The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-01-14

The town of San Mateo. in Baja. Cal.
IS dotted about on sleeps. rocks. hill
locks, bristling heights; for foundations
are severe and frequent, and the wide
street on the level is broken up by i'm
mense clay pits which have been partly
refilled by dead dogs. cats. bones. vege-
table refuse, and any other matter which
the careless Inhabitants find in their way
and do not think worth the formality Of
burial
San Mateo, therefore. is by no means
an easy place to get about II, and enter
tainments are not frequent. but upon not
able occasions there is great fandango,
and even a season OF rejoicing. Such oc-
casions are the signal for the cessation
of all work. a universal rejoicing, which
swells to wild excess, and rarely ends
without the unsheathing of knives and
several graves among the cacti and the
palms in the cemetery on the mesa.
When Paulo Martinez, the wealthy
young ranchero, and Manuela Sala, one of
the beauties of San Mateo, were married,
the town naturally gave itself to pleasure.
There were bull fights, horse races on the
great level mesa some miles beyond the
rocky town, and games of all sorts. The
bridegroom distinguished himself princi-
pally by avoiding bloodshed, and the bride,
arrayed in the richest OF white satin and
a beautiful Spanish lace mantilla. the like
OF which had never been seen in San
Mateo before. sat in the very middle of the
raised seats and encouraged her husband.
The other women wore their gaudiest silks
and satins, but their heads and shoulders
were wrapped in the long silken reboso.
Manuela was the envied OF all, the more
perhaps as she was not popular with wom-
en-; her temper was violent and jealous.
The courtship of Martinez and the beauti-
full Manuela had been watched with deep
interest, despite the lack of facilities for
gossip in the town of San Mateo, for when
the young man had first returned from his
college in the City of Mexico he had ap-
rarently been captured by Ysabel Pera,
sister of the wild brothers Francisco and
Gaspar. But, although the one gentle men,
Der of the most lawless family on the Gulf
of Mexico was lovely and intelligent. her
very lack of dash had lost her the game
when Manuela, with her superb color, her
gorgeous attire and her air of assured vic
tory, entered the arena and stormed the af-
fections of the handsome and accomplished
young rancher. AT first there were deep
mutterings OF indignation in the town. but
as Ysabel appeared Indifferent and her
clear. colorless skin took on no tinge of yell
low, even her brothers shrugged their
shoulders and dismissed the matter from
their minds.
Ysabel was present at all the festivities.
and IT was a matter of comment that she
had never looked lovelier. Like the bride,
she wore white, but then she had never
worn anything else outside of church, and
IL suited her fair and slender beauty more
than IL did the rich darkness of the bride.
II Is possible that Manuela heard some of
these comments. for whenever her eye wan
dered to the distant seat of Ysabel her brow
contracted, and then people laughed. More
over, although Paulo was all attention to
his bride, he more than once sought out
Ysabel and talked to her. He quite
unaware OF the position in which he had
placed her, and he was convinced that he
felt TO her as he would to a sister. had he
one. He had been brought up among men.
and knew nothing of womankind.
An hour before the fandango, which was
to finish the festivities. Manuela twisted
her foot The pain was not uncomfortable,
but precIuded her from dancing, and 1T was
the custom for the bride to dance the night
through with her husband. A dias was has
tily constructed in the great adobe hall
which overhung the principal street, and
she was carried to ii by her husband. and
cheered by the prospect Of looking pale
and beautiful. the cynosure of all eyes.
When Paulo had arranged her comfort
ably, and once more whispered eternal
alteration, he walked straight over to
Ysabel Pera and asked her TO be his part
ner for the evening. For the first time
Ysabel had a color--a delicate pink, not
the rich claret of the bride-and the fat
brown dado against the wall whispered
that what Manuela had lost Ysabel had
caught a fragment OF on the wing. Nor
had she ever been so lovely and so charm
ing Paulo, enraptured, forgot to look at
his wife, consequently he was the only per-
son in the room who did not see the gath
ering storm on that lady's brow.
1t was toward the end of the evening.
end the musicians, very drunk and very
merry, had added their voices to the music
of the guitar and the flute, that one of
Manuelas old school friends approached
and whispered in her ear:
Never mind, dearest, he goes far with
you TO the ranch tomorrow He need not
see that mink for months again."
IT DO not mind in the least" said the
bride. coldly, 'for after tonight she never
dances again"
The young matron turned pale and whis'
pered something under her breath. The
bride nodded.
"Bueno." said the other. philosophically;
perhaps you should be more gentle and
forgive just now; but on the other hand
it is well to get rid of them at once"
At dawn the next morning Gaspar Pera,
who was breaking in a bucking mustang
on the mesa. trying to get the blood out
OF his own head. sprang suddenly to the
ground. and ran to a mass of rocks which
abutted over a canyon, hiding himself care
fully. The canyon, not fifty feet in width.
was nearly so feet below. The floor was
covered with loose sand swirled by every
breeze. The walls were black masses OF
almost perpendicular rock
Far up toward its head was solitary
hut A mile below Gaspar the canyon
turned almost at right angles. and IL was