The Washington times., 1919-07-09
CHATTER XII.

A week. later. out OF San Antonio.
on a single day, three expeditions
started for the Cordilleras. The
first, mounted on mules. was COM
posed Of Henry, Francis, the peOn
and his ancient parent, and OF sew
eral Of the Solano poems. each lead
ing a pack mule burdened with sup
plies and outfit. Old ERrico SOlano,
at the last moment, had been pre-
vented from accompanying the party
because OF the bursting open Of an
old wound received in the reVolu-
tionary fighting OF his youth.
Up the main street OF San Antonio
the cavalcade proceeded. passing the
Jail, the wall OF which Francis had
dynamited and which was only even
then being tardily rebuilt by the
Jefe's prisoners. Torres. sauntering
down the street. the latest wire
from Regain tucked in his pocket,
saw the Morgan outfit with surprise.
whittier away, senors?"
So spontaneous that IL might have
been rehearsed. Francis pointed to
the sky. Henry straight down at the
earth. the peoR to the right, and his
father to the left. The curse from
Torres at such impoliteness caused
all to burst into laughter. In which
the mule-peon Joined as they rade
along.
Within the morning. at the time
OF the siesta hour, while all the
town slept, Torres received a second
surprise. This time II was the sight
Of Leoncia and her youngest broth
er, Ricardo, on mules, leading a
third that aryfla,kTvr
a camping outfit.
The third expedition was Torres
own, neither more nor less n1eagre
than Leoncia's, for II was composed
only OF himself and one Jose
Mancheno. a notorious murderer OF
the place. whom Torres, for private
reasons. had saved from the buzz
yards of San Juan. But Torres
plans, in the matter OF an expedi-
ton. were more ambitious than they
appeared.
Not far up the slopes OF the Cor
dilleras dwelt the strange tribe OF
the Caroos. Originally founded by
runaway negro slaves of Africa and
Carib slaves OF the Mosquito Coast.
the renegades had perpetuated
themselves with stolen women OF
the TERRA caliente and with fugi-
tive women slaves like themselves.
Between the Mayas beyond and
the government Of the coast this
unique colony had maintained itself
in neutrality-suspicious.. Added to, in
later days. by runaway Spanish
prisoners, the Caroos had become
a hotchpotch Of blOods and breeds.
possessing a name and a faint So
bad that the then governing power
of Colombia, had il not been too oc-
cupied with its own particular DO
littcal gratis. would have sent arm
les to destroy the pest-hoIe.
And in this pesthole OF the Ca
roos Jose Mancheno had been born
or a Spanish murderer father and a
meStiZa murderess mother. And to
TINS pesthole Jose Mancheno was
leading Torres in order that the
commands of Thomas Regain. OF
Wall street, might be carried out.
Lucky we found him when We
did, Francis told Henry. as they
rode at the rear Of the last Maya
priest
Hes a pretty smile" Henry nod
ded. "Look at him"
The old man, as he led the way.
was forever pulling out the sacred
tassel and mumbling and mutter-
ing as he fingered il.
An Echoed Hope
Hope the old gentleman doesn't
wear il out" was Henry's fervent
wish. You'd think he'd read the
directions once and remember them
for little while. instead OF con-
tinually paving them over"
They rode out through the jungle
into a clear space that looked as
If at some time man had doWned
the Jungle and fought il back. Be
yond. by the vista afforded by the
clearing. the mountain called
Blanco Rovalo lowered high in the
sunny sky The o!d Maya halted
his mule, ran over certain strings
in tic tasseI. pointed TO the noun
tain and spoke in broken SpaniSA
gro BE CONTINUED TOMORROW