El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-03-04

ragged fighters, Tor Iney were IOO "0o1N
from the lack Of proper nourishment to
get over those steep hills without al
most complete exhaustion.
The Council of War.
The skirmishing continued until we
had arrived on the opposite ridge Of
the mesa to the north. There they
stopped and held a council Of war The
second line of soldiers in command OF
the first captain came up He asked me
if I could talk Spanish and L promptly
told him that 1 could not, which was
not far wrong, and my experience Win
the mounted police had taught me tnat
the less 1 said the less 1 would have to
account for The first captain, the
lieutenant and the two surly mounted
police, conferred for five minutes Then
the one that could talk a little English
informed me that was going back to
Juarez and that I was going to walk
back slowly behind their horses L
asked him when we would start and ne
only grinned and showed his teeth like
a vicious dog The main body of the
company had moved down into the rlght
branch of the arroyo, up which L
had come from the smeIter,
and outposts were sent to the tops OF
the hills overlooking the country be-
yond and where they said they couIG
see Flores ranch.
The mounted police, all except my
two friends. secuted over the hills and
canyons, returning with report that
there was no one to be seem once
they shouted back that they thought
they saw insurrectos and the double
column of soldiers increased their gait,
but it was found that what they
| thought were insurrectos were only
spanish daggers standing out against
! the western sky with the sun behind
them. The company was allowed to
lounge in the bed of the arroyo While
the outposts secuted TO the west ana
north I gave up trying to make
friends with the two policemen, pre-
ferring the company Of one Of the TWO
5opc that had been following. At ieast
he did not grin and show his teeth
The Rest I'm the Hills
It was Just o'clock (they had al
lowed me to keep my watch,) wnen the
first caDtafn ordered the little Irum-
meter to blow a recall on his battered
| old trumpet. But he was so out OF
breath that the wall did not reach the
] troops on the far ridge and the captain
! got right over that poor. little, pugier
! and shouted at him to blow mas forte
until his cheeks puffed out and his
ewes buIged; 1 really thought he would
surely blow up The call was answered
| nv the trumpeter with the other cetail,
/ the notes sounding like a far off crow
! of some neighborly rooster. We formed
/ in company order, I say we because L
was put in front TO lead the entire Tie
/ with my friend the corporal The or
der of .'fronte" was given and that
rag-tatter army Of Porfirio started to-
ward the river. The shuffling of 1ZO
sandals on the sandy bottom Of the dry
wash sounded like rain beating on a tin
! roof. The soldiers kept up an incessant
chatter all the way to the river One, a
natural clown, Kept the soldiers laugh
I! ing by his remarks about the beautiful
! blue sky and his beautiful empty stom-
ach and about the Nspinas" that were
! sticking in his feet. Wherever a crowd
! of people assemble. there is sure 20 be
! one funny man in the bunch My con-
! sunptive looking clown was II. He
! wore his battered cap at q rakish angle
/ over his right ear and never kept IN
the line but wandered around at Will
! as if he might be a privileged charac-
| ter. Many of his crude jokes were made
| at my. expense and this seemed TO please
1 the soldiers immensely. But when ne
i caught me laughing at his antics, had
won nv first human friend among those
40 aliens.
The sight of ssDear Old Z. s. A"
The Mexican mountains were never
| bluer with the haze of a winter day The
| coiors of the volcanic rocks were never
more vivid and the sun never set IN
greater burst Of bright lights than il
did Friday evening. AS we were march
ing, through narrow canyon of the ar
roya, In single file that extended ou1
of sight over the ridge, the sun drop
ped behind the horizon, leaving only 9
shaft of light in the canyon where 1
/ was already growing dark. But I was
not thinking OF scenery just then. We
! came out Of the canyon onto the broad