The Worthington advance., 1900-11-30
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THERE was no skeleton in the armor
i i when Hartpole found it; only some
sand and bunch 81 tumble weed, a
rattlesnake and . tarantula. The tar
antula scnttled Oh. he killed the rattle
snakes and the tumble weed and sand
he emptted out. Then he had the ar
NOR done up in . shelter tent and put
upon pack mule. After which, the
column moved on. It should not have
hafted at all, for it was in pursuit of
band Of Indians But there were bands
OF Indians every day, and the finding
OF full suit Of armor lying under
mesquite bush beside their trail was
rare. =
Certainly Hartpole had never heard
of such q thing. And, 80 far as he knew,
it was the only suit of armor ever dis
covered on the New Mexico plains, but
his lore on the subject was not pro-
found. .t.s .<t,,,~ !. -
When he got back to his two-com-
pany post on the banks of the Gila, he
found the interest In life, 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
government commission sent out at
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 it together.
He was so occupied, what with that
and the histories and the other books,
that he forgot to have Gila bottom ma
laria and had no time to worry about
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 GEN.
tury, or thereab bout, 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
a visitor of another kind.
It was q man he had seen sometimes
hanging around the agency and the
post-a small, 1.-THE fellow, part Coy
otero Apache, part Mexican, possibly a
very small part white, who had some
reputation as a medicine man with the
tribes, but not much as anything else.
Hartpole was sitting under his
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,
Cieso," and added: what do you
want, eh?"
Ciego was 80 called because he was
blind in one eye. He came in under
the ramada and stood 50 close to him
that Hartpole moved a little. The
Coyotero's cast-off uniform and red
head band we're not clean.
Ciego 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
the armor with an interest and evi-
dent appreciation that touched Hart.
pole very much. After the manner OF
his kind, he said no word, but pres
emily he went nearer and felt of the
plates and chains with his fnger-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.
us it very old?'
Hartpole said it was at least three
hundred and thirty odd years old, anG
went into a little history.
C:ego nodded his head. II know,
he said. But that was so manifestlJ
absurd that Hartpole did not pay any
attention to it. 1T is very fine," sale
Ciego. "For how much will you sci
it to me?" Naturally, Hartpole only
laughed, but the Apache was in earnest
nevertheless. "No," he insisted, look
ing him sharply in the face" mo, d,
veras, wish to buy it from you."
"Well, don't wish to SELL" answered
the lieutenant, rather vexed at til,
mere idea.
II have $780," said the Indian.
IF you had thousand you coult
not have it,"
II have thousand"
Hartpole laughed again, little i'm
patiently. ".; ,si"'..
"You do not believe me-look here
Ciego drew a buckskin bag from tn,
folds of his sash. It was full of gold
"There are $500 here. In three days
can bring you $500 more"
Hartpole guessed how he come by it
and his temper rose. "That is stole1
money" he said, angrily; put it up
Va, con'f have tho orrnor TTl,osl -