1897. 



THE AMERICAN BEE KEEPER. 



27 



so quiet, '' I <:^ Jiuuit a ) MTjedly, SbL-i'i^; 

 the cou«rrui'noii he \Vi4-^ pattiug on 

 "baug aiui 1 iHtte. " 



After lookiiii^ at his watch my coni- 

 pauioD said: "We have yel an hour to 

 wait. I'll tell yon about Manuela's 

 elopemeut. " 



So, while eating calabassas, chile con 

 oarne and frijoles fritos with "old 

 mamma" sitting in the corner, her glit- 

 tering eyes the only live thing about her, 

 with Manueia flirting in and out, bring- 

 ing the highly seasoned Mexican dishes 

 and bestowing soft, furtive smiles on 

 my comrade, I heard of the elopement 

 of Manuela. 



"Branscombe, one of the men who 

 ■need to eat here, fell in love with Man- 

 uela's re^ braids and buxom figure. It 

 was reciprocated by her, but 'old mam- 

 ma' hated him and n3ver winked her 

 little rattlesnake eyes when he was 

 round. Be was a rough sort of fellow, 

 and, it was said, had a wife or so and a 

 lot of children up in the States, but as 

 that cuts no ice here in Mexico b« kept 

 tight on making love to Mannela. He 

 frafl greatly annoyed by Angustinita, 

 Who was ever to the fore aod would not 

 4flace herself. So one night be got the 

 ^xt\ to run away with him on a soath 

 bound freight — queer vehiole for an 

 •lopement, a freight train! 



"Angustinita reached the station 

 jnst as the train pulled out. She was 

 almost frothing with rage and went 

 ■tamping round the platform, calling on 

 all the Aztec gods for aesistanoe. 



"She calmed down after a time and 

 asked the night operator's advice, and 

 he told her that the only way to catch 

 her daughter was to hire an engine and 

 follow on that. 



" 'Old mamma' took fire at once and 

 Bent a message to the superintendent 

 asking for an engine. They wired back, 

 •Yes,' if she would pay $100 for the 

 first hour and $50 for each succeeding 

 hour. Pretty steep, but, you see, they 

 cinched her because she was a pilao. 

 Pilao is derived from pilado — peeled, 

 without clothes or anything else. They 

 knew Augustiuita had quite a bit of 

 money put away, and it is the proper 

 thing to keep the pilaos true to their 

 Dame and caste — peeled. 



"Angustinita was blooded. She bit 

 her teetli down on her cheroot and said, 

 'Send for it. ' 



"In about two hours the engine came 

 thundering in from Aguas Calientes. 

 Tom Haskins was the pilot, and the en- 

 gineer was one of the b»st on the extra 

 list. 



"The road was clear for a half dozen 

 stations, and they went whizzing along, 

 80 kilometers an hour. 



" 'Old mamma' sat stolidly looking 

 out of the cab window, apparently un- 

 moved by the tremendous speed and the 

 lurching of the engine as they tore 

 round the short curves, but Haskins 

 thought she must have been greatly ex- 

 cited, because she was unable to keep 

 hercheroot lighted. Finally she tired of 

 trying to smoke and simply clamped her 

 jaws on her puro and sat immovable, 

 with her beady eyes fastened on the rails 

 ahead. 



"They met the passenger train in the 

 early morning, and, as word had gone 

 from one end of the line to the other, of 

 course the trainmen had informed the 

 passengers, and, with heads out of win- 

 dows and the platforms crowded, they 

 cheered and laughed as the engine ran 

 by. One wag shouted: 'Hurry, and 

 you'll catch them. They're juat round 

 the bendl' 



"Not 20 minutes later, at the next 

 station, was the freight train, humbly 

 side tracked, waiting the enemy. 



"They had had a terrible time assist- 

 ing Angustinita in the cab. You can see 

 for yourself she weighs about 275, and 

 clumsy at that. Haskins and the engi- 

 neer pulled, and the fireman, who was a 

 Mexican, pushed, and Angustinita 

 struggl-ed and grunted and finally was 

 landed. But when she saw the yellow 

 caboose she frisked out like a kitten. 

 The engineer, who is a spiritualist, said 

 that the spirits helped her. Haskins said 

 he would have been much more grateful 

 to them if they had helped her in, but 

 he thought they showed good sense in 

 taking the ea8y end of the job. 



"Haskins was afraid Branscombe 

 would shoot or abuse the old woman in 

 some way, so he went with her to the 

 caboose. The two were sitting on a sort 

 of locker. He had his arm about the 

 girl, and, beyond rising, they made no 

 change in their position. Haskins, on 

 the platform, hovered near the open 

 door. 



"Augustinita walked up to them and 

 asked Manuela in her politest basso to 



