Lakeland Evening Telegram Newspaper, June 18, 1914, Page 2

THE EVENING TELEGRAM LAK . ves sveaNo LRI LARELAND UL VNP R T AND, FLA.,, JUNE 17, 1914, —— SRR The Land of Broken Promises H =3 & o By DANE A Stirring Story Of The Mexican Revelution SO BOPOFOPOERPOTOTRL NP REU TG QPDDERPIFOGQIUHOTON ~ He walked back to the house, jug- igling his useless gun and keeping his eye on the distant ridges. And then, 4n a chorus of defiant yells, the men fn the federal trenches began to shoot. In an airline the distance was some- thing over a mile, but at the first scat- tering volley the rebels halted and | ‘fired a volley in return. With a viclous spang a few setray bullets smashed against the reverberating steel tank, | ‘but no ond was hurt, and the defend-' ers, drunk with valor, began to shoot | and yell like mad. The bullets of the rebels, fired at random, struck up dust-jets in overyi direction, and from the lower part of the town came the shouting of the non- | combatant Mexicans as they ran here and there for shelter. But by the trenches, and in the rear of the black | tank, the great crowd of onlookers | persisted, ducking as each euccessive bullet hit the tank and shouting en- couragement as the defenders emptied | their rifles and reloaded with clip after clip. The rifles rattled a continuous vol- | ley; spent bullets leaped like locusts across the flat; men ran to and fro, mow crouching behind the tank, now stepping boldly into the open; and the defiant shouts of the defenders almost drowned the wails of the women. Ex- cept for one thing it was a battle— there was nobody hurt. For the first half-hour the Amert- cans stayed prudently under cover, busying themselves at the suggestion of a few American women in providing a first-aid hospital on the sheltored porch. Then, as no wounded came to fill it and the rebels delayed thelr charge, one man after another climbed up to the trenches, ostensibly to bring down the injured. As soldiers and bystanders reported no one hit, and the bullets flew harm- lessly past, thelr solicitude turned rap- idly to disgust and then to acom.' Strange as it may seem, they were dis- appointed at the results, and their re- marks were derogatory as they com- mmented on the bravery of pelones and Mexicans in general. From a dread of imminent attack, of charging rebels and retreating defend- ere, and a fight to the death by the house, they came suddenly to a desire for blood and battle, for dead men and | ithe cries of the wounded; and all fear of the insurrectos left them. “Come away, boys,” grunted the burly roadmaster, who up to thes had | led in the work; “we wasted our time on that hospital—there’ll be no wound- | ed. Let's take ourselves back to the house and have & quiet smoke” “Right you are, Ed,” agreed the mas- ter mechanic, as he turned upon his theel in disgust. “This aln’t war— | them Mexicans think they're working for a moving-picture show!” “l bet you I can go up on that ridge,” announced Hooker, “and clean jout the whole bunch with my six- |shooter before you could bat your Jeye.” ! But the superintendent was not so \sure. “Never mind, boys,” he sald. “We're iworth a lot of ransom money to those rebels and they won't give up so quick, \And look at this now—my miners com- ing back! Those are the boys that will fight! Walit till Chico and Ramon "Mendoza get after them!" He pointed ae he spoke to a strag- gling band of Bonorans, led by the much-vaunted Mendoza brothers, as they hurried to save the town, and a cheer went up from the trenches as the federals beheld reinforcements. But a change had come over the fire- eating miners, and they brought other rebels in thelr wake, As they trudged wearily into town and sought shelter among the houses a great body of men appeared on the opposite ridge, firing down at them as they retreated, The battle rapidly turned Into a long-distance shooting contest, with the robals on the ridges mnd the defenders in the valley, and finally, as the day wore on and a thun- derstorm came up, it died out alto gether and the rebels turned back to their camp. Except for one lone federal who had shot himself by accident there was not @ single defender hurt, and if the enemy had suffered losses it was only by some such chance. But when the Bonoran