The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1901-08-22

if ever we meet again. And as you
seem anxious to meet with some Span
ish brigands, it may please you to
learn that you have seen half dozen
of them to-day"
So saying, he spurred his horse and
vanished into the forest wiki his grim
comrades, while Harry turned slowly
back to the town, hardly knowing
whether he was awake or only dream
ing.
"Just like my luck! I've lost my
way, sure enough And this strikes
me as the very place to fall in with
that nice man, Pedro Gonsalvez, the
brigand captain, who seems to be ter
rorizing the whole country at this
time"
The speaker was no other than our
friend, Harry White, now grown into a
tall young man, and reyisiting, after
A fiye-years' absence beyond the At
lantic, his former haunts in southern
Spain.
He had certainly good cause to feel
uncomfortable Just then. TO lose
ones way in a gloomy forest, among
he Spanish mountains, with night at
hand and storm coming on, is not a
pleasant experience in any case; but
when to all this is added very strong
probability of falling in with band
# robbers, whose usual mode of de-
handing ransom for a captive is to
mail his ears or nose to his anxious
riends as hint that "speedy pay
nent is requested" he must indeed be
I brave man who can face the situa-
ion without tiinchn@
What Harry feared came only too
Don. \ hoarse shout was suddenly
leard among the bushes, and before
le could draw 4is revolver he was sur
'ounded by gang Of fierce-looking
rem, whose grim, ruf'ianly faces and
.cowling eyes BODIED him no good.
\ smart stroke from the butt OF
larry Whites heavy whip felled the
'oremost man, but the rest at once
ragged him from his horse, and. in
spite Of his furious struggles. bound
lim hand and foot.
LET me Kill the d0g!" roared the
Injured robher. whose head was bleed
% freely. He shall never strike a
7an'ard again."
Not so fast, Brother Juan said
10ther. HE looks like an English
n2n, and the English are all rich.
Ven make him pay a fat ransom"
and if he don't pay il quickly" put
. I'll = -, 60, oh IL :
: knife, close to the prisoners ear,
rs friends won't find him quite SO
handsome the next time they see
lim."
Harry Shuddered at the horrible
threat and the roar Of brutal laughter
hat followed. He was not complete
V diSenchanted, for the brilliant and
'hivalrous bandits of his boyish
lreams were utterly different from
jhese ragged, hangdog rufiians, who
almost choked him with the sitting
odor of garlic and bad tobacco.
Then his horror turned to rage at
The thought of being plundered and in
suited by these brutal rascals and he
inwardly vowed that when he did get
free he would spend all the money he
had in hunting them down. But, "a we
shall see, he never got the chance of
doing SO.
The robbers laid their prisoner on
the horse and led him up a steep, zig
gag path to a kind of rocky platform,
walled in on three sides by unscala BILE
lifts, while on the fourth lay preci-
pce Of several hundred feet.
Here about 20 more brigands were
encamped; and Harry White, sudden
" remembering his silver cross.
looked eagerly to see if the man who
band: but he could see no one in the
least like him.
HAS Capt. GonSalvez come back
vet?" asked one of his conductors.
mo" was the reply, ''but we are ex-
)ecting him every moment"
Just then a hasty step was heard
below, and a tall, dark figure. SPRING
;ng up the rocks as nimbly as noun
tain goat, came bounding on to the
platform.
up with YOU, comrades!" shouted
the newcomer. who was no other than
the formidapl Pedro Gonsalvez him
self. eve have been betrayed, and all
The soldiers from La Redonda are
upon our trail. We must retreat at
once. Ha! who is this-a prisoner"
eve took him in the valley yonder,
and have kept him for ransom" re-
piled one of the bandits.
"There is no time to think of ram
SONS now, when our very lives are at
stake" said the robber chief sternly.
Take what money he has on him. and
then fling him over the precipice."
Instantly dozen eager hands were
rihing Harry's pockets, and the brave
youth, giving himself up for lost. pre-
pared to die like a man. But. as his
watch was dragged forth by the rob-
bers, the silver cross that hung TO its
chain caught the eye of Gonsalvez,
who sprang forward and asked, hur-
riedly:
"Where did you get that crosse"
at was given to me five years ago
by a smuggler of these parts, whom
ba1na1 10 aspapp whom he yync nrinp1aJ