Evening star., 1921-12-04


ties of which 1 relieved you. 1 am
| waiting for you to drink it"
geolo in surprise. The fermentation
! of all these wines is. 1 know. erratic,
but l will taste it, and he lifted the
glass to his lips, and would have
swallowed its contents. but Don Q.
struck it from his hand.
Il see that you are innocent. said
he. land l apologize for my very un-
worthy suspicious. l trust ! have
your forgiveness"
| For what must 1 forgive you?"
For thinking that you were a mur-
| derer. Exactly: that wine is poi
/ soned. Were it not for chance, l
: should be dead now. But there was a
young captive Englishman. He drank
some and he lies in the chapel of San
| Pedro with candles burning at his
! head and at his feet. Then / tried il
on an old hound. and he died also.
There is villainy here, Senor An
Seolo."
And you thought that l had poi
! soned the wine?'
! WAS the deduction unnatural? The
| wine came from your vineyard and
you have been my wine merchant
these five years. But enough OF il;
see that you did not poison the wine.
Who did?"
Were all the bottles poisoned?"
asked Angeolo.
| Il picked out dozen haphazard.
and all those were. But we waste
time. You did not poison the wine.
! that is clear. but that it was poisoned
here in this house is also clear. Your
ma jor- -domo-"
Els incapable of such an act"
! Then who else has been here?"
! The Senor Angreuz. to whom the
! wine was consigned. He stayed here
! for three days before the muie-train
and the bullock carts started
"Ah"' said Don .. And who is
| this Senior Angreuz?'
! A wine buyer"
. "Describe him.
/ Angeolo did SO. but Don G. shook
/ his head 81 do not know any one who
is like that" he said. where is the
man now?''
| "In Seville
| "It is undoubtedly he said Don Q.
| "He adopts the profession of a wine
| buyer as disguise. He is one of the
many who have dared to hunt me as
the forest guard hunts vermin. Well.
! others have gone forth on that hunt.
but none of them have ever returned
| from it,
"You are as shocked as am at this
most treacherous murder. That poor
| young, Englishman! He was but
itwenty-three years of age. Well. the
murderer must be brought to justice" )"
| But he is in Seville"
AT the moment. yes" replied Don
10. "But it will be your affair to ar
range that he comes here"
/ II do not think that will be easy"
! Nevertheless, it must be done. You
will write him letter of business.
! At the end of this letter you will say
! that one of my. men has come down
and told you that there have been
several deaths up there among the
mountains, and that I am dead. You
| will add that all my followers are
scattered and that the man who has
come to you has offered to guide you
| to my stronghold in the Boca de
Lobo. That is the bait, and I think
that this Angreuz will come to it.
"WHEN he does, you will light IT,, a
bonfire on that little bare hill
that overlooks your vineyard. This
Senior Angreuz will wish to accom-
pany you into the mountains. You
| will encourage him to do SO, and
Ithen-' Don Q. paused. TT may
be that the spirit of that poor young
| Englishman will sleep more peace
fully"
! Now, everything fell out much as
Don @. expected. Senior AngreuZ re-
ceived the letter of Senior Angeolo.
| and the facts being so much those
which he had anticipated, he had no
doubt of the wine-grower's good faith.
| So 1t came to pass that five days
| after receiving the letter he was sit
| ting once more at Angeles hospi-
table table. After supper Robledo en-
tered. He had carefully dressed for
I nd AnneaTanCe
Of the hunted fugitive.
In Iurfd terms he described the
death which had visited the brigand
camp, the fight Of his comrades from
1.-THE place as.,from a place ph. neeursed ;n.a SEQ
and their scattering back into the
| town to the coast.
"My lord, Don O.. is dead, said
Robledo, land around him lie a dozen
of my comrades. The rest-the wind
alone knows where they are. They
are scattered; yes. like the dust OF
the despoblados In summer"
| =" But said Senor Augreuz. "of
what did they die?" Robledo gave an
| expressive gesture. "Quien sabe
| Who knows?" said he. And being
dead, does it matter how they died?'
We need not follow Robledo far.
| ther. suffice it that he played his part
iexcellentfy. as indeed was only to be
expected, as he had been a decoy of
Don Q.'s for more than twenty years,
for he had come as a boy into the bril-
gand camp.
The next morning the three men
Estarted on their journey into the
sierra, for Angreuz expressed his de-
| sire to go.
"You see, senor." said he to An
geolo, sit is our duty~to see II all
! things are as this man relates. We
can then inform the government
! All day they journeyed upward
Angreuz and Angeolo upon mules,
| while Robledo marched beside them
with the tireless step Of the noun
| taineer.
/ Rlack gorge after black gorge closed
I'M behind them. They left the region
Of the olive trees. they left the ilexes
and they passed through the cork woods