The Bourbon news. [volume] (Paris, Ky.) 1895-19??, 1902-03-07
,JUANITO
BY A. L. UNGER.

TCANITO was discouraged and sui
len, not to say vengeful.
Here he had lain for nearly three
days with only little jerky to eat,
and only an occasional mouthfuI of
water, and now his canteen was
empty.
"Madre de Dios," he muttered to
himself, will 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 a rock as a party of cowboys APP
preached, and JuanitO lost no time
in hiding himself in a dense thicket
of mesquite a 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
leg, and he thought it best to wait
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 ierlly,
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 Juanito's 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
whose veins were largely filed 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
-, ~
frame of tnind, due to the loss of all
his money at the gambling dens, and
a skin full of bad Tombstone whisky,
and in tae 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 minutes Tombstone's
population was decreased by one
"el1ino." 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 Juanito
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 10 develop.
He became a 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
whersye. he happened to be when
sleerv: out after a few years he be-
came so bad that Juanito's presence
was not looked upon with favor by
any OF his foster fathers, and Juan
ito early began TO rustic" f6r him
self. dong odd jobs around the sa-
looms. and morning errands for the
gamblers.
Whether iDherited or acquired,
5uanito at an early age showed d
oraot dfe,oe,ard for the DrODerty