• : .' 



* - 



JOSE VALDEZ. 



done me sctior, pcrdone me — sueltame! " (par- 

 don me sir, pardon me — let me go!) we dis- 

 covered a big burrerro cruelly beating a lit- 

 tle half naked Yaqui Indian boy, with his 

 " tapofo," or burro-blind, with a raw-hide 

 lash attached. Seeing us, he stopped and 

 released the little fellow, who cowered at 

 his feet. 



" You blankety blanked blank! " said 

 Carl, in frontier English. 



" What's he beating the kid for," Carl de- 

 manded. I asked the burrerro why in " el 

 iniierno " he was chastising the boy. 



" Ah, senor," he answered, " the muchacho 

 (boy) is very bad. He will not keep the 

 burros in the trail, but allows them to wan- 

 der to the side, and who knows but that 

 they might be lost? " 



' You don't have to beat the life out of 

 him, for that," I said, indignantly; " don't 

 you know its cruel to whip a child, so? " 



" Si senor pero es necesario (yes sir, but it 

 is necessary). Then he is my property. I 

 bought him from los soldados (soldiers) who 

 captured him, while on their last cam- 

 paign." 



" How much did you pay for him?" I 

 asked. 



" Ten dollars senor; but then he was very 



little, and so I called him ' Chico ' as I 

 do now." 



When I translated this to Carl, he said: 



" Well it's a beastly shame. Poor little 

 kid! Looks about scared to death. Say, 

 why can't we buy him, from that brute? 

 We can find use for him at Las Cruces." 



" Just what I was thinking. Hold on till 

 I find out if he is for sale." He was, and 

 for the enormous sum of $20. 



" I'll pay half if you'll pay the rest," I 

 said to Carl. " It's a go," and forthwith he 

 proceeded to unbuckle his six-shooter belt, 

 and pouring out 10 big Mexican silver dol- 

 lars, handed them over to me. Suddenly 

 the spirit of economy was awakened in me, 

 and I proceeded to negotiate with " bur- 

 rerro." After a sharp wrestle with words 

 and gestures I managed to cut the $20 down 

 to $16, and then told the man to make out a 

 bill of sale, according to the law, mean- 

 while giving him a pencil and a leaf from 

 my note book. 



The boy had risen to his feet and was 

 driving the burros along, every little while 

 looking dubiously over his shoulder at us; 

 evidently badly frightened. The idea of 

 being sold to 2 " gringos " was to him most 

 awful, notwithstanding his present hard lot. 



438 



