The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1902-04-03
JUANITO
BY A. L. UNGER.
JUANITo was discouraged and su

TUANITO was discouraged and sui
! len, not to say vengeful,
Here he had lain for nearly three
DAYS with only a little jerky to eat
and only an occasional mouthful of
water, and now his canteen was
empty.
,Madre de Dios," he muttered to
himself. viii those miserable Grin
go's never, never go away SO that
pobre Juanito can get some fresh
aqua
Yes, pobre Juanito (poor Juanito)
certainly needs some fresh water, for
it was nearly three days before,
when, just as he had finished filling
his canteen at the water hole, his
sharp ears caught the click of steel
On rock as a party of cowboys APP
preached. and Juanito lost no time
n hiding himself in a dense thicket
IF mesquite little farther up the
canyon.
At that time Juanito was very
tired; he had tramped 20 miles after
his horse had fallen and broken his
|
a day and rest, for it was nearly 40
miles to the nearest water in any di-
rection, and Juanito knew quite well
that it would be a hazardous trip for
a man on foot, and with but one can
teen of water, even if he was fresh
when he started.
He knew very well that the cow
boys were looking for him, but it
never entered his mind that they
would stay there at the water hole
in any such senseless way; so he took
a good drink, ate some of his ierky,
and, after concealing himself so moth
ing but the closest search would dis
cover him, he went to sleep as calmly
as though his life had been spotless.
But Juanitos life had not been
spotless: far from it. In fact, he had
been an exceedingly bad Juanito;
though, perhaps, it was not so much
his own fault.
"Pobre Juanito" had had a very
bad start in life. His father had been
a Chinaman at that, while his mother
had been a low cast Mexican woman.
whose veins were largely filled with
Apache blood, so Juanito was rather
handicapped by his parentage TO
start with.
Then events had been rather
against him.
When he was about three years old
his father came home to their abode
early one morning in an unpleasant
frame of mind, due to the loss of all
his money at the gambling dens, and
a skin full of bad Tombstone whisky.
and in the quarrel that followed
Juanito's mother. received several
more knife wounds than is conducive
to longevity, and passed out of the
game.
Juanito's father was found asleep
with the bloody knife still in his
hand, and the crowd that soon gath
cred lost little time in arranging a
"necktie" party, with the result that
| in less than Is minute TGmbStone'S
population was decreased by one
"chino," and Juanito was an orphan.
Juanito had been chirstened Juan,
but as he grew to manhood and did
not grow very much in length, his
name became heightened to Juanto
equivalent to Little John" in Eng
lish.
Alas, poor Juanito; life did not deal
very gently with him, and his in
herent badness had the best of
chances for development, and--it did
| not fail to develop.
He became sort of common
charge among a half dozen or so OF
| the lowest of the Mexican families :;
eating at the adobe hut of the family
that happened to be honored by his
presence at meal time, and sleeping
wherever he happened to be when
sleepy; but after a few years he be-
came 50 bad that Juanito's presence
was not looked upon with favor by
any of his foster fathers. and Juan
ito early began to rustic" for him
self, doing odd jobs around the sa-
looms, and morning errands for the
gamblers.
Whether inherited or acquired
Juanito at an early age showed a
ard I'D