The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-05-13

A FTER Robledos pardon. amongst A the few who actually reached the \ Boco de Lobo was Juan sorio, and he was led by Robledo himself to the mouth of the famous cave.
 You desire, Juan Sorio." Don Q. said "to become one of my children" By this term the famous brlgand often desig- mated his followers.
 "Yes, lord. l desire it."
 The new recruit. little more than a boy. met the chiefs eyes without finch ing.
 And why do you desire this?'
 The lad was full grown. though he looked hunger-bitten His brows met ir a scrowl.
 Because l have an enemy"
 '1s it conceivable that you imagine your private enmities will be forwarded by entering my servce?" inquired Don O. harshly. "Those who join Us in the mountains forget their own desires, for they realize from the moment of enlist ment that their sole excuse for existing Hes in furthering mine"
 The lads face whitened.
 Down there in the plains many told me differently" he answered They said that my lord of the sierra held a wonderful scale of justice-the only one in Spain in which the rich man and the poor were fairly weighed one against the other"
 Don O. dropped the end of his cigar cite into the fire.
 T preceive you have story to tell me. Tell it shortly"
 "The beginning of it goes back 20 years, to the time of the great snow. My lord remember it. how we poor ones made holes through the snow into our dwell ings. At that time my father and my mother had not long been married. My father was a shepherd, and, like many of our people, he spent much money on his marriage feast Who could nave eN- pected such a winter?'
 Don Q. nodded.
 Tn spite of the cold and the hunger, lord those two were happy But the days grew darker and the cold more bit ter. and it seemed they must starve. have no skill in the story As it hap pened so l tell it-not otherwise. At the last my father went down into Malaga, where he heard there lived one who lent money to the poor.'
 And by what name was this usurer known?"
 "They call him Senor Iapoulo, lord. And to him during that winter my fa- ther was forced to go more than once or twice-you would not have had him see his wife die? Sometimes lapOulo would not give money but a barrel of dried fish or bag of flour. These lapoulo gave to my father, always making him sign papers. In six months, 1t was written in the papers. each barrel bred another barrel Thus lord the debt grew and became very heavy" The lad paused d moment and sighed. Yet when the sun shone again We were happy, and my father paid the usury year by year, though we were often hungry. l do not know. lord. how many times over my father paid this debt to Iapoulo-more than SO times that which he had borrowed, I have heard him say. But the debt re- mained on the papers-sometimes more sometimes less"
 "Ah, unhappy ones, it is always so" commented the brigand.
 "Then, senor of the mountains, my fa- ther died two years ago, and |, who lived alone with my mother, swore to gather the full price of the debt, that we might be free. iourneyed into Malaga to the house of Iapoulo, and they teld me the sum of the debt that remained and the day on which I should pay il and be free. So. lord, we worked early and late and carly and We gathered the money. And on the appointed day l en- tered Malaga and went to the place where Iapoulo does business, They said he was not there, so l asked if any could give