The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1906-12-11

Things undoubtedly looked Bqually
for Jim. He realized It as he paced up
and down the narrow cell In the Mes,
quite jail.
The seedy-looklng young lawyer the
court had appointed to defend him on
the charge of murder also told him SO.
and In lieu OF clearing him on the
charge offered to write his will for him
free. Jim mournfully declined.
Il amt got nothin' to Will away" he
said. "All I had was stole from me
that night when the trouble happened"
"Well. reckon you had better pray
some, for you're about as good as a
gone goslin.' Shall send the priest to
your"
Nav; darn the prayin'! Is Inez
bound to swear against me?"
Sure. You see, when you shot Rafe
Mendoza you shot her feller. She was
| goin' to marry him and, naturally. she
don't feel kindly to you. He was the
best-fixed greaser in this whole coun-
I try. And you know how these greasers
are. anyway. They just naturally hate
a white man. They will make big
fiesta of the day when you are hung,
eat tamales and drink pulque, and en-
Joy themselves hugely.
Il don't mind entertainin' folks gen.
orally, but l swear 1 hate to do so at
the end of rope. Wish I'd left that
girl alone.''
TT would have been better for you.
| That girl is the only witness against
you, and her testimony will hang you
sure. II she wasn't a greaser, might
be able to persuade her to skip out. but
nowhere amt bit of chance"
II don't see why she's so bent on
havin' me hanged. I've been nice to
her, and she liked me. That's the rea-
son had to kill Rafe Mendoza-he was
jealous as he could be. and tried to slip
a knife in my ribs that night 1 came to
see her."
But, Jim, Inez says she didn't see
him with any knife, and when they
picked him up, after you had gone out,
those greasers say he didn't even have
a pocketknife. What do you make of
that? Inez says the first thing she saw
was you drawing your gun, and that
you proceeded to pump him full of lead
without any warning"
Il know it looks bad colonel, but
that greaser did certainly try to knife
|
as big as a sword. Those friends of
his made away with the knife when
they came to pick him up
| We'll, I'll see you tomorrow in court.
Your case will come the first on the
docket, and it won't take long to hear
the evidence against you. l am sorry,
| but | can't make testimony, and what
! that girl will swear will hang you,
surely. Goodby."
! The young lawyer left the deary lit
tie jail thinking deeply.
Jim went to the small window and
I looked out across the waste of SHIN
mering sand and buffalo grass, relieved
here ana there by few stunted mes
quite bushes. The heat radiated in
wavy zigzags, and seemed to stihe him
in his cell. He longed to be on his
broncho Looping across the range after
I the cattle, and it panied him to think
that such a pleasure would never again
be his.
I He knew that he had acted foolishly
in going about Inez Gonzales--he had
been warned that he would have trou-
BILE with Rafe Mendoza if he did. Men
doza was IA wel-to-do ranchero, and
the favorite with the parents of the
girl. They were urging her to marry
him, but she had been putting him off
as long as she could.
Old Gonzales, an evil-looking Mexican
with one eye, regarded Jim with dis
tinct disfavor. So did his wife. They
tried in every way to show him that
his presence was unwelcome. Jim saw
their game, but was unruffled by it.
He was as polite as he knew how with
Rafe Mendoza. But one night, after he
was leaving the abode of the Gonzf les
a Winchester cracked from behind Il
clump OF mesquite bushes, and a bullet
clipped piece out of his hat. Then
he knew that henceforth it was war
between him and Mendoza.
Inez was the prettiest girl in the
country. She was small, and had a
figure as 1.-the and graceful as that of
II tiger. Her eyes were as bright as
stars. and large and full of expression.
Her complexion was the purest olive,
and she wore her great mass of hair
braided down her back.
She was young, too, and she did not
like to be forced into a marriage with
Mendoza, but her parents We're insist
I ing. She could not forget Jim and his
evident admiration of her. She did not
understand all ne SAID TO her, out sne
understood enough to know that he low
ed her, the thought made her very.
very happy, indeed. And when jim
went to Los Cruces he bought her
little gold heart on a chain, to wear
about her neck. She wore 1t under her
! dress-she was afraid to let Rafe see
I 1t, or her father.
She had been threatned and brow
bea .en by her father since the death of
! Mendoza, and she had cried her eyes
out at the thought of her testimony
hanging, lei Senior jim" who had been
so good to her and who had got In
trouble on her account But, then, the
truth was, she did not see Rafe with
the knife. He might have had II in
his hand as he started toward Jim, but
she did not see it,
The next day the courtroom was
crowded. Old Gonzales was there with
all his relatives and friends to get re-
venge for the loss of rich son-in-law,
who would have supported him in idle
ness the rest of his days. Rafe had
lots of friends, also, who wanted to see
..I.-l.-- 4 A Inc