The Augusta herald. (Augusta, Ga.) 1914-current, June 20, 1914, Home Edition, Page FIVE, Image 5

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SATURDAY, JUNE 20. The Land of Broken Promises A Stirring Story of the Mexican Revolution A «tory of border Mexico, vivid. Intense, such ae has never before been written, la this one of Ameri can adventurers Into the land of marvana. Texan, mining engineer, Bpanish senor and senorita, peon, Indian, crowd its chapters with clear-cut word pictures of busi ness, adventure and love, against a somber background of wretched armies marching and counter marching across a land racked by revolution and without a savior, I (Continued from Yesterday.) CHAPTER XII. to its Inception the Portuna hotel had not been intended for the use of Mexicans —in fact, its rates were prac tically prohibitive for anyone not be ing paid in gold—but, since most of the Americans had left, and seven dol lars a day Mex was no deterrent to the rich refugee land owners, it became of a sudden international, with a line mixture of purse-proud Spaniards and race-proud American adventurers. Not a very pleasing combination for the parents of romantic damsels des tined for some prearranged marriage of state, but very exciting for the dam sels and most provocative to the Amer icans. After the promenade in the plaza the mothers by common consent pre empted the upstairs reception-room, gathering their precious charges in close; while the Americans, after their pus tom, foregathered in the lobby, convenient to the bar. Hot argu ments about the revolution, and pre dictions of events to come served to pass the early evening, with many scornful glanoes at the Mexican dan dies who went so insolently up the stairs. And then, as the refugees re tired to their apartments and the Bpirlt of adventure rose uppermost, Phil De made a dash out into the darkness and came back with a Mexi can string band. “A serenade, boys!” he announced, as the musicians filed sheepishly into the hotel. "Our guests, the fair seno ritas, you know! We’ll make those young Mexican dudes look like two spots before the war Is over. Who's game now for a eong beneath the win dows? You know the old stand-bys— 'La PaJama’ and Terestta Mia’—and you want to listen to me sing 'Me Ous tan Todas* to Gracia, the fairest of the fair! Gome on, fellows, out in the plaza, and then listen to the old folks cuss!” They adjourned then, after a drink Tor courage, to the moonlight and the plaaai and there, beneath the shut tered Window* and vacant balconies, the guitars and violins took up “La Patoms," while Phil and a few brave spirits sang. A silence followed their first at tempt, as well aa their second and third, and the comlaarlo of police, a mild creators owned and paid by the company, came around and made a taw Ineffectual protests. But Inside the company's conces sion, where by common consent the rnWtant ruratee kept their bands off, the Americans knew the)’ were safe, »od they soon foOted the ootnisarlo Into jailing a drink and departing, rhea Be Lancer took up the burden, end the string hand, hired by the hour, strummed on m If for eternity. One by one the windows opened! fretful fathers stepped out on the bol- F?any bod, bound by the custom and ponventton of the country, thanked teem, and bads them good night. But tea two windows behind which the ftenor Aragon and hta family reposed did hot open and, though the dwin dling band stood directly under their balcony, and all knew that his daugh ter was the fairest of the fair, Don dprtano did not wish them good night tteupa he recognised the leading tenor—and the big voice of Bud Booker, trying to stm the riot —but, however It w&a, be would not speak te theca. sod De Lancey wo«M not *em on Amertoan music i” be criodv as everyone but Bod went away in disgust, *the latest rag from Broad- Way, New Tork. Here, gimme that guitar, hombre, and listen to this pawl' be picked out a clever bit of syn copation and pitched his voles to a heady twang: Wa In tin iwta wbtre th« r*S me grow. Oh my. I ions to sot i Pitta* an 111 m a Sowar, oufldl* mo an hoar, Low* tot mo torn tho Rod Rom R*-s»l" There was some swing to that, and It seemed to make an Impression, for lust as he was well started on the chorus the slats of one of the shut ters parted