The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, March 18, 1906, Page 4

THE S AN L SRS OO SESSY, 3 This story publisked today— 4 jow ibe Bandit Dealt With R Dom Luis"—is the mecond R of @ weries of thrilliag 3 stories of Spanish brigandage and Hesketh Pritchard, by K written under the title of “The Chromicles of Dom Q.” The tales recount the lawiless ad- ventures of this bandit, who, however, is met portrayed im the colors of the ordinary Spenish outimw, but osopher of mo mean type. story of “Dom Q.'s” experiences will appear week in The Sumday Call ustil ries is fmished. SOOSOSNSSSESSSLICTIRIS RN, itish Govern- been by the the brigand agencies fell g pri- who appeared to ! s always a su ¥ tlemen ready to row F es sweetened paper Don I I hed thoug going e business myself. Mean- » do you want me to do?¥ r £ the little white town rgely st urselves of this vul- e worth your while,” added s as ay be risk 1s one does not pay for and pesetas then.” # =hook his head B e s parenthetically ble! Would you ruin the c ¢ You forget I know better, I have already in my ed her pockets myself! Two settled in a eventually Luis del s det r on the ¢ price of m he said, “and P ggarly bad bargain he government,” amended Don Besides you will live to enjoy then, do you pro- How ured, and you will ar- They say down here recognizes a gentle- and treats him handsomely pend- r of his ransom and the his affalrs. If he does ransom N .Jgg/%’fkeflz Pritchard. R <d L =] = 2N not—well, I am an old soldier while I shall have five days in ni P Mean- com- By St. Peter! quarters!” cried Don excitement Senor, coward Nor a fool,” re oined ¥ nE. How wi have h foot have been ready to carry t P yonder Don Luis made no answer. He put a handful of the Governor's cigarettes in ed to go. Lave money tonight—money to repair my toilet, to buy a herse and ay the affair In train. It is necessary 1o be generous, senor be my last night of then, perhaps”—te beg: with which children mimic tt t funerals—"the gorigor comes next. Who knows? Don Luis del Monte swagger d grace- ge, with so out 5 a thern fully down the dim stone its high barred windows, an into the street. As he woman passed him with a soft =c laugh. For the rest of the evening she evinced a quite inadequate interest in his movements. . . . . . . By early dawn, before the light broke, a man from the sierra walited in the prosaic shadow of Malaga rallway station, where presently a woman with her head and shoulders wrapped up against the chlll of dawn, came to him —the woman whose cadences of laugh- er Don Luis had heard for the first time as he bowed to her in the tortuous, {ll-smelling Malage street on the pre- vious evening Robledo was her lover, who had come down from the sierra to see her with a price upon his head and the light of esdventure In his eyes. Isabella lixed him for his good looks, though he aiready was careworn, after Lhe man- ner of mountaineers; but, for his reck- less courage, her heart loved him. Any account of thelr conversation would be superfiuous. Robledo went away in the earliest train that left the city. Thus it came to pass whea Don Luis del Monte arrived by a roundabout route at the foothills, 'the news of his coming and his errand had already went ghly handled in the remote Don Q. lived in his solitary the vulture whose name 1ad made extraordinary to his chief intelligence that threatened, for Majada’s anger tie s h his perplexity as to how they should be carried out, had afforded the last week's talk in the mountain gorge. Ev oy instruc 1an ning was once more drawing un Robledo sprang up the narrow path to the mouth of the cave the rock face, where Don Q. chose to house himself apart from his follow- ers ‘he c¢hief sat moodily in the cave with his concentrated livid-lidded glare upon the young robber. And, aithough, Robledo was a brave man, he crossed himself furtively. Thef the chief put a question or two, and Robledo told his story at full length. He had followed the Governor to Malaga, after that so much was known, so much was guessed, but the plot was fairly understood and hung well together. ¥or Don Luis had told nothing, he was far too experienced r that, but something had been over- heard, and a good deal inferred from purchases he had made, and, in t, Robledo had proved