Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1901-08-17

silver cross from his neck and giving
it TO Harry. 1T may be OF use to you
if ever we meet again. And, as you
seem anxious 60 meet with some Span
ish brigands, il may please you to
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 hhe my Iuckl I've lost my
me as the very plsSe TO fall In with
that nice man, Pedro Gonsalvez, the
brigend captain, who seems 70 be ter
rorizing the whole country at this
| time"
The speaker WA no Other than our
| friend, Harry White, now grown into a
tall young man, and revisiting, after
a five-years' absence beyond che At
lsntic, his former hsuDLs In southern
| Spain.
He bad certainly good Cause to feel
| uncomfortable just then To lose
ones way in gloomy forest, among
the Spanish mountains, with night at
| hand and storm coming on, is not q
| pleasant experience in any case; but
! when to all this is added very strong
probability of falling in with band
of robbers whose usual mode of de-
handing rsnSom for captive is to
mail his ears or nose 10 his anxious
| friends as a hint that speedy pay
ment is requested" he must indeed be
brave man who can face the situa-
ton without flinchfhg.
What Harry feared came only too
soon. hoarse shout ives suddenly
heard among the bushes, and before
he could draw his revolver he was sur
rounded by gang of feroe-looking
men, whose grim. ruffianly faces and
scowling eyee BODIED him DO 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- reared the
injured robber. whose head was bleed
ing freely. "He shall never strike a
Spaniard againi"
| Not so fast. Brother Juan" said
smother. -He looks like an English
man. and the English are all rich.
Wen make him pay fat ransom"
| And IL he don't pay IL quickly" put
in 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
chiNalrous 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 at
the thought of being plundered and in
suited by thess 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 sides by unscalabIe
cliffs, while on the fourth lay a 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 back
yet?" asked one of his conductors.
mo-" 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, comrades!" shouted
the newcomer, who was no other than
the formidable Pedro Gonsalvez him
self. 1--WE 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?"
I'VE 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 ran
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
ritfing 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 p"
ut 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
/ lV az him