The Seattle star. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1899-1947, 1919-08-23
tcontInaed Frem Yesteraayl

the light OF the cheap kerosene lamp
she read aloud from calf-hound
tome. which was a Spanish transla'
tion Of blackstone Both were bare.
armed. clad in hooded gahardincs 81
sack cloth. Her hood lay back on
her Shoulders. exposing her black
and generous head OF hair.
But the old mans hood was cowled
about his head after the fashion OF
i monk. The face. lofty and ascetic,
bcaked with power. was pure Span
lsh. Don ouixote might have worn
precisely a similar face. But there
was a difference. The eyes OF this
old man were closed In the perpetual
dark Of the blind. Never could he be
hold windmill at which to tilt.
lie sat. while the pretty mestixa
read 20 him. listening and brooding.
Tor all the world In the pose OF Ro.
aims Thinker" Nor was he n
dreamer. nor a litter Of windmills.
Nike Don Quixote.
Despite his blindness, that ever
yelled the apparent face OF the world
IN invisihility. he was a man OF ac-
eion. and his soul was anything but
hind. penetrating unerringiy beneath
ne show OF things to the heart and
IRE soul Of the world and reading
lss inmost sins and rapacities and no
b)enesx and virtues.
He lifted his hand and put - pause
- the reading. while he thought
Aloud from the context of the read.
ing.
The law OF man." he said with
slow certItudc. is today a game OF
Wits. Not equity. but wit. rs the
same OF law today. The law in It's In
ueption was good: but the way OF the
NV. the practice OF II. has led men
81 into false pursuits. They have
mistaken the way for the goal. the
means for the end. Yet Is law law
ana necessary and good. Only law.
n IL practice today, has gone astray.
Judges and lawyers engage In
competitlons and ARRAYS OF wit and
Earning. quite forgetting the plain
AlFk and defendants. before them
ana paying them. who are seeking
oQuify and justice and not wit and
oonrning.
yet N old blackstone right Tn
&er Il all. AT the bottom Of II all. at
kke beginning OF the building Of the
odl{lce OF the law. IL the quest. the
cnrnest and sincere quest OF right
8 Nous men for justice and equity. But
what Il 1t that the preacher said
They made themselves many inven-
& 11ous.'
ssAnd the law. good In Its begin
nfnE. has been invented out OF all
~ intent. so that II serves neither
uelxants nor injured ones. but merely
ne fatted judges and the lean and
HunGry lawyers who achieve names
~ 4 paunches II they prove them
selves cleverer than their opponents
and than the judges who render de
c1o10n."
He paused. stili posed as Robins
sThinker," and meditated. while the
m4ofixa woman waited his customary
u1<naI to resume the reading. At last
- out OF a profound OF thought In
which universes had been weighed In
{. ~ balance. he spoke:
But we have law. here In the Cor
nil1eras Of Panama. that Is just and
F1Ghf and all OF equity. We work for
20 man and serve not even paunches
DnckcIoth and not broadcioth con
6uces 20 equity Of judicial decision
Read on. Mercedes. Blackstone is al
ways right II always rightly read
{ which Is what is called paradox. and
y what modern law ordinarily is. a
nnrzdox. Read on. Blackstone Il
the very foundation of human law
but. oh. how many wrongs are clev
erly committed by clever men in his
namer'
NOT THE LAMP
Ten minutes later the blind thinker
/ raised his head. shifted the air. ant
gestured the girl TO pause. Takins
her cue from him, she. too. shifted
"Perhaps II Is the lamp. o Jusi
+, Oner' she suggested.
"It In burning OIL" he said. but
Il Il not the lamp. II IL from far
away. Also, / heard shooting in tbs
canyons"
II heard nothing" she began.
4'Daughter. you who see have no
fhe need to hear that have. Ther'
have been many shots fired in th'
canyons. Order my children TO inves
teate and make report"
Bowling reverently to the old maj
Who could not see, but who. by keer
trained hearing and conscious tim
mr. OF her every muscular action
Knew that she had bowed, the youni
woman lifted the curtain Of blanket
and passed out into the day a
either side OF the cave-mouth sat
man Of the peon class. Each wa
armed with rifle and machete, Will
thru their girdles were thrust naked
bladed knives.
At the girls order. both arose ant
bowed, not to her, but TO the com
mand and the invisible source OF tn
command. One Of them tapped tn
ba X of his machetes against tn
stone upon which he had been sitting
then laid his ear to the stone and lie
tened. In truth, the stone was Blu
the outtut of vein OF metalllferou
ore that extended across and thri
fhe heart Of the mountain.
And beyond. on the opposite slope
III an eyrie commanding the mas
nifcent panorama Of the descendin
slopes Of the Cordijleras, sat anothe
Oeon who first listened with his ea
pressed to similar metalliferou
ouartz, and next tapped respons
With his machete. After that, h
stepped half dozen PAGES 10 a Ia
an Tree. half dead. reached into the no
low heart OF IL, and pulled ON tn
rope within as a man might pull VIII
vas ringing o steeple bell.
But no sound was evoked. Instead
: lofty branch. so feet above hi
head, sticking out from the NAL
trunk like semaphore arm, move
a .4tn 80