The enterprise. [volume] (Harlem, Mont.) 1899-1926, 1912-06-20

ghost may find his way upon his long dark jour-
ney. After that they light no more fires, as they
consider that the dead man has had time to finish
his journey.
Whether Ascenso grew deranged suddenly or
whether 1t slow and gradual process, no
one ever know, yet the fact remains that he
came to believe in the religion of the Indians
with some variations and startling effects OF his
own. Believing as he did, that death was only a
road by which man passed into longer and more
enduring, though not necessarily eternal life,
he conceived the idea of building up fortune
for himself in that future life.
In Ascensios diseased brain there arose the
idea that whatever he slew in this world would
be his property in the next On that point he
was maniac; on all others, perfectly sane. Now
began the series OF thefts which made Brunels
name known from the Rio Negro to the Magellan
straits One after another he raided the horse
farms near the coast, drove away as much of the
stock as he could, and, shaking off his pursuers
in every instance, escaped into the widest parts
of the pampas.
So for long time, for years indeed, Ascensio
Brunei, the Wild Man Of Santa Cruz, lived his
life beyond the reach of the short arm of the Ar
gentine law Comasarios hunted him, various
Jueces de Paz acclaimed about him, and the garri-
son of cavalry in Chubut "bolted their beef, and
started again the track of the thief" And
then suddenly, one morning, the news flew across
the countryside that the Wild Man had been cap
tured 1t was true. The way of 1t was as fol-
lows:
In the very heart of Patagonia upon the banks
of river called the Mayo, lived and indeed still
live, tribe of Tehuelche Indians the tallest and
perhaps the strongest people on earth. They are
hunters and orse.breeders, wonderful riders and
good men, They worship horsemanship and have
a number of strange rites which they practice at
the birth of a man child in order to insure that
he shall turn out good rider
Into the nature Of those rites We need not co.
They are very cruel. merely mention them
that you may understand what task the Wsld
Man set himself when he decided to steal hun
dred mares from men such these peerless nd
ers, trained in every phase of horsemanship, much
of whose lives Is spent in searching for strayed
horses and who can ride a hundred miles a day
without fatigue.
It appears that the herd of mares that Ascensio
stole feeding In a vega or marsh that
stretches the southern banks of the Mayo. No
one watching them, and as they were we'll
used to their pasturage, 1t seemed unlikely that
they would stray. Therefore, when shortly after
dawn an Indian lad came galloping to the toldos
with the news that the mares had disappeared, the
of the tribe were soon on horseback and rid
ing upon their trail
Hard on the trail the Indians rode all day, and
before sunset they were aware of a man clad In
skins driving the mares before him. Swiftly some
of the pursuers closed in him, while others rode
to cut him of by canadon or rift In the pampas
which lay across his path. Had it not been for
this canadon the Wild Man would never, IN all
probability, have been taken.
AS it was, he galloped down the sheer wall of It,
but only to find himself cut OF by the Indians who
had been detached from the main body by the
cacique for the purpose. Riding in upon him the
Indians flung their heavy charlottesville
Tehuelche weapon Of three rawhide thongs, each
weighted at the end with a ball of stone-which
entangled the legs Of the Wild Mans horse and
brought 1t crashing to the ground On the ground
the Indians captured the Wild Man, snarlng and
biting.
They did not slay the Wild Man, but bound him