Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1901-01-14
CHAPTER TX.

Cooke found himself minus one of the
ambulances after all. In response to a
penciled note from Blake it had been
hurried from what there was of the
shack aggres alton at that point to what
was left of Sancho's-Major Starke and
the doctor with it. They found much
of the corral in ruins and one end of the
ranch badly scorohed. "The wife Of my
brother, " with Pancha, and that cere-
monious copy of the Castilian himself
had disappeared, but SanchO was still
there, a much wronged man, and Pedro
and Jose and Concho and a decrepit
mule or two, all under the surly surveil-
lance of Sergeant Feeney and half
dozen troopers, whose comrades were
afieId chasing banditti through the
deserts and mountains, while those who
were detailed to remain spent long,
anxious hours watching over and strlv-
ing to soothe young officer, dellrlous
from injuries to the head and resultant
fever Loring was a sick man indeed
when the surgeon reached him, but poor
Blake, wearing himself down to skin
and bone in fruitless chase, would glad
ly have been in his place.
The stage which he and his men had
rushed to rescue was actually out there
to the east, as Pancha had declared,
"held up among some little sand
dunes, but E bore neither passengers
nor treasure, and why on earth the rob-
bers should have detained him for near
ly 20 miles east of Gila Bend, held him
in the hot sun from in the morning
until late N the afternoon, then sent
him on again, only to be once more
rounded to- with furious chorus of
yells and vOlleyings of pistols when
within only two miles of Sanchos S. that
bewildered ,Jehu could not imagine The
marvel of it was that though the old
sage was ''riddled like a sieve, as he
said, land bullets flew round me like
swarm Of buZzin bees, not one of 'em
more'n just nipped me or raised bis
ter in the skin - Indeed even those abra-
sions were indistinguishable, though
Jake solemnly believed in their exist
ence. Then another queer thing! Long
before the lieutenant and ''his fellers"
reached the imperiled vehicle all but
two or three of the dozen assailants
went scurrying off in the darkness, and
when the cavalry came charging furi-
ously through the gloom there was no
one to oppose them. Jehu Jake couldn't
even tell which way the bandits had
gone-every way, he reckoned-and aft
er careering blindly about for half an
hour or SO Blake's most energetic men
came drifting back and said it was use
less to attempt pursuit until dawn, even
though that would give the renegades
six hours start. Slowly and disgusted
ly Blake ordered his men to form ranks
and march back to camp, when sudden
ly an idea struck him-Loring, Loring,
with his precious saddlebags, had been
left alone-and calling for set of tours
to follow him Blake clapped his spurless
heels to his indignant horses TANKS and
galloped for home, only to find Saneho
and Pete lamenting over the PROSTATE,
senseless and bleeding form of the engi-
neer, whose arm was still thrown pro-
tectingly over the ravished saddlebags.
The pocket containing that precious
envelope was slashed open. The envelope
and watch were gone. The record of
the court in the other bag was undis-
turbed.
And then as he bathed his comrades
head and stanched the blood and strove
to call him back to consciousness Blake
saw it all or thought he did and CRASHED
his teeth in impotent wrath. He was
tricked, betrayed-yes, possibly ruined
all by gang of miserable "Greasers, 4"
through the medium of a pretty Mexi-
can girl and his own wretched imbecil-
ity. There was no name Blake didn't
call himself. There was nothing disrep-
utable he did not think of Sancho. But
what could he prove? Sancho was a
heavy loser. Sancho's best mules and
all his fine horses, including the famous
roam, had been spirited away. The gang
had made wreck of the bar and pud-
die of his famous liquor.
Manuel, his brother, with his beloved
wife and child, had fed in terror, said
Sancho, else would they now he here,
nursing the heroic officer who had striv-
en- to defend them against such a rush
of wretches. Blake drove him away
with imprecations, vowing that he,
Sancho, was in collision with the gang,
against which unmerited slur Sancho
protested in sonorous Spanish, and to
prove his innocence pointed to his be-
spattered barroom, and as that failed to
move the obdurate heart of the raging
cavalryman went sorrowfully back to
the dark ranch, whence there suddenly
arose sheet of fame and the cry that
the villains had set fire to the corral
before they left. For half an hour the
straw and hay made fierce blaze, and
the troopers turned to and saved the
ranch, as Sancho knew they would, and
the actual damage was but slight.
Some day Sancho would present a
claim against the government for 90
times the amount and get such portion
of it as was not required by the local
agent and lobbying aids who rushed it
oonorocc Aoaipcf CanobO thoro