Waterbury Democrat., 1901-07-29

~way, sure enoughi 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 a 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 storm coming on, is not a pleasant experience in any case; but when to all this is added a very strong proba bility of falling in with band of robbers, whose usual mode of de- manding ransom for captive is to mail his ears or nose to his anxious friends as hint that speedy pay ment is requested" he must indeed be a brave man who can face the situa- tion without f1inching.
 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 gang of fierce-looking men, whose grim, ruffianly faces and scowling eyes boded him no good.
 A 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 dogi" roared the injured robber, whose head was bleed- ing freely. "He shall never strike a Spaniard again!'
 Not so fast, Brother Juan," said another. ''He looks like an English man, and the English are all rich. We'll 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."
 threat and the roar of brutal laughter that followed. He was not complete 1y 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 stifing 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, as we shall see, he never got the chance of doing so.
 The robbers laid their prisoner on the horse and led him up steep, zig gag path to a kind of rocky platform, walled in on three s.des 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.
 
 yet?" asked one of his conductors.
 ''No,'' was the reply, "but we are ex- pecting him every moment"
 Just then 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, comradesi" shouted the newcomer, who was no other than the formidable Pedro Gonsalvez him self. "We have been betrayed, and all the soldiers from La Redonda are upon our trail. We must retreat at once. Hal who is this-a prisoner?'
 ''We took him in the valley wonder, and have kept him for ransom" re- piled one of the bandits.
 "There is no time to think of ran- soms 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 a dozen eager hands were rifiing Harry's pockets, and the brave youth, giving himself up for lost, pre- pared to die like man. But, as his watch was dragged forth by the rob bers, the silver cross that hung to it's chain caught the eye of Gonsalvez, who sprang forward and asked, hur- riedly:
 ''Where did you get that cross?"
 ''It was given to me five years ago by smuggler of these parts, whom I helped to escape when he was crippled by fall," replied Harry, looking fixed ly at him.
 And I am the man who gave it." said Gonsalyez, grasping his hand warmly; ''and for that good deed you shall depart free and unharmed. Com rades, give him back all that you have taken. Follow that path, Senor Amer icano, which will lead you to the vil- lage of San Tomas; and when you tell this story to your friends, tell them also that kindness is never thrown away, even upon brigand. d."-Golden Days.
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