JUANITO

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 452, 15 December 1904, Page 8

JUANITO

By A." lb UNdflL

i, ■ —.-■ --;■ - , # TCJASITO «m discouraged sod fat|f lanTmrf'te aay Tengefol. f£-'" Hire he had lain for nearly three days with only a Httle .jetkyto eat, y>nd only an oceaa&nai moa<**u^ofand now his eenaeen jatav F "Msrire 3. Dio*," he mua*ered :: to7 ■himself, *wßl thoee miserable<ar*JK |Ff o'§ Earer t Beyar foawajr ao gjitt ' IMP^^ssf*^ 1 * IOB^.^WCaV. .O^lJl^a^H-' .' ClrOOajAVUa UQ JilUilaO flOVatTawO VuM '.ln bedfae; aJmaelf in a dense IllifcH. 49f atetqaMe a atttie farther up *o* _. ; -1 f£4jaac • Hoe ' Jnaalao ma' gfta*? tired; be bad traased to mUea »<*ar Jay, anfl be ihoeji||stbeet to wait a day end reet, for it ivai n»&rly 40 miles to the nearest water, in any di^ reetfcon, aadTwito knew quite wall that it wonid be a haaafdods trip for a man- on. foot, and with bat one eenteen at water, even U he was fresh when he essrted. * ""^'V r- Be■■ 'knew '^taryx^iat; that aba. co*r« toofc&njr. ■*»- hJaa,. bitk tbsgr, ' woaJdxitay; therelsVtke water hole- - in any eueh sensalaea way; ao ha took a good driahi of hie jerky* ' and, after ctnswiayby hiimieif ao noth_-' inff'bnt the aloeest aa*rebfwouki <fla- ';: be went to sleep* aa cabnjy. • : ' allftgufb"ids life had been »poi4ea>.; - But Jeeoito'e .life bod not been--*rbesj» to eajaeedlngly bad Joanrteji-, -"■ithonpi,' perhaps, it was not eo muah .. \j. : ,_„ ;■•■:' . ;~..£W a at fbWwhile hie mother bad ****•» womaj wh«oaa retaaware largely filled with AJflea'r hltfr)d, ao Jbanito wee rather t«]

;.. , '9W& Slfnff"■: ' k * a *—* rather. V about three years otd - Lltometeo their abode. litg h¥ an dseto the loss of aH* ie gambling dens, and srcst A that followed-* r*ri "SjSbcslved" • - severgV affpatraadrout of the' ''"Mat*. Jussrfto's sales* wrth the Ms hand, and the erewd thatftoeri gathered lost Uttlethne in arranging a "neektte" party, with -the result ttatf :, in lass thah - i* 'toßnut**J^r^bsto'ns , s| --^;;powiJa*ion r; _.was' on* ■$ Juanito had been Juan; hut as he grew to wsmhoodrand dt43 %f^#*^^**j r ■W*& ' %M"l«ngth. hnv ' , .—*ql*tf**ent,to John." in «ng1. Alas, peotJuaßito; life didn<?t deaL; --yy him; and hi* ing*sfeffeaJM3e*fjtor devetopmeDt, and—k did 'Jk.- sjoft. of common': half dozen or so of Bow|(sj; of the Mexican families;' sating S,t'the adobe hut of the family hjppeosd to be honored by his presence at meal time, and slaeping wherever be happened to be when ale spy; bat after a few years he bs* t S caisft JSL*** 1 * l ® l I ™* o ' B presence apbtt with favor by; . gjur of his foster fathers, and Juan--f*fito*ettgbegan to "rustle" for b^aV *«*if t odjd jobs. around the MjSlfl ' loons, and morning errands for tbe, ■ ■■ gambjers. _ ■" «. : &^; Whether kdherrted «,r rtrqmjg^ JuanitooA 'an r showed*Sp

rijjht* of other*, and * facility for attaching into himeelf an/thing n' value not fastened down or red hot; ■be well nn a dfspo*ition *o quarrel.i".ue. that ex about the age of 15. if.pr having* at Various times inflict--1 serious wounda on other gamine. : «» cuV'a whHa boy Tory badly, and :" e Tombstone vigilantes told him t<nake himself invisible, which he did. years Juanito waa not auteh in evideace; but K waa known that he had joined a roving band o' Vpaehes who attacked a party o' freighters near Bans on, and' were driven off. '■ Juanito waa hailed by oneig|§|hp freighter* who knew him* anlPflreplied insultingly, but said for his in j?ult-by the pasaage of a "forty-four" bullet through his cheek. After that he got "bad." fP - Depredation and murder followed each other rapidly; now hare, now . than; until ha had left his earmarks over nearly all of the central and ''southern, part of the territory, and -even aa far north aa near Skull Val-

