Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1899-01-26
CHAPTER I.

cloud of its own dust as it lurched and
rolled along the alkali flats down the
valley, and Sancho, the ranchkeeper,
could not make out whether any pas
sengers were Oh top or not. He had
brought fine binocular to bear Just as
soon as tho shrill voice of Pedro, q
swarthy little scamp of half breed,
announced the dust cloud sailing over
the clump of willows below the bend.
Pedro was not the youngsters orig
lnal name, and, so far as could be deter.
mined by ecclesiastical records, owing
to the omission of the customary church
ceremonies he bore none that the chap
lain at old Camp Cooke would admit to
be Christian. Itinerant prospectors and
occasional soldiers, however, had sug-
gested change from the original-or
aboriginal-title, which was heathenish
in the last degree, to the much briefer
one of Pedro as fitting accompaniment
to that of the illustrious head of the
establishment and Lieutenant Blake, an
infantry sub with cavalry aspirations
which had led him to seek arduous
duties in this arid land, had compre-
hensively damned the pretensions of the
place to being a "dinner ranch" by de.
claring that shop that held Sancho
and Pedro and didn't have game was
unworthy of patronage.
Sancho had additional reasons for
disappearing of Blake. That fine binoc-
ular, to begin with, bore the brand of
Uncle Sam, for which reason it was
o{3,o ~
dier happened along 1t had been abb
straoted from Blake's signal kit when
he was scouting the Dragon mountains
and snapped for the vilest liquor under
the sun at Sancho's, of course, and the
value of the glass, not of the whisky.
was stopped against the long lieuten
ants pay, leaving him, as he ruefully
put it, "short enough at the end of the
month. -
Somebody told Blake he would find
his binocular at Sancho's, and Blake
instituted inquiries after his own pecul
lar fashion the very next time he hap
pened along that way.
Here, you Castilian castaway,
said he as he alighted at Sancho's door,
II am told you have stolen property in
the shape of my signal glass Hand it
over instanter
And Sanoho, bowling with the grace OF
a grandee of Spain, having assured the
senior teniente that everything within
! his gates was at his service, without
money and without price, had promptly
fetched from an adjoining room bat
tered old double barreled lorgnette that
looked as though it might have been
dropped in the desert by Kearny or
Fauntleroy or some of the dragons
who made the burning march before the
Gadsden purchase of 1853 made us pos
SCISSORS of more desert sand and desolute
range than we have ever known what
to do with.
This thing came out of the ark,
said Blake, rightfully wrathful. "What
want is the signal glass that deserter
sold you for whisky last Christmas
Whereat Sancho called on all tho
saints in the Spanish calendar to bear
witness to his innocence and babe the
teniente search the premises
He's got it in that bedroom yonder, "
whispered old Sergeant Feeney. land l
know it, sir. and Blake, striding to the
door in response to the half challenge,
half invitation, of the gravely courteous
cutthroat owner. stopped short at the
threshold. stared, whipped off his scout
ing hat and, bowling low, said, II beg
your pardon, sonora, senorita; did not
know, and retired in much disorder
Why didn't you tell me your fam.
lily had come, You disreputable old rip,
demanded he two minutes later. "or il
that, too-stolen property
lt is the wife of my brother and his
daughter, responded the ranchman
with unrutfled suavity
Nothing could equal Sanchos equa-
nimity in the presence of those he desired
to placate, nothing exceed the frenzy of
his wrath when angered by those whom
he could harm without fear Of reprisals
Blake was backed by troop OF horse
and the conviction that Sancho was an
unmitigated rascal; therefore were his
palpable illusions to be accepted as
mere pleasantries or deprecated as un
merited injustice
Blake had blackened the character of
the ranch cuisine, even if he had boon
udCIuo1 " Glo Vuoh VI GuHV
of the owner Blake had declared San
chos homestead to be den of thieves
and the repast rendered the stage pas.
sengers a Barmecide feast, the purport
of which was duly reported to Sancho
who "allowed" he would ultimately
carve his opinion of Blake Oh that off
GERS elongated carcass, and until he
could find opportunity SO to do it be-
hooved him to lull the suspicious of the
prospective victim by elaborate courtesy
of manner, and of this is the Spaniard
or his Mexican half brother consum.
'Nate master
Blake left without glimpse of his
glass, but not without another of 1.-The
daughter Of my brother, but recently
arrived, and that peep made him desir
GUS of third Riding away. he waved
his hand.
'Adios, Sancho! Hasta otra vistar
he had hailed, but his gaze sought the
little window in the adobe wall where