Pike County press. (Milford, Pa.) 1895-1925, 1901-08-09

silver cross from his neck and giving
81 to Harry. 'It may be of use to you
n 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 a dozen
Of them to-day"
So saying, he spurred his horse and
vanished into the forest with his grim
comrades, while Harry turned slowly
back to the town, hardly knowing
whether he was awake or only dream
ing.
"Just like my luckl I've lost my
way, sure enoughl 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 revisiting, after
five-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
! the Spanish mountains, with night at
| hand and a storm coming on, is not
| pleasant experience in any case; but
when to all this is added a very strong
probability of falling in with a band
of robbers. whose usual mode of de-
manding ransom for captive is to
mail his ears or nose to his anxious
friends as a hint that "speedy pay
ment is requested" he must indeed be
a brave man who can face the situa-
tion without finching.
What Harry feared came only too
soon. A hoarse shout was suddenly
heard among the bushes, and before
he could draw his revolver he was sur
rounded by a gang of fierce-loolIing
men, whose grim, ruffianly faces and
scowling eyes boded him no good.
smart stroke from the butt of
Harry Whites heavy whip felled the
foremost man, but the rest at once
dragged him from his horse, and, in
spite of his furious struggles, bound
him hand and foot.
"Let me kill the dog!" roared the
injured robber, whose head was bleed
ing freely. "He shall never strike a
Spaniard again!"
mot so fast, Brother Juan" said
another. "He looks like an English
man, and the English are all rich.
Wen make him pay fat ransom"
"And if he don't pay it quickly" put
in a third, with a significant whisk of
his knife, close to the prisoners ear,
"his friends won't find him quite so
handsome the next time they see
him"
Harry shuddered at the horrible
threat and the roar of brutal laughter
that followed. He was not complete
ly disenchanted, for the brilliant and
chivalrous bandits of his boyish
dreams were utterly different from
these ragged, hangdog ruffians, who
almost choked him with the sitting
odor of garlic and bad tobacco.
Then his horror turned to rage al
the thought of being plundered and in
suited by these brutal raseals, and he
inwardly vowed that when he did gel
free he would spend all the money he
had in hunting them down. But, as we
shall see, he never got the chance oi
doing so.
The robbers laid their prisoner or
the horse and led him up a steep, zig
gag path to kind of rocky platform
walled in on three sides by unscalable
cliffs, while on the fourth lay preci
pice of several hundred feet.
Here about 20 more brigands were
encamped; and Harry White, sudden
ly remembering his silver cross
looked eagerly to see if the man who
had given it to him was one of the
band; but he could see no one in the
least like him.
"Has Capt. Gonsalvez come bacl
YETI" asked one of his conductors.
mo-" was the reply, "but we are ex
pecting him every moment"
just then a hasty step was heard
below, and tall, dark figure, spring
ing up the rocks as nimbly as a noun
tain goat, came bounding on to the
platform.
.-'Up with you, comradesl" shouted