and a patch of white shone through the apaoes. It was the ladles, then, who were getting Interested! •Phil walled on: ■Wwot-oot honoy-bm, bo nrnt to mol toy hoort U froo, but boro’i tho hoy I" And then, positively, he could see that patch of white beat time. He took heart of grace at that and sang on to the end, and at a suggestion of clapping lg duigb-fhow he jave an en- core and ragged It over again. “ ‘Ev’rybody's doin' it, doin’ it, doin’ it!”’ he began, as the shadow dance ceased. " ’Honey, I declare, it’s a bear, It’s a bear, it’s a bear!”’ he continued temptingly, and was well on his way to further extravagancies when the figure in white swiftly vanished and a door slammed hard inside the house. Several minutes later the form of Don Juan appeared at the lower door, and in no uncertain tones he requested them to cease. “The Senor Aragon informs me," he said, “that your music annoys him.” “Well, let him come to the balcony and say his ‘buenas noches,’ ” an swered Phil resentfully. “The gentleman refuses to do that!" responded Don Juan briefly. “Then let him go to bed!” replied De Lancey, strumming a few synco pated chords; “I’m singing to his daughter.” At that Don Juan came down off the porch in his slippers and they engaged in a protracted argument. “What, don’t I get a word?” de manded Phil grievously, “not a pleas ant look from anybody? ‘Swee-eet Gracia Waved Him Good-Night. honey-bee, be sweet, to me 1’ ” he pleaded, turning pathetically to the lady’s balcony; and then, with a sud den flourish, a white handkerchief ap peared through the crack of the shut ters and Gracia waved him good night. “Enough, Don Juan!” he oried, lay ing down the guitar with a thump; “this ends our evening’s entertain ment I” After paying and thanking the stolid musicians Phil Joined Bud and the pair adjourned to their room, where, In the Intervals of undressing, Phil favored the occupants of the adjoining apartments with an aria from “Beau tiful Doll." But for all such nights of romance and music there Is always a morning afterward; and a fine tenor voice set to ragtime never helped much In the development of a mine. Though Bud had remained loyally by his friend In his evening serenade he, for one, never forgot for a moment that they were In Fortuna to work the Eagle Tall and not to win the hearts of Spanish- Mexican senorltas, no matter bow at tractive they might be. Bud was a practical man who, If he ever made love, would doubtless do It In a perfectly businesslike way, without hiring any string bands. But at the same time he was willing to make some concessions. “Well, go ahead and get your sleep, then,” be growled, after trying throe times tn the morning to get his pard a*r up; “Pm going out to the urine I"’ Thao, with a saddle-gun under hta knee and his six-shooter bung at hi* hip, ha rode rapidly down the road, turning out from time to time to let long cavalcade? of mules string by. The dead-eyed arrleroe, each with his oo m blued mule-blind and whiplash swinging free, seemed to hare very little on their minds but their pack lashings, and yet they must be three days out from Moctezpma. Their mules, too, were well loaded with the products of the hot country —-fanegas of com in red leather sacks, oranges and fruits in hand-mad* crates, panochea of sugar In balanced frames, long Joints of sugar-oane for the dulce pedlers, and nothing to Indi cate either haste or flight Three times he let long pack-trains go by without a word, and then at last, overoome by curiosity, he Inquired about the revoltosos. "What revoltosos?" queried the old. man to whom be spoke. “Why, the men of Bernardo Bravo," answered Bud; “the men who are marching to take Moctesuma.” "When I left Moctesuma," returned the old man politely, "all was quiet— there were no revoltosos. Blnce then, I cannot say." _ “Bu t the soldiers I “ cried Bud, Author of “THE FIGHTING POOL,” “HIDDEN WATERS,” “THE TEXICAN," Etc. Illustrations by DON J. *LAVIN (Copyright. 