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THE FATAL WAGER. j
There was C siilian lil>»u«l iirtlie
wins nt ilie liark-taced man who
gailujHMj into Taos, in New Mexico,
at the close of a Beautiful day in
mid An uuin. Mis physique was
faultless, his restless eye dark and
piercing, and tile uplifted brim of his
Mims Wrero disclosed a lofty forehead.
A great mustache, whose long hairs
were blown behind his ears by the
wind, added to his personal adorn
tuent.
This man was Benito Mannajo, a
wild, reckless t'eMow, lamouse, among
other things, fur the summary man
ner in wh’ch he swept all rivals from
his path. Almost incredible stories
of his love linking are still told in
the towi.s of New Mexico, and the
meanest peon has his deeds at his
tongue's end.
Lei as record his last act.
•'•might, to the most prominent
drinking house of the town rode
li-i.ito Maimaj > on the evening afore
mentioned. I.e found the usual
lojugevs about the b.sr—young
blonds of rank in tbe ten .lory, and
bis friends and admirers.
His first art was the treating of
the crowd and when the I qu.*r had
disappeared, one of the loungers
said, bantcringl) :
“ To morrow night the beautiful
Se. ora I z becomes tbe Nortliener’s
bride. Wlni among u- lias site in\i*
ten u> her nuptials?
The young mail looked at Manna-
jo .i» he SjjOixc, as d Ins were address
ed to that indiv dual alone.
The Mexican’s face flushed.
*’ Nor Benito Mannajo !’ wa> the
grating response. ‘The sen na is
free to choose whomsoever she may,
tmt those who are a-ked to the mar
riage least do not always attend.’
The words conveyed a subtle
mi .ining, as the speaker’s look and
the manner in which th'*y were spo
ken indicated to his auditors.)
‘Thirty ounces of gold that the
bride-groom does not kiss h s bride
to-moriw night.’ .J?
As the last words fell from bis lips,
Mannajo, tbe Mexican, drew a well-
filled purse from his bosom, and tos
sed it upon the counter. His com
paniotis exchanged startled and
significant looks.
■Who takes my wager?’ The
dark-skinned Adonis cried, defiantly,
his eye sweeping the coidon of fines
that surrounded him. ‘Thirty ounces
of gold! Come senor, cover them,
and Jose, onr barkeeper, shall hold
the yellow stakes.’
A moment’s silence succeeded,
when a young man who had entered
the place in time to hear the offer,
exclaimed, as he elbowed his way
towards the Mexican:
•I’ll cover it, Senor Mannajo ! I
will pul thirty ounces of gold upon
your j urse, and wager thirty more
that they will hold it down.’
A slight cheer went tip from the
crowd, and the handsome reprobate
turned smiling upon the youth.
‘Ah, is that yourself, senor Igleuii ?’
he exclaimed, extending his hand,
‘You must be one of the disappointed
ones.’
The young man blushed deeply,
lor it was generally known that he
bad once sought the hand of the
scnorilu, who stood so near the attar
• Whether I am or not, it does not
effect the wager,’ he repl ed, nettled
s nne»' hat by the Mexican’s words.
‘1 cover your purse thus, Mannajo.
These senors are our witnesses.
* And Jose, here, the stake-holder ?’
‘ S : , senor,’
‘Good! Now, Jos?; let us have
the best liquor that your house
supplies.’
The wag«»£ was sealed in draughts
of tolerable liquor, and Benito Mar-
mnjo withdrew from the edmival
company and remounted bis lithe
limbed steed.
‘Day after to-morrow, senors,’ he
said, with a smile to the few who
were able to wish him adiuse from
the porch of the house and touching
his horse gently with the spurs he
was soon beyond the boundaries of
the town.
One by one the drunken revolvers
left the drinking place with brains
too befuddled to think of the covert
threat coucealled by Martnajo’s wa
ger. They did not dream of tbe blow
that was hovering over the head of
t he young N« rthemer who had en
tered the tenitory and won, over
the adoration of many native hcanx,
the hand of Senora Inez.
Beautiful, wealthy and good, the
maiden, a descendant of one of Cor
tez’s mailed followers, had long been
the belle of the country around Taos.
Her father’s large hacienda swarmed
with cattle, and boasting ot silver
mines of great wealth, would in the
course of time become hers. Thus
she was the richest heiress in the
country.
To all her admirers, save Richard
Compston from the States, she had
turned a deaf ear. The handsome
Mannajo had courted her smiles in
vain, and the youthful Iglean had
poured the story of his passion into
her ears, while she thought of the
American who had won her heart
And it was to be a grand wedding.
The.bride’s father had invited the
officers of the territory, and the
wealth and beauty of the country
were expected to grace the occasion.
But Mannajo, the disappo tiled sui
tor, had wagered thirty ounces of
gold with iglean that the American
would not kiss Inez on the wedding
night.
% jj; *
It was gt tting dark mi the teght o'"
l*>e wedding, when a mounted man
drew rein under t. e branches nt a
tree that stood at the edge of a iff-
ro.v Mexican road, lie wore a broad-
brimmed sombrero that shaded his
lace, but the dark mustache that al
most touched his shoulders, and the
hands small as a wc man’s, proclaimed
his identity.
It was Benito Mannajo.
The coil of a lariat hung from his
saddle’s pommel, and he seems to be
awaiting the approach of some one
from the South-east. Immovable as
a statue, and speaking not, he sat
upright in his saddle; but his eyas
wen* re-ile s and itill of anxiety and
expectancy. He was not {far from
the house of the happy Senora. A
fe\^ moment^’ gallop would lave
brought him t<» the house already
ringing with the laughter of wedding
guests, but the Mexican with Spanish
blood did not intend to vi-it the
marriage board.
