The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1915-04-10

.l-IE from one - Tie O.NtT, IS IL q
go? Wtll YOU shake hands on it,"
What's the propositton?" broke in
De Lancey eagerly.
The deal Is between me and
Hooker. corrected Kruger. IN give
him three hundred month, or an
equal share in the mine, expenses to
he shared between US"
Make it equal shares" said Hook
+. holding out his hand, and I'll give
half 0f mine 10 Phil
All right. my boy!' cried the old
man. suddenly cl"pping him on the
shoulder. III go you-and You'll never
regret t." lie added significantly.
Thea throwing Off tha air Of guarded
secrecy which had characterized his
actions 50 far. he sat down and began
10 talk
Boys" he said, I'm feeling lucky
To-Day or I'd never have closed this
deal Hin letting YOU il on one OF the
biggest things that's ever been found
IA Sonora. Just to show you how good
It $, here's my smelter receipts for
. eight hundred pounds OF picked ore
! cne thousand and twenty-five dollars!
! hats he first and last ore that's ever
oven shinpad from the old Eagle Tail
dns il out myself, and sacked i
4 ana ehippeait. and then some Ct them
crooked McXicaE officials tried to beat
7 inc out VI my ntle and bloweG up the
whole works with dynamite,
as, sir, clean as histle, l had
uT lawder stored away in the DRIFT,
md the minute ! found out / was
J egchred I laid a fuse tot ana brought
the whole mountain down That was
tyn Years ago, and old Alagon and
the agente mineral have had the land
( located ever since.
i bet they've spent five thousand
/ pesos trying TO find that lead but be
ing nothing but a bunch OF tgIorant
NeNicans, Of course they never found
nothing Then Francisco Madeso
comes in and fires the agente mineral
off his JOB and old Aragon lets the land
revert for taxes. I've got Mexican
that keeps me posted, and ever since
he sent me word that the title had
! lapsed I've been crazy to relocate that
claim
Well, now. that don't look SO bad,
does it, he asked, beaming paternally
at Bud. There amt man in town
that wouldn't have Jumped at the
/ chance, if | was where | could talk
oh y hut hot c i,rS Win J
do. had to find some stranger that
wouldn't sense what mine l was talk
ing about and then git him to go in on
it blind
Now here's the way I'm fixed
boys" he exclaimed, brushing his un-
kempt beard and smiling craftily.
When ] dynamited the Eagle Tail 1t
was mine by rights. but Cipriano Ara
| gon-he's the big Mexican down at old
| Fortuna anu .aIoraies, the mineral
agent, had buncoed me out Of the title.
so, according to law, | blowed up
their mine, and Il | ever showed up
down there l reckon they'd throw me
into Jail. And If at any time they find
out that you're working for me, why,
we're ditched-that's all! They'll put
you out Of business So, after we've
made our agreement and I've told you
what to do | don't want to hear q
word out of you'll don't want you to
come near me, nor even write me a
letter-just go ahead the best you can
| until you win out or go broke.
1T amt a hard proposition" he
continued, If you keep your mouth
shut but if they tumble, it'll be fight
to a finish I'm not saying this for
you, Hooker, because l know you're
safe; I'm saying it for your pardner
here. You talk too much, Mr. De Lam
cey," he chided, eying him with sud
den severity. I'm afraid Of ye."
All right, broke in Hooker good
naturedly. Il reckon we understand.
Now go ahead and tell Us where this
mine is and who there is down there
to look out for
The man to look out for an
swered Kruger with venom, lis Cipri-
ano Aragon He's the man that bilked
me out of the mine once, and he'll do
| It again if he can. When went down
/ there-it was ten years and more ago
i wasn't on to those Spanish ways of
| his. and he was so dog -goned polite
and friendly | thought ! could trust
him anywhere.
He owns a big ranch and mescal
! still, runs cattle, works 2 few placers,
sends out pack-trains, and has every
/ Mexican ard Indian in the country in
| debt to him through his store, so If he
| happens TO want any rough work done
! there's always somebody to do it.
We'll, just to show you how he did
me, ] got to nosing round those old
j. 4