pey and Camp Tarda. :''. At last, after a particularly eruel [ murder, followed by the theft of one of the ievorite horses at the "Q I" eow ranch, he had in his rapid flight through a rocky canyon broken his -ItorsVs lag and had to walk to this, '.the nee/eat water, and now he Bleeps peacefully, expecting that in£the . mqming the cowboy* will ride away. * But Juanito is reckoning without l his host, and hi* hunters are not aubject to the order* of—well—anybody. They know that other partiea'have all the other water hole* within a radiu* of a hundred miles under rigid and they know that if Juanito ia anywhere within that territory he must come soon to water. AH they have to do la to keep an unfailing watch on the water hole, and sooner or later Juanito, if near, wiUjAoma; but Juanito had not bean ijred to that kind of a hunt, and has "been wondering for the peat tiro days what eouid possibly keep those idiot jj Gringo's in his way. 1 And now, at the and of the third -day, his water ia all gone. The last two days ft baa been unsavory, for Vater doea not keep sweet long in

: jjriaoiie. but wbiie it kuted it m at ftaast wet, but to-night he had drunk the last of it. # To-morrow be eouM strand it, if be bed to, shaded a* he was by the mesquite tbfeket, but if the Gringo fools did not go by to-morrow night, "fengre da Christo save k«m," he would have to rftafc a trip to the water hole. '_ So jfoaotto reasoned with himself a* he prepared to 90 to sleep; a •leap that wae fttiefr with troubled •dream*, and pasture* of flowing wa-

ters. - -. I ' At the tint peep of dawn be awoke with a dry tongne, and, after Hstening for soma minute* and hearing nothenf, be coneJoded that the hated Gringos had gone; when a horse neighed and he sank back'with a low groan, foil well realbnng that a day of torture was before aim. His Jerky 1 was nearly gone, but that gave him but little concern; he could do without food for several days, but water! ah, yee, water he must have, for none may live long on these - deserts without H. /":'". . An. the sun rises, Juaotio bleese* , hi* .patron saint that be baa the shade of the mcsquHjes; here it will be possible for him to endure the -day, but out there in the scorching, burning sun, earramba! nol ■ t : Slowly the hours ereep by, but the ,sun seems to get hotter very fast, "and Juanito's blood gsts more* fiery 'as it courses more rapidly through his veins, While his tongue gets more ; more dry and parehed with each hot breath. * : - At last Juaoito is desperate; he realises the trap he is in, b*t no matter; perhaps he can suceeed in getting to the water hole unseen, but if not—well—death from a bullet is ; far better them this torture that he "know* will get a thousand fold worse as the day wears on; and H he falls —he has his trusty Martin, and no .doubt he ean at least make the score Han even one. - , |E Meanwhile the cowboye have not |*U»d their vigilance. *Just before the moonriee the night before they sad*ftently gathered from tbeir different points of surveillance and in Jow whispers discussed the situation; the leader, giving it *aa his opinion that if the "—Greaser" was there he would soon show up. I "Don't break away for a minute,

boys," he said, "if he's round hsre he must be.mightly near o' water, an' we'li purty sure git him to-night or to-morrow.**-had silently crawled back PKOTtir post*, where in pairs one was jwwson the alert,. t;^!? of *° e water that means *fcfJ6%o him, Jsanito slowly creeps out *ix>m bis thicket into the scorching sunshine, and through the no less scorching rocks and sand that almost blister; his hands, but bis trail .will now be only a short one. - - At almost his first movement outside of his thicket "Tex." his nearset foe,*had seen him; a moment inter there is a sharp srack, and Juanito sinks quietly down, unmarked, save by a little hole in the center of hk forehead. A few days later, when Curly and bis comrades rode up to the "Q I" ranch they were met by the foreman and ajsquad of the —th cavalry, whose lieutenant sneeringly seid: "Well, did you see anything of JuanJtor 5 "Yes," replied Curly, "we got him;" but "with a curious lifting of his eyeJ>rowa," "he escaped."—Los Angeles '.; i - : * aajpen'a man st.-r - f.-r .-'.cj;- 1 ' nsu-lly ••>. •