The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1902-08-27
the pEoN OF uyAIpE.

friIls to it, 1t might make quite a TO
mantle yarn IL happened before my
daughter Crila was married. and so IL
isn't exactly recent
'Urilla and I had been fooling around
Csriza I'D in the White Oak foothills.
when the idea seized her that she'd like
10 take long blackboard drive overland
10 the Pecos Valley. She had q friend
living IN Roswell. and as she was in pref
" fral health that time. I was foolish
enough TO humor her. We picked UP
right good, stable horse there az Car
liza, loaded up the blackboard with timed
stuff, packages of dry grub and our small
baggage. and set out over a good. alkah
trail for ammunition, q rife. two pistols
and an abiding faith TO the effect that the
'glories' Of the frontier were faded. aDd
that the whole territory was as safe as
Central Park. We had a glorious time or
il for the first three days. and Urflla was
so delighted that she began 10 map out a
driving tour of the whole mountain re-
gion- We found good enough ranch
houses every night. plenty Of Americans,
and l saw that the trip was doing the
girl good. But on the evening Of the
fourth day we had worked our way into
a pretty desolate, uninhabited plateau.
over which the trail led Us almost 20
the foot Of Mount Uvalde, an isolated
eminence rising red and brown above
the sickly gray and green Of wide
spread and barren plain.
1t must have been about 6 o'clock
when we came upon a ~retched adobe
hut. in the door of which sat as i'll IA
vored a Mexican as l ever saw. We
saluted him and he grunted a response.
but his face was so sinister and his
home so uninviting that we resolved TO
push on. I asked him If there were any
Americans in the neighborhood, and he
grinned viciously. I thought. saying in
rasping gutterals: Isl, senior. Me Amer
icanop We passed on. but when we had
reached the summit of the activity before
us and looked down and across the val
ley. there was not a sign of habitation.
The world seemed all as RED. as hard and
as tenantless as If made OF iron and
rusted by centuries of sun and rain.
Darkness falls with singular suddenness
in that altitude. and as we had no camp
outfit. we reluctantly turned back to the
lone Mexican's hovel.
He was yet sitting. motioniess, grin
mig and smoking in the red light Of the
sfterglow when we stopped before his
adobe. He got up and came forth. his
greasy, great hat in his claw-like hands.
He bowed at me and at Urilia and
grinned necessarily. He knew but a few
words of English and l knew less of
Spanish. but learned his name-Jesus
Guadalupe Gutterez-and he said that
We might have his house
Il made a pallet of our belongings
spread upon some dusty meal sacks on
the floor, and sat by Urilla till she fell
asleep, but l was determined not 10 sleep
myself, for 1 mistrusted the silent.
prOWlng hermit who sat like a black
ghost in the darkness. the fire of his in
Cessant cigarette shining redly out OF
the gloom like an evil eye About II
oil TO-. "a - -
the feed bag which we carried, Guada-
loupe Gt seems sacrilegious to call him
by his first namel turned TIE animal
loose among his little drove Of half
starved burros. Then he dragged his own
frowsy cot of hides and straw alongside
of Urilla and invited me, with apish
gestures and horrible grins, to lie down.
He was such an iliefavored. low-browed
stealthy devil that | was almost afraid TO
lie down for fear I'd sleep, but in order
TO humor him l stretched myself on his
bed. In the morning the Mexican ran TO
me, saying:
Caballo went-run dead. 81. senior.
horse broke-kinr He pointed toward
Uvalde. and. leading the way. showed
me where my morse had fallen into a
rocky gorge ana lay quite dead upon the
bculders below. Here now was a pretty
mess II was thirty miles TO the nearest
settlement, seventy-fve 10 Carizza, Urilla
was too delicate to walk ten of the dis
lance. and I suppose I'd have died before
l could do five. There was nothing for
Ii but to send the Mexican with money
to buy us a horse. I made him under
stand what l wanted and counted out a
hundred dollars. He eyed the roll like
hungry buZzard, and when he had the
| hundred set out at q dog trot across the
| alkali. When he was gone I began 10
suspect that he would never come back
/ Then l felt sure he meant to come back
/ in the dark. roo us OF everything and
/ perhaps murder us both. Uriua was
| just waking when | went in, so ] told
| her nothing except that the horse had
wandered away and that the Mexican
was gone after it. We spent q dread
| fully dreary, long day till about in the
| afternoon she went to sleep again Then
! I sneaked out into the sand at the cor
/ ner Of a great boulder and buried all OF
our valuables. Sure that nobody had
/ watched me. I lay down beside my daugh-
/ ter and slept like log.
! Il awoke in the middle Of the night.
and hearing clatter about the hut,
/ grabbed my guns and went to the door.
! There were about a dozen horses in a
| drove passing the place. and coming be-
/ hind them, praise the Lord. an American
/ piainsman. The moon was just setting.
] Dub L Ccltu see Ills pare lace as lr came
I up. I hailed him and introduced my
/ self. He was fair-haired. staiwart. al
most handsome chap. and gave me his
| hand with frank cordially I told him
{ my predicamenI and offered 70 buy a
/ horse. We came quickly TO an agree
rnent. and while he hitched Up the beast
l went to dig up the treasure.
/ II was gone, There was not even a
vestige OF the white silk handkerchief in
which I had wra pped II. Then I knew
what the Mexican had done The
/ stranger, whose name was Berry. saw
/ too but he insisted that I take the horse
/ on TO Roswell. were 7 was TO turn Il
1 over to a Hveryman named Calvert Or
| pay the agreed price, whichever suited
/ my convenience.
Now here was what you might call
! white treatment. and I was so grateful
/ that I called Urilla right then 10 help me
| thank Mr.. Berry But he seemed very
! dinident and rOue after mis- horses with a
! polite bow ard a deprecstory Don 2
! mention itr He was hardly ont Of ear
| shot when Urilia and I were in tia
| blackboard driving eastward across the
! divide. When the sun was ID and We
/ had munched a bite OF food 7 told her
what had happened She was brave
! enough and sal,- soc would rather lose
Thousand dollars than TO meet that
1 rsscaiiy Mexican again We tried Our
lest TO reach e -apltan that night bat
| Just before dusk when we were ad-
dressing our tired horse TO the last mesa
that divided US from the little village. =
/ horseuan caught Up with US and Ia plain
terms told rs % throw Up our hands .
( II was Berry, He was conside-afr
/ enough. and very business-iike. though
/ he sneered at and refused 20 believe ~
I story about the hidden money ard iez-
III