Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1897-08-05
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senor?" The Indian boy stood before
him, holding out small skin pouch
whose distended mouth permitted hin
to see its yellow contents. The doctor
glanced at it, rubbed his eyes, looked
at it q second time, then seized piece
of the yellow stuff, weighed it in the
palm of his hand. bit it, examined it
earnestly, and finally said, in u savage
tone: Tell me at once where you
got it."
THE senior sent me to the noun
tains."
"For sulphur, boy-do you know
what this is?'' demanded the doctor,
ferociously.
The frightened boy retreated: 81
am sorry. 1 thought it was right,
senior. will go back and search again"
"Oh, what fools these perros are. No,
YOU shall go back again, but l shall go
with you'at once; yes, at once. l am
not angry with you, no. Why, you are
one in thousand. Give me the pouch.
Do YOU know what this is? 1t is the
stuff that rules the world-that makes
and unmakes empires. 1t is power, it
is. Come. come, not word. Boy, l
will make you what you are not. |
will--now, Juan, what are you want
ing?"
"The doctor need starve no longer"
said Juan; 1.-The doctors coffee is
ready"
Serve it at once. You will eat with
me-you and this muchachito."
Juan set about it and soon the three
were breakfasting together. at is but
another of his whims," Juan whispered
to the Indian boy beside him, "in the
which he must always be humored."
Regarding his master in such light,
it is not surprising that Juan should
have listened in silence to the instruc-
tons that the doctor hurriedly poured
forth, as he hastily gulped down his
coffee and cheese; nor that, at the
meals conclusion, he leisurely under
took the task that his master had set
him, with stolid Indifference to the doc
tors impotence. For the Aztec is not
easily moved, nor do oaths eNasperate
him, unless they accuse his mother. He
does not like to be called Il dog, but he
passes the unkind epithet by in
naughty, dignified silence.
The horses were saddled and ready
at last, the bags we'll filed with pro-
visions and sundry curious packages
that the doctor himself stuffed in them;
and they finally set out in single file,
the Indian boy on foot leading the
way, the doctor next with his rifle, and
Juan bringing up the rear, with such
an assortment of spades and machettes
as might have stocked a gardeners
Toulouse.
1t was not the first time that the doc
tor had climbed the mountains. lie had
spent days in the Cerro-C uemado col
lecting mineral specimens, and always
with a half-confessed hope that some
time he might discover that which
would enable him TO return to civiliZa-
ton and indulge in the eXtravagant
luxuries that were beyond the reach of
men so poor as Not until he might
do so would he return to it, he had
vowed; and now, by the merest chance
in the world, this Indian boy had come
TO him. and would lead him to where
he might find the weapon with which
the world could be conquered. No Won
der the doctor spurred his horse and
urged the boy to hasten.
Across the arroyas and mountain
brooks and over tire lava capped foot
hills the Indian DO. with tireless feet
and silent faithfulness led them, till
finally the forest became too dense for
the horses to carry them further. Here
the beasts were unsaddled and tied, and
after 4 hurriedly eaten lunch the three
divided the things they had brought
and climbed on up the mountain. It
was no light work over the rocks CT :
cred with bushes and thorn-clad vines,
but they found it still worse when the
forest was passed, and they came cut
onto 4 steep incline that was fathoms
deep in ashes, and where, with each
step upward, they seemed to slip back
step and half. The dust was suffo
eating, the heat almost unbearable, the
thirst it engendered torturing, and
when they had finally surmounted the
trip the doctor sank down exhausted.
"Boy," said he, when he had recov-
cred his speech, "did you come all
this way last night? How were you
able to do it?"
The Indian boy smiled sadly. 1t was
the dog in me, senior"
"What does your mother call you?"
asked Juan.
"She should have called him Perro,"
the doctor interrupted, "for he has a
dogs endurance, and perhaps may
prove equally faithful"
The boy looked at him reproachfully,
but he merely rose TO his feet and said:
aft the senior is ready"
Up, up, through the broiling sun.
over fields Of lava and volcanic Stag
the trio climbed persistently until they
stood on the mountains crest and
e,azed down into the ominous depths
of the crater that yawned before them.
at is there, senor." the boy said,
simply, pointing toward the black
mouth of cavern, half obscured by Il
cloud of steam that shrilly escaped from
some unseen crevice.
at is the mouth OF HE'LL" exclaimed
Juan. Even the sturdy doctor shrank
back, but the lust for gold will lead
q man to brave the greatest danger.
Come, then!" he cried.
The Indian boy detained him. Not
that way, senior; see where you would
90. 1t is none too sure, senior. Mira!"
lie took machete from Juan and
struck it through what seemed to be
solid rock, but which proved buta mass
of light ashes. 1t was on this that the
doctor would have stepped, and be-
meath which, had he done so, he might
have disappeared forever.