The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1900-09-07

paymasters and showing their checks.
And that there may be no reason lacking
for merriment or for fighting, there are
plenty of women in the lines-blonds
white girls, Indian girls, black-browed
Mexicans. They all stream out into the
sunset, chattering, laughing A long
breath of the fresh air ends in a shout at
the beginning of the nights freedom and
license. There is no twilight, the sun
has dropped below the rocky rim of the
valley, the great stars flash out in the
dark sky, and answering fires twinkle in
the valley
Each tent, each hut, sheltering a FAM
lily perhaps, or perhaps only solitary
Chinaman, has its fire and it's hanging
kettle where the evening meal is to be
prepared. Here an American is frying
bacon and boiling coffee. At the next
fire a pretty Mexican woman is making
a stew of jerked beef and peppers-chili
con carne-while her husband lies on a
blanket rolling cigarette. And down
at the end of the row poor John" bends
over his little fire, stirring something in q
kettle which may have more than a fam
ciful resemblance to the Weird Sisters
brew-for he eats worse things than
"eye of newt and toe of frog"
There are pungent and appetizing
smells abroad, and presently everybody is
eating, and after that everybody appar-
entity is happy. There is talk and laugh
ter and shouting from one fire to an
other, and neighborly visiting. Then the
guitars begin, and the simple, gay, sen.
suous Spanish songs. A big negro thumps
banjo. Men and women saunter up and
down the lane between the Pickering
fires, or wander off into the shadows to-
gether. Respectable people smoke cigar
cites or pipes, or chew tobacco, and the
''chink" lies on his blanket and hits the
pipe" which is a difficult and unholy
thing to do.
Where there are men and women
there is kissing and trouble, and where
there are men and money there are dice
and more trouble. At every other
campfire, lying about a blanket on the
ground, men and sometimes women ara
gambling, with dice or cards, and little
heaps of nickels and silver, bank biIlI
being unknown and gold a thing to ba
buried in the ground if possessed. Pres
emily these things have their natural
outcome. A pistol shot rings out in tina
wonderfully clear air, a shout follows
and some people leave off lovemaking OF
gambling and run to see what has hap
pened. 1t is a white mans row, OF
course, for Spanish blood prefers the
knife. An American has shot another
for walking with "his girl" He has q
reputation as a bad man." and the
crowd that gathers about his tent has
no thought of action, even If they
could see any reason for 1t. The dead
man is carried into his own tent and
covered with a blanket, but the crowd
fingers at a respectful distance from the
tent of the bad man." Presently he
comes out and stands and eyes the
crowd, which thereupon retreats little.
The bad mans arms are folded and each
hand holds revolver. He wears hia
hat over one ear, and when he finally
turns his back on the people and walkS
off he goes slowly with a steady swag~
ger. He disappears in the direction of
trail down the mountain side. The
crowd melts away through the camp to
tell the news.
Two Mexicans playing marc beside a
fire get into dispute which flames hot
in an instant The wife of the host,
sitting beside him, slips his knife away,
with the best of feminine intentions,
for she is in love with him. But the re-
suit is that she is a widow within
quarter of an hour. No time even to
fetch a priest to the dying man, whose
last stammered words are:
"Tell Pedro-tell him to kill"
The wife understands. Pedro is the
murdered mans brother. He is to kill
the murderer, who by this time is fly
ing for his life. The Mexican's VEN
geance is swifter and surer than the
Yankees" Iaw.-New York Commercial
Advertiser.