The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1914-06-20

| duu pidLd anu lcltlu6 tHO foiuhICOio
fight, but now the war had shifted to
his territory and his ruraies were run
ming like mad. For, matching treach-
cry against deceit, the rebel leaders
had sent men around to slip up near
the town and at the first fusillade from
the hillside they came charging up
the creek.
Then 1t was that the ever-watchful
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 ad-
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 was
going on in the lower town they found
Judgment in 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 dynamite bomb marked the begin
ming Of hand-to-hand.
If there was to be casualty list In
this long-looked for battle of Fortuna,
the time was at hand when they could
begin counting the dead.
With a fearlessness born of long ia
miliarity with explosives the Sonoran
miners advanced valiantly with their
hand grenades- baking powder cans
filled with dynamite and studded with
Illuminating caps. Digging fiercely
through wall after wall they ap-
preached unperceived by the enemy
and the first bomb flung from roof,
filled the adobe with wounded and
dead.
A dense pail Of yellowish smoke
rose high above the town and, as bomb
after bomb was exploded and the yells
of the miners grew louder with each
| success, the stunned invaders broke
from cover and rushed helter-skelter
up the gulch. Then there was a prodi-
gious shouting from the Sonorans and
more than one triumphant grenadier
swung his can Of giant powder by the
sling and let it smash against the hill
in terrific defamation.
In the big house all was confusion.
Soon the cheers of the defenders her.
aided victory and, In spite Of all efforts
to restrain them, the wives Of the
miners rushed into the open to gaze
upon the triumph of their menfolk.
On the hilltops the ineffective rebel
riflemen rose up from behind their
stone wall to stare, until suddenly
they, too, were seized with panic and
ran to and fro like ants. Then, around
the curve below the concentration, a
tall man came dashing up on a pure
white horse, and behind him, charging
as he charged, came the swarthy va
quis Of Alvarez, their new rifles gleam-
ing In the sun.
Up along the hillside and after the
fugltives they ran with vengeful eager
ness, racing each other for the higher
ground and the first shot at the reb-
els. First Alvarez on his white horse
would be ahead, and then, as they en-
countered rocks, the Yaquis would
surge to the front. 1t was race and
at the same time 1t was a rout, for,
at the first glimpse of that oncoming
body of warriors, the cowardly follow.
ers Of Bernardo Bravo took to their
heels and fed.
But over the rocks no Chihuahuan.
no matter how scared. can hope to out
distance a Yaqui. and the pop, pop of
rifles told the fate Of the first luckless
stragglers. For the Yaquis, after q
hundred and sixty years of guerrilla
warfare, never waste a shot; and as
savage yells and the crash of sud-
den volley drifted down from the rocky
heights the men who had been be-
sieged In Fortuna knew that death was
abroad in the hills.
Fainter and fainter came the shots
as the pursuit led on to the north and,
as Hooker strained his eyes to follow
huge form that intuition told him
was Amigo, he was Weakened suddenly
from his preoccupation by the touch
OF some unseen hand. He was in the
open with people all about him
Spanish refugees, Americans, trium.
plant miners and their wives-but
that touch made him forget the battle
above him and instantly think of
Gracia.
He turned and hurried back to the
corral where Copper Bottom was kept,
and there he found her waiting, with
her roam all saddled, and she chal-
lenged him with her eyes, The sun
cleaned from pistol that she held
In her hand, and again from her golden
hair, but he saw only her eyes, so
brave and daring, and the challenge
to mount and ride.
Only for a moment did he stand be,
fore her gaze, and then he caught up
his saddle and spoke soothingly to his
horse. They rode out of the corral
together, closing the gates behind