The Lexington intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1901-1949, 1909-02-27


gtes in which to aim. wOnId pot the
bulrs-eye with a precision sltogeths.
appalling.
Remained but to purchase the
ticket. And this at first was a diff
Guilty. for neither Don Carlos rancho,
nor "a lonely Jog cabin gilded by the
rays of the declining SUM-. nor-alas-
Dead Mans gulch, are TO be found
upon the folders of any railroad. Yet
here Karl showed himself to be a man
of resource and worthy of great enter.
prise. He bought a ticket clear to
the coast, and set out with the grave
determination to choose his place of
debarkation from the car window,
Thus 1t happened that on a windy
day in March Don Quixote of the Mar
ket, squireless and clad incredibly,
rode out Of the picturesque little New
Mexican town Of Medilla upon a rock
ing old Rosinante for which he had
paid four prices, bearing across his
saddle bow the long brassmounted
rifle of the Schutzenverein. Upon his
brow was the black frown of dire dis
comfort and of high purpose, but In
his heart welled up the all-peryading
Joy of attainment. Would but the
Fates be kind!
A road was their instruments -
kindly, devious road that avoided alike
the baseball park just outside of town,
the farmhouses along the river, and
the nearby grove. where at that very
moment an unmistakable Sunday
school picnic was rioting in in.
finite ice cream. Out over rocky,
su~n-scorched hills. and through dusty
barren valleys, the road led him, and
Fancy peopled their desolate solitudes
with all the puppets of our latter
day romance. The up-tossed dust
of the road was redolent Of blood and
battle; the lowing Of distant cattle
was clamorous Of midnight raid and
deadly stampede; gold glistened in
each crystalline pebble. And when a
string of steers passed over the brow
Of a n%eighboring hill. the heart OF
Karl Engel was uplifted as at sight OF
uncovered treasure, and he fingered
his 'lasso' with longing and-doubt.
A roadside cross, carved on a
boulder so years before, by deyout
Mexicans, who thought thereby to
commemorate some soon-forgotter
scalp-lifting, then caught Karls eye
Instantly he d~ismounted, and after
pious prayer for the repose Of thesf
unshriven souls, spent a rapturou'
hour in lingering the time-worn in
scription and specializing upon the tn
multuous day it recorded. To hin
that bit of rock pictured whole troops
of swarthy villains in velvet, a dark
eyed maiden radiant with all allure
ments. and a heroic cavalier who's
/, plunging steed bore a double burden
from out the smoke Of battle.
The road beckoned. Just over tn
4 crest of a rock-strewn ridge,
brought him suddenly upon a wine
mill, solitary, gigantic, %mysteriou.
The cattle, for whom its Office wa
: 10 pump water. were far abroad in tn
e hills; no human habitation vas /
. sight; the murmur Of the faint moor
e day wind in the motionless sails whii
pered dark tales Of murder and of mas
Q sacre. Unguided, Rosinante sough
the water-trough Karl dismounte
/ stiffly, and after shaking his ow
thirst, fell to munching crackers an
sardines that he had respectfully sui
stituted for the u-npurchasable glorie
, Of pemmican and ierked buffal
tongue. Then strolling warily abou
+ he came suddenly upon a thing whic
brought him up short, open-mouthe
and saucer-eyed. A small thing, too
O Fact would have described II as tn
. ashes Ola campfire built about
o dead Yucca, the bones of a calf ths
4 had been roasted thereon, the empt
shell Of the cartridge that had bee
expended to slaughter the beast, an
/ a pair of cast-off boots. Fancy toll
: another tale: of the lonely home
an adventurous pioneer; of demonia
! war-whoops at dead of night; Of vel
ing savages leaping in glee around I'll
= flames that fared about their victil
at the stake. Fascinated, Don QuixoI
:, ,ip,toed %gingerly closer; furtively
- slipped in his pocket, as a mement
the empty shell; ~furiously he yowC
i vengeance on the first misguided re
! skin that ventured TO cross his path,
e Allurlng the road led on, over b
O. and dale. ridge and arroyo. A mile
so beyond the enchanted windmill DC
Quixote pulled in his Rosinante wi
a jerk. for Enthusiastically he heard Il
h sound of footsteps approaching {
horseback" A moment and then a 81
= itary horseman appeared trotting dow
! the road toward him, and his hea
= beat fast for joy. It might have be-
: Alkali Ike; It might have been Chic
asaw Charlie, perhaps even Billy d
Kid: but. after all. Karl decided
= Deadwood Dick. Fact, indeed, kne
Il the rider for old man Johnston's te
- derfoot nephew, CARRIED in the remaI
!. able attire affected by his kind-hari
I. full and unnecessary chaparejos. d
ufdaat If wida somhraros and 4