Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1899-07-15
ETQc|i0 Soils, HighWQynQD.
By JOHN HEARD, JR.
copyright. 1898. by the Author.l

Among the many odd tribes wh1ch
have brought home from my travels is
a little gold bell, on the table before me
now. 1t was given to me some years
ago as a souvenir by the only highway.
man it has been my chance to meet, and
often since then l have wondered what
had become of the interesting rascal to
whom it belonged.
A few days ago l received letter
from a friend in Mexico telling of his
death. How vividly it recalled our in
terview In the spring Of 1884 was
obliged to take the tedious journey from
Alamos to Mazatlan, in the traditional
stagecoach-a picturesque experience to
remember, but an agony of five nights
and four days to endure. At the time
chafed over the slow progress of our
civilization which forced me to travel
in q restless, tin sheathed wooden box,
but today the perspective has changed
and I look upon the geographical limi.
tations Of Yankee enterprise with de-
cided feeling of satisfaction. There are
still some things to do that everybody
has not done; some sights that cannot
be had for the price of ticket; some
men to meet outside of Offices and clubs
Eraclio Soils was one of these men.
He belonged to species unknown to
the railroad freighted Philistine who
naively believes that he is travelling
two generations; hence the race of such
men as Eraclio will be extinct.
I had heard much about him, for III
those years he was more important
factor in the government of northwest
ern Mexico than all the state governors
combined. In spite of detachment OF
cavalry stationed in the neighborhood
of Los Hornitos, Eraclio held up every
alternate stagecoach within a mile,
more or less, of the same place. The
soldiers always arrived upon the scene
q few minutes after his band had dis
appeared, and whenever they escorted
the coach it was sure to be attacked as
soon as their protection was deemed no
longer necessary.
When he left Alamos, Ben Hill, the
gambler, called out to me as we drove
past his house, Here's good luck to
Eraclio; tell him I'm all right, " where
upon nv neiehbor asked if I were 60
ing beyond Fuertie. l answered that
intended to, and then he assured me
that should certainly make the bandits
acquaintance, as this was the regular
marked trip. Shortly after leaving
Fuertie my last companion got out, and
was left alone. The certainty of being
stopped by the brigand had gradually
grown upon me during the past 81
hours, and as sat there suspiciously
scanning the cactus brush on either side
Of the coach, my rifle between my
knees, and my revolver ready for imme'
diate use, l debated with myself what
course ought to pursue.
Beyond my arms had really nothing
to lose, and it seemed foolhardy to at
tempt to resist, single handed, the at.
tscks of band of trained highwaymen
merely because my Anglo-Saxon preju-
dices forbade me to yield without a
struggle l did not wish to risk my life
for the sake of mere prejudice, but l
rebelled at the idea Of holding up my
hands without making use of them.
While | was thus undecided, the
driver settled the question by calling to
me to take off my shooting irons and
climb up beside him. "Don Juan, he
said to me as braced myself to the box
at his eide, you've got nerve enough,
so I may as we'll tell you that Eraclio
will stop US in few minutes. When
we reach the top of this grade, you will
see the arroyo hondo. and on the rise
beyond probably the horsemen, too, but
perhaps only Eraclio himself. Now, for
heavens sake, don't 60 shooting. There
will be 80 rifle sights leveled at US from
behind the cactus bush, and the minute
you pull the trigger we shall be rid
died.
"Did you ever hear how Ben Hill
was filled with lead? Well, can tell
you, for was driving. Eraclio appear
ed in the usual way, and stopped, Of
course, as soon as he waved his rife,
but Hill jumped out and fired. Whew !!
How the bullets began to come in-a
perfect hailstorm Two minutes later 1t
was all over. Three of the mules were
dead beside the whipper and one of the
passengers. AS for Hill, be was lying
on the road with six bullets under his
skin-enough to kill any ordinary man
but there he lay, firing away at the
cactus, with the blood running down
over his forehead and as mad as though
be had been eating papashes all the
morning. Eraclio had hard time pre-
venting his men from finishing him, but
the gambler was an old friend of his,
and he kept the coyotes off.
"'Ben, said he, why did you shoot?
Are you drunk
"'Quien sabe?' the other answered.
I'm picked now anyway. Look here,
Eraclio, be generous with me. There
are 1000 pesos in my valise, and that
ought to satisfy you. But there's my
wife, she has all her jewelry along, and
now that 1 am laid up l think you might
look after her. Can't you take her down
to Culiacan? I can scrape up couple
of thousand more when I get home, and
if you'll do that I'll send them to you
and welcome. Is it a bargain?'