The Jennings daily record., 1902-07-14
-" HERE was no skeleton in the
armor when Hartpole found


tle-snake. and tarantula. The tar
antula scuttled off, he killed the rat
tlesnake and the tumble-weed ana
sand he emrtiei out. Then he had
the armor ,.ctle up in a shelter tent
and put uphn pack-muie. Alter
which. the column moved on. 1t should
not have halted after all, for It was
in pursuit OF band of Indians. But
there were bands OF Indians every day,
and the finding of II full suit OF arnor
lying under mesquite bush beside
their trail was rare.
Certainly Hartpole had never heard
nf such a thing. And. so far as he
knew. il was the only suit of arlnor
ever discovered on the New Mexico
plains, but his lore Oh the subject was
not profound.
When he got back to his two-coni-
pany post on the banks of the Gila. he
found the interest in life. which had
been lacking for him up to then, in
enlarsing that knowledge. He sent
East for books and histories and treat
iSes concerning coats of mail and the
men who have worn them and he even
went so far as to write TO the Smith
sonian Institute. at the risk of having
a Government commission sent out at
once to seize his treasure. And III the
interval of two months which elapsed
before he received II reply--for the
railroad was oni. to Kansas In those
days-he set about cleaning the armor
himself, and with his own hands join
ing it together
He was so occupied, what with that
and the histories and the other books.
that he forgot to have Gila bottom
malaria and had no time TO worry
about the flies. Then. when the steel
was once more bright AS the azure
shield of Achilles, and he had proved
to his own and to every ones satisfac-
ton that it must once have protected
the body of one of Coronado's men,
and must date back from the middle
of the sixteenth century, or thereabOut,
he hung it up in his oneroom adobe
quarters, along with the Indian tro-
plies that We're as nothing now and
the bottled reptiles of many sorts; and
the fame of it spread through the
land. An English lord, in pith he'll
met and gray linen who was going
about the country. Travelled miles out
of his way TO look upon it: and a
scientific party from Boston did the
same. Hartpole was beginning to be
very proud, when one day he had a
visitor of another kind.
1t was man he had seen sometimes
u l,. md hr
post-a small, 1.-THE fellow. part Coyo
tero Apache, part Mexican, possibly g
very small part white. who had some
reputation as Il medcineman with the
tribes, but not much as anything else.
Uartpole was sitting under his IA
mada on late summer afternoon
reading book whose covers curleC
UP with the heat, When something
came between him and his light anC
looking up he saw the medicine mar
peering in the opening. He said
'Hullo. Ciego." and added: What q,
You want, eh:'s
Ciego was so-called because he wa,
the ramada, and stood so close to hin
that Hartpole moved a little. Th,
Coyotero's cast-otf uniform and rec
band We're not clean.
Ciego spoke excellent Spanish. ant
as Hartpole did. too. he had no trouble
about making himself understood. ii,
explained that he would like to see tn,
suit of iron clothes which he had beef
told that the lieutenant possessed
The lieutenant was SO pleased to thinl
that it had been spoken of in the fast
nesses of the Sierra Blanca and o
the Tonic Basin that he forgot how
dirty Ciego was, and straightway ros
and invited him into the one room.
The medicine man stood looking a
the armor with an interest and evi
dent appreciation that touched Hart
pole very much. After the manner o
his kind he said no word, but present
ly he went nearer and felt of the plate
and chains with his finger-tips. an,
put his good eye close and looked in
side. Then he turned to Hartpolt
"'Where did you find it?" he asked
The lieutenant explained at som
length.
"Is it very old?"
Hartpole said it was at least thre
hundred and thirty odd years old, an,
went into little history.
Ciego nodded his head. 81 know.
he said. But that was so manifesto
absurd that Hartpole did not pay an
attention to it. "It is very fne," sal