Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1901-11-13
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)! THE AIP ACHE :
: A STORY OF TWO CHILDREN :
AND AN INDIAN. !:

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Not every Apache can get his fill OF
blood before sun up and his fill of mes
cal before noon. Yet Coyote That Bites
had managed to achieve both those de
lightful ends, and of all the happy saw
ages on the Colorado desert he was the
most riotously, tumultuously happy.
With what keen delight he had drawn
his sharp blade across the throats OF
Jose Sanchez and his wife after he had
stolen into their wagon in the gray
dawn, and what thrills of joy shot
through his breast when he silenced the
yells of their two little children with
the butt end of their fathers own rife
And then, when he had taken what
gold was in the MeXican's bag, what
mescal was in his demijohn, and had
strapped Jose's rather loose fitting car
fridge belt about his sun brown belly
with what fierce pleasure he stole away
from the scene of his bloody work and
with the Mexican's rifle on his shoul-
der had wandered far down the dry
arroyo, slipping from the demijohn the
stupefying juice Of the agave from time
to time until he felt that he was grow
ing drowsy!
Then he had dragged his uncertain
way along until he had come to the
railroad track. He stared stupidity at
the bright steel rails and looked up at
the humming wires in an awed sort of
way. He would like to lie there be-
hind the rocks, he thought until some
one should come along the track and
then try shot at him with his newly
acquired weapon. The demijohn was
growing light, and the rifle was grow
ing heavy. Well, it was getting toward
noon and rather warm even for an
Apache, and he would lie down in the
shade of the rocks over there and rest.
The humming of the wires is sooth-
ing sound, and no sooner had his head
touched the earth than sleep took a
mighty hold upon him and wiped out
his realizing sense of joy, as sleep has
way of doing with everybody that
has anything to be joyful for. And SO
he lay, with the rifle by his side and
his unspeakably hideous face turned
up toward the blue that arched the
desert.
1t was quiet there and restful-no
sound save the music of the wires.
Stay; there were other sounds, but they
came some time after Coyote That Bites
had thrown himself upon the sand and
gone off to the land of Nod. They came
family at first and mingled with the
murmurings of the wires. Surely they
were the voices of children.
Had the red beast been awake he
might have imagined that they were
the haunting voices of the wee Mexi-
can children whose blood he had SC
ruthless!y shed that morning, but he
heard them not. They were very fal
from being ghostly voices anyway
those tones that now plped forth SC
merrily as Dubs and Gay trudged down
the line. They We're walking to the
scoop out along the roadbed, not on the
track, for that was forbidden.
There were other things that were
forbidden, too. and one Of them was
straying SO far away from the station,
but Dubs was taking good care of
his three-year-old sister, and in the
pride of his six full years he was equal
to the care of half dozen such as Gay
"'F on'y had sum matches to build
fire wlv," sighed Dubs, I'D burn of
vese prickles JUS like We Injuns does"
"O-oh!' came suddenly from under
Gays sunbonnct. "Wot dat?'
"Wy, it's a jug" And Dubs left the
''toonios" and started toward the pile
of rocks where lay the Coyotes demi-
john and where also lay the Coyote
himself.
The two trudged up the little slope,
and Dubs grasped the handle of the
demijohn, only to let it drop again aud
spring back quickly with Gay in his
arms. for he had caught sight Of the
Coyote, and lie was smitten with sud
den desire to go home.
But he saw the Indian did not move,
and so he suddenly became very brave.
He was certainly sound asleep and no
more to be feared than papa when he
lay on the lounge in his midday repose.
Then, too, Dubs was quite sure he was
"worky' Injun, like the Yaquis, who
shoveled and picked on the railroad,
and so his mind became wholly at ease.
The Coyotes cartridge belt, which
had been so loosely strapped, had fall
len off and lay by his side. There were
hundred very interesting bits of brass
st.c'',ng in it, and the children soon
had these scattered all about in the
sand by the snoring Coyote. In the
scramble for Der share of the innocent
t6ys Gay Iet one Of theri drop on the