Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1914-07-29

| himself up in some sort Of business
and not fancying mercantile pursuits,
cast about for an out OF door method
of investment. He visited the west.
looked over the sheep. growing indus
try and concluded that under the con-
ditions 1t was not inviting. Going
down to Galveston. he sailed for Vera
Cruz, Mexico. and thence he went By
rail up to the capital.
Coffee raising appeared much more
attractive to him than sheep raising.
and he decided to spend some time on
a coffee plantation studying the cul-
ture of the bean. Every morning he
mounted a horse, DOMINIC Mexican
riding costume, which consists of tight
trousers with row of buttons run
ming the full length of, the leg, a short
coat and a profusely decorated sugar
! loaf sombrero. In this attire Mr..
Burch looked very handsome and, be-
ing young man in the twenties, was
especially fitted to capture the hearts
of Mexican maidens-
| One morning he was riding along a
road lined with tropical verdure. The
sun shone brightly and would have
shone hot had not its rays been tenn
| pered by the high altitude Of the Mex
ican plateau, which is more than 1000
feet above the sea. The country COM
bined the beauties OF the tropics with
the exhilarating air of the mountains.
| Indeed, there were peaks all about
/ him, while in the distance an elongat-
ed mountain presented the form of
woman resting on her bier. the snow
/ har WINDING Shanf
Before Malcolm Burch tripped a lit
tie Mexican girl. Her jacket. covered
with spangles, reached barely to her
waist Her skirt, bedecked in like
manner, fell not far below the knee.
Not needing her robosa "a garment
| Mexican women wear over their heads
and shoulders-she carried 1t on her
ARM
"If anything were needed" said the
American to himself, ''to complete this
delicious landscape 1t would be the lit
tie figure sparkling in the rays Of the
sum-"
When he reached the girl she turned
and cast a glance at him. She was
neither Spanish nor Indian, but mix
ture of the two races. Her Spanish an
cestors must have once dwelt under the
Pyrenees. where the climate is mild
and many of the people are fair, for her
hair had gold tinge in it, and her
eyes. if not blue. were certainly not
black. She was apparently about six
teen years old
Burch had picked up few words of
Spanish for ordinary use, but not
enough to carry on conversation. But
a man does not need words to express
the look would seem very tame. Burch |
knew the words to express Where are |
you going?" but did not understand the |
reply He put out his hand and his |
foot resting in the stirrup. meaning. 'If |
you will give me yeur hand and put |
your little foot on mine will lift you |
up behind me and carry you whitherso- :
ever you are going"
The girl hesitated, then advanced, did |
as he indicated, and he swung her up |
behind him on the horses back. To |
keep her position she must put her |
arms about his waist, and whenever |
his hand touched hers there came tin |
heart. He asked her her name. and she
said it was Rosa Puente with such |
musical voice that. pretty as it was,
the name sounded much prettter.
They rode along, he mixing English
and Spanish, three parts English to one
of Spanish, she adhering to the musical
language which was the only one she
knew. She looked and acted unsophis-
ticated, but when they approached
clump of adobe houses she slid down
on the ground, knowing full well that
she must not appear in company with
man. Had she been of the upper
class she could not have been more
particular in this respect, that class in
which girls are not permitted to con-
verse wi members of the opposite
sex except through a barred window,
or the man standing in the street while
the girl stands on a balcony above him.
Malcolm Burch said "Buena bye"
mixing mis- languages as usual, and the
girl replied in the vernacular. He
forced his horse to walk very slowly
in order that he might keep her ahead
of him. partly that he might feast his
eyes on her graceful figure and partly
to observe where she went She stop
ped at an adobe house with a matched
roof in the center of a small yard in
which chickens and vegetables and
flowers grew indiscriminately.
The knowledge that Rosa Puente
was not one of the higher class Mexi-
cans, while it brought a shadow of
did not deter Burch
from following up an affair which he
should have dropped at once. When
he went to sleep that night he passed
from consciousness to siumber with a
tumble of Rosa Puente and other
varieties of roses. adobe houses. chick
ems and such articles running and
jumping before him, and during the
night he dreamed that he was trying
to catch Rosa Puente and the chickens
were always in his way.
What use to lay down the devices
practiced by these two to meet with i
put their meetings being known 20 rne