On the Mexican Border [pp. 460-469]

ONV THE MEXICAN BORDER.
tion of the route, his disgust broke forth
audibly. Knowing that Fischer could
not or would not keep up with us in a
chase, clumsily dressed and unwieldy as
he was, hle persuaded him to divest himself of his seraie, and offered to arrange
it for him. Doubling it across and laying it over Fischler's knees, he fastened
it securely to the saddle behind, in spite
of the remonstrances of that gentleman,
who suspected a trick. When he was
thus secured, the j5eon exclaimed,' Now
let us ride!' And away we went, with
Fischer hallooing to us in the rear. Paying no attention to his cries more than
to glance back at him and see that he
was still on his horse, we galloped on,
while hle, finding that he must ride or be
left behind, soon learned to keep up with
us. And so we journeyed to Barranca
Colorado.
"But I had a most unpleasant secret
on my mind, which gave me no little uneasiness, and made me, besides, rather
indifferent to the discomforts of my new
acquaintance. I had been handed, before leaving E1 Paso, a printed proclamation of Governor Bell, of Texas, in which
my lawyer was fully described and named,
setting forth that he had procured the
immigration of a large number of his
countrymen to Texas, and had obtained
possession of their money under the pretense of buying lands for them; but that
he had absconded with the money, leaving his victims in great distress. The
proclamation called on all American citizens to give said Fischer such greeting, wherever met with, as he deserved.
When I was made acquainted with these
facts, I had already paid Fischer his retaining fee, which I was not willing to
lose. Having gone so far, I concluded
the best way would be to seem ignorant
of his antecedents, and trust to my own
watchfulness to prevent his doing any injury to my employer; for I was ashamed
to let Flotte know what sort of lawyer I
had got lhim.
"Fischer was made acquainted with
Flotte's business, being shown all the
papers in the case. Apparently all was
going on smoothly, but I thought I
detected some communication between
Lyle and the lawyer. Once becoming
suspicious, I followed him up so closely
that I soon discovered my suspicions to
be true. Fischer had agreed to pass
over to Lyle some important documents
to which, as Flotte's lawyer, hle had access. Immediately on this discovery I
sought Fischer in his own apartment.
"' Pretending to have something of interest to show him, I invited him out
upon a small balcony about twelve feet
from the ground, with which his room
communicated by a door. Turning the
key in the lock, I stood face to face with
him, without much room for his escape.
Then taking from my breast-pocket the
proclamation of Governor Bell, and holding my revolver ready to fire at the first
sign of an attempt to escape, I read it to
him. The man turned perfectly livid
when, after reading the exposure of his
old villainy, I informed him that I was
also acquainted with his new. He evidently expected I was going to take summary vengeance then and there. He
looked so like fainting that, fearing he
would fall over the railing of the balcony, I allowed himn to re-enter his room.
Here a glass of wine restored his selfpossession.'Now, Fischer,' said I,
'you are a prisoner in this place. Don
Louis and I are going to Chihuahua to
find a more honest man. If, during our
absence, you stir outside of this place,
you will be shot down at once. The
sentries have their orders.' So I left
him, to make Flotte acquainted with the
proceeding; suppressing, however, the
proclamation, for I was still ashamed to
have him know I had brought him this
scoundrel, knowing he was one.
"Poor Flotte! He was in a terrible
rage. The journey to E1 Paso, and
$500 gone, with only a new enemy add
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