The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1901-09-25
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!. !. 1TLHIIE PAGLHIIE
A STORY OF TWO CHILDREN
AND AN INDIAN.

AND AN INDIAN.
w.! -. -. -. -! -. -" ."'.*
Not every Apache can get his I'LL of
blood before sun up and his fill of mes
cal before noon. Yet Coyote That Bites
had managed to achieve both those de-
lightful ends, and of all the hnppy say
ages on the Colorado desert he was the
most riotously, unanimously happy.
With what keen delight he Ind drawn
his sharp blade across the thronts of
Jose Sanchez and his wife after he had
stolen into their wagon In the gray
dawn, and what thrills of JOY shot
through his breast when he sllenced the
yells Of their two little children with
the butt end of their fathers own rife!
And then, when he had taken whit
gold was In the Mexlcan's bng. what
mesenl was In his demIjohn and Ind
strapped Joses rnther loose fitting car.
fridge belt about his sun brown belly,
with what fierce pleasure he stole away
from the scene OF his bloody work and
with the MeNcnn's rifle on his shout
der had wandered far down the dry
arroyo, slipping from the demIJohn the
stupefylng juice of the agave from time
to time until he felt that he was grow
ing drowsyi
Then he had dragged his uncertain
way along until he had come to the
railroad track lie stared stupidity mt
the bright steel rails and looked up Mt
the hummng wires In an awed sort of
way lie would like to lie there be
hind the rocks. lie thought. until some
one should come along the track and
then try shot at him with his newly
acquired weapon. The demijohn was
growing light, and the rifle was grow
ing heavy. Well. 1t was getting toward
noon aud rather warm even for an
Apache, and he would lie down In the
shade of the rocks over there and rest.
The hummlng of the wires Is II Booth-
Ing sound, and no sooner had his head
touched the earth thnn sleep took a
mighty hold upon him and wiped out
his realizing sense of JOY, as sleep has
II way of doing with everybody that
has anything TO be joyful for. And so
no lay. with the rifle by his Side and
his unspeakably hideous face turned
desert
1t was quiet there and restful-no
sound save the music of the wires.
Stay; there were other sounds but they
came some time after Coyote That Bites
had thrown himself upon the sand and
gone off To the land Of Nod. They camo
fnlntly at first and mingled with tho
murmurings Of the wires. Surely they
were the voices Of children.
Had the red beast been awake he
might hive imagined that they were
the haunting voices OF the wee Mexi-
can children whose blood he had 80
ruthlessly shed that morning, but he
heard them not. They were very far
from being ghostly voices anyway.
those tones that now plped forth 30
merrlly as Dubs and Gay trudged down
the line. They were walking TO the
scoop out along the roadbed. not on the
track, for that was forbidden.
There were other things that were
forbidden. too. and one Of them WINS
strayIng SO far away from the station,
but Dubs wns taking good care" Of
his three year-o old sister. and In the
pride OF his six full years he was equal
to the care Of half dozen such ns Gay.
az on'y had sum matches TO build n
fire wly," sighed Dubs, "Id burn off
vcse prlckles JUS Ike We InJuns does"
O-oh" came suddenly from under
Gays sunbonnet "Wot dntT
IVY. it's It jug" And Dubs left the
"toonlcs" and started toward the pile
of rocks where lay the Coyotes dcmi-
john and where also lay the Coyote
himself.
The two trudged up the little slope,
and Dubs grasped the handle OF the
dcmljohn, only to let II drop again and
spring back quickly with Gay In his
arms, for he had caught sight Of the
Coyote, and he was smItten with n sud
den desire to go home.
But he saw the Indian did not move,
aud so he suddenly became very brave.
lie was certainly sound asleep and no
more to be feared than papa when he
lay on the lounge In his midday rcposc.
Then, too Dubs was quite sure he was
"worky" InJun. like the Yaquis. who
shoyclcd and picked on the railroad,
and so his mind became wholly at case.
The Coyotes cartridge belt. which
had been SO loosely strapped, had fal
len Off and lay by his side. There were
hundred very interesting bits Of brass
sticking In IT, and the children soon
had these scattered all about In the
sand by the snoring Coyote. In the
scramble for her share Of the Innocent
toys Gay let one Of them drop Oh the
royote's leg. Perhaps the mcscal's In
nuence was on the wane, for big
brown knee was thrust quickly up from
the sand and big brown hand clutch
cd the ugly knife at the Coyotes side
but the hand fell and the noble red
man snored ON.
Dubs tried on the cartridge belt and
became an Indian, all but the inds-
pensable knife, and he concluded to
borrow that from the sleeper whose
fingers had lost their grip on the buck
horn handle.
IT'S biggern NOMINEES butcher
knife, amt 1t, Gayf" the young savage
asked as he grasped the handle Of the
devilish looking blade. Now. you 'tand