Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1900-12-03

threshold, stared, whipped off his scout
ing hat and, bowling low, said, 81 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 is
that, too-stolen property"
sit is the wife of my brother and his
daughter, responded the ranchman,
with unruffied suavity.
Nothing could equal Sancho's equa-
nimity in the presence of those be 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 a troop of horse
and the conviction that Sancho was an
Iunmitigated rascal; therefore were his
lpalpable illusions to be accepted as
mere pleasantries Or deprecated as IN
Inherited injustice.
Blake had blackened the character of
the ranch cuisine, even if he had been
unequal to the task of blackeIing that
l0f the owner. Blake had declared San
Icho's 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 "aIlowed" he would ultimately
carve his opinion of Blake on 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
Iof manner, and Of this is the Spaniard
or his Mexican half brother consum-
mate master.
Blake left without a glimpse of his
glass, but not without another of "the
!daughter Of my brother, . but recently
ARRIVED, and that peep made him desir
Gus of a third. Riding away, he waved
his hand.
: "Adios, Sancho! Hasta otra vista''
| he had hailed, but his gaze sought the
little window in the adobe wall where
a pair of dark, Ianguorous eyes peered
out from between the parted curtains
and a dusky face lodged out of view
the instant it saw it was seen.
What Sancho said in answer is not
recorded, but now he was watching the
coming of the stage from Yuma. Some
one had warned him Lieutenant Blake
"OU'S AOoo1h UINN way OANOAON Oc1Oh ~
the old post, to the north, as witness
before an important court martial.
Those were later termed "the days of
the empire" in Arizona. Perhaps 5, 900
souls were counted within it's borders
at the time our story opens, not count
ing the soulless Apaches. Arizona had
the customary territorial equipment of
a governor and certain other officials.
Nine men out Of the dozen Americans
in the only approach to town it then
possessed TucsOn-wOuld have said
"Damfno'' if asked who was the sec
rotary, but all men knew the sheriff
The grave, cigarro smoking, serape
shrouded cabalIeros who rode at will
through the plaza and ogled dark eyed
peeping from their barred win
dows could harbor no interest in the
question of who was president of the
United States, but the name of the post
commander at Grant, Lowell or Crit
tenden was a household word, and in
the eyes of the populace the second lieu
tenant commanding the paymaster's
escort was illimitabIy ''a bigger man"
than the thrice distinguished soldier
and citizen whose sole monument up
to that time was the flagstaff at the
adobe corral and barracks sacred to his
name.