“
(Copyright by Ainslee Magazine Co.)
8OR some months of a cer
tain year a grim bandit
infested the Texas border
along the Rio Grande.
Peculiarly striking to the
optic nerve was this no
torious marauder. His
personality secured him
the title of “Black Eagle, the Terror
fpf the Border.” Many fearsome tales
jfye of record concerning the doings
4t him and his followers. Suddenly,
Kn the space of a single minute. Black
'Eagle vanished from earth. He was
jpever heard of again. His own band
$ever even guessed the mystery of
his disappearance. The border
ranches and settlements feared he
would come again to ride and ravage
the mesquite flats. He never will.
It is to disclose the fate of Black
Eagle that this narrative is published.
The Initial movement, of the story
is furnished by the foot of a bar
tender in St. Louis. His discerning
eye fell upon the form of Chicken
Ruggles as he pecked with avidity at
the free lunch. Chicken was a "hobo.”
He had a long nose like the bill of
s. fowl, an inordinate appetite for
poultry, and a habit of gratifying it
without expense, which accounts for
the name given him by his fellow
vagrants.
Physicians agree that the partaking
of liquids at meal times is not a
healthy practice. The hygiene of the
saloon promulgates the opposite.
Chicken had neglected to purchase a
drink to accompany the meal. The
bartender rounded the counter, caught
the injudicious diner by the ear with
c lemon squeezer, led him to the door
and kicked him into the street.
Thus the mind of Chicken was
brought to realize the Bigns of coming
winter. The night was cold; the stars
shone with unkindly brilliance; people
of empties. In one of the cattle cars,
half buried in straw, Chicken lay at
ease. Beside him in his nest was a
quart bottle of very poor whisky and
a paper bag of bread and cheese. Mr.
Ruggles, in his private car, was on
his trip south for the winter season.
For a week that car was trundled
southward, shifted, laid over, and
manipulated after the manner of roll
ing stock, but Chicken stuck to it,
leaving it only at necessary times to
satisfy his hunger and thirst. He
knew It must go down to the cattle
country, and San Antonio, In the heart
of It, was hls goal. There the air
was salubrious and mild; the people
indulgent and long-suffering. The bar
tenders there would not kick him. If
he should eat too long or too often
at one place they would swear at him
as if by rote and without heat. They
swore so drawlingly, and they rarely
paused short'of their full vocabulary,
which was copious, so that Chicken
bad often gulped a good meal during
the process of the vituperative pro
hibition. The season there was al
ways springlike; the plazas were
pleasant at night, with music and
gayety; exceut during the slight and
infrequently cold snaps one could
sleep comfortably out of doors In case
the interiors should develop inbaspi
tality.
At Texarkana the car was switched
to the I. & G. N. Then still south
ward it trailed until, at length, It
crawled across the Colorado bridge
at Austin, and lined out, straight as
an arrow, for the run to San An
tonio
When the freight halted at that
town Chicken was fast asleep. In ten
minutes it was off again for Laredo,
the end of the road. Those empty
cattle cars were for distribution along
the line at. points from which the
ranches shipped their stock.
When Chicken awoke his car was
stnHrmfirv. Lonkiner out between the
were hurrying along the streets In
two egotistic, jostling streams. Men
had donned their overcoats, and
Chicken knew to an exact percentage
the increased difficulty of coaxing
dimes from those buttoned-in vest
pockets. The time had come for his
annual exodus to the south.
A little boy, five or six years old,
•etood looking with covetous eyes In a
confectioner's window. In one small
band he held an empty two-ounce vial;
In the other he grasped something
flat, and round, with a shining milled
edge. The scene presented a field of
operations commensurate to Chicken’s
talents and daring. After sweeping
the horizon to make sure that no of
ficial tug was cruising by, he Insid
iously accosted his prey. The boy,
having been early taught by his house
hold to regard altruistic advances
with extreme suspicion, received tho
-overtures coldly.
Then Chicken knew that he must
tnake one of those desperate, nerve
shattering plunges into speculation
that fortune sometimes requires of
those who would win her favor. Five
oents was his capital, and this he
must risk against the chance of win
ning what lay within the close grasp
•of the youngster's chubby hand. It
Was a fearful lottery, Chicken knew.
