The Seattle star. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1899-1947, 1920-12-15

rades. They loved him Tor his san
plloiiy ana drollnenn. but there hunh
above him great sword OF suspend
Cd Judgment. To make merry In
camp is not all OF "a rangers life,
There are horse thieves 70 tran,
desperate criminals 90 run down,
braves to battle with. bandits TO
fout out OF the chaparrnl, peace ana
order TO be compelled az the muzzlo
OF aix.Hhooter. Jimmy had been
most generally a COW punchcr," he
SAID. he was inexperienced IN ranger
methods OF warfare Therefore. the
rangers spcculated apart and solemn.
" as 10 how he would stand fire.
For. let II be known. tho honor and
pride OF each ranger company II the
individual bravery Of lis members
: For two months the border was
quiet. Tho rangers lollcd. ligtlcss la
camp. And then --bnnglng JOY 10
the rusting guardians Of the frontier
-sebastiano aaldar, an eminent
Mexican desperate and cattle thief.
crossed the Rio Grande with his gang
and began 20 lay waste the Texas
aide. There were Indications that
Jimmy Hayes would soon have tho
opportunity 10 show his mctiie The
rangers patrollcd with alacrlty. but
ShldaFs men were mounted like
iochinvar. and were hard 10 catch.
one evening, about rundown. the
rangcrs halted for supper aficr
long ride. Their horses stood pant.
lnE. with their saddles on The men
were frying bacon and boiling coffee.
suddenly, out of the brush. Ssipas-
uano S9ldar and his gang dashed
upon them with blazing six.shooters
and hlgh.volood yeila II was neat
surprise. The rangers sworc In an.
noysd tones. and got their Winches.
tiers busy; but the attack was only
spectacular dash ~ the puresa Next
can type. After the florid demon.
Hsration che raiders gnllopcd away.
yelling down the river The rangers
mounted and pursued but In less
than two miles the tagged ponies Ia.
borrd 30 that Lieut. Manning gave
the word 10 abandon the chase and
return "a the camp.
Then ii was discovered that Jimmy
itayos WAS missing. Some one re-
nemborod having seen him nun for
his pony when the attack began. hut
no one had set eye on him since
Morning came, but no Jimmy. They
asarchei the country around. on the
/ theory that he had been kiilcd or
wounded but without success. Then
they followed after saldara gang.
but II seemed 60 have disappeared
Manning concluded that the willy
Mexican had recronBcd the riycr
after his thoatric farewell. md. In.
deed. no further doprcdations from
him were reported.
This gave .thc rnnEcrn time TO
nurue a soreness they had As has
been said. the pride and honor of the
company IL the individual bravery OF
its members And now they believed
Jimmy Hayes had turned coward al
the whiz OF Mexican bullets. There
was no other deduction. Buck
Davis pointed on; that not shot
was flrrd By saidara gang after
Jimmy was seen running for hir
horse. There was no way for him TO
have been shot No. he had fled
from his first fight. and aftcrward he
would not return. aware that the
scarn Of hin comrades would be a
worue thing 10 face than the muz.
niea of many rifles.
No ManutnF'H detachment 81 Nc.
Leans company. Frontier Battalion.
Was gloomy. II was tho firut blot on
4 A.. a..
history of The service had a ranger
shown the white feather. All OF
them had liked jimmy Hayes. and
that made II worse
DayH. weeks and months went by.
and eth that little cloud OF unfor.
gotten cowardice hung above the
camp.
Merry a year aftcrwari-aftcr
many camping grounds aud many
hundreds OF miles guarded and de
Tended Lieutenant Manning. with
almost the same detachment OF men
was sent to n point only a few miles
below their old camp on the river
TO look after soSne smuggling there
one afternoon. while they were
riding thru a dense mesquite fiat
they came upon a patch Of open hog
wallow prairie. There they rode up
ON the scene OF an unwritten tragedy.
4 In a big hogwaliow lay the skcic-
tons OF three Mexicans Their cloth.
Ing alone served 10 identify them
The largest OF tho figures had once
been Sohastiano Saidar. His great,
costly sombrcro. heavy with gold
ornamentation-~a hat famous all
along the Rio Grande Jay there
pierced By three bullets Along the
ridge Of tho hog wailow rested the
rusting wlnchesters OF the Mexicans
ALI pointing In the same direction
The rangers rode in that direction
for fifty yards. There. In little
depression Of tho ground with his
+ rifle still bearing upon tho three. lay
another skeleton. II had been bat.
/ tie OF determination. There was
nothing 20 identify the solitary de
{ fender His clothing-such as the
elements had left distinRuishablc--
seemed to be of.the kind that any
ranchman or cowboy might have
worn.
Some COW puncher" said Man.
ming. that they caught out alone.
Good boy' He put up a dandy scrap
before they got him. SO that's why
we didn't hear from Don .Sebastiano
any moref'
And then. from beneath the
weathcrbeatcn rags Of the dead man.
there wrigglcd out n horned frog
with a faded red ribbon around its
neck. and sat upon the shoulder OF
its long quiet master Mutcly II told
the story OF the untried youth and
the swift paint" pony-,how they
had outstrlpped all their comrades