The National tribune., 1899-04-27

lid not last long, did it?" "No; tn
fakes came down mixed with rain
and l remember it scared me so it made
me cry"
GATHERING sPoHs OF SPANISH CAMPAIGN
Tie Pelado campaign had stirred VI
the Rio Gallo settlements to the depth.
of the lowest bottom jungles, and al
along the river road We met foragers Oh
starved mules, or youngsters dragging
along bhndles of ragged dry-goods.
Tie Spaniards had disdained to collect
such spoiIs, and were now far away,
north of the Mayo Mountains, chasing
the scattered detacbments of the bandits,
who had left mementos of their defeat
enough to keep our neighbors busy fol
q month.
And foray into deserted kFao! Of
Ashantees could not have evolved
stranger relics. Two miles below the
mouth of Macho Creek our guide
pointed cut a tree where one of the
avengers had hung up mop of human
hair-not a result of his private scalp
hunts, but a keepsake recovered from
an encampment of the fugitive cut
thrdats. ...-.
"They had necklaces of knuckle-
bones, some of them," said old Charley,
"and what do you suppose Pete Maris-
cal found in the cabin of a black vixen
that had skipped out when her friends
caught it in the neck? 1t looked like
a b6nch of mushrooms that had been
hanging in the chimney till they got
shriselled out of shape, but when he ex-
amired it he found that it was a string
of dried ears that those devils had
brought along from some massacred
village, and let her have it to hang up
in her curiosity corner. They ought to
be nailed to a post by their own ears,
and-hallo, here comes my boy Pan
Sho:" he interrupted himself. "Now
We gan find out if your mules are still
in the right place"
"They have moved" reported the
youngster, "but only about a mile, and
Ernan is now watching them in cove
or Ration Creek-just as quiet place
as the first-and there isn't one miss
ing"
sa" Good boy." said Lieut.. Salinez,
patting the messengers head you shall
have half dollar if we find them where
you say. You will go along and show
US, won't you"
"Yes, sir; gimme a chew of tobacco,
please?" begged Pancho, preferring to
realize on his credit without loss of time.
He was only about eight years old,
but in the Spanish West Indies the
nicotine habit has become as universal
as the coffee habit in the Southern Allie
ganies, where squatters who cannot find
their. youngsters in shoes would think it
b shame to let them go to school in the
morning without a "drop Of something
warm" in the form of a narcotic decoc-
tion.. l have seen the toddling baby of
q Cuban beggar woman flch cigarets
and matches from the pocket of its
sleeping mother, and chuckle in cloud
of poison-vapor that protrac'ed the re-
pose Of The maternal siesta.
"Why, certainly, he's going along"
said old Charley; "but | know the road
myself; we'll have the whole bunch safe
by dinncr-time, if that mare don't play
us tricks before we get her up"
.csLieut Salinez then proceeded to ex-
plain the plan of operations. The eight
mules were going to be turned into hip
pographic sausages, and we had brought
sharpshooters enough to surround them
and drop them in their tracks if they
should try to stampede, but the posi-
bility of making them trudge to camp
on their own legs would save us lot of
trouble, as well as of ammunition, and
the scheme was to use the white mare as
a decoy, and hobble her just in sight of
the troop. without revealing a glimpse
of her proprietors.
"Hablan las mulas de su tio, ell cabal-
TO-" says a Spanish proverb-" Mules
love to talk about their big uncle, Mr..
Horse," and they certainly whinny with
joy at the mere sight of their equine
relatives. Stock-breeders, driving a
troop of mules to the next railway depot,
may save themselves the trouble of halter
arguments, if they can keep their saddle
horse from kicking; the fascinated
mules will crowd around, like country
girls around bushy cavalry Sergeant,
and follow the object of their admiration
through crowded streets right into the
trap of a stockyard corral.
ITO be coutinued.)