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Show 70 WESTERN WILDS. war. But quickly came the thought that, in the heated condition of the enemy, certain death awaited me ; or, if not that, a lingering death in a Spanish dungeon. I was nerved by desperation, and dashed down a long slope to the right. " From every hollow, from behind every sandy hillock, horsemen seemed to rise, and still I cleared them all. The mustang was compar-atively fresh, and, by frequent doubling and turning, I gained the ad-vance on a long slope, which led westward to the plain. A hundred Mexican cavalry were strung out behind me, the nearest just out of range. Slowly I gained upon them, plying the spur savagely, and was just beginning to breathe more freely, when suddenly there yawned before me an arroyo with perpendicular sides, not more than twenty feet wide, but of unknown depth. I reined my mustang back upon his haunches at the very edge of the chasm, then turned to look my last upon the earth. How fair then seemed the desert, but a little while ago so wild and waste how bright the sun how majestic the snowy mountains, glowing far to the north through the calm air ! " A yell of triumph from the enemy came with sudden jar upon my ears, and close after it a shower of scoupeta balls ; one cut my coat-sleeve, while another plowed a furrow along my cheek. The sharp " sting of pain, the flow of warm blood, the insulting yell, maddened me. I would not die would not consent to their triumph ; or, if die I must, I would sell my life dearly. I turned and galloped fiercely towards the foe, discharging my pistol as I advanced. In sheer astonishment at my desperation, they drew up. Again animal fear reasserted itself the mad instinct for one moment more of life and I turned towards the chasm. Again the fierce, insulting yell of the mongrel cut- throats again a shower of scoupeta balls. And now the enemy were near enough for me to hear their insulting laugh their discussion in bastard Spanish of the best method to finish me without danger. They came on more and more slowly. Again a few scoupeta balls whistled around me, and I felt the sting of another slight wound. " Could my mustang leap the chasm? These mountain- trained beasts were active ; he was young and strong ; at the worst it was but death death sudden and bravely dared. Thus swifter than lightning ran my thoughts in the awful presence of the unknown. " Putting him at full speed, I spurred him to the very edge, then, rising in my stirrups, loosed the reins as he bravely took the leap. I hear, as if it were but yesterday, the loud yell from the astonished Mexicans; I see again the frightful gorge in awful dreams again I urge him to the fearful leap. |
