Tales of Aztlan; The Romance of a Hero of Our Late Spanish-American War, Incidents of Interest from the Life of a Western Pioneer and Other TalesHartmann, George
General
Tales of Aztlan; The Romance of a Hero of Our Late Spanish-American War, Incidents of Interest from the Life of a Western Pioneer and Other Tales
Hartmann, George
Short stories, American; Spanish-American War, 1898 -- Fiction; Western stories
A tall, gaudily appareled Indian, mounting a beautiful pony, came to
town and offered for sale at our store several gold nuggets the size of
hazelnuts. He took care to do this publicly, so as to attract the
attention of some Mexicans, who became immensely excited at the sight
of the gold and began to question him at once in order to ascertain how
and whence he had obtained the golden nuggets. They almost fought for
the privilege of taking him as an honored guest to their respective
homes. The Indian was very non-committal as regarded his gold mine, but
very willing to accept the sumptuous hospitality so freely rendered
him. He was soon passed on from one disappointed Mexican to another,
who in turn fared no better and invariably sped the parting guest to
the door of his nearest neighbor. When the Indian had made the circuit
of the town in this manner he looked very sleek and happy, indeed, but
the people were no wiser. The knowledge of having been shamefully
buncoed by an Indian and disappointed in their lust for gold made the
Mexicans desperate. They held an indignation meeting and resolved to
capture the wily Navajo and compel him, under torture, if necessary, to
divulge the secret of his gold mine. Consequently, they overcame the
Indian, and when they threatened him with torture and death, he yielded
and said that he had found the gold in the Rio de San Francisco, a
mountain stream of Arizona. He promised to guide them to the spot where
he obtained the nuggets, saying that the bottom of the stream was
literally covered with golden sand, which might be seen from a
distance, as it shone resplendently in the sun. Then every able-bodied
Mexican in town who possessed a horse prepared to join a prospecting
expedition to the wild regions of mysterious Arizona. They organized a
company and elected a captain, a man of courage and experience. The
captain's first official act was to place a guard of four armed men
over the Navajo to prevent his escape, otherwise they treated their
prisoner well.
The women of the town cooked and baked for the party, and undoubtedly
each lady reveled in the hope to see her own man return with a sackful
of gold; and as a result of these fanciful expectations they were in
the best of spirits, laughing and singing the livelong day.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account