

If 



OR A MEXICAN DRIVING A PAIR OF PACK BURROS." 



The bill finished, I looked it over and 

 found it correct, and that it bound us to 

 treat the child as our own; to clothe, feed 

 and educate him, and to teach him to be a 

 good citizen of the country. Carl and I 

 signed it, and the burrerro signed the release 

 to his ownership. Then the money was 

 paid over, and Chico was ours. 



"Now, what shall we do with him?" 

 Carl asked. I was stumped, and had to ad- 

 mit that I didn't know. The burrerro evi- 

 dently understanding our situation, came 

 to our rescue and suggested that, as the 

 outfit was going to Las Cruces, if the 

 senores would trust him, we could go ahead, 

 and he would bring the boy to us " right 

 side up with care." 



I called Jose, told him of our purchase, 

 made him promise to see the burrerro kept 

 His word, and that the boy be sent to the 

 superintendent's office as soon as the out- 

 fit arrived. 



" Muy bien," he said, and then — ■" but 

 why did you buy him? " I turned to Carl, 

 who merely shrugged his shoulders and 

 said, " quien sabe." 



Pulling to one side of the trail, we put 

 spurs to our ponies and loped on to make 

 up lost time. What to do with our little 

 Indian was the question that now con- 

 stantly forced itself on our minds. At last, 

 in despair, I told Carl he must suggest some 

 plan; and after some minutes of sober 

 thought he said the only thing he could 

 think of was to let him keep our rooms 

 clean, and run errands for his wife. She 

 could, in turn, look after the boy's welfare. 



"All right," I replied; "but I'm afraid 

 it will be no small task to look out for that 

 kid." I thought of Carl's dainty little wife, 

 but recently from the " States," and who, 

 though loved by everyone in the camp, 



seemed strangely out of place surrounded 

 by the rough airs of a mining camp. The 

 idea of burdening her with the uncouth lit- 

 tle stranger to " look after," seemed to me 

 to savor of incongruity. 



We arrived at Las Cruces just as the 

 night hands were going to the mill, and, 

 riding up to the main office, dismounted, 

 and gave our ponies over to the care 

 of 2 Mexican boys, who led them away 

 to the corralh. Carl went up to his rooms 

 while I, after removing my six-shooter 

 and chaps, washed up, in the kitchen, and 

 went in to supper. 



Later I strolled to my room, from which 

 I hauled a chair out on the veranda, and 

 sat down for a quiet smoke. The valley 

 was extremely beautiful, in the soft moon- 

 light, with here and there a light from a 

 miner's cabin, and I thoroughly enjoyed its 

 restfulness. Meanwhile I wondered when 

 our new human chattel would show up. 



The next day I was busy getting my men 

 and mules together, as the Company was to 

 make a shipment of silver bullion to the 

 railroad in a day or 2. Once I saw Carl's 

 wife, and she asked me what kind of a look- 

 ing boy we had bought. I could only say 

 he was^simply a half-starved Yaqui Indian 

 youngster, about 10 or 12 years old; " but," 

 I added, " he will be handy to run er- 

 rands, and bring water and wood. Beside 

 he will be safe from the cruelty of the Mex- 

 icans." 



The next day several of us were in the 

 office, waiting for the opening of the 

 weekly mail that had just come in. Carl 

 and his wife, the manager, the superinten- 

 dent and some of the bosses were there, all 

 eager for news from the states. 



One of the men remarked that a burro 

 outfit had just come in, and that there was 



439 



