The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1901-10-01
STREET CAR TO POGO CHICO.

i
! erlca OF Jose Gel Casa, the alcalde. His
"Alte home sits enshrined in q wilder
ness OF green encinctured by 5000 acres
/ Oh vines and corn lands and biilowirg
meadows that reach from edge TO edge
4 OF the steep walled table fountain Of
"nich his estate is the crown and glory.
Patricia. his only child. /. with sloe
! oiack eyes, haid like a stormeloud. and
| the oval, luminous face of q Rotticelu
l Madonna, had spent three years with
! the Ladies Of the Sacred Heart in Paris
! enc mad seen the bouievards and shifted
from afar the gallantry and gayety OF
uie french capital Therefore she yearn-
| ed ana moped amid the desOlate splendo-
/ OF her Mexican home
/ Have you ever seen the queer little
street car line with its tandem of small
/ Drown mules that runs, or rather creeps.
between the Hotel Hidalgo. on the plaza
| IN Monterey, down through the narrow
streets, away across the dusty fields.
where sage and cuctus. dry and gray.
/ cover the rising plateaus with desoIate
/ monotony out past the beetling buetes
OF Casas Hacienda, which tower red
ana hot IN the sun, 10 the uprising can
yon that leads to Topo Chico. the boiling
spring the health giving waters in whose
/ fountain pool Aztec and Indian, peon and
| patrieian, have sought and found health
J Tor thousand years? This Topo Chico
/ IS the terminus OF the little narrow
/ gauge street car line that starts in Mon
/ terey- Its single car with open seats run
ming across the width of il. are seldom
crowded. In the morning A few tourists
/ bound for the baths smoke and idle
through the tedious trip, but in the
evening, when the summer sun sinks
/ Dehind the green, cool shoulders of Del
Casas, the lone car is always empty ex-
cept for the driver or an errant shep-
/ nero returning from market in Monterey
q y
PATRICIA chose for a little jaunt on that
queer little street car. With an ancient
dadre Anselma, her nurse when she was
a romping child. her governess. maid and
duenna by turns as the girl grew to
Womanhood, Patricia would ramble down
the long stone stairway ond in the purple
shadow Of the roadside thicket wait for
that empty car 10 come droning out of
the haze. AnselTna neither spoke nor IN
derstood English, and so it was her wont
TO sit in the rear seat while the beautiful
Patricia, her rnantilla now fallen from
before her radiant face, would sit on
the front seat near the driver and urge
or bride him to send the little mules gal
Looping.
The driver was a great, yeIow-haired
giant, with blue eyes and a laughing
mouth. For Patricia he would speed his
queer little team till the car swayed like
a boat on running pillows and her de-
! lighted laughter fell upon his willing
ears like the music Of tinkling mandolins.
As for Anselrla, so long as the car was
empty but for themselves she was con-
! tent to sit in the rear seat, black, mo-
tionless, but alert, smoking her cigar
cites, as Mexican women must and won
dering what Patricia could have said to
the big, fair Gringo to make him drive
his mules so fast, to make him smile so
beningantly.
Every s,,r,roar ar,ar;n, 81, ~. -.
parral lost its lustre and the willows In
the river bed began 10 scatter crockling
leaves across the sands, Patricia and her
chaperon stole away to this cIandestine
frolic on the street car till it became the
even of the gay childs days and a habit
even with the withered woman who
watched the harmless frolic
One night a. the blonde American car
driver was laughing and thrashing over
the road with the laughing senorita at
his elbow, a horseman with his rife
presented doomed across the narrow road
The mules hesitated. stopped, backed Up
in their trace chains The driver put
down brake and ceased to smile. He
seized the switch bar. babe Patricia lie
down, and faced the enemy.
Money or your lifel" commanded the
outlaw in good English.
You can have the box" roared the
driver but if you rob the woman you
must fght"'
The robber dismounted, boarded the car.
and while Patricia and the old woman
looked on he smashed in the money box
with the butt of his rife and pocketed the
few pitiful centavOs that singled in the
bottom. If Patricia had left the car.
or drawn up her lace mantilla. or even
turned her face away the robber might
not have seen the diamond brooch glis-
tening at her throat. But the sight was
too much for him. The big American
saw the flash of his eyes as he leveled
his rifle, and at the same moment the
switch bar swung above his head. The
rifle cracked, the driver lurched over and
fell in the dust by the road and the
robber held out his hand to the woman.
Give me the diamonds he beloved.
She gave them without a word. then
her watch and her ring, while the old
woman, screaming like q happy. chung
10 his rife and cursed and prayed in in
coherent Spanish. But the rObber had no
notion Of harming them. He kicked the
fallen driver as he ran toward his horse.
and in another moment the clatter of
hOof beats across the bowlder strewn
valley told them that he was gone.
II was nearly dusk now, and from the
stairway a hundred yards off the voice
of Jose de Casa could be heard calling
Patricia. She paused a moment as she
heard it. then leaped to the ground and
her small, brown hand she pushed away
the yellow curls and bent her face low
above his. For q moment old Anselma
could have sworn that the girl was kiss
ing his white face, but no. after all, she
was only examining with tear wet eyes
the facial signs of returning life Then
she unbuttOned the collar OF his shirt
funbled beneath its folds and, snatching
away a cluster Of triukets that hung
about his neck, thrust them hastily into
her corsage.
Then old Del Casa and two OF his
rauchers came up. The wounded man
was placed or a bench IN his car. The
mules were hitched to the other end and
one OF the rancheras drove them back
TO Monterey.
"Senorita, MIC muchacha. what did you
take from the Gringo2 What was that
you snatched from his neck? Tell me.
pretty one. you would not rob him?'
Patricias smile came struggling
through her tears
NO. no. Mother Anselma," she mur-
INJURED; not so bad as that. but bad /
enough. too. You won't scold me, VIII
YOU mother?
And she pulled from her bosom the /
poor car drivers cluster OF trinkets.
There were little medal or the Virgin (
r. tins amuet-the relic OF Our Lady Of /
Gaudal0upe-a siiker4 scapular and 2 (
golden locket.
Look. mother and forgive me" said (
Patricia. as she opened the locket and T
Displayed q miniature portrait II herself (
Il gave il 20 him myself. vas afraid /
they might find 81. and s0-and 50 ] /
robbed him Of IT,
But vou VIII not give e hack. Pa /
tric.ae- asked the scared and staring cd 4
woman.
yes. mother. III give it back q him, 4
ana more. toe. mother. II give him that i
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