Mexico Missouri message., 1918-06-13
TRAIL" 1.-THE srOILERs."

Esteban suddenly refined In his
horse. 'Lookr said he. "Yonder is
light"
"What is Evangelna thinking
about2" Asenslo muttered.
"But see! 1t grows brighter"
There followed moment or two dur
ing which there was no sound except
the breathing Of the horses and the
creak of saddle feathers as the riders
craned their necks to see over the low
tree tops before them. Then Esteban
cried:
Come! fm-afraid it's our
house" Fear gripped him, but he
managed to say, calmly, Perhaps
there has been an-accident."
Asensio, muttering excitedly, was
trying to crowd past him; for a few
yards the two horses brushed along
side by side. The distant point of
light had become a glare now; it
winked balefully through the open
ings as the party hurried toward it.
But 1t was still long way off, and
the eastern sky had grown rosy be-
fore the dense woods of the hillside
| gave way to the sparser growth of
the low ground.
Esteban turned a sick, white face
over his shoulder and jerked out his
| orders; then he kicked his tired
mount into a swifter gallop. 1t was
he who first broke out into the clear
ing. One glance, and the story was
| told
The hut was but a crumbling skel-
eton of charred poles. Strung out
across the little field Of malangas,
| yuccas and sweet potatoes were sew
eral hilarious volunteers, their arms
filed with loot from the cabin. Be
hind them strode an officer bearing
Rosa struggling against his breast.
Esteban drove his horse headlong
| through the soft red earth of the
| garden. His sudden appearance
seemed briefly to paralyze the ma
rauders. 1t was q moment before
they could drop their spoils, unsling
their rifles, and begin to fire at him,
and by that time he had covered half
the distance to his sister. A bullet
| brought his horse down and the boy
went flying over its neck. Nothing
but the loose loan saved him from
! injury. AS he rose to his feet, breath
less and covered with the red dirt,
there came swift thudding of hOofs
and Asensio swept past him like
rocket. Esteban caught one glimpse
of the negrOs face, fleeing vision
of white teeth barred to the gums, of
distended yellow eyes, of fiat, distort-
| ed features; then Asensio was fairly
upon Colonel Cobo. The colonel, who
had dropped his burden, now tried to
| dodge. Asensio slashed once at him
with his long. murderous machete,
but the next instant he was engaged
with trooper who had fred almost
In his face.
| CobO's men, led by the terrified Pan
cho Cueto, turned and fed for cover,
| believing themselves in danger of an
| Inhalation. Nor was the colonel him.
self in any condition to rally them,
for Asensio's blade had cloven one
full dark cheek to the bone, and the
shock and pain had unnerved him.
The field was small, the jungle was
close at hand. A moment and the in
terlopers had vanished into 1t, all but
one, who lay kicking among the broad
malanga leaves, and over whom Assem-
sio kept squirting his terrified horse,
hacking downward with insane fury.
This was the first hand-to-hand en-
counter Esteban's men had had, and
their swift victory rendered them fero-
cious. Flinging their guns aside, they
went crashing into the brush on the
trail of their enemies.
Rosa found herself in her brothers
arms, sobbing out the story Of the out
rage and qulvering at every sound Of
the chase. He was caressing her. and
telling her TO have no further fears /;
both of them were fairly hysterical.
Evangelina, thanks to her thick skull,
was not dead. In the course Of time
under Rosa's and Esteban's ministra-
tions she regained her senses, and
when the other men returned they
found her lying sick and dazed, but
otherwise quite whole.
Then, there beside the ruins Of the
hut, was a strange scene Of rejoicing.
Asensio recovered now from his burst
of savagery, was fearful, compassion
ate; his comrades laughed and chat
tered and Dragged about their prodig-
ious deeds of valor. Over and over
they recounted their versions of the
encounter, each more fanciful than the
other, until it seemed that they must
have left the forest filed with corpses.
Esteban was grave. He had heard
of Colonel CobO, and, remembering
that denim-clad figure out yonder in
the trampled garden, he knew that Sc
rious consequences would follow. The
! volunteers were revengeful; their
colonel was not the sort of man to
: forgive a deep humiliation. Doubt
. less he would put price upon the
heads of all of them, and certainly he
, would never allow them another en-.
counter upon anywhere like even