Vernon Parish Democrat., 1921-02-24
{ CHAPTER ~.

ESpuDAAC VI OoDEdHLSp us AuNdIldDly AZ
dawns In the tropics-without extend
ed preliminary symptoms. The soft,
silvery light Of full moon that had
stayed out scandalously late. had
merged imperceptibly into gray; the
gray was swiftly yielding place to
faint crimson that was spreading and
deepening upward athwart the east.
In the patio Of Mother jerks estab-
lishment in the Gale de Concordia,
No. 19, the first shafts of morning
light were tiltering obliquely through
the orange trees and creeping in un-
der the deep, Gothic-arched veranda
lanking the western side Of the pa
ito. Presently, through the silent
reaches Of the Gale de Concordia, the
sound Of a prodigious knocking and
humping echoed, as of some fretful
individual seeking admission at the
street door Of Ell Buen Amigo, by
which euphonious designation Mother
Jenks' caravansary was known to the
public Of Buenaventura. In the sec
ond story, front, a window slid back
and a woman's voice, husky with that
huskiness that speaks so accusingly
of cigarettes and alcohol, demanded:
"Quien es? Who is it? Que quiere
usted? Wot do yer want?'
"Ye might dlspinse wit that para
queet conversation whin addhressin'
the likes av me-" a voice replied. "Tis
me-Cafferty. I have a cablegram
Leber give me to deliver"
"Gawd's TRUTH Would yer wake
the 'ole 'ouse with yer 'ammering?"
"All right. I'll not say another
worrdP
Without the portal stood Don Juan
Cafetero, OF whom a word or two be-
fore proceeding.
To begin, Don Juan Cafetero was
not his real name, but rather free
Spanish translation Of the Gaelic
John Cafferty. Mr. Cafferty was an
exile Of Erin with a horrible thirst.
He had first arrived in Sobrante some
FIVE years before, as section boss in
the employ of the little foreign-owned
narrOw-gauge railway which ran from
Buenaventura on the Caribbean coast
to San Miguel de Padua, up-country
where the nitrate beds were located
Prior to his advent the railroad peo-
pie had tried many breeds of section
boss without visible results, until a
Chicago man, who had come to So
brante to install an inter-communicat-
ing telephone system in the govern
ment buildings, suggested to tile su-
perintendent of the road, who was a
German, that the men made for bosses
come from Erin's isle; wherefore Mr..
Cafferty had been imported at a price
of S5 a day gold. Result-a marked
improvement in the road bed and con-
sequently the train schedules, and the
ultimate loss Of the Cafferty soul.
Something in the climate of Sobran-
te must have appealed to a touch Of
laissez faire in Don Juan's amiable
nature, for in the course of time he
had taken unto himself without bell
or book, after the fashion of the Pro
letariat of Sobrante, the daughter of
one Esteban Manuel Enrique Jose Ma
ria Pasqual Miramontes, an estima-
BILE peon who was singularly glad to
have his daughter Off his hands and no
questions asked. Following the fash
ion Of the country, however Esteban
had forthwith moved the remainder of
his numerous progeny under the man
tie Of Don Juan Cafetero's philan-
thropy, and resigned a position which
for many years he had not enjoyed
--to-wit: sailing and packing green
hides at local abattOir. This fool
hardy economic move had so incensed
Don Juan that in a fit of pique he
spurned his father-in-law 1--WE must
call Esteban something and so why
split hairs?l under the tails of his
camisa, with such vigor as to sever
forever the friendly relations hither-
to existing between the families. Mrs
Cafferty (again we transgress, but
what of it?) subsequently passed away
in child birth, and no sooner had she
been dece1tly buried than Don Juan
took a week off to drown his sorrows.
In this condition he had encOun-
tered Esteban Manuel Enrique Jose
Maria Pasqual Miramontes and
called him out of his name. In the
alteration that ensued Esteban, fully
convinced that he had received the
nub end OF the transaction from start
to finish, cut Don Juan severely; Don
Juan had thereupOn slain Esteban
with a .44-ealiber revolver and upon
emerging from the railroad hospital
month later had been tried by So
brantean magistrate and fined the sum
Of $4,000, legal tender of the republic
Of Sobrante. OF course, he had paid
it of within six months from his
wages as section boss, but the mem
ory Of the injustice always ranked
him, and gradually he moved down the
scale of s0ciety from section boss to
day laborer, day laborer to tropical
tramp, and tropical tramp to beach