patriots, holding up their empty belts, came clamoring for am- munition, the men by the big house took in the real catastrophe of the | battle, Seventeen thousand rounds of the precious thirty-thirties had been de- livered to the excited miners and now, except for what few the Americans had saved, there was not a cartridge in camp. Very soberly the superintendent assured the leaders that he had no more; they pointed at the full belts of fthe American guard and demanded them as their right; and when the Americans refused to yield they flew finto a rage and threatened All in all, it was a pitiful exhibition wof hot-headedness and imbec wonly the firmness of the suj went prevented a real spilling ¢ fThe Mexicans retired in a jbroke into the cantina, and as the might came on the valley re-echoed to jtheir ‘drunken shoutings, Such was war as the Sonorans con- eceived it. When Hooker, standing his jguard in the corredor, encountered | racla Aragon on her evening walk, | You are nothing but a great big—Te- SO EOELET COOLIDGE=—= e could scarcely conceal a grin. “What are you laughing at, Senor Hooker?" she demanded with asperity. “Is it so pleasant, with a houseful of trightened women and screaming chil- dren, that you should make fun of our plight? “No, indeed,” apologized Bud; “noth- ing like that. Sure must be bad in there—I stay outside myself. But I reckon it'll soon be over with. The Mexicans here in town have shot off | all their ammunition and I reckon the rebels have done the same. Like as not they'll all be gone tomorrow, and then you can go back home.” “Oh, thank you for thinking about | me!” she returned with a scornful curl | of the lip. “But if all men were as | open as you, Mr. Hooker, we women | would never need to ask a question. This morning you told me I did not know what I was talking about—now I presume you are thinking what cow- ards the Mexicans are! “Oh, I know! You need not deny it! jano! Yes, I was going to say ‘brute,’ but you are a friend of dear Phil’s, and so I will hold my tongue. If it wasn't | for that, I'd—" She paused, leaving him to guess. “Oh, I do wish he were here,” she breathed, leaning wearily against the white pillar of an arch and gazing down through the long arcade. “It was so close in there,” she con- tinued, “I could not stand it a minute longer. These Indian women, you know—they weep and moan all the | time. And the children—I am so sorry for them. I cannot go now, because they need me; but tomorrow—if Phil were here—I would leave and ride for the line. | “Have you seen Del Rey today? No? Then all the better—he must be polic- ing the town. It 18 only of him I am afrald. These rebels are nothing—I agree with you! No! Iam not angry ' with you at all now! But tomorrow, ' just at dusk, when all 18 still as it is ' at this tlme, then, if Phil were here : 1 would mount my brave horse and | ride out by the western pass.” Bhe ended rather inconclusively, let- ting her voice trall off wistfully as she 1 waited for him to speak, but something within moved Hooker to hold his peace, and he looked out over the town without commenting on her plans. It was evident to him that she was deter- mined to enlist his sympathy and in- volve him in her wild plot, and each direction he took refuge in a stubborn silence. “What are you thinking of, Mr, Hooker?™ she asked at last, as he gazed into the dusk. “Sometimes I scold you and sometimes I try to | please you, but I never know what you think! I did not mean that when I sald I could read your thoughts—you are so different from poor, dear Phill” “M-m-m,” mumbled Bud, shifting his foet, and his face turned a little grim, “Ahal” she crfed with ill-concealed satisfaction, “you do not like me to call him like that, do you?! ‘Poor, dear Phil'—like that! But do you know why I do it? It is to punish you for never coming near me—when I signed to you—when I walted for you—long ago! Ah, you were so cruel! I want- ed to know you—you were a cowboy, and I thought you were brave enough to defend me—but you always rode right by. Yes, that was {t—but Phil was different! He came when I sent for him; he sang songs to me at night; he took my part against Manuel del Rey; and now—" “Yes!" commented Bud bruskly, with his mind on “dear Phil's” finish, and she turned to peer