Gilpin observer., 1914-12-03


that she was an American girl at heart,
she forgot to show 1t to him. To all
she was now the proud Spanish lady,
thrown with the common people by
the stress of circumstances, but far
away from them in her thoughts.
The conference between the leaders
dragged on and messengers came and
went with the news-then, after hours
of debate, it broke up suddenly in
row and the emissaries came back on
the run. Even at that they narrowly
escaped, for the rebels opened fire
upon them from the ridges, and before
they could get back to cover the
dandy, Manuel del Rey, received bull
let hole through the crown of his hat.
A grim smile fiickered across Buds
face as he saw the damage 1t had
wrought, for he knew that Amigo was
In the hills-and bullet shot down
hill goes high! Some trace of what
was in his mind must have come to
Del Rey as he halted in the shelter OF
the house, for he regarded the Ameri'
can sternly as Aragon spoke rapidly
in his ear. But if they planned ven
geance between them the times were
not right, for rattle of arms came
from the lower town and the captain
was up and away to marshal his men
to the defense.
So far in the siege Del Rey had kept
under cover. patrolling the streets
and plaza and letting the volunteers
fight, but now the war had shifted to
his territory and his ruraies were rum
ming like mad. For, matching treach-
cry against deceit, the rebel leaders
had sent men around to slip up near
the town and at the first fusilla from
the hillside they came charging up
the creek.
Then 1t was that the ever-watchful
rurales proved their worth. AS the
rebels appeared In the open they ran
to the outlying houses and, fighting
from the fiat roofs. checked the ad-
vance until the miners could come to
their aid.
But in the confusion another party
of rebels had rushed down the gulch
from the west, and while the fight was
going on in the lower town they found
lodgment in big adobe house. And
now for the first time there was fight
ing in earnest-the house-to-house
fighting that is seen at its worst in
Mexico. While women screamed in
the casa grande and the Americans
paced to and fro ON the hill, the boom
of dynamite bomb marked the begin
ming of hand-to-hand.
II there was to be a casualty list in
this long-looked for battle Of Fortuna,
the time was at hand when they could
begin counting the dead.
With a fearlessness born of long ia.
miIiarity with explosives the Sonoran
miners advanced valiantly with their
hand grenades-baking powder cans
filled with dynamite and studded with
Illuminating caps. Digging fercely
through wall after wall they ap
preached unperceived by the enemy
and the first bomb, flung from a roof.
filled the adobe with wounded and
dead.
A dense pail of yellowish smoke
rose high above the town and. as bomb
after bomb was exploded and the yells
VI Tue uiiucTs grew lOuueT Will e8Cu
success. the stunned invaders broke
from cover and rushed helter-skelter
up the gulch. Then there was q prodi
gious shouting from the Sonorans and
more than one triumphant grenadieR
swung his can Of giant powder by ths
sling and let 1t smash against the hill
in terrific detonation.
In the big house all was confusion
Soon the cheers OF the defenders her
aid victory and. in spite of all efforts
to restrain them, the wives of the
miners rushed into the open to gass
upon the triumph of their menfolk.
On the hilltops the ineffective rebsi
riiemen rose up from behind their
stone wall to stare. until suddenly
they, too, were seized with q panic and
ran to and fro like ants. Then. around
the curve below the concentrator,
tall man came dashing up on . purs
white horse, and behind him. charging
as he charged. came the swarthy YA
quis Of Alvarez, their new rifles glsam
ing in the sun.
cfo BE CoNTINuEpJ