19M, by Frank A. Munsey.) "Surely you saw - them! They were marching to fight the rebels.” “Perhaps so,” shrugged the arrlero, laying the lash of his topojo across the rump of a mule; “but I know noth ing about it” “No,” muttered Bud, as he continued on his way; “and I’ll bet nobody else does.” Inquiry showed that in this, too, he was correct. From those who traveled fast and from those who traveled slow he received the same wondering an swer —the country might be filled with revoltosos; but, as for them, they knew nothing about it. Not until he got back to Fortuna and the busy federal telegraph wire did he hear any more news of rapine and bloodshed, and the light which dawned upon him then was gradually dawning upon the whole town. It was a false alarm, given out for purposes of state and the “higher poli tics” with which Mexico is cursed, and the most that was ever seen of IJer nardo Bravo and his lawless men was twenty miserable creatures, half starved, but with guns in their hands, who had come down out of the moun tains east of Moctezuma and killed a few cows for beef. Thoroughly disgusted, and yet vaguely alarmed at this bit of opera bouffe warfare, Bud set himself reso lutely to work to hunt up men for their mine, and, as many poor people were out of employment because of the general stagnation of business, he soon had ten Mexicans at his call. Then, as Phil had dropped out of sight, he ordered supplies at the store and engaged Cruz Mendee —who had spent his fortune In three days—to pack the goods out on his mules. They were ready to start the next morning If De Lancey could be found to order the powder and tools, and as the afternoon wore on and no Phil appeared, Bud went on a long hunt which finally discovered him In the balcony of their window, making slgna In the language of the “bear,” as a man who flirts with a woman In Mex ico is called. “Say, Phil,” he hailed, disregarding hie pardner’B obvious preoccupation; “break away for a minute and tell me what kind of powder to get to break that schist —the store closes at live o'clock, and —” He thrust his head out the door as he spoke and paused, abashed. Through the half-closed portal of the next balcony but one he behold th* golden hair of Gracia Aragon, and she fixed her brown eyes upon him with a dazzling, mischievous smile. “O-ho!" murmured Bud, laying a com pelling hand on De Lancey and baok lng swiftly out of range; "so this la what you’re up to—talking signs! But say, Phil,” he continued, beckoning him peremptorily with a Jerk of hts head, “I got ten men hired and a lot of grub bought, and If you don’t pick out that mining stuff we’re going to lose a day. So get the lady to exotuto you and oome on now." ’’ln a minute,” pleaded Phil, and h* went at the end of his allotted time, and perhaps It was the imp of jealousy that put strength Into Hooker’s arm. “Well, that’s all right,” said Bud, aa Phil began his laughing excuses; “but you want to remember the Maine, pardner—we didn’t come down here to play the beer. When they’s any love making to be done I want to be la on it. And you want to remember that promise you made me—you said you wouldn’t have a thing to do with the Aragon outfit unless I was with youl" “Why, you aren’t—you aren’t Jeal ous, are you, Bud?” “Yes, I’m Jealous!’ answered Hooker harshly; "Jealous as the devil! And I want you to keep that promise, see T” “Aw, Bud—” began De Lancey In credulously; but Hooker silenced him with a look. Perhaps h* was really jealous, or perhaps he only said so to have his way, but Phil caw that he was In earnest, and he went quietly by his side. But love bad set his brain In a whirl, and he thought no more of hts promise—only of some subtler way of meeting his Inamorata, some way which Bud would fall to see. CHAPTER XMt. For sixty daye and more, while the weather had been turning from cold to warm and they had been laboring feebly to clear away the great slide of loose jock that oovered up the ledge, the Eagle Tall mine had r*- malned a mystery. Whether, like the old Eagle Tail of frontier fable. It was so rich that only the eagle’s head wgs needed to turn the chunks Into twenty-dollar gold pieces; or whether, like many other frontier mines. It was nothing but a hole In the ground, was a matter still to be settled. And Bud, for one, was determined to settle It qulokly. “Come on,” he said, a* Phil hesi tated to open np the way to the lead; "we got a month, maybe less, to get to the bottoip of this; and then the hills will be lousy with rebels. If thoy’s nothing here, we want to find out about It quick and skip—and If we *-£?!