into his face. “So that is it!” she sald. “You do not trust me. You think that I am not your friend—that I will serve you as he was gerved. Is that what you are thinking 7" “Something like that,” admitted time the conversation veered in that | B | Hooker, leaning lazily against the mud wall. “Only I reckon I don't think | just the way you do.” “Why? How do I think?” ghe de- | manded eagerly. “Well, you think awful fast,” an- swered Hooker slowly, “And you don't ! always think the same, seems like. | I'm kind of quiet myself, and I don't like—well, I wouldn’t say that, but you don't always mean what you say.” “Oh!” breathed Gracla, and then, after a pause, she came nearer and leaned against the low wall beside him. “If T would speak from my heart,” she asked, “if 1 would talk plain, as you Americans do, would you like me better then? Would you t instead of stanc ~ =g REFRESHES — STIMULATES ™ — | now, at heart- | something that vou hold against me? IN ICED BOTTLES ANYWHERE you to be my friend the way you were a friend to Phil. I know what you did for him, and how you bore with his love-madness—and that was my fault, too. But partly it was also your fault, for you made me angry by not coming. “Yes, I will be honest now—it was you that I wanted to know at firet, but you would not come, and now 1 am promised to Phil. He was brave when you were careful, and my heart went out to him. You know how it is with us Mexicans—we do not love by rea- son. We love like children—suddenly —from the heart! And now all I wish in life is to run away to Phil. But every time I speak of it you shut your jaws or tell me I am a fool.” “Ump-um,” protested Bud, turning stubborn again. “I tell you you don’t know what you're talking about. These rebels don't amount to nothing around the town, but on a trail they’re awful. They shoot from behind rocks and all that, and a woman ain’t noways safe. You must know what they're like— these old women don’t think about nothing else—so what's the use of talk- ing! And besides,” he added grimly, “I've had some trouble with your old man and don't want to have any more."” “What trouble have you had?”’ she demanded promptly, but Hooker would not answer in words. He only shrugged his shoulders and turned away, crumpling his hat in his hand. “But no!” she cried as she sensed the meaning of his concealment, “you must tell me! I want to know. Was it over your mine? Then you must not blame me, for he never has told me a word!” “No?” inquired Bud, rousing sudden- 1y at the memory of his wrongs. “Then maybe you will tell me how he got this”"—he fetched a worn piece of ore from his pocket—“when my pardner gave it to you! It was right there I lost my pardner—and he was a good kid, too—and all because of that rock. Here, take a look at it—I took that away from your father!” “Then he stole it from me!” flashed back Gracia as she gazed at the speci- men. “Oh, have you thought all the time.that I betrayed Phil? But didn’t I tell you—didn't I tell you at the hotel, when you promised to be my friend? Ah, I see that you are a hard man, Mr. H:-ker—quick to suspect, slow to for. (—and yet I told you be- fore! But iisten, and I will tell you again. 1 remember well when dear Phil showed me this rock—he was so happy because he had found the gold! And just to make it lucky he let me hold it while we were talking through a hole in the wall. Then my father saw me and started to come near—I could not hand it back without betray- ing Phil—and in the night, when I was asleep, some one took it from un- der my pillow. That is the truth, and 1 will ask you to belleve me; and if must say what they are and see if I cannot explain, i “No!” she ran on, her voice vibrant with the memory of past quarrels, “I “I'd Flght, Too!" Spoke Up Gracla. | have nothing to do with my (alhvr!