Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1914-10-09

that was always lacking in these Mex
lean fights. The Mexican bandit takes
but little chance when he goes to var
As for the Mendozas and their So
moran miners, they were properly
chagrined at their waste of ammuni-
tion and swore by Santa Guadalupe to
fight it out with hand grenades. Even
as their leaders w~rangled the Mexican
powder men were busily manufacture
ing bombs, and all the while the SUI
perintendent was glancing to the
south, for swift couriers had been SEM
to Alvarez, the doughty Spanish ha-
ciendado of the hot country. to beg
him to come to their relief.
Twice before Alvarez had met the
rebels. The first time he spoke them
we'll and they ran of all his horses.
The second time he armed his Yaquis
and Yaqui Mayo rancheros against
them and drove them from his domain,
inficting a sanguinary punishment.
Since then he had been itching to
engage them In . pitched battle. and
when the word reached him he would
come. Two hundred and forty Yaquis,
all armed with repeating rifles, would
follow at his back, and even with his
boasted thousands Bernardo Bravo
could hardly withstand their valor. So,
while the rebels p~arleyed, demanding
a ransom of millions and threatening
to destroy the town, the defenders
argued and reasoned with them,
hoping to kill the time until Alvarez
should arrive.
In the open space in front of he
house the refugees gathered in an anx-
ious group, waiting for messengers
from the front. and as Hooker walked
among them he was aware of the ma
lignant g~lances of Aragon- There were
other glances as well, for he had won
great favor with the ladies by ditching
the powder train, but none from Ora
cha or her mother.
Bud would not have admitted that
he resented this lack of appreciation
on the part of Gracia- In fact he hard
ly knew that he did resent 1t, but he
watched a~nxiously for any sign OF ap-
proval from this girl who was to be
his pardner's bride should he conduct
her safely to the border.
From the beginning the Sonora Ara
gon had treated him as a stranger, &C
cording to the code Of her class, and
Hooker had never attempted to In
trude. But If Gracia still remembered
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. 1t broke up suddenly In a
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 a bull
let hole through the crown of his hat
A grim smile f1ickered across Buds
face as he saw the damage 1t had
wrought, for he knew that Amigo vas
in the hills-and a bullet shot down
hill goes hight 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-
a sternly as Aragon spoke rapidly
in his ear. But If they planned ven
geance between them the times were
not right, for a 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 we're run
ming like mad. For, matching treach-
cry against deceit, the rebel leaders
had sent men around to clip up near
the town and at the first fusillade from
the hillside they came charging up
the creek
Then 1t was that the ever-watchfui
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 adj
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 vas
going on in the lower town they found
Judgment in a 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 a dynamite bomb marked the begin
ming Of hand-to-hand.
If there was to be a casualty list in