The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-10-31

knew that Antonio could do some won
derful shooting with it.
You'll want to take your gun along,
Antonio l said to him. We may run in
with the bandits on the way we're going
Alas, senior, but 1t cannot serve US
tonight said the shepherd, shaking his
head I have no bullets. Powder and
caps have, but my last bullet fired at a
coyote yesterday
Il thought of my silver bullet. The case
was urgent. Try this l said, and hand
ed 1t to him. viii it fit the barrel of
your gun? Just a bit too large, is 1t?
little hammering out will make it the
right shape
while l bolted the tortillas and trljoles
as fast as I could, knowing that the quick
er we got away from the place the better,
Antonio, with the back of his AK, pounded
the bullet out so that Ii would go easily
into sthe barrel of his gun. You can see
the marks of his hammering now, and
how the ball is lengthened out and not
quite round. He had the gun loaded, with
the silver bullet upon the powder by the
time l had finished my supper. He blew
out the candle before he opened the door
for us to start forth, for there was no tell
ing who might be watching the house.
Carrying my saddle, heavy with the silver
dollars packed in the cantinas, on his
shoulder and With his gun in hand, An
pcketed. He had put the saddle on the
horses back, and l was pust drawing the
clinch tight, when | heard the shepherds
warning 'Sh4r7 and looking in the d.
rection i'm which he was gazing, | saw a
man on horseback about fifty yards away.
He had stopped his horse and sat looking
at us; through the darkness / could catch
the CLEAN of the silver buttons on his
jacket and pantaloons and the silver braid
on his sombrero, and knew by these that
he was caballero a man of pretensions
above those of a common cattle herder.
Across his saddle horn he held a carblne.
Behind my horse Antonio dropped to
one knee and leveled his gun beneath the
horses belly at the horseman. The stran-
ger perhaps detecting this movement, sud
denly raised his carbine, and with the mo-
| ton Antonio fired. At the explosion my
| horse jumped and ran, throwing me from
| my feet and dragging me by the Rata,
| which | had not taken from his neck
| kept my hold ON the rope and managed to
bring the horse to q, standstll, after being
dragged a considerable distance. When
| got to my feet, good deal shaken up,
| Antonio was running to me, bringing the
saddle and his gun. He clapped the sad
die on the horse and clinched It fast.
9" For Gods sake, senior mount quick
| ly, he said, and helped me into the sad
die.
But the MANTLE man you shot at
where IS her l asked. for the horseman
was nowhere to be seen.
| " God knows, sonor. He was hit, I
know, and his horse carried him away.
| That caballero-I am not mistaken, for
| L have seen him often--was Tomas Vie
| jada. Heaven preserve us If his men are
near.
with the shepherd running ahead,
picking the way we rode into the shad-
ows Of a spur Of the mountain, and from,
| there made our way by a roundabout
route 10 the estancia, where we arrived
after midnight without having seen or
heard anything further to cause us alarm.
Next morning l dispatched messenger
to the nearest post OF the rural guards,
ana within thirty-six hours a detachment
of the rurales were on the trail of the
bandits. They tracked them night and
day and hunted them down, killed seven
| and bringing five back, who were tried
| at drumhead court martial and shot. Not
one would confess what had become OF
their leader more than TO say that ne
was dead, and no searching availed to find
| his body.
NEARLY three years afterward, as / Wis
| tied my ranch, the major domo handed me
1 my bullet
Miguel Quintana, the hunter, found II
| in the mountains, he said. The bones
| of a man were lying about as the coyoes
had left them. The bullet was in the
skull. Miguel buried the bones and
senior, what became of Tomas Vejada."
| -S-e-s
President Samuel Gompers Of the
American Federation of Labor, is making
a tour through the New England states in
/ he int Of apfzad labor