himself a creditable detective. As he grew more excited with his stery, he gave way to those picturesque exclamations and gestures whi the Andalusian loves. And Don Q. listened, laughing here and there tenderly as a man laughs who sees a subtle and hidden humor. When the tale was finished and the last low laugh had died away, the chief fell into thought; when he looked up he asked— “And what i your counsel, Robledo?” But Robledo knew his master too well. “My lord orders,” he answered glibly. “There is no knowledge nor will in the sierra but my lord’s.” Don Q. closed his delicate olaw-like hand. “That is well, Robledo, my child, for if there were it would die.” Robledo crossed himself again sud- denly and involuntarily, and the chief caught the motion. “And why that, Robledo?” said he. “1 was thinking of the soul of this Don Luis del Monte,” replied Raobledo with! ready untruthfulness. “Ah, then bring Gaspar and Andres.” In a very few moments the three men gtood In a silent line before him. “Robledo,” he said, “you will go down beyond the valley of the cork- trees, and wait on the southern track to Ronda. Take men with you, for it may be that Don Luis will come by that way. And you will deal gently with him. You, Andres, will go toward the passés, for It also 1s a traveler's path through the sierra. You will bring this e @, LET ME KEEP YOU COMFPANY™ URP JIBRE Y E, SzERRA . s e <= cabellero to me very safely. And lis- ten, Robledo.” “Yes, lord.” re a secret between us and—" lord. “When it will cease to be a man. The two men turned away from the terrace, and Doir Q. followed the lean, sinewy figures till their scarlst fajas disappeared down the slope; then, sceming to forget the presence of the third, his head drooped upon his breast, and he remained still and mute ljke some big slecping bird for half an hour. Meantime Gaspar stood and walted without moving hand or foot. “And for you, Gaspar,” sald Don Q. abruptly, but in‘the same tone as If he had just ceased speaking: “and for you, Gaspar, a peaceful errand—to the shrine of San Pedro. You will see the Fathers.' “Yes, lord.” “Take with you this bag of pesetas and ask them to say masses, beginning next Friday, for—" Don Q. paused; Gaspar stood in the same patient, uneager attitude. “The soul of Don Luis del Monte.” Meanwhile Don Luis rode on urknow- ing. On the second morning he had left the open stretches of heath and pal- metto behind him, and was mounting the lower spurs of the sierra. He had no guide, but Don Q.'s net swept a wide cirele about the Boca de Lobo, and cap- ture was equally probable anywhere upon the sierra. In the lining of. his hat Del Monte had secured the means whereby he hoped to take Don Q.'s life. Beyond that one resolution his plans were in the clouds, but he relied, as he had had reason to do in many other crises of his career, on chance, treach- ery and a good wit. At length he entered upon a wide valley of corkwoods and flex trees, where he rested during the heat of the day, and as the cooler airs of cvening blew over the ridges from the sea he mounted again and pushed upward. The first dew was beginning to fall when he halted under a white, outlying lime- stone crag to look around. On every side range beyond range, the sierrg rose gray, stony and sinister. The utter loneliness of the scene, the ceases to be a secret Now go'” you RANCISCO SUNDAY CALL CHIROMNICLES- O+ - THE BANDIT fact that he was bound on a desperate errand, that there was no help possible against the bloodthirsty men into whose power he was about to give him- self, might well Have made him pause, but Del Monte's single thought at that moment was success, and the supply of monéy it promised him for another fling at the tables. A stone rolled down the perpendicu- lar face of the crag and fell at the horse's feet, but Don Luis was lighting a cigarette and seemed too busy to look up. Bhen a shot whizzed past his head, ripping a shred of feit from his broad- brimmed hat, but he finished with his cigarette, threw away the match, and was about to raise his eyes, when a loop of rope fell sharply over him and he was jerked from his saddle upward. The indignity of his position as he was hauled up the face of the cliff amidst the jeers of the bandits roused Del Monte, who pass a bad quarter \of an