:But he must accomplish his end by
strategy, Btnce he had a wholesome
terror of plundering Infants by force.
Once, in a park, driven by hunger,
he had committed an onslaught upon a
bottle of peptonized infant’s food in
the possession of an occupant of a
baby carriage. The outraged infant
had so promptly opened its mouth
and pressed the button that communi
cated with the welkin that help ar
rived. and Chicken did his “thirty
•days and” in a snug coop. Wherefore
he was, as he said, “leary of kids.”
Beginning artfully to question the
boy concerning his choice of sweets,
he gradually drew out the informa
tion he wanted. Mamma said he was
to ask the drug store for ten cents’
worth of paregoric in the bottle; he
was to keep his hand shut tight over
the dollar; he must not stop to talk
to anyone in the street; he must ask
the drug store man to wrap up the
change and put in the pocket of his
slats he saw It was a bright, moonlit
night. Scrambling out, he saw his
car with three others abandoned on
a little siding in a wild and lonesome
country. A cattle pen and chute
stood on one side of the track. The
railroad bisected a vast, dim ocean
of prairie, in the midst of which
Chicken, with his futile rolling stock,
was as completely stranded as was
Robinson Crusoe with his land-locked
boat.
A white post stood near the rails.
Going up to It, Chicken read the let
ters at the top, S. A. 90. Laredo was
nearly as far to the south. He was
almost a hundred miles from any
town. Coyotes began to yelp in the
mysterious sea around him. Chicken
felt lonesome. He had lived in Bos
ton without an education, in Chicago
without nerve, in Philadelphia with
out a sleeping place, in New York
without a pull, and in Pittsburg sober,
and yet he had never felt so lonely
as now.
Suddenly through the intense si
lence, he heard the whicker of a
horse. The sound came from the side
of ' the track toward the east, and
Chicken began to explore timorously
in that direction. He stepped high
along the mat of curly mesquite grass,
for he was afraid of everything there
might be in this wilderness—snakes,
rats, brigands, centipedes, mirages,
cowboys, fandangoes, tarantulas, ta
males—he had read of them in the
story papers. Rounding a clump of
prickly pear that reared high its fan
tastic and menacing array of rounded
heads, he was struck to shivering ter
ror by a snort and a thunderous
plunge, as the horse, himself startled,
bounded away some fifty yards, and
then resumed his grazing. But here
was the one thing in the desert that
Chicken did not fear. He had been
reared on a farm; he had handled
horses, understood them, and could
ride.
Approaching slowly and speaking
soothingly, he followed the animal,
which, after its first flight, seemed <
gentle enough, and secured the end
of the twenty-foot lariat that dragged
UUUDC1D. lUUCCU, J lift U pULAClB
two of them! And he liked chocolate
creams best
Chicken went into the store and
turned plunger. He invested his en
tire capital in C. A. N. D. Y. stocks,
simply to pave the way to the greater
risk following.
He gave the sweets to the young
ster, and had the satisfaction of per
ceiving that confidence was estab
lished. After that it was easy to ob
tain leadership of the expedition; to
take the investment by the hand and
lead it to a nice drug store he knew
of in the same block. There Chicken,
with a parental air. passed over the
dollar and called for the medicine,
while the boy crunched his candy,
glad to be relieved of the responsi
bility of the purchase. And then the
successful investor, searching his
pockets, found an overcoat button—
the extent of his winter trousseau—
and. wrapping it carefully, placed the
ostensible change in the pocket of
confiding juvenility. Setting the
youngster’s face homeward, and pat
ting him benevolently on the back,
—for Chicken's heart was as soft as
those of his feathered namesakes—
the speculator quit the market with a
profit of 1.700 per cent on his In
vested capital.
Two hours later an Irpn Mountain
freight engine pulled out the rail
road yards. Texas bcmjnd, with a string
i i \
after him in the grass. It required
him but a few moments to contrive
th- rope into an Ingenious nose-bridle,
after the style of the Mexican borsal.
In another he was upon the horse’s
back and off at a splendid lope, glv
Ing the animal free choice of direc
tion. “He will take me somewhere,”
said Chicken to himself.
