HOW I WAS NEARLY LYNCHED

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 188, 28 December 1912, Page 2 (Supplement)

HOW I WAS NEARLY LYNCHED

"Have you ever been face to face with death?" asked the man with the lightblue eyes, which are sometimes held to be typical of untruthfulness. "If so, you will appreciate my feelings during the experience which I am about to relate to you. "One morning when I was staying in Mexico 'City, I went out for a ride in the neighboring countryside. On reaching a wood I noticed a lovely girl straining her eyes. When she perceived me, she looked disappointed, and was about to move away. I could not help calling to her, pretending I had lost my way. "We were soon engaged in conversation, and I said mischievously. 'You were expecting somebody, senorita?' "'Yes,' she. replied, 'and I,am beginning to despair.' " "Too bad!' I rejoined. 'lf only I had the honor of being your friend I should never keep you waiting a single instant.' "She began to laugh, and looked more entrancing than ever. I asked if I might sit and talk to her for a little while until he came. 'Perhaps you would like to take his place altogether?' she said, with a roguish look. " 'What more could mortal man desire?' I returned. "They are a hot-blooded people in this part of the world, quick to resent injuries, but just as quick to fall in love. So I was not enormously surprised when she bade me wait a little while, adding that she would return if the coast were clear. "In a few minutes I had tied my horse to a tree and was following her into a glade within sight of her house. W T e sat down on the grass, and I put my arm round her waist; I held her hand, and was just about to nibble the rosebuds of her lips when my attention was attracted by a curious tapping noise in the brushwood. I turned round, tout could see nothing. "Then I resumed my advances and was just flattering myself that I should be rewarded with a kiss, when she suddenly leaped to her feet, and exclaimed: 'My father!'

''Before I could stand up, I was surrounded by three men whose gestures were both violent and insulting. They

were her father and her two 'brothers. The young men had drawn their knives and I had given myself up for lost when

(lie father stopped them with a sign. They pusliQfl. the girl away and she hurried off, sobbing, towards the house. "It was in vain for me to protest that I had never seen her before, that I waa an English traveller, that I meant no harm. She. came back and begged for mercy, and she even went down on her knees, but they hustled her away brutally. They seemed to grow more and more angry. Their eyes flashed pitilessly from their rugged faces. "The father gave a fresh order. One of the brothers went into the house, at the door of which the mother stood with a look of sardonie amusement on her face. The brother returned with a, long rope. The father passed sentence upon me. I was to be hanged. I was given five minutes in which to say my prayers. "My prayers consisted of offering a cheque on the Bank of Mexico, where I had about eight hundred pounds. This was contemptuously refused, and already the cord with a running noose was hanging from a tree in front of me. Just as I was about to be taken to my doom, the father stopped his sons once more.

"'You are a man of fortune?' he ask ed me.

" 'Enough,' I replied, 'to pay handsomely for my life.' "He reflected, and a gleam of hope began to enter my brain. Oddly enough, I still heard the same little noise which I had heard at the beginning of this adventure. I attributed it to some animal of the country, perhaps to some kind of woodpecker. 'Are you free from matrimonial ties?' "'Absolutely!' I replied. " 'Well, I am prepared to spare your life on one condition.' " 'What is that-?' " 'That you marry my daughter.' "At that moment T would have consented to marry the Witch of Endor. However, I turned to the girl and said with the utmost gallantry that I should have been willing to marry her even I without any persuasion nn the part of anyone. But I added that I felt I might not obtain Iter consent. " 'I accept you with both hands,' she replied. TUy heart lias been yours from the first moment I set eyes upon you.' . "She made a movement towards me, but her father restrained her. '" 'Very well,' he said; 'now for the betrothal.' | "I happened to be wearing a rather pretty ring. I took it off and placed it on the girl's finger while the father held up his hands and gave us his blessing. And still I heard that mysterious clicking noise in the wood. I turned round to look for the unknown animal which had caused it. "Then I caught sight of a cinematograph operator who was turning his handle for all lie was worth, and everybody burst into the wildest laughter. "Then the father took off his hat with great courtesy, and said: 'Senor, 1 beg that you' will forgive the wretched trick which my daughter has played upon you. The man we were expecting io play your part seems to have failed us. but you have taken his place in a far more perfect and realist manner than he could ever have hoped to reach. I trust that you will prove the absence of your resentment bv consenting to come inside and take a little refreshment.' 'SUpon my word, as I looked at the girl, I was half tempted to remind her that we were still formally betrothed,and to tell her that I refused to release her from her promise of marriage."