The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1914-09-05
CHAPTER xIII-continued.

1t was slow work; slower than they
had thought, and the gang of Next
cans that they had hired for muckers
were marvels of ineptitude. Left to
themselves, they accomplished moth
ing, since each problem they encoun-
tered seemed to present to them some
element of insuperaole difficulty, to
solve which they either went into eau
Gus or waited for the boss
To the Mexicans of Sonora Bernardo
Bravo was the personificatton of all
the malevolent qualities-he being a
bandit chief who had turned first gen
eral and then rebel under Madero-
and the fact that he had at last been
driven out of Chihuahua and therefore
over into Sonora, made his maIevo-
lence all the more imminent.
Undoubtedly, somewhere over to the
east. where the Sierras lowered like
blue wall, Bernardo and his outlaw
followers were gathering for a raid,
and the raid would bring death to So
nora.
He was a bad man, this Bernardo
Bravo. and if half of the current sto-
ries were true, he killed men when
ever they failed to give him money,
and was never too hurried to take
fair daughter of the country up behind
him, provided she took his fancy
Yes. surely he was a bad man-but
that did not clear away the rock
For the first week Phil took charge
of the gang, urging, directing and ca
joling them, and the work went mer-
rily on, though rather slowly. The
Mexicans liked to work for Don Felipe,
he was so polite and spoke such good
Spanish; but at the end of the week
it developed that Bud could get more
results out of them.
Every time Phil started to explain
anything to one Mexican all the 9TH
ers stopped to listen to him, and that
took time. But Buds favOrite way of
directing a man was by grunts and
signs and bending his own back to
the task. Also, he refused to under
stand Spanish, and cut OF all long
winded explanations and suggestions
by an impatient motion to go to work.
which the trabajadores obeyed with
shrugs and grins.
So Don Felipe turned powder-man
and blacksmith, sharpening up the
drills at the little forge they had fash
Toned and loading the holes with dy-
Mantle when it became necessary to
break a rock, while Bud bossed the
unwilling Mexicans.
In an old tunnel behind their tent
they set heavy gate, and behind it
they stored their precious powder.
Then came the portable forge and the
blacksmith shop, just inside the mouth
against it for protection. For if there
is any one thing, next to horses, that
the rebels are wont to steal, it is
giant powder to blow up culverts with,
or to lay on the counters of timorous
country merchants and brighten them
into making contributions.
AS for their horses, Bud kept them
belled and hobbled, close to the house,
and no one ever saw him without his
gun. In the morning, when he got up,
he took it from under his pillow and
hung it on his belt. and there it
stayed until bedtime
He also kept a sharp watch on the
trail, above and below, and what few
men did pass through were conscious
of his eye. Therefore it was all the
more surprising when, one day, look
ing up suddenly from heaving at a
great rock,~he saw the big Yaqui sol
der, Amigo, gazing down at him from
the cut bank.
Yes, it was the same man, but with
a difference rife and cartridge
belts were absent and his clothes were
torn by the brush. But the same
good-natured. competent smile was
there, and after few words with Bud
he leaped nimbly down the bank and
laid hold upon the rock. They pulled
together, and the boulder that had
baked Buds gang OF Mexicans moved
easily for the two of them.
Then Amigo seized a ~crowbar and
slipped it into a Granny and showed
them few things about moving rocks.
For half an hour or more he worked
along. seemingly bent on displaying
his skill, then he sat down on the
bank and watched the Mexicans with
tolerant, half-amused eyes.
If he was hungry he showed 1t only
by the cigarettes he smoked, and
Hooker, studying up the chances he
would take by hiring a deserter. let
him wait until he camesto decision
"Oyez, Amigo" he hailed at last,
and, rubbing his hand around on his
stomach, he smiled questioningly,
whereat the Yaqui nodded his head
avidly.
.'StawanoI" said Hooker, ''ven." And
he left his Mexicans to dawdle as they
would while he led the Indian to camp.
There he showed him the cofee-pot
and the kettle of beans by the fire, set
out slab of Dutch-oven bread and q
sack of ierked beef, some stewsd fruit