The Lakeland evening telegram., 1914-06-02
CHAPTER w.

From the times of David and Jona-
than down to the present day the
world has been full Of young men
sworn to friendship and seeking ad-
venture in pairs. "Pardners," they call
them in the west, and though the word
has not crept into the dictionary yet.
1t Is as different from partner" as
friend is from business associate.
They travel together, these pardners
Of the West, and whether they be cow
boys or Cousin Jacks" the boss who
fires one Of them fires both of them,
and they 60 share and share In every
thing.
Bud Hooker and Philip De Lancey
had met by chance in Ell Paso when
the revolution was just beginning to
boil and the city was swarming with
adventurers. The agents Of the rebels
were everywhere, urging Americans to
Join their cause. Military preferment,
cash payments, and grants of land
were the bats they used, but Hooker
stood out from the first and took De
Lancey with him. A Mexican promise
did not pass current where he was
born and they went to the mines in.
stead.
Then the war broke out and, while
fugitives streamed out of stricken
Chihuahua, they finally struck out
against the tide, fighting their way to
a certain mine far back in the Sierra
Madres, where they could dig the gold
on shares.
Behind them the battle waged;
Casas Grandes was taken and retaken;
Juarez, Aqua Negra and chihuahua
fell; Don Porfiro, the Old Man of Mex
leo, went out and Madero took his
place; and still they worked for their
stake.
Then new arms and ammunition
flowed in from across the border;
Orozco and his rebel chiefs went out,
and the breath of war famed higher
against the hills. At last the first
broken band of rebels came struggling
by, and, reading hate and envy
in their lawless eyes, the Americans
dug up their gold at sundown and rode
all the night for their lives.
And now, welded together by all that
toll and danger, they were pardners,
cherishing no delusions as to each
others strength or weaknesses, but
Joined together for better or worse.
It was the last thing that either Of
them expected, but three days after
they fed out of Mexico, and with all
their money unspent, the hand Of fate
seized upon them and sent them back
TO another adventure.
1t was early morning again, with
crowds along the street, and as they
ambled slowly along toward the line
the men on the corners stared at them.
The bunch of cowboys gazed at Bud,
who sported new pair of high-heeled
boots, and knew him by the way he
rode; and the mining men looked
searchingly at De Lancey, as if to
guess the secret of his quest.
A squad of mounted troopers, riding
out on border patrol, gazed after them
questiouingly, but Bud and Phil rode
on soberly, leading their pack, and
headed for Aqua Negra across the line.
1t was grim place to look at, this
border town Of Aqua Negra, for the
war had swept it twice. A broad waste
of level land lay between it and the
prosperous American city, and across
this swath, where the Mausers and
machine guns had twice moved. lay
the huddle Of low houses which
marked the domain Of Mexico.
Fussy little customs officials, lurk.
ing like spiders in their cooped-up
guardhouses, rushed out as they
crossed the deep trench and demanded
their permit TO bear arms. The mo-