The Opelousas courier., 1897-09-11

felt himself being hurled to the ground.
Looking up he saw a number of men
bending over him with knives in their
hands, and one Of them Kissed:
"Make On outcry and we will kill
you'll"
Paul was unarmed, and, though
brave as a lion, he realized that resist
ance would make q bad case worse. AS
the men began to bind his arms he
asked:
"What are you going to do with
me?"
"We will take you to Senior Diaz's
house and keep you there till Bernal
Valdez returns from Aqua Caliente in
the morning." replied the man who
seemed to be in command.
"But why take me there? I will
give you all the money I have about
me-"
eve do not want your money
"What them"
vengeance for Bernal Valdez! He
will kill you with his own hand for
running away with the girl that was to
have been his wife"
upon my soul, I never O away
with q girl-never dreamed of doing
such a thing. You have the wrong
man. Let me tell you who I am
"You are Doctor Brandon! Not an
other word. Come, come, padres; let
us carry this gringo off,"
The latter part of this remark was
addressed to the other Mexicans, who
had now bound the young mans feet,
and forthwith they picked him up and
carried him off with much ease.
Being a perfect stranger in the town,
Paul Mansfield knew nothing about
the narrow streets and dark, dingy
houses which they passed. At length
his captors entered an arched gateway,
and, taking him into a dark room, they
threw him on the floor and told him
that he would be killed if he raised his
voice.
He heard the shooting of a bolt in a
heavy lock and then the re~treating
steps Of the men.
The apartment vas very dark, and
the cords hurt him. His pain was
growing unendurable, when, to his
great joy, he heard a door opening
softly behind him.
Before he could turn his head a beau
tiful girl appeared before him with a
lamp in her hand.
Without a word she cut his cords,
and as he rose to his feet to thank her,
indescribable was his surprise to find
the arms of the beautiful girl about his
neck and to feel her kisses on his
bronzed cheek while she sobbed.
"My brother! oh, my brother, you
must fyr"
It must be confessed that O n of
gratitude prevented the young mans
permitting all the kissing to be on one
side; or it may be that he did not wish
to retain what was evidently intended
for another person, and so gave the
kisses back. Briefly, he told her that
he was not her brother, and explained,
so far ss he could, how he came into
his present embarrassing situation.
And with a bewitching smile she told
him how she had heard his captors say
that they had caught Doctor Brandon,
the gentleman who had married her
twin sister, Maria, and that she came
to free him.
She did not tell him, for it was q sad
subject with her, that her father had
settled that she should take her sisters
place and become the wife of Bernal
Valdez.
Through q faithful servant she had
Paul Mansfield conducted back to the
Fonda, where he found Captain Lamar
.anxiously searching for him.
The adventure was explained, and
the Captain laughed at it very heartily,
declaring that he would willingly I'M
dergo the same suffering if assured of
the same treatment by q beautiful girl
at the end. Bernal Valdez and q num-
berSrnexican called at the engineer
cap the day and eyed Paul
shss2ly. Though appear
ances were aga4hst them, they had to
be satisfied Tiff this was another case
Of mistaken idSntity. Had the adven-
ture stopped Here they would have
been certain that they had hit the
wrong man, but1'it did not.
Paul Mansield's mind and heart be-
came SO full of the beautiful girl that
him and called him ssbrother''
he lost his interest for the present
in engineering, and applied for a leave
of absence.
In the meanwhile the before-men-
faithful servant became the
bearer of many notes between the
young people who met so strangely,
and more than once he found his way
to the garden Of the house where he
had been imprisoned.
Again Santa Fe was startled; again
Bernal Valdez wasrobbed of a possible
Paul Mansfield had eloped with the
beautiful Isabel Diaz. News came
they vera married at Las Vegas,
and had gone on to the East for the
honeymoon.
Paul Mansfield has since met Doctor
Brandon, now his brother-in-law, and
they do not resemble each other SO
much when together.-New York
Ledger.
The United States hare 1900 fruit
md vegetable ~canneries.
%g@NNW SaM