hour dangling furious at the rope’'s end until exhaustion compelled him to allow himself to be secured without resistance. Nearlz all that night the men drove him stumbling wearily through the higher mountain tracks. At the end of his journey Don Luis was blindfolded, and led by winding turns and through the chill of an underground passage into the inclosed glen where the brigand chief walted for his coming. ‘While Robledo went up iInto the cave to’ make his report, Del Monte was left with a couple of sullen guards, in the vallge. One happened to be Gas- par, whose errand to the Fathers had been happily concluded. My friend,” began Don Luis present- 1y is this captain of yours all one hears of him down there in the plains? Is i® true that he buries his prisoners alive “When he does not ecrucify them!” replied Gaspar shortly. “It is often too great a labor to dig holes in our rocks.” “And you? Do not some of you taste death slowly—in a like manner?” asked Don Luis insolently. “It has been heard of,” was the im- perturbable reply. “And you love war?d” “In the mountains lave and fear are one,” said the robber. At length Robledo led the captive into the presence of Don Q. The cave struck warm, yet the chief was muffled in his cloak, but he bared his head in greeting as Del Monte entered. The twd men stood face to face and surveyed each other silently, before Don Q spoke. “Your mother, senor, was of the fam- ily of the De Casselos?’ he asked with entire courtesy. The strangeness of the question startled Don Luis as much as the ap- pearance of the man who put it. “I did not think you would be likely to interest yourself in these matters,” he replied haughtily. “And why not?” returned Don Q. with extreme softness. Yet Don Luis only by an extreme effort kept up the manner in which he had begun the conversation. “A gentleman of your profi he began. \ hint better after- jon—" “A gentleman is still a gentléman— in my profession. Answer my Qques- tion, senor, if you please.” The other shrugged his shoulders. “You knew her then, senor, that you ask me this?” Don Q.'s thickened eyelids quivered: he raised his head with a fine gesture. “That pleasure was mine. I knew her very well,” he answered simply. “You have her eyes, beautiful exceed- ingly; but you cannot look another In the face any more than she could. It was a very little defect—" “Of natur put in Del Monts, halt laughing as the other hesitated. “I was about to say of the heart. But these things belong to the past, and only concern us today in that they prove you to be of gentle blood on both sides.” “I cannot perceive the advantage to me just now.” Don Q. continued gravely. “Because I may on that account offer you my hospitality,” he sald, “in return for your parole. It is thus when one deals with equals. Last year I was de- celved into offering hospitality to & merchant who sold dried fruits and flour. I assure you the man's manner of breathing offended. me so much that 1 had to rid myself of him before the arvival of his ransom. You will, there- fore, comprehend my reasons for trou- bling you. And if you will now give me your parole we may have a pleasant time pending the arrangement of your affairs.” “I give it,” answered Del! Monte, with a very present thought that death would soon free him from his word; “I foresee that I shall enjoy my visit to the sierra, senor, although I hope you will not be very severe in the matter of a ransom.” “It is unfortunately ome of the ex- fgencies of my pesition that I have my children to maintain Don Q. in- dicated the figures of Robledo and Gas- par in the aperture of the cave. “We must have our demands paid in full or—" +Or?" repeated Don Lauts. “No, no,” sald the bri sympathetic geniality; not spoil our first meeting with dismal considerations. I will recommend these cigarettes; you will find them pass- able,” “I must congratulate you on the dis- cipline of your com—your men,” Den Luts said, fingering a clgarette thoughtfully. “Many others have complimented me also upon that; I assure you, senor, ‘it always gratifies me.” Zut it must be owned that Don Luis del Morite, from the moment he was brought into the presence of Dom Q. began to like his errand less. Neverthele: he neglected no point that might assist him in his design; Contiaued Page &