“The woman had a little girl of probably ten years of age.  This little girl brought me water to wash myself, while the mother prepared me something to eat.  I was so anxious to pay these people that I found a five-dollar gold piece in one of my pockets and gave it to the little girl, who in turn gave it to her mother.  While I was drinking the coffee and eating my breakfast, the woman saw me looking at a picture of the Virgin Mary which was hanging on the adobe wall opposite me.  She asked me if I was a Catholic, which I admitted.  Then she brought out a shirt and offered it to me.

“Suddenly the barking of a dog attracted her to the door.  She returned breathless, and said in good Spanish:  ’For God’s sake, run!  Fly!  Don’t let my husband and brother catch you here, for they are coming home.’  She thrust the shirt into my hand and pointed out the direction in which I should go.  From a concealed point of the brush I saw two men ride up to the jacal and dismount.  One of them was riding the Pinto horse I had seen the day before.

“I kept the brush for an hour or so, and finally came out on the mesa.  Here I found a flock of sheep and a pastore.  From this shepherd I learned that I was about ten miles from the main road.  He took the sandals from his own feet and fastened them on mine, gave me directions, and about night I reached the hacienda, where I was kindly received and cared for.  This ranchero sent after officers and had the country scoured for the robbers.  I was detained nearly a week, to see if I could identify my drivers, without result.  They even brought in the owner of the Pinto horse, and no doubt husband of the woman who saved my life.

“After a week’s time I joined our own outfit, and I never heard a language that sounded so sweet as the English of my own tongue.  I would have gone back and testified against the owner of the spotted horse if it hadn’t been for a woman and a little girl who depended on him, robber that he was.”

“Now, girls,” said Baugh, addressing Carter and the stranger, “I’ve made you a bed out of the wagon-sheet, and rustled a few blankets from the boys.  You’ll find the bed under the wagon-tongue, and we’ve stretched a fly over it to keep the dew off you, besides adding privacy to your apartments.  So you can turn in when you run out of stories or get sleepy.”

“Haven’t you got one for us?” inquired the cattle-buyer of Baugh.  “This is no time to throw off, or refuse to be sociable.”

“Well, now, that bank robbery that you were telling the boys about,” said Baugh, as he bit the tip from a fresh cigar, “reminds me of a hold-up that I was in up in the San Juan mining country in Colorado.  We had driven into that mining camp a small bunch of beef and had sold them to fine advantage.  The outfit had gone back, and I remained behind to collect for the cattle, expecting to take the stage and overtake the outfit down on the river.  I had neglected to book my passage in advance, so when the stage was ready to start I had to content myself with a seat on top.  I don’t remember the amount of money I had.  It was the proceeds of something like one hundred and fifty beeves, in a small bag along of some old clothes.  There wasn’t a cent of it mine, still I was supposed to look after it.