Then came the long lines of half-naked brown boys tumbling down after
them out of the brush, and striking right and left, up and down, with
their clubs.
In less than ten minutes from the time they came out of the brush, the
little fellows had laid down their clubs and were dragging the game
together.
The grave professors shook their hats and handkerchiefs, and shouted
with delight from their windows overhead, and all the white boys
danced about, wild with excitement.
That is, all but one or two. The boy from Boston said savagely to the
little Aztec, as he stood directing the counting of the ears, "You're
a brigand! You're the black brigand of San Diego City, and I can whip
you!"
The brigand said nothing, but kept on with his work.
In a little time the president and head gardener came forward, and
roughly estimated that about one thousand of the pests had been
destroyed. Then the kindly president went to the bank and brought out
one hundred silver dollars, which he handed to the little Bear-Slayer
of San Diego in a cotton handkerchief.
The poor, timid little fellow's lips quivered. He had never seen so
much money in all his life. He held his head down in silence for a
long time and seemed to be thinking hard. His half-naked little
brothers and cousins grouped about and seemed to be waiting for a
share of the money.
The boy's schoolmates also crowded around, just as boys will, but
they did not want any of the silver, and I am sure that all, save only
one or two, were very glad because of his good luck.
Finally, lifting up his head and looking about the crowd of his
school-fellows, he said, "Now, look here; I want every one of you to
take a dollar apiece, and I will take what is left." He laid the
handkerchief that held the silver dollars down on the grass and spread
it wide open.
Hastily but orderly, his schoolmates began to take up the silver, his
own little brown fellows timidly holding back. Then one of the white
boys who had hastily helped himself saw, after a time, that the bottom
was almost reached, and, with the remark that he was half ashamed of
himself for taking it, he quietly put his dollar back. Then all the
others, fine, impulsive fellows who had hardly thought what they were
about at first, did the same; and then the little brown boys came
forward.
They kept coming and kept taking, till there was not very much but
his handkerchief left. One of the professors then took a piece of gold
from his pocket and gave it to the little Bear-Slayer. The boy was so
glad that tears came into his eyes and he turned to go.
"See here! I'm sorry for what I said. Yes, I am. I ought to be
ashamed, and I am ashamed."
It was the smart boy from Boston who had been looking on all this
time, and who now came forward with his hand held out.
"See here!" he said. "I've got a forty-dollar shotgun to give away,
and I want you to have it. Yes, I do. There's my hand on it. Take my
hand, and you shall have the gun just as soon as it gets here."
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