St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1900-12-29
The Garment of Iron
By Gwendoien Overton.
THERE was no skeleton in the armo,


THERE was no skeleton in the armol
when Hartpole found it; en.y soms
sand and a bunch of tumble weed, !;
rattlesnake and tarantula. The tar
antule scuttled off. he killed the rattle
snake, and the tumble weed and SAND
he emptied out. Then he had the ar
NOR done up in Q shelter tent and pur
upon pack mule. After which, thu
colunn moved on. II should not have
hated at all, for it was in pursuit of :
band OF Indians. Butthere were band:
of Indians every day. and the finding
of q fun suit Of armor lying under =
mesquite bush beside their trail was
rare.
Certainly Hartpole had never heard
of such a thing. And. so far as he knew
it was the only suit of armor ever dis
covered on the New Mexico plains. bu,
his lore on the subject was not pro
found
When he got back to his two-com.
pany post on the banks of the Gila, he
found the interest in Jife, which had
been lacking for him up to then. in
enlarging that knowledge. He sent
east for books and histories and trea-
tises concerning coats of mail and the
men who have worn them. and he even
went SO far as to write to the Smith
sonian institution, at the risk of having
q government commission sent out al
once to seize his treasure. And in the
interval of two months which elapsed
before he received a reply-for the
railroad was only to Kansas in those
days-he set about cleaning the armor
himself, and with his own hands join
ing ittogether. z
He was so occupied. what with that
and the histories and ffie other books,
that he forgot to have Gila bottom ma
laria-and had no time TO worry abou;
the flies. Then, when the steel was
once more bright as the azure shield OF
Achilles, and he had proved to his own
and to everyone's satisfaction that it
must have once protected the body OF
one OF Coronado's men, and must date
from the middle of the sixteenth CEN
tury, or thereabout, he hung it up in
his one-room adobe quarters, along
with the Indian trophies that were as
nothing now and the bottled reptiles
OF many sorts: and the fame Of it
spread through the land. An English
lord, in a pith helmet and gray linen,
who was going about the country, trav-
eled miles out OF his way to look upon
it; and a scientific party from Boston
did the same. Hartpole was beginning
to be very proud, when. one day. he had
. visitor of another kind.
It was . man he had seen somstimes
hanging around the agency and the
post-a small, 1.-THE fellow. part Coy
otero Apache. part Mexican, possibly
very small part white, who had some
reputation as medicine man with the
tribes, but not much as anything else.
Hartpole was sitting under his
ramada on late summer afternoon.
reading a book whose covers curled up
with the heat, when something came
between him and his light. and, looking
up, he saw the medicine man peering
in the opening. He said: "Hullo.
Ciego," and added: What do you
want, eh?"
Clego was 20 called because he was
blind in one eye. He came in under
the ramada and stood so close to him
that Hartpole moved a little. The
Coyotero's cast-off uniform and red
head band were not clean.
Nego spoke excellent Spanish, and.
as Hartpole did. too. he had no trouble
about making himself understood. He
explained that he would like to see the
suit of iron Clothes which he had been
told that the lieutenant possessed.
The lieutenant was so pleased to think
that it had been spoken OF even in the
Businesses of the Sierra Blanca and Of
the Tonto Basin that he forgot how
dirty Ciego was. and straightway rose
and invited him into the one room.
The medicine-man stood looking at
.hc armor with an interest and evil
dent appreciation that touched Hart
pole very much. After the manner Of
his kind, he said no word, but pres
entity he went nearer and felt of the
plates and chains with his finger-tips.
and put his good eye close and looked
Inside. Then he turned to Hartpole.
where did you find it?' he asked.
The lieutenant explained at some
length.
rs il very old?''
HaYtpole said It was at least three
hundred and thirty odd years old. and
went into little history.
C;ego nodded his head. Il know"
he said. But that was so manifestly
absurd that Har.pole did not pay any
attention to it. "It is very fine" said
Cisgo. "For how much will you sell
j, to me?" Naturally. Hartpole only
laughed, but the Apache was in earnest.
nevertheless. NO." he insisted, look
ing him sharply in the face. mo. de
veras, ! wish to bny it from you"
well, 1 don't wish TO sell, J" answered
the lieutenant, rather vexed at the
mere idea.
S II have $500" said the Indian.
'If you had a thousand you could
not have it.'
sT have q thousand"
Hartpole laughed again. little inn
patiently.
"You do not believe me-look here"
Ciego drew buckskin bag from :he
folds Of his sash. IT was full Of gold.
There are $500 here. In three days
tan bring you $500 more"
Hartpole guessed how he come by it.
and his temper rose. "That is stolen
money" he said, angrily; put it MP.
You can't have the armor Ckashee."
You let me have it," begged Ciego;
Il wish It very much. I win do many
things for you"
Hartpole ,swore this time--mean,
Spanish oaths. No." he said, you
can't have il. Go to the devilEeet out"
Even though Ciego was only n dirty
Indian, the White-Eye should have
remembered that he probably had feel
ings which could be hurt. 1t is well.
however, for those who have the di-