The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-08-18

could be condemned and then let go
! his way until the appointed day of exc
cution, without guard Of any kind, the
officers relying merely upon his word,
was something staggering; but the
absolute safety Of the plan WAS to he
| terribly illustrated here on the AlahO,
when Miguel the half-bTeed Mexican,
harked back to the custom of his IN
dian forebears and claimed the privi-
! lege of his mothers tribe. And so IL
/ came about that this was AIigueFs last
day on earth. and when. at twilight. I
heard his glorious tenor ring out for
the last time to the accompaniment of
the battered old guitar, my very heart
ached for the tragedy I was poWerless
to prevent. He was singing some wild
Spanish melody that tinkled like liquid
silver through the cleaning, then
walled the very heart of passion and
pain. as it died away in its mournful
cadence.
Morning came, and as the gray light
stole from the east there was a soft
tap at the back door. and there stood
Miguel, his gayly embroidered saddle
at his feet. I had admired it eXtrava-
gantly when I first came to the ranch,
and Migue! had appreciated my praise.
viii the Sonora accept ne was be-
ginning, when he stopped short IN
CONSERVATION L was crying, sObbing,
as if my heart would break. lowering
in the background stood the incorri-
gible Brighteyes, the papOOse in its
blanket huddled against her shoulder
Miguel. Miguel; go take the best horse
on the ranch and do not stop this side
of Mexico" Johns voice was husky.
Miguel stood silent q long minute;
he looked at the stOlid woman, at the
black head just peeping above her
shoulder then out over the free mesa,
as the first beam of the morning sun
struck across the bronze face, bringing
out each deeply craven line. And that
miserable Pedro that was never
worthy of a decent bullet, slept so
quietly out there, and for him, Miguel
must die. There was an awful quiet,
as with a long lingering look at the
gray adobe house a wlstful glance that
went beyond the pillows of sage grass
that stretched away over the mesa into
the heart Of the golden morning, and
then-he was gone. / watched him
ride out from the corral. and all that
day I went softly about the house with
the sense of some one dead. and at
night, when John came back from
town, I met him at the door and
sObbed out all the burden of the day.
There was a quizzical look upon his
face.
We'll, little woman. are you quite
done? Child, you think too much here
on this lonely ranch. Look there" and
he pointed through the window to a
passing procession, Miguel and Bright
eyes and the papOose peeping from
the scarlet blanket.
Yes in response to nay question
ing glance, 1T is quite a story. 1t
seems that this thing has stirred the
AlahO from center to circumference,
and for the last two weeks the boys
have done mighty little talking, and I
could see that they were counting on
missing Miguel from the corral each
day. When it dawned upon them that
he really meant to ride in and give
himself UP to be hung they one and
all proceeded to tell him how many
kinds of a fool they thought him. but
Miguel only listened and showed no
sign of weakening
You know old Pete-Rusty Pete?
Well. just a little over a week ago Pete
disappeared as if the earth had swat
lowed him, and nothing was heard of
him until today. when just as Miguel
stood on the scaffOld the express pulled
in and Pete tumbled of. waving pa
per over his head in a distracted fash
iona pardon for Miguel from the
president himself. How did he get
it2' God alone knows, and Pete is as
close as q clam; only there it was, and
Miguel walked out a free 'injun' and
proceeded to collect a generous load of
fiTewater TO celebrate the fact All we
could get out Of Pete was that. IN
able TO see wherein, the justice lay of
hanging Miguel for the one signal ser
vice he had ever rendered the ranch
in the taking off Of Pedro. he had set
out in his own way to remedy the mat
ter
Long after the tale was told. of that
wild night ride, out to the east over
mile after mile of sage grass. TO Fort
Mcclellan. forty miles away. on the
chance Of catching the through express
and playing his one card for a mans
life
The stars came out as the mesa fed
westward under the broncho's hoofs