The Elbert County tribune., 1914-09-25
CHAPTER Xxx.

IN n country 8nere Witnesses 10 a
crime are imprisoned along with the
principals and kept more or less in
definitely in jail. man thinks twice
before he reports to the police.
With four dead Mexicans to the
Yaqui's account, and Del Rey in
charge OF the district. Hooker followed
his second tliought--he said nothing
ard took his chances on being arrest
ed for murder. Until far into the night
| Amigo busted himself along the hill
side. and when the sun rose not sign
remained to tell the story OF the fight
Men. horses. saddles and guns-all
had disappeared. And. after packing a
little food in a sack. Amigo disap-
peared also. with a grim smile In prom
ise of return.
The sun rose round and hot, the
same as usual. the south wind came
up and blew into bellying mass OF
clouds, which lashed back with the ac-
I-customed rain; and when all the earth
was washed clean and fresh the last
trace of the struggle was gone. Only
by the burns on his hands was Hooker
aware of the fight and OF the treachery
like snake which has been warmed
aud fed.
Nowhere but in Mexico. where the
low pelado classes have made such
deeds a subtlety, could the man be
found to dissirnulate like that false
assassin-in-chief To pause suddenly
in protracted speech. swing over and
| pick up a gun, and halt his victim for
the shooting by the preparatory click
of the lock-that indeed called for a
brand OF cunning rarely found in the
United States.
There was one thing about the affair
| that vaguely haunted Hooker--why
was it that man SO cunning us that
had failed to load his gun? Twice. and
with everything in his favor, he had
raised his rifle to fire; and both times
it had snapped in his hands. Certainly
he must have been inept at arms-or
| accustomed to single-shot guns.
| The reputed magic of the swift-fir-
ing rifles evidently had been his undo
ing, but where had he got his new
gun? And who was he. anyway? With
those two battling questions Bud wres-
tied as he Eat beside his door, and at
evening his answer came.
The sun was swinging low and he
! was collecting wood down the gulch
for fire when. with sudden thud of
hoofs. a horseman rounded the point
and came abruptly to halt. 1t was
Aragon. and he was spying on the
| camp.
For full minute he scanned the
house, tent and mine with look so
snaky and sinister that Bud could read
his heart like book. Here was fhe
man who had sent the assassins, and
he had come to view their work,
Very slowly Buds hand crept
toward his six-shooter hut, slight az
was the motion. Aragon caught it and
sat frozen In his place. Then, with an
inarticulate cry. he fell fiat on his
l.aorse's neck and went squirting out
Of sight.
The answer to Buds questions was
very easy now. The Mexican who had
led the attempt on his life was one
of Aragon's bad men. one of the four
gunmen whom Hooker had looked
over so carefully when they came to
I drive him from the mine. and Aragon
had fitted him out with new arms to
make the result more sure. But with
that question answered there came up
another and another until, in sud.
den clarity OF vision. Bud saw through
the hellish plot and beheld himself
i the master.
AS man to man, Aragon would not
dare to face him now, for he knew
that he merited death. BY his sly
approach. by the look in his eyes and
the dismay of his frenzied retreat
he had acknowledged more surely
than by words his guilty knowledge
OF the raid. Coming to camp where
he expected to flnd all dead and still
he had found himself face to face
with the very man he had sought to
kill. How. then. had the American
escaped destruction. and what had
occurred to his men?
Perhaps. in his ignorance. Aragon