£?. by .grab, they ain’t enough ■By DANE COOLIDGE= fHE AUGUSTA HERALD, AUGUSTA, GA. red-naggers In Sonora To pry Tile loose from It So show these hombres where to work and we’ll be up against rook by the end of the week.’’ The original Eagle Tail tunnel had been driven into the side of a steep hill; bo steep, in fact, that the loose ehale stretched in long shoots from the base of the frowning porphyry dikes that crowned the tops of the hllle to the bottom of the canyon. On either side 6t the discovery guich sharp ridges, perforated by the gopher holes of the Mexicans and the ancient workings of the Spaniards, ran di rectly up the hill to meet the contact. But It was against the face of the big ridge Itself that Kruger had driven his drift and exploded his giant blast of dynamite, and the whole slope had been altered and oovered with a slide of rock. Against this slide, In the days when they were marking time, Bud and his pardner had directod their energies, throwing the loose stones aside, build ing up walls against the slip, and clearing the way to the solid schist. There, somewhere beneath the jumble of powder-riven rock, lay the ledge which, If they found It, would make them rich; and now with single-Jack ’ and drill, they attacked the last huge fragments, blasting them Into pieces and groveling deeper until they could strike the contact, where the schist and porphyry met and the gold spray had spewed up between. (To Be Coatimied Tomorrow.) AT PANAMA; THE OLD WAY AND THE NEW TWEIIIE non MEXICO The Absolute Disregard That the “Greaser” Has For Death is Described By One Who Witnesses the Scenes That Are Described Below—The Brutality and Un civilised Traits of Mexicans. AVe had not been in Hipolito half an hour when five stretchers passed our cav. going toward the hospital train he mud us. Suspecting that an outpost skirmish had taken place, we rushed to the cuartei general for Information, only to learn that the stretchers contained the first day's toll of accidental shoot ing—one dead and four wounded. Soon the doctors had their hands full with the men hurt by careless gun handling and with those who rolled from car roofs o* thoughtlessly went to sleep under trains. A Mexican is careless of life, includ ing his own. Through trains were clank ing up and down the eight tracks at I ri polito all day long, women and children played tag under car bottoms, and 1 even saw a slit-eyed soldier place Ids blanket roll on a rail for a pillow and compose himself for a nap with no apparent fear of decapitation. Two ladles on the car just ahead of ours quarreled over the at tentions of an Adonis of the ranks, and one. a big black woman who looked like a Negress, lighted a hand grenade one evening end blew off her rival’s head. As we were pulling out of Hipolito for Fraustro, a. town by virtue of a railway switch, but at that time a terminus, thanks to the track-destroying Federals, word came that 3,000 men under den erals Faoul Madero and Pablo Itobles had taken Paredon in a fight that was fin ished before Villa could get to the scene of action. The Constitutionalists lost only thirty men -and captured one fourth of the 4,000 defenders of the town; fifty men and thirty-five officers of the enemy, including three generals, being reported as “killed in action.” A mortality of nearly four officers for every five men Is rather suspicious; and It was also a curious coincidence that the only Federal officer who came alive out of Paredon as a prisoner had been a classmate of a Constitutionalist general at a French military college. If Villa does execute captured officers, however, ho cannot be greatly blamed f<*r It. The parole of an officer of Huerta is worth less, and the Constitutionalist prisons are already overcrowded: It is to Vil la’s credit that he offers all the captured regular Federal rank ami file an oppor tunity to enlits with him, and treats the wounded soldiers of the enemy with as much consideration es his own. Five or six miles from Fraustro our train stopped for the night In a deep and narrow canyon, the worst possible place that could have been selected, for our flanks were unprotected, and two thou sand of the enemy sweeping overland from Saltillo, only forty miles away, could have destroyed the seven tVains with ease, torn up the track, and cut Villa off rom