The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-05-13
The
Chronicles
of Don O.

L3eW VINO actually reached the BOcO de
ISobo was Juan Sorio. and he was led
famous cave
You desire, Juan sorio," Don Q.
said, Ito become one Of my children 2"
By this term the famousA brigand often
designated his followers.
Yes, lord, I desire it."
The new recruit little more than q
boy, met the chiefs eyes without finch
ting.
'And why do you desire it,"
The lad was full-groWn, though he
looked hunger-bitten. His brows met
IN a scowI.
Because I have an enemy"
rs it conceivable that you imagine
your private enmities Will be forwarded
by entering my service?' inquired Don
O. harshly. Those who join us in
the mountains forget their own desires,
for they realize that from the mo-
ment of enlistment their sole excuse for
existing lies 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 we're fairly weighed one
against the other"
Don @. dropped the end of his cigar
cite into the fire.
II perceive you have a story to tell
me. Tell it shortly"
THE beginning Of it goes back TWEEN
ty years, to the time OK the great snow
My lord remembers 1t; how we poor
ones made holes through the snow into
our dwellings. At that time my father
and my mother had not long been mar
ried. My father was a shepherd, and,
Ike many of our people, nc spent much
money on his marriage feast. Who
could have expected such a winter?"
Don @. nodded.
I'm spite of the cold and the hunger,
lord, those two were happy. But the
days grew darker and the cold more
bitter, and it seemed they must starve.
have no skill in the story. AS 1t hap
pened, so 1 tell it-nOt otherwise. At
the last my father went down into Nal
aga, where he heard there lived one
who lent money to the poor"
And by what name was this usurer
known?"
They call him Senior IapouIo, lord.
And TO him during that winter my IA
Their was forced to go more than once
or twice-yOu would not have had him
see his wife die? Sometimes Iapoulo
would not give money, but a barrel of
dried fish or a bag of -four. These
1apOulo gave to my father, always
making him sign papers. In six months,
so 1t was written in the papers. each
barrel bred another barrel Thus, lord,
the debt grew, and became very
heavy" The lad paused a moment and
sighed Yet when the sun shcne
again we were happy, and my father
paid the uSury year by year, though
we were often hungry I do Tot know,
lord, how many times over my father
paid his debt to IaDoulo-mOre tran
sixty times that which he mad bor-
Towed. 1 have heard him say. But the
debt remained on the papers-Some-
times more-sOmetimes less
'Ah, unhappy OnesI It is always So
commented the brigand.
Then, senior Of the mountains, my
father died two years ago, and I. who
lived alone with my mother, swOTe to
gather the full price of the debt, that
We might be free. journey into
MkSaga to the house of Iapoulo, and
they told me the sum of the debt that
remained, and the day on which
should pay ii and be free. So. lorj, we
worked early and late, late and early.
and we gathered the money And on
the appointed day / entered Malaga
and went 10 the place where Iapoulo
does business. They said he was not
there. SO 1 asked if any could give me
quittance of my debt, and they told
me no. but that I should return on the
morrow and see the senior. On the fcI-
lowing day I was early at his bureau,
and they brought me in before him.
All, Juan. have you brought some of
the money due? he said. AN Of it,
senor,' I answered very JoyOusIy, but
he frowned when I counted it out be-
fore him 1T is not enough he said ;
yesterday it had been enough but not
today. Why did you not come ester
day as you were hidden? Then L told
him of my coming the 1ay befo-s, and
how they had denied him to me. but Re
would not believe, and he called me
many names and clutched his knees
with his fingers. and his eyes were
like black beads when the freight
shines into them
How did it end" demanded Den @.
81 cried to him that indeed I had
come, whereat he sent FOR those who
refused me. entrance. They came lord
OF the mountains, and with oaths swore
that never before had they beheld me-
and then Senior TapoulO iyrinncd well
satisfied, and said, Give lie the money
|. you have brought AMI I viii forgive
your lies. Go, be industrious and rem
der to me next year What has accrued
Il is the law"
Then fury selze1 me. and cried
out that If this was the law, then
would 1 be a lawbreIlxer forever, and '
EWOTe that for that thing which he had
done to me Iapouio should yet come to
die. He feared, lord of the mountains,
for he called aloud for help, but I
broke away from them all, and because
] could not see my mothers face when
! should tell her II our wrong. I ran
10 the mountains and" he lung out
his hand with one Of those fine ges-
lures that is inbred in his race
have come to demand justice of my
lord"
1.-The story you have told me does ir-
deed show this Iapoulo in very vii
famous light" remarked Don -. sadly
at fear the fellow is an lncurable ruff
fan, for have heart similar tales CT
his doings before. To rob a rich man
/Or. rather, should say. to ease him OF
part of the burden which he carries, is
an act Of merit; to ROD a, POOR man is a
crime; but to rob a woman, most Of all
poor woman, one OF those kindly ones
on whom is based the very life OF this
Spain of ours, tha- is a deed which
4 cries aloud for punishment. Know you
If this IaDoulO ever travels to and fro
j upon his business"