Williston graphic. (Williston, Williams County, N.D.) 1895-1919, 1901-09-05

| ! Ta taa - & {.
time
The speaker was no other than our
friend, Harry White, now grown into q
tall young man, and revisiting, after
a fve-years' absence beyond the At.
lantic, his former haunts in southern
Spain. II.
He had certainly good cause to feel
uncomfortable just then. 10 lose
ones way in gloomy forest, among
the Spanish mountains, with night at
hand and a storm coming on, is not z
pleasant experience in any case; but
when to all this is added very strong
proba bility 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 hint that speedy pay.
ment is requested" he must indeed be
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 gang of ferce-lo looking
men, whose grim, ruffianly faces and
scowling eyes BODIED him no good. 4
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 dog!" roared the
injured robber. whose head was bleed.
ing freely. ''He shall never strike .
spaniard again!"
"Not 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 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 rufians, 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 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 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 back
yet?" asked one of his conductors.
"No," was the reply, "bnt 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 noun
tain goat, came bounding on to the
platform.
Cup with you, comrades!" shouted
the newcomer, who was no other than
the formidable Pedro Gonsalvez HIM
self. eve 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"
eve 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.
stake what money he has on him, and
then fling him over the precipice."
Instantly dozen eager hands were
rifing 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 CROSSE"
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
" at him.
"And I am the man who gave it,
said Gonsalvez, grasping his hand
warmly; "and for that good deed you
shall depart free and unframed. Com
rades, give him back all that you have
taken. Follow that path, Senior Amer
icano. which will lead you to the vii
lage of San Tomas; and when you tell
this story to your friends, tell them
also that kindness is never thrown
away, even upon a brigand." Golden
Days.
why She Was Mad.
One morning, in kindergarten, a
wee mite of womanhood had been
trying to attract the teacher by every
resource of which she was capable
without directly saying she had
something to tell. Finally, the young