The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-03-18

! dear senior I have already in my time
1 explored her pockets myself. Two thou.
| sand dollars
| The question was not settled in a mo
ment but eventually Don Luis del Mon
| te's debonair infexbilty on the point pre-
vailed.
THE price of my life" he said eand a
| beggarly bad bargain
! For the government" amended Don
! Felipe. Besides you viii live to enjoy it
! in Malaga. How then, do you propose
to get to work."
Il must be captured. and you will ar
! range the ransom, They say down here
/ that the brigand recognizes a gentleman
and treats him handsomely pending tho
I. arrival OF his ransom and the arrange
mont of the affairs. If he does not-well,
am an old soldier Meanwhile | shall
have five days In his company"
/ by St. Peter! Cold steel and close
quartersin' cried Don Felipe, with rising
! excitement Senior, you are not a cow
ard
Nor a fool" rejoined the other colby
Then you have some other design
yes?a
Certainly I have a design less blaring
than yours. l shall start in the early
morning"
STAY How will you deal with him ~
AS the goathered and the farmer deal
with the other observation-disclosures l will
poison him. He shall share, the death
of the vultures and the wolves | shall
have five full whole days with him.
tell you. How can he escape mex
Il do not know Don Felipe said du-
biously as he watched the thin, sinister
face opposite him with SNUG inter
est. But I have heard him called a bad
enemy"
And I will conquer him by being a
bad friend which is just twice as formid-
able
Yet and Don Felipe lowered his voice
instlnctyelX. "he has other friends. |
came hither to Malaga, for If | had had
this conversation with you In my own
house across the bay some ear would
| have heard and some foot been ready to
carry the matter up yOnder"
Don Luis made no answer. He put a
handful Of the governors cigarettes in
his pocket and prepared to go.
Il must have money tonight-money to
repair my toilet. to buy horse and lay
the affair In train, 1t is necessary to be
generous. senior. This may be my last
night of pleasure, and then, perhaps he
began the song with which children MINI
ic the clerk chant at funerals-"the gor-
Igor comes next Who knows?n
Don Luis del Monte staggered grace
fully down the dim stone passage. with
its high barred windows, and so out into
the street. AS he went along a woman
passed him with a soft southern laugh.
For the rest Of the evening she evinced
quite inadequate interest in his move
ments.
BY early dawn, before the light broke,
man from the sierra waited in the pro-
sale shadow of Malaga railway station,
where presently woman with her head
and shoulders WraDppd nm against tho
chill OF dawn, came to him-the woman
whose eadences Of laughter Don Luis had
heard for the first time as he bowed to
her in the tortuous ill-smellng Malaga
street ON the previous evening.
Robledo was her lover. who had come
down from the sierra to see her with a
price upon his head and the light of adj
venture in his eyes. Isabella liked him
for his good looks though he already was
careworn, after the manner of noun
taineers; but foIA his reckless courage, her
! heart loved him.