Tombstone epitaph., 1916-07-09

or old when the Toltecs came down upon the land. and when following them the countless thousands of the red savages drove the Toltecs in head. long flight. bringing death and desc iation upon the land. And then the Spaniard came. and-thou knowest the rest, senor.
 T do but speak the empty vapor ings of age. l am seventy-six year. of age, and have tracked that stone northward-northward ever since that day when Zapata's men robbed the shrine.
 Those men who fed yesterday across the line, and who found refuge with thee have the stone. They took it in fair fight from the rebels, who were moving toward Fl Paso with it in the hope of selling 1t for gold with which to purchase arms and ammuni, tion for their cause.
 And they in turn have lost the stone to thee; for a passing cowboy told me that these men had surren- dered to the Americanos and guided LhS hhc bttoNei Poit VI tuc ~ay to tuy camp.
 T am no rebel. senor. am a churchman. not a soldier. But-I seek the stone-I. now that my brother is dead; I. the Blind Priest of Trecante. am the lawful guardian of the shrine"
 Just then the deep voice of the ser geant broke in.
 Sir, if the lieutenant is ready I'll bring up the packs an the lieutenant can sv through 'em."
 kynaston. called back to earth, looked up and nodded.
 Bring 'em all up in front of my tent. sergeant"
 The three pack mules. tired and un- groomed. were led m and the;- packs decanted in front of the tent where Dorothy and Mrs. Fane sat in inter ested observation.
 There ought to be guns an re volvers an ammunition" commented kynaston. Button! Button, Who's got the button? wonder what they've got packed away in those aparejos."
 He soon found out, for under the quiet orders of the sergeant the guards slipped the packs and opened them in front of the wondering eyes Of the little group.
 T thought at least we would find that the arms manufacturers of the country had shipped rifles and pistols to them across the border" comment ed kynaston. And l find nothing; absolutely nothing. A petate-sleep- ing mat-and a lot of dried red pep pers, together with a package of beans triples Wait bit, Whats that under your hand. Miss Upton?"
 Miss Upton, startled. looked curl ously at the package under her hand which she had been resting upon the pack. She gave il twitch. and bun de wrapped in a rough, red blanket rolled out on the ground. Kynaston promptly picked it up.
 "H-m! Three rifles that have no business here and a hundred rounds of ammunition. Wait bit, Sergeant look at the arsenal mark on those rifles and see where they were made"
 The sergeant scrutinized them care fully in the early light.
 Sir. there's some mark on 'em that cant make out. It looks like some sort of a flower as well as l can see"
 Kynaston took the gun. As far as it's appearance was concerned it resembled every other military rife that he had ever seen, but when he turned the under side to the light he saw stamped in the dark wooden forehand of the piece the full-blown chrysanthemum that was the emblem of only one nation.
 ''H-m. An Arisaka rife! Now how the deuce did that come here? It was made as far east as one can get without tumbling over to the westward again. How the deuce did Japanese rife come into Mexican hands?"
 He had no opportunity to solve the problem, for even as he spoke Dorothy gave an exclamation and stepped back . pace as the covering of a package broke and a flood of silver pesos ran out at her feet.
 There's no proof of stealing in these" commented Kynaston. Even if there were the stealing was done ip Mexico. and the thief was not with in our jurisdiction. What is this?"
 It was a plain, dirty canvas sack perhaps a foot in depth anf it bore the marks of rough handling. He picked it up and tuggled it from hand to hand. The officer of ths Carranza forces was obviously uneasy at the scrutiny.
 That, senor," he said, Ifs the great. est prize of all. It was stolen by these rebels across the line and was to be used by them to purchase arms."
 Without waiting for any explana tion as to what the contents of the sack might be, Kynaston cut the string and poured the contents out upon the saddle blanket which the sergeant had spread upon the ground. Certainly there was nothing in the roll of rags that rolled out to presage great value.
 But on turning over the mass with his foot a glow of green caught his eyes. There tumbled out at his feet a great crystal bell the color of the richest blue grass that grows in Ken