Bisbee daily review., 1917-05-13
TWELFTH EPISODE
Peace" Which Passeth All Un-
 derstanding!
BEFORE THE STORM.

The punishment administered by the Charming ranch hands to the raiding party which, under the leadership of that redoubtable scoundrel, Rancho Zelaya, had escended-literally like wolves upon a sheepfold-upon Pa tria's hacienda in the quiet of early morning. seemed to work with salu- tary effect upon the understanding of Senqr ZSaya and his Japanese con frere, Baron Hurok.
 Days of complete peace followed that abortiye raid, lengthening into weeks.
 Scouts sent out by Captain Donald |. ParE acting stor Patria, reported that Zelaya and Huroki had apparently never again ventured forth from the mountainri fastnesses to which they had been driven by the Charming people, after their rescue of Patria and Donald.
 Nor was there perceptible any indi- cation of concentration of Mexican soldfery in the country south of the border-whether troops of the de facto government or followers of Zelaya's outlaw fortunes.
 In natural consequence that vigi- lance which had been excited among border landowners by the raid in sensibly relaxed. The stronger guards which they had established against further attempts against their lives and properties were weakened by degrees. With a single exception, they relapsed into that fatally false sense of security which had heretofore been theirs. thanks to long immunity from such outrages as had been visited upon other sections or the border country.
 That solitary exception was a note worthy one-Patria Charming who had suffered too much at the hands of Baron Huroki and his associates to believe that anything short of com plete preparation to cope with further attentions would discourage the en- emyJ .os
 Such measures, then, as Patria and her counselors reckoned she must take to provide against possible disaster, must necessarily be put into effect with the greatest secrecy. A minimum of shew must mask maximum of in- telligently directed protective efforts.
 Patria spent days riding over her lands in company with Donald. Rod man Pillsbury and small staff of chosen lieutenants. The topography of the countryside was examined with minute attention.
 The tremendous acreage of the Charming ranch favored such secrecy. It would have been almost possible to mobilize and maintain a great army within its boundaries undetected-it would have been altogether possible had the resources of the land been suf- ficient to clothe and equip and provi- sion such a force.
 As it was, a very considerable num- Der of men was added to the normal population of the ranch without at- tracting any attention whatsoever.
 Picked employees rode. forth from the hacienda well-nigh daily, for a time, on long tours into the interior and east and west along the border. And the results of their adventurings appeared daily, by twos and threes and singly-seasoned horsemen all. alert. clear-eyed, determined patriots. As a rule they timed their arrivals to occur during the hours of darkness and as soon as they had reported to Donald Parr, they were assigned to specific duties at a distance from the main ranch houses, and disappeared into the night as silently as they had come. The hinterland of the ranch swallowed them up; in its remoter stretches they lived and wrought sedu- lously at their tasks, all ready for that summons which e1ight come at any hour. Meantime they drilled quiet ly, as cavalry. as artillerymen. and as machine-gun crews. Within a period of time surprisingly brief. Patria had at her command secret legion of trained fighting men, ready for any emergency, inured to hardship. famil- far with ths borS2r country, resolute and willing.
 Only the drills of her flying corps could not be kept under cover; buf