The Huttig news., 1914-10-03

frantically into the house.
 A shrill screech came from the hill side, where a serving-woman had seampered to view the valley, and, as she pointed her finger and screamed, mothers laid hold of their little ones and started up the valley on foot.
 Still the men ran about in the horse pen and Aragon adjured his women folk in the house. Burning with i'm patience, Bud spurred his way to the corral where they were fumbling with reata and rigging and dropped rope on the first horse he saw. Then he snatched side-saddle from a trem- bling peon and slapped 1t on the brute's back. Grabbing up the bridle. he led the horse back to the house and bridled 1t while he shouted for haste.
 Still the women tarried, and the sound of galloping came from the south. Then, as all seemed lost. the Mexicans came pumping out from the stable with the family coach. Aragon and his wife leaped in, and Gracia. neatly attired in riding-skirt, came tripping down the steps.
 Even in such times as these she seemed to realize her first duty to herself, and Hooker had to gaze for moment before he helped her up. She offered her foot and vaulted lightly into the saddle; the coach went pound ing on ahead; and as the servants scattered before her she galloped off at the side of Bud
 Behind them the rumble of distant hoofs rose up like the roaring of wa ters, and the shrieks of fleeing women echoed from the roadside, but once safely in the canyon their lead was never lessened and, with coach-horses galloping and positions flashing from l both sides. the whole cavalcade swept into the plaza while the town of For tuna went mad.
 Already the great whistle was blow Ing hoarsely, it's deep reverberations making the air tremble as if with fear. Americans were running hack and 1 forth. distributing arms and rushing ! their women to cover; Don Juan, his 1 chin quivering with excitement, was 1 imploring all corners to be calm, and
 the Aragons, coming flying up to the
 door, added the last touch to the panic.
 They with their eyes had seen the :. rebels; they were riding in from the
 south! Other men. equally excited
 swore they were coming from shs II north. and a dfsorderly body Of Sd
 nora miners. armed as If by magic with guns which had long lain hidden.
 banked themselves about the store and office and clamored for more and more l cartridges. Then a rip of gun-f1re i echoed from across the canyon. and l the miners made a rush to the attack.
 The whistle. which had obscured all 1 sound as a cloud obscures the light, | stopped suddenly in It's roar. and the | crowd at the hotel became calm The superintendent. wiry, gray-haired little man. with decision in every movement, came running from his all the women to take shelter there and take their children with them. So, while the rifles rattled and stray bullets began to knock mud from the walls. they went struggling up the hill. I rich and poor, patrician and peon, while the air was rent by the walls of the half-Indian Mexican women. who held themselves as good as cap tured by the revoltosos, concerning whose scruples they entertained no illusions.
 The women of the aristocracy bore l themselves with more reserve, as be- fitting their birth and station, and the Americans who gathered about them with their protecting rifles pretended that all would be we'll; but in the minds of every one was that same terror which found expression in tho \ peon wall and, while scattered rebels and newly armed miners exchanged volleys on both sides of the town, the non-combatant Americans sought out \ every woman and rushed her up to the big house. There, If worst came to
 worst. they could make a last stand, or save them by ransom.
 So, from the old woman who kept the candy stand in the plaza to the 1 wives of the miners and the cherished womenfolk of the landowners, they were all crowded inside the broad halls of the big house; and seventy odd Americans, armed with company rifles, paced nervously along the broad yeran- das or punched loopholes in the adobe walls that inclosed the summer garden l behind.
 Along with the rest went Hooker and Gracia, and, though her mother l beckoned and her father drowned sternly. the wilful daughter of the Ara , gons did not offer to leave him as they l scampered up the hill In fact, she rode close beside him. spurring when he spurred and. finally, when tho hshower of stray bullets had passed, she led on around the house.
 Wont you help me take my horse in Ide. the walls? :" she asked Bud fol owed after her. circling the fortress whs ve blank adobe walls gave shelter to tSe screaming women. and she smiley upon him with the most en- yapinp cOnfidenCe