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Show • ( 52 ) IJO much human blood that great lakes could hlve been filled with it. T he more blood ts shed by such a 'hero,' the greater is his 'glory ' before the world. However, I don't care for glory, if I can get mules and money, for which I will ~ive you my word as a bravo Bandido l\1ejicano not to kill any of your friend~, or of those caballeros Amet·icanos, if I can help it, that is, if they give me t~1 .ir mul es and th eir money without fighting.'' '' ~at e o!" fl attered Munoz," if I had not sworn to give up robbmg, 1 would go along with you, even under your command; fo r I see you have th.ere a fine number of dnring fellows, although they ~e mere red .. skms, who obey you as their capitan, or rather as ~he1r 'Gran-Jefe,' (great c~ief ;) n~ver mind their inferiority to wh1te p eop.le! they make up m quantity what they lack in quality. N ow tell me: what shall be my part of your booty in money if I tell ~ou how you can get all the money of that whole com pan/ of A mertcanos, with all their mules?" • " I mu t know first, h·ow much money they have, which my spy r,ou ld not see, who only counted their mules to be forty L t n~ I\ tl1 at es cr1. tor~1. 11 o (polygraph o: ink-blotting fellow) h. ow me ~cuhs money he and hts comrades have 10 their possession." . 1\Jlaleo took a S~anish quarter-dollar out of his pocket showed 1t to Adam, and sa td: ' "C ab a ll e ~o!. Cuanto?'' (How much?) Ad <.~m , fe1gntng to understand that Mateo asked him how much that ptece was worth, wrote upon the margin uf his J·ournal . "twen-t- y- fiv e cents'. " · " P or ~~. d a ll_.ll a.' "(By my life!) said Mateo, an ril "Such a le~rned lcll ow 1s more stupid than a mulo !" tryinggto ~ ] Ad b"eCtt er ut nd el'stan~d fr ):,n by s. peaking broken Snanish he acct. adm Y , con 1 nue : uan .as pcsas r cuantns p1a:;tras? Caballeros Americanos '" (Ho many doll ~r ? how_many piasters ? gentlemen Americans!.) w wh~:~~e di~db~ot thtnk proper to feign any long~r not to understand - 1000 . o er meant, and wrote upon a piece of paper 20 X 5Q - ptaslers ! l ~\.Mil piastras !" (One t~ousand piasters !)-cried Mateo "pro. >a.ll y ]twfen~y men, ea~h With fifty piasters and forty mul~s-th at W I < o or commencmg !-Muy bien! (Ver II'- ore. now the other fellows? I have ordered my ~=m .) but where <J Circle aroun rl here and let no bod esca D y .· anches to form llO li v in~ creature )eft these r 'f pe. . Ultng these ~WO ~Ours :-;f·ta~tled ~1ntelope, after being ~i~:~e~~ :~~e~~~ ~n~of;ll~unntn~ hkc a un ou s n· t h.a ving fi red a shut fo r no th'1 11 g as 11 e w o u Id w sh, w =toh w1a s ·grent reh sh ll1 eating the do ro asted H ·' ave a( a h idden th emsei ves about he~e ?" . ave those other Caballeros " As mu ch ns I have been able t d 1 aRs,' ' nn swcred Munoz, with a sli~hut ers~anr tha_t learned jac k~ Adam, "I think that his co o h motion of his hnnd toward ~bout one day 's ride from hermpany alve la camp at a distance of · - e, upwarc a on•r th · :id v1se you to let him ,v 1 • 1·te l . . t') c next n ver. I t. a oo e 1n En •rltsh t ~ · · ;.uat thev shall pay to the uc . 100 .,.., 0 li t< compan tons, • arcr 0 plasters, and de liv er up to I • ( 5., ) him the thi rty-s ix mules t 1cy have there: lhc piasters :1n.l tl c mtdc~ bcin~ to rausum hiu from you and your Cat n a 1 1eho~, whose nwn! J t• r hL: must write to be 500 at lea:st, so that they will nol think of re 'using 1.0 rausum him, or of attack ing S lt h a l<trge body ot ,·-ar- ·io ns. ln order that you may somewhat uudcrstand his wri1inu; lt:t hirri' use cyphers aud words which are the same or similar in Spani sh and in English. 1000 p ias tras or piastcrs-36 mulos or 1 ule ·-500 Catnanchos or Camancbes. You mny send me alone < r with my fellows to bring thal writi ng to the cam p, whence I "'i ll return with you r money and your mules, and be sati lied if you give me and my men 100 piasters for our sc r vice,- tha t will make ten for me and f1ve for each of them, as they are eigh tea n. 1 t hink that is a very little r eward for two days' job." "The ft.rst par t of your proposed plan is very good, Munoz," rep li ed l\1at.eo, "and I will adopt it; bu t, concern ing the second pr~rt of it, I have ano ther opini on. · I like to do such a job myself. a ~. 't is a mon "Y business : however, if 1 get the whole ransom of ·t 000, you shall have 100 piastras, fD r which you lllli~L keep tl e w~ttch here ,v ith your ei ~htee n fe llows and let nolwdy leave th premises unt il I return hi ther, \Vith six of my men, whom l will t:Jl e along~ as 1 , ec here six mules :)lid two pon ies, whic l1 I r .erve for me exclu sively. W hen I come ba k, on tl1e day after to-morl'ow. 1 '-' '<pect you ... hal l have one of the mu les be~it.ies, and if you r friend v~ l crio beiH.V'es well, that is, qu i tly he also ~hall have one, au~ I will 3dd one for Dona T ere ... a, out of t•c:;pcct for her, because I ltl•€· 1 o be ~a lbnt. No,,. try to let that Escr it.orcillo u ndcrsla11d what iH~ mu t ,,·r it e !" "."'y lvi-o !" s:Jid l\1unor., "you '.Jnder~t ~HHl a litt le En~~1ish, hel.p n1e expb i·n to the Cabrdl ro AtHCI' Irano thn l he n1u. t wn te to ht.· frienclc: in the ramp for his ran:-;om : 1000 pia: t r<~~, 1_1ayable to Mat.eo, the bear r of the writ ing, and 86 mulos, to be deltvered up to ht n; if no1, the wr it er shall be murde red by Mateo 's 'anJancho:,, whose nun1bcr he mu;-;t write to he 500." }\ ftc r a sntn cient ex pl anation, Adam feign ingiy refu sed to obey. un t il Mateo said, '' J will threaten him \-v ith death : be not unca~y fnr h im, as it js on1y a mock e ry ~ " lle took, with his right hand , a pistol, and with his left, a d a ~g~r f om his belt, say ing to Adam, " Vea mo~!" (l et tHl see !) B ut tn~ tan tl y V\raanataa stepped forth, gnlsping his tomfJ hawk, and Mateo . exc laimed: "If th <tt big rcd -~k i n dares budge another te p, f will sho?t h it~ !'!own li l'e a dog. lie is undou ut dly the rascal whn, w1th h1~ ~(1 1 H\ W th ere. g:n:e chnse the ot her day on my C.amancho, who rna . t.1ke his own v ,ngcance on them, whe.1 l th1nk pro per. Let t hen bewa re of him!' ' " Go back ," s:1 id Adam to V\· aa nataa, who obeyed, when l\'l ateo 1 ointed arOtll'lO the room to the several wind ows, throu gh whi.ch nn odd score of ~rim and sa vage f}l ~es of Ca~anches, ar~ ed wtlh gt.. ns, looked at every motion of tb e1r new -chtef, who conttnued : ' |