At last lie started and uncoiled the
lariat. Then the tread of a hotse
became d slinctlv audible and a
minute later an object appeared in the
moonlight that slumbered in the road
not far away.
‘Alone!’ muttered the watcher,
astonished, and then, with the lariat
dangling from his hand, he said :
* It is well. Now for the thirty
ounces which Iglean staked.*
The horseman continued to ap
proach apparently unconscious of the
presence of the dare-devil Adot is of
New Mexico, wh^se eyes were fas
tened upon him with the glare of the
bullock’s orbs.
‘ I know ’tis lie—t! e hated Ame
rican !’ hissed Mannajo, as lie pre
pared the lariat for a throw.
‘ Would to Jesus that Loon were
here to see the deed. The boy
w ays prides himself on the use of the
cord.’
Leon w as the speaker’s In other, a
hoy whom he had not seen for several
years, but whose imago was enshrined
in his heart as the only person whom
lie had ever loved. Nearer and
nearer came the Lssocr’s victim, gal
loping .-lowly over the narrow road,
now in moonlight, and now again
almost h st among the shadows. Al.
at mice the lariat described a circle
about Mannajo’s sombrero. Then it
shot towards the horseman and drop
ped over his head like a noose of
diath.
Tl.e next moment the Mexican’s
steed darted forward, and the victim
was jerked violently from the saddle
as the exclamation. * Jesc, pity ’ fell
from liis lips.
The infernal noose had piuioned his
arms to his sides, and a smile oi
malicious triumph crossed Mannajo’s
face as he looked over his shoulder
and saw the object which bounded
ove^lhc ground at his horse’s heels.
i
southern banker
Through the ehapparal and into the
unobstructed moonlight the Mexican
urged his steed, whieh seemed eager
to escape, as it were, the dreadful
thing that the lasso dragged behind
l,im - , — ii-?
‘ The thirty ounces are mine/ said
the lass.ier, looking back, and then
laughed. ‘ Marmajo kuew when he
bet that the Americano would not
kiss the senora to-niglit.’
His horse did uotBeeui to tire.
Over the gentle undulating country,
and iu the golden light of the moon,
lie Imre bis reckless rider, whose
heart beat last with a devilish
triumph. The spurs jingling in: heir
sockets, ever and anon touched the
blood stained rowels and the wind
sang through the rider’s wanton hair.
Bouncing over the ground like a ball,
the lassoer’s victim followed in his
wake, staining the stones a dreadful
crimson tha. looked ghastly iu the
weird light. No cry welled front the
bruised lips. They had long been
silent, and the hands which a few
moments since had resembled Mar-
inajo’s had been battered into a bleed
ing pulp.
On, still on! Was the devil never
going to draw rein ?
The wind blew b ck tbe froth that
dropped from the horse's mouth and
now and then it fell like snow-flakes
upon the victim of his master’s re*
venge. As Marmajo could not-.ridc
,.i ihe c of the w * rid he slopped
at last. Upon the borders of the
.l.ciiu that ran tliron.h the eon.try
to the m< re pretentious Gila the re
probate drew rein.
The moon, high up in the heavens
when he flung his lariat, was near the
horizon ; but its beams fell tqion the
water, and the wild flowers that
beautified its bauks.
Marmajo dismounted and witii a
fiendish look walked towards his
victim.
1 Well, my love-making Ameri
cano,’ he exclaimed. * I fancy that
Setio.a L<ei would not see miic^
beauty in your face were she to itu r et
yon now.’
A dreadful sight met the lasSoer’s
gaze when he stood over the man
tylioni lie had,dragged at hisIgQtev
heels for twenty miles. The sem
blance of humanity was all that had
withstood the journey, and over this
the Mexican stooped with a wild cry.
He had discovered that his lariat had
dropped over the head of the wrong
mail! But another and more terri
ble discovery was yet to come. Upon
the bre ast,| torn by the rocks an l
briars, glistened something that at
tracted Mar—ajo’s attention. Snatch
ing it eagerly, he held a locket in
his hand. Ore glance at it and he
staggered to his left with a piercing
shout—one long, loud eiy of killing
agony.
For a moment he swayed to and
fro, then with a cry ot ‘Lion, my
brother?’ he fell forward upon his
victim, and glued his lips to the bat
tered lace. He had not only lassoed
the wrong man, but his brother,
Leon.
In the agony of that moment the
joyful past came over the Mexican’s
mind, and the moon’s last beams fell
on him in speechless misery at his
brother’s side.
By and 'bv l«e remounted and
crossed tbe stream. The object
which he had diagged at the heels
of his horse now lay in his arms, and
he was talking to it like a ma l man.
All ibis time Richard Compton wpis
looking into the dark eyes of his
young bride.
Marmajo lis<t lost his wager.
With much anxi- tv the loungers ■ f
Taos waited for news from tbe feast,
and when it came they looked at one
another in wonderment.
‘ lit* must have ridden off with his
brother who passed through Taos
inquiring tor him,’ said one.
Yes, but no one ever dreamed of
the brothers meeting, and Richard
Compton, the American, never
dreamed of bis escape.
Young Igleau raked in the stake
money, wondering what had become
of Marmajo. ^ , ^
The stars might-tHbHm.
Always on a bust—the load mck
and shoulders.
: JULY 9, ms.
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