Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1901-10-24


with his vengeance He believed thor.
oughly that Weston had proven false;
he did not know which most angered
him, the supposed treachery or the as
sertion that he had been foolishly mis-
taken In the identity of his female cap
tive; and the Unborn cruelty of his
Spanish blood rose to domination of
every other passion or desire in him.
The man was literally transformed,
brusque, imretioGs, savage. thirsty for
the death OF one whom he had known
and trusted
While the women sat In the semi.
gloom OF their hut the camp was astir
in excitement. At its outer edge n
huge pecan tree had fallen in some pre-
vious storm and this had been Topped
clear of its branches. At o'clock in
the afternoon six Meyicans, selected by
ballot, took their seats on this log, fac
ing toward the creek. In their front
was an open grassy space twentyfeet
square. They We're judges and jury.
Ranged about the further edge of the
space were all of the other men and
women Of the band, except the guards
of the prisoner. eight in number Va
vara himself hatless. weaponless and
swelling with Importance, stood little
TO one side. He was witness and pros
ecutor. There was To be no attorney
or testimony for the defendant though
the law of the band permitted that he
speak in his own behalf, At a signal
given by the Oldest of the jury, the
guard emerged from the jncal in which
Weston was confined He walked
! L. A, ,,,A bAh "a
him with rawhide thongs He. too, was
hatless, his face pale from recent Ill
ness, but calm, and when assigned to
his station, he looked at Navara with
contemptuous smile The latter was
not in any way affected by it. He felt
at the moment that he was the central
figure Of the universe. He placed his
left hand upon his hip akimbo. faced
the judges. waved his right hand wide
ly and said:
Behold the traitor
This caused an audible sensation and
some of the women exclaimed: "Nalga
me Dios,"
Being told by the judges to proceed,
Navara laid his complaint Its sub
stance has been already given Weston,
he said had come to him in Laredo
some tire months before and offered
TO join the band, giving as his reason
for il that he was tired of the dullness
of his life and wanted excitement AS
certainng that he was totally n strang-
er to the frontier and liking his face
and manner. he had accepted him For
some time thereafter the prisoner had
done good work as a smuggler There
had been no cause to suspect him until
the night of the intercepted cattle raid
The plans for that raid lad been ~
carefully by him tVavara) and they all
knew that certain success followed ev-
erything he undertook. Success would
have crowned their efforts on this oc-
casion but for the traitor. and so forth
and so on. He followed the statement
with a fiery denunciation OF Weston
which occupied half hour Suscepti-
BILE 10 eloquenco the judges We're plain
ly convinced When Vavara ceased,
somewhat exhausted but much pleased
with himself, Weston was asked what
he had TO say.
| why, nothing you cowardly dogs,
! he replied easily, except to state that
you are even more cowardly dogs than
/ | had believed you. II you cared TO
examine me YOU would find hardly
/ closed bullet wound through my sho.i-
/ der. You might have seen me shot on
| the night of the raid If you had been
less cowardly dogs. | have told you the
truth. ! was going into far Mexico be-
cause | was tired of you, The woman
you hold as prisoner is not Mrs Glynp.
| That dancing fool there" pointing to
Navara. has simply argued himself in
to error Her name is English she Ia
an American and If you harm her the
| United States government will exact
heavy pay from each of you
He became silent and looked at them
carelessly. After whispered confer
ence the judges announced their YER
dict:
According 10 their law. John Britton
Weston having been guilty Of treason
to the band. had merited death He
was to be blindfolded and shot at sun
rise on the following morning Ac-
cording to custom his executioner
would be the captain OF the company.
No priest would be furnished to him
for the good reason that none was TO
be had His guard would remain out-
side Of the iacal and his deyotions
would be undlsturbed.