It would have been a thing of joy,
that untrammeled gallop over the
moonlit prairie, even to Chicken, who
loathed exertion, but that his mood
was not for it. His head ached; a
glowing thirst, was upon him; the
“somewhere” whither his lucky mount
might convey him was full of dismal
peradventure.
And now he noted that (he horse
moved Jo a definite goal. Where the
prairie lay smooth he kept his course
straight as an arrow's toward the
• east. Deflected by hill or arroyo or
j impracticable spinous brakes, he
quickly flowed again into the current,
charted by his unerring instinct. At
last, upon the side of a gentle rise,
lie suddenly subsided to a complacent
walk. A stone’s cast away stood a
little mott of coma trees; beneath it
a jacal such as the Mexicans erect —
j a one-room house of upright poles
; daubed with clay and roofed with
1 grass or tule reeds. An experienced
j eye would have estimated the spot
J as the headquarters of a small sheep
i ranch. In the moonlight the ground
In the nearby corral showed pulver
ized to a level smoothness by the
hoofs of the sheep. Everywhere was
carelessly distributed the parapher
nalia of the place—ropes, bridles, sad
dles, sheep pelts, wool sacks, feed
troughs and camp litter. The barrel
of drinking water stood in the end
of the two-horse wagon near the door.
The harness was piled, promiscuous,
upon the wagon tongue, soaking up
the dew.
Chicken slipped to earth, and tied
the horse to a tree. He halloed again
and again, but the house remained
quiet. The door stood open, and he
entered cautiously. The light was
sufficient for him to see that no one
was at home. He struck a match and
lighted a lamp that stood on a table.
The room was that of a bachelor
ranchman who was content with the
necessaries of life. Chicken rummaged
intelligently until he found what he
had hardly dared hope for—a small,
brown jug that still contained some
thing near a quart of his desire.
Half an hour later, Chicken—now
a gamecock of hostile aspect—emerged
from the house with unsteady steps.
He had drawn upon the absent ranch
man’s equipment to replace his own
ragged attire. He wore a suit of
coarse brown ducking, the coat being
a sort of raklsb bolero, jaunty to a
degree. Boots he had donned, and
spurs that whirred with every lurch
ing step. Buckled around him was a
belt full of cartridges wit! a big six
shooter in each of its two holsters.
Prowling about, he found blankets,
a saddle and bridle with which he
caparisoned his steed. Again mount
-
7
ng, he rode swiftly away, singing a
oud and tuneless song.
Bud King’s band of desperadoes,
mtlaws and horse and cattle thieves
vere in camp at a secluded spot on
he bank of the Frio. Their depreda
ions in the Rio Grande country, while
10 bolder than usual, had been ad
vertised more extensively, and Cap
ain Kinney’s company of rangers had
teen ordered down to look after them.
Consequently, Bud King, who was a
vise general, instead of cutting out
i hot trail for the upholders of the
aw. as his men wished to do, retired
or the time to the prickly fastnesses
>f the Frio valley.
Though the move was a prudent
jne, and not, incompatible with Bud’s
veil-known courage, It raised dissen
sion among the members of, the band,
n fact, while they thus lay inglori
msly perdu in the brush, the question
>f Bud King's fitness for the leader
ship was argued, with close«T doors,
is it were, by his followers. Never
Before had Bud’s skill or efficiency
Been brought to criticism; hut his
ilory was waning (and such is glory’s
'ate) in the light of a newer star,
rhe sentiment of the band was crya
allizing into the opinion that Black
Ragle could lead them with more lus
er, profit and distinction.
This Black Eagle sub-titled t he
‘Terror of the Border"—had been a
member of the gang about three
months.
One night while they were in camp
,>n the San Miguel water hole a soli
tary horseman on the regulation fiery
steed dashed In among them. The
newcomer was of a portentous and
devastating aspect. »A beak-like nose
with a predatory curve projected
above a mass of bristling, blue-black
whiskers. His eye was cavernous
and tierce He was spurred, som
breroed, booted, garnished with re
volvers, abundantly drunk and very
much unafraid. Few people in the
country drained by the Rio Bravo
would have cared thus to invade,
alone, the camp of Bud King. But
this fell bird swooped fearlessly upon
them and demanded to be fed.
Hospitality in the prairie country is
not limited. Even if your enemy pas3
your way you must feed him before
you shoot him. You must empty your
larder into him before you empty
your lead. So, the stranger of un
declared intentions was set down to
a mighty feast.
