Camp and Travel in New Mexico [pp. 347-369]

C3,8ip and Travel in Ne lJ Mexico
"Now, Mrs. Phelps, I've heard you
say that you like to ride horseback; and
if I buy you a horse, we can ride together when the road is good, so the mules
can go alone. Won't that be fine? I'11
do my own cooking, and have my own
camp, as I know that Mrs. Baker don't
like me, and we can be together when on
the move."
When we reached the suburbs, Clark
left us, and when we were again in camp
I told Mrs. Baker what he said to me.
We were confident that Clark had Johnson's money, and she was the woman
who, had it been hers, would have never
let him leave the camp with it. She was
out of patience with Johnson, yet sent
him back a note, telling him that Clark
boasted on the way of having money,
and that if he did not immediately follow his hired man's advice and have
Clark arrested, he might never get a dollar of it.
We had left him searching among the
brush that surrounded our two camps,
and there he remained, even after receiving our note; but at three o'clock his
man, who had not yet been paid his
wages, succeeded in sending him in. In
the mean time Clark had called on us,
mounted on a white horse and new saddle. IHe was dressed in a new suit, had
a new hat and new boots, while his face
was flushed with the same decoction
that had laid Johnson low the day before.
He addressed himself to me, and was
telling how he had been winner at a
gambling table, and that he had a horse
"spotted" for me, when Mrs. Baker
turned upon him with a sharp accusation, and he rode away reluctantly.
Johnson came at last. He had done
nothing yet, he said. Mrs. Baker censured him for his dullness, saying that
there could be no mystery about the
loss, and that he was only helping crime
by taking it so easily. We had already
reported the robbery, and at this point
two white citizens approached, saying
that two of the fifty dollar bills Clark
had spent tallied with the numbers in the
merchant's notebook of the bills he had
paid to Johnson. Here was proof positive that Clark was the robber. Urged
by all to do so, Johnson had him arrested. Clark had bought three horses, and
out of the $750 paid Johnson for his
freight and the money paid him for his
wagon only $Ioo remained. It was a
Spanish court, and we acted as witnesses, though the evidence given by the
merchant and that given by the men who
had sold their horses served to convict,
and the accused was imprisoned to await
the action of the grand jury.
In the evening Johnson came to us
again, and drawled out a tale of how
Clark had, on the evening of our first
meeting back in the Ratons, and all the
way, coveted our treasury, and said that
he would get it from us if any one could.
Mrs. Baker thanked him for his information in a sarcastic tone, since he had
done all he could to favor Clark in his
scheme and had not thought of divulging
it until the schemer was behind the bars.
Mrs. Baker had stepped to the wagon
for something, when Clark's lawyer
dashed into our camp mounted on a fiery
horse, and with the saizg froid of a man
who had the power of a king, he hastily
read to Johnson an order for the $IOO
the court had given him. The boldness
of the man was unparalleled even by
Clark's robbery. While I was looking
at the lawyer, in wonder what he meant,
Johnson fumbled the money from his
pocket and gave it to the man, who could
manage his horse well enough at the
proper moment. Mrs. Baker sprang
from the wagon tongue to Johnson's
rescue, but too late.
"Thank you, madam," said the robber
with a sardonic smile, "the money is
perfectly safe with me."
"Let me see the order," said Johnson
in some alarm.
The lawyer cast him the note, bowed
low to Mrs. Baker, and rode away, while
Johnson read:
368
[October,