his base of supplies. Moreover, there was the danger that some of the 3,000 men who had been driven from Paredon were lurking In the neighborhood. We had Just; two sources of reassurance namely, the fact that Villa had never been surprised, and that he had thus far been the only Mexican general to indulge in night fighting. Nevertheless, we gringoes were decided ly uneasy, and went so far as to take a census of our lighting strength, and to make plans for a defense. Including the Mexican captain and the two adventur ers, we had ten fighting men in the car, with four rifles and ten automatic pis tols. The two Chlnnmen didn’t count. Upon learning that we had enough mat tresses and blankets to make passable breastworks, wo turned in for an uneasj i night. About midnight the Mexicans must have decided that they were put ting too much faith In Villa’s foresight, and the apathy of the enemy, for the trains were moved out to where the val ley was much wider, the nearest hill be ing six hundred yards to the east. T was awake before sunrise end got up to enjoy the beauties of that event on a morning when the air was so clear that It hurt the eyes, although it was freshened by a gentle, moist (fraught from the Chi If. Dawn and twilight are short in the tropics, and day and night come suddenly. Dike an Incandescent cannon-ball the sun rolled up on the rocky knoll in the cast, and from behind it. all at once, came the wicked "sput, spilt,” of Mausers. “Whlng, wheep, wiling, wheep,” something whispered overhead, and I realized that the huge white bull's-eye sign of the “Mutual Movies” painted on our car was the tar get of the hidden marksmen. I heard behind me curses in foirt* tongues Fng lnsli, Spanish, kkitch and Italian—as my sleepy companions rolled out of their bunks and snatched with clumsy fingers at tho pile of weapons on tlie center table. Then, before more than a score of shots had been fired, nil mercifully going high, the fusillade ceased as sud denly as It had begun. Some boys who had gone out to shoot jack-rabbits came in out of breath and reported having seen fourteen Colorndos slinking off he hind the easterly ridge. This same band fired at Villa’s tVains the following even ing and torn up a small piece of track before they were captured and executed, within a few hundred yards of our car, by men of General Robles. It may seem absurd that Villa had not put out flanking forces to protect his trains; but the flank movement, like other simple military tactics, is almost unknown in Mexico. Therein is the most salient reason why in battles be tween luVge and cumbersome armies the Mexicans would be easy prey for the American regulars. Warfare ill Mexi co, aside from the guerrilla variety, con sists In finding nut where the enemy is and then marching straight up to him. Villa was the man to defy the tradition that only the dnvttmo Is suitable for fighting, and he has also ruthlessly up set precedents In “following up" his vic tories Instead of sitting down and cele brating until the enemy Is ready to come hack and lake him unawares; but even Villa has only the crudest knowledge of nccepted military strategy.-—The Out look. HAS IT IN THE FAMILY. "My dear,” remarked Jones, who had just finished reading a book on “The Wonders of Nature.” This really Is a remarkable work. Nature Is marvelous! Stupendous! When I rend a work like this It makes me think how guerlle, how Insignificant is man.” “Huh!” sniffed his better half. “A woman doesn’t have to wade through 400 pages to find out the same thing.” —Judge. ATE UP HIS ACT. (Chicago Nows). A vaudeville artist who used to tour t.ho theaters with a flock of per forming ducks, found managers no longer willing to book his sedate show. After he had been resting for some time he received a telegram nsking him to open on the following Monday at a variety theater In a dis tant town. In reply he wired: "Re gret I cannot come. Have eaten tho act.” Mrs. Newl.vrich, to her socitl secre tary; “Miss Fletcher, I hate to say it, but I’m afraid you ain’t up In all th’ requirements.” Tho Secretary—“ Please explain.” Mrs. Newlyrlch—“Why, X was talkin’ to that fat Mrs. Waddle this afternoon an’ she said I ought to join th’ Sapphira Club—an’ T don’t be lieve you ever mentioned it.” —Cleve- land Plain Dealer. FIVE