A talkative bird he was, full of
most marvelous loud tales and ex
ploits, and speaking a language at
times obscure but never colorless.
He was a new sensation to Bud
King’s -men, who rarely encountered
new types. They hung, delighted,
upon his vainglorious boasting, the
spicy strangeness of his lingo, his con
temptuous familiarity with life, the
world and remote places, and the ex
travagant frankness with which he
conveyed his sentimerits.
To their guest the band of outlaws
seemed to be nothing more than a
congregation of country bumpkins
whom he was “stringing for grub”
just as he would have told his stories
at the back door of a farmhouse to
wheedle a meal. And. indeed, his
ignorance was not without excuse, for
the "bad man” of the southwest does
V_
clature, first called him The Black
Eagle, and used to frighten the babies
by threatening them with tales of the
dreadful robber who carried oft little
children in his great beak. Soon the
name extended, and Black Eagle, the
Terror of the Border, became a rec
ognized factor in exaggerated news
paper reports and ranch gossip.
The country from the Nueces to the
Rio Grande was a wild but fertile
stretch, given over to the sheep and
cattle ranches. Range law was main
ly a letter, and the pirates met with
little opposition until the flaunting
and garish Piggy gave the band un
duo advertisement. Then McKinney’s
ranger company headed for those pre
cincts, and Bud King knew that it
meant grim and sudden war or else
temporary retirement. Regarding the
risk to be unnecessary, he drew off
his band to an almost inaccessible
spot on the bank of the Frio. Where
fore, as has been said, dissatisfac
tion arose among the members, and
impeachraent proceedings against Bud
were premeditated, with Black Eagle
in high favor for the succession. Bud
King was not unaware of the senti
ment, and he called aside Cactus
Taylor, his trusted lieutenant, to dis
cuss it.
“If the boys,” said Bud, “ain’t sat
isfied with me, I’m willin’ to step
out. They’re buckin’ against my way
of handlin’ ’em. And ’specially be
cause I concludes to hit the brush
while Sam Kinney is ridin’ the line.
I saves ’em from bein’ shot or sent
up cn a state contract, and they up
and says I’m no good.”
“It ain’t so much that,” explained
BLACK EAGLE AND HIS BAND.
not run to extremes. Those brigands
might justly have been taken for a
little party of peaceable rustics as
sembled for a fish fry or pecan gath
ering. Gentle of manner, Blouching of
gait, soft-voiced, unpicturesquely
clothed; not one of them presented
to the eye any witness of the des
perate deeds they had earned.
For two days the glittering stranger
within the camp was feasted. Then,
by common consent, he was invited
to become a member of the band. He
consented, presenting for enrollment
the prodigious name of "Captain
Montressor." This name was immedi
ately overruled by the band, land
“Piggy” substituted as a compliment
to the awful and insatiate appetite of
Its owner.
Thus did the Texas border receive
the most spectacular brigand that
ever rode its chaparral.
For the next three months Bud King
conducted business as usual, escaping
encounters with law officers and being
content with reasonable profits. The
band ran off some very good com
panies of horses from the ranges, and
a few bunches of fine cattle, which
they got safely across the Rio Grande
and disposed of to fair advantage.
Often the band would ride into the
little villages and Mexican settle
ments, terrorizing the inhabitants and
plundering for the provisions and am
munition they needed. It was during
these bloodless raids that Piggy’s
ferocious aspect and frightful voice
gained him a renown more widespread
and glorious than those other gentle
voiced and sad-faced desperadoes
could have acquired in a lifetime.
The Mexicans, most apt in nomen
Cactus, "as it is they’re plum locoed
about Piggy. They want them whis
kers and that nose of his to split the
wind at the head of the column.”
"There’s somethin’ mighty seldom
about Piggy,” declared Bud, musingly.
"I never yet see anything on the hoof
that he exactly grades up with. He
can shore holler a plenty, and he
straddles a boss from where you laid
the chunk. But he ain’t never been
smoked yet. You know, Cactus, we
ain’t had a row since he’s been with
us. Piggy’s all right for skearin’ the
greaser kids and layin' waste a cross
roads store. I reckon he’s the finest
canned oyster buccaneer and cheese
pirate that ever was, but how’s his
appetite for flghtin’? I’ve knowed
some citizens you'd think was starv
in’ for trouble get a bad dose of dys
pepsy the first dose of lead they had
to take.”