‘ He does not love me, but tries to make | me marry first one man and then an- | other. But I am an Awmerican girl I do not want to sell myself; 1 want to marry for love! Can | you understand that? Yes? No? Then | why do you look away Have you Ah, you ke yovr head—but you eak to me? When I was at eles I saw the cow- | , and they were | not afraid of any | ould talk, too. I| > know you, but | 1ight you | Doesn't stir up your merves, 5¢ LOOK FOR THE @wa% LABEE - Bottled by CHERO-COLA BOTTLING €O, ' somethiing abouf the way she talked that pulled him over, that made him want to do what she said, and yet gome secret, hidden volce was always erying: “Beware!” He was convinced no.w that she had never been & party to treachery; no, mnor even wished him 1L 1a She was very beautiful, too, in the est trees, and un she drew nearer | twilight, and when s he was afraid she he moved away, for fo! would eway him from hie purpose. But | ¢pon ‘come to Auburndale Springs, Tenn. now she was waiting for some an ewer—some word from him, though the question had never been asked. And yet he knew what it was. She wanted him to steal away with her in the evening and ride for the border—and Phil. That was what she always wanted, no matter what she said, and now she was calling him a coward. “Sure them bronco-riders are brave,” he sald in vague defense; “but there's a difference between being brave and foolish. And a man might be brave for himself and yet be afraid for other people.” “How do you mean?” she asked. | “Well,” he said, “I might be willing 1 to go out and fight a thousand of them | insurrectos with one hand, and at the | same time be afraid to take you along. | Or I might—" “Oh, then you will go, won't you?” | she cried, clasping him by the hand. | “You will, won’t you? I'mnot afraid!” | “No,” answered Bud, drawing his | hand away, “that’s just what I won't | do! And I'll tell you why. That coun- | try up there is full of rebels—the low- | est kind there are. It just takes one shot to lay me out or cripple one ofi‘ our horses. Then I'd have to make a | fight for it—but what would happen to you?” | “r'd fight, too!” spoke up Gracia | resolutely. “I'm not afraid.” | “No,” grumbled Bud, “you don’t | know them rebels. You've been shut | up in a house all the time—if you'd been through what I have in the last | six months you'd understand what I mean.” “If Phil were here, he’'d take me!” | countered Gracia, and then Bud lost his head. “Yes,” he burst out, “that's jest what's the matter with the crazy fool! That's jest why he’s up across the line now a hollering for me to save his | girl! He's brave, is he? Well, why don’t he come down, then, and save you himself? Because he's afrald to! He's afraid of getting shot or going up agalnst Manuel del Rey. By grab, it makes me tired the way you people talk! If he'd done what I told him to in the first place he wouldn't have got into this jack-pot!” “Oh my!” exclaimed Gracla, aghast. “Why, what is the matter with you? And what did you tell him to do?” “I told him to mind his own busi ness,” answered Hooker bluntly. “And what did he say?” “He said he'd try anything—once!” Bud spat out the phrase vindictively, for his blood was up and his heart was full of bitterness. (To Be Contlnued.) SRl bGP S Bt dddiid SWEET CLOVER BUTTERMILK Pure and Pasteurized For sale at all soda water fountains or phone 323 Red. 2708 S Rexall Toorh Powder | A perfect clearsing, anti septic Dentifrice, pleasant and handy to use. Per bottle Rexall Tooth Powder. Per can Rexall Liquid Dentifrice Per bottle .. .. 25 =dC Lake Pharmacy | J. Strohak:r: PRACTIC = § UWBER = W Y s PHONE 236 BLUE . . . No. Six-Sixty-Six 3This is a prescription prepared e-pecull’y for MALARIA or CHILLS & FEVER Five or six doses will break any case. and if taken then as a tonic the Fever will not return.® It acts on the liver b han Calomel and does not grine or sicken. 25¢ ¢ R. R. 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Lo o] Lo ] Just received 4 solid car load of American Fence Also a car of pitch pine fence post. WILSO! HARDWARE CO The Loss by Fire in the U. During a Recent Year Amounted to Almost One-Half the Cu Of All New Buildings Constructed During the Entir Twelve Months 1108 We represent the following reli- ble companies: capital s .. 4,750,000 When Buying or Bu Provide the Means For Rebuilding capital <o ... $4,500,000 capital 2,000,000 MANN & DEEN Room 7, Raymondo Building Security Abstract & Title Co Bartow, Florida R. B. HUFFAKER, PRES. ....L. I. CLYATT SECR FRANK H. THO) ' MPSON, VICE PRES H. W. SMITH, TREAS ABSTRACTS OF TITLES New and upto-date plant. Prompt service. Lakeland busin . = : ess left with our Vige President a¢ City H Teceive prompt and efficient attentiom, FEEEPEEpEI AL