birds and
such other evidences of civilization as !.
goat, q turkey aud iardiniores Of flow.
ers, vet the habitation belonged to the
ago of the cave jewellers, l decided, us |
CROPPED my way apparentl: into tho bow
els of the earth.
After few moments my eyes grew
accustomed TO the half light, and could
see quite well.
"Wowwowwown' growled heavy
bass voice from the inner room. The
words were indistinguiShable
WHAT Il deep voice that man hasi" l
said innoccntly, Mexican mon, rs u
rule, have such light voices!'
That's rot q man; it's Anguish
nita, replied my friend.
am acquainted with that pleasant
little custom of Mexico which holds to
childhood s tender diminutivcs long aft.
or old age has fallen on one Still, [
confess, Augustinta-whioh would be
dear little G;ussie'' in English-yyas q
slight shock. She was Of huge bulk. and
her old face was like withored brown
apple for wrinkles: but her eyes were az
bright as stars i'll tropic sky and She
had Oh that old countenancc {; most
shrewd expression
Augustinita delivered our orders TO
some one i'll tiio farther caye-I cannot
call it n roOm-in her rurlbling bass.
put her long, brown cheroot back in her
mouth and U'nddlcd behind mat made
from reeds hung from the ceiling.
She brought out q clean, white cloth.
which she spread with care, and Oh that
put some American plates and cups and
n Guadalajara water bottle. l sat OH a
long bench drawn close to the table,
watching tho old woman.
Il want you to take ~ good look at
Manuela when she comes in. She is
quite a belle with the men who cat
here, said my friend, who had told INC
his name was Stacey.
Manuela came i'll and went ont again
that moment was almost startled by
her face. why, she's Il beauty" 1
said.
'She has good figure, said my
companion, with assumed Indifference
but you get u straight look at her, and
You won't think her such beauty
If long, red braids soft, brown skin
and limpid, gray eyes can make beauty,
then was Manuela beautiful On closer
examination, however, her faco lost
much of It's beauty, so coarse was her
red mouth and so hard and bold her OK
preston.
She switched her skirts and put her
hands on her hips and her head to ono
side, after fashion l had known but
not loved we'll i'll time gone by
II could weep for very home sick
ness, She is so like the waiter girls in
the frontier towns, if she had more bang
and hustle, | said
NJ stacey smiled.
"a mean more slap and dash. She is
so quiet exclaimed hurricdly. seeing
the construction he was putting on
bang and hustle -
After looking at his watch my com.
panion said: We have yet All hour TO
wait III tell you about NIanucla's
clopcmcnt "
so, while eating calatassas. chile con
carnc and friiolcs fritos with "old
mamma sitting III the corner, her gilt
tering eyes the only live thing about her,
with Manucla flirting i'll and ont, bring
ing the highly seasoned Mexican dishes
and bestowing soft. furtiye smiles on
my cOmrade, heard of tho elopemcnt
of Manuela.
'Branscombc, one of the men who
used to eat here, fell III love with Man
uela's red braids and buxom figure. 1t
was reciprocatcd by her, but old mann
ma hated him and mover winked her
little rattlesnake eyes when he was
round. He was a rough sort of fellow,
and, it was said, had wife or so and "a
lot of children up in the States but ms
that cuts no ice here in Mexico hc kept
right on making love to Mamuola. He
was greatly annoyed by Augustinita,
who was ever To tho fore and would not
cifacc herself So ono night he got tho
pirl to run away with him on south
bound froight--queer vehicle for an
elopement, u freight train!
"Augustinta reached tho station
Just as the train pulled out. Sho was
almost frothing with rage and went
stamping round the platform, calling on
all the Aztec gods for assistance
She Gained down after q time and
asked tho night operator s advice, and
he told her that the only way to catch