The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1912-06-21

was a marvellous rider, and his seryiceg and those
OF his brother were IN considerable request all
over the south. SO some months and even years
went by during which many hundreds OF animals
passed through the hands of the Brunols, aud
they became the owners of Il comparatively largo
troop Of horses. AscenFio, though n savage and
merciless rider, never during all this time gave
Il glimpse Of the feroGity which underlay his
character,
At length the two brothers happened, IN the
natural course Of their nomadic profession, to
come to the estancia-thia fine word may mean
anything from a large residence to a mud hoyel
with n roof Of tln~~of n farmer who had recently
settled I'm the country and who was the husband
OF Il very pretty wife, a dark beauty Of, It was
rumored, Il rather uncertain temper.
The farmer gave tho brothers q horse breaking
contract and for some weeks all went well.
One evening when the farmer, tired from a long
DAY in the saddle, had Just come home, Ascensio
Brunei entered, and having, It rs said, put him Off
his guard by making some simple little request.
murdered him in cold blood.
The actual details of this. Ascensio's frat, muir.
der are hard to come by. Henri, whom / met
near Ultima Casa, never told the same story twice
running, and the only other witness, the wife Of
the murdered man, passed through some terrible
experiences and | never heard her authentic story.
The main fact remains:
'N" ''N lbN iNi ll'l III Nth' AlIN lf
might carry Off his wife, which he did. besides
driving the whole stock, the cattle. sheen and
horses Of tho dead man, into the heart Of the
wilderness.
Here for a time. the two brothers dwelt with
the unhappy woman, until mt last Ascenslo quar-.
relied with Henri. 1t was not for the first time,
and Henri went to sleep, thinking 1t would have
all passed over In the morning. He was wakened
Mt dawn by a voice shouting to him, and saw at
once that during tha uIvht AarpusI, bnI Rr{von
away all the horses and had also removed tho
woman.
Ascensto then said he had decided to part com.
pany with his brother for good and all; that at
first 1t had been In his mind to Kill him in his
sleep, but for their mothers sake he had re-
Tented, lie added that he had shifted the horses
and stock to q safe distance, and that If Henri fol
lowed he would unhesltatIngly shoot him down.
He then rode away without more words.
AS Henri had neither horse nor weapons he did
not follow, Indeed all his efforts were directed
toward getting out of the wilderness alive. Living
chiefly upon berries, he wandered for many days.
finally to arrive. an emaciated wreck, at the
~estancta Of an Argentine herdsman. Tho latter
tended him and, when he was recovered, gave
him sufficient provision to take him to the nearest
settlement, whore he duly arrived
Proved innocent Of the murder his brother had
committed, he went back to the lfe of q peon and
shepherd, and so be passes out of this history for
good.
The next act IN the drama opens with the ar.
rival in the coast settlement at Puntn Arenas of the
woman whom AsCenslo had forced to accompany
him into the wilderness. She had ~ trightiul tale
of cruelty to relate, eliminating IN Il fortunate
escape.
Il appears that Asceusio had become subject to
FITS Of passion so frightful that they were akin to
madness, and indeed madness Of q kind had al.
ready declared itself In him,
The Tehuelches Of Patagonia hold the wellknown
belief, common to many branches of the Indian
race, that when they die they pass to the Happy
Hunting Grounds. On the grave Of u warrior
they STAY his dogs and horses; within It they
place saddle, knife and food, and for nine nights
they kindle great fires, by the light of which the