"He talks all spraddled out,” said
Cactus, “ ’bout the rookuses he’s been
in. He claims to have saw the ele
phant and hearn the owl.”
"I know,” replied Bud, using the
cow-puncher’s expressive phrase of
skepticism, "but it sounds to me!”
This conversation was held one
night in camp while the other mem
bers of the band—eight in number—
were sprawling around the fire, lin
gering over their supper. When Bud
and Cactus ceased talking th«y heard
Piggy’s formidable voice bolding forth
to the others as usual while he was
engaged in checking, though never
satisfying, his ravenous appetite.
“Wat’s de use,” he was saying, “of
chasin’ little red cowses and hosses
’round for t'ousands of miles? Dere
ain’t nuttin’ in it. Gallopin’ t'rough
dese bushes and brlersTTT"
first dat a brewery couldn’t't??®'8 *1
and missin’ meals! Sav’ v *Oot- ■
what I’d do if i was main «„ °® ^ H
bunch? rds.tick„pa train gp°f'11» i
de express car and make hard 2 u°W 1
where you guys gets wind &r* I
Later on, a deputation wa)t«s fl
Bud. They stood on one w T °» fl
mesquite twigs and circumlocutPs?'1 I
they hated to hurt his feelings \°I 1
foresaw their business, and *LK I
easy for them. Bigger risks 1 ]
larger profits was what they w ■
The suggestion of Pig™-, “te4’ fl
holding up a train had fired ^ 1
imagination and increased their / 1
miration for the dash and boldnl i I
the instigator. They were such ^
Pie, artless and custom-bound W I
rangers that they had never b w I
thought of extending their habits ! I
yond the running off of live stock Z M
the shooting of such of their acqua!! 'fl
ances as ventured to interfere B I
Bud acted “on the level,” aerPPi„. li
to take a subordinate place in ! fl
gang until Black Eagle should ha! fl
been given a trial as leader. ;|«
After a great deal of consultation 9
studying of timetables and discuss! fl
of the country’s topography, the tl! fl
and place for carrying out their net fl
enterprise was decided upon. At that fl
time there was a feedstuff famine in fl
Mexico and a cattle famine in certain fl
parts of the United States, and there 111
was a brisk International trade. Much "$■
money was being shipped along the fl
railroads that connected the two re fl
publics. It was agreed that the most fl
promising place for the contemplated f'-’i
robbery was at Espina, a little sta- fl
tion on the I. & G. N„ about forty fl
miles north of Laredo. The train
stopped there one minute; the cou* fl
try around was wild and unsettled; fl
the station consisted of but. one hoosa fl
in which the agent lived. fl
Black Eagle’s band set out, riding fll
by night. Arriving in the vicinity e( fl
Espina they rested their horses all fl
day in a thicket a few miles distant HI
The train was due at Espina at fl
10:30 p. m. They could rob the train flg
and be well over the. Mexican border fll
with their booty by daylight the next B|
morning.
To do Black Eagle justice, he e* Hs
hibited no signs of flinching from thi Rjjfj
responsible honors that had been co» H|
ferred upon him. IB
He assigned his men to their ^B
spective posts with discretion, and ^B
coached them carefully as to their Bfl
duties. On each side of the track HU
four of the band were to lie concealed BB
in the chaparral. Gotch-Ear Rodgera H
was to stick up the station agent
Broncho Charlie was to remain with
the horses, holding them in readiness. ^Bj
At a spot where it. was calculated thi MB
engine would be when the train Hg|
stopped, Bud King was to lie hidden
on one side, and Black Eagle himself, BV:’
on the other. The two would get the MB
drop on the engineer and firemen, MS
force them to descend and proceed EB
to the rear. Then the express (if
would be looted, and the escape matt JjpS
No one was to move until Black Eagk £ f
gave the signal by firing his revolver, jgjfl
The plait was perfect. M|f
At ten minutes to train time evert
man was at his post, effectually co»|Mf.
coaled by the thick chaparral tbat^^Hi
grew' almost to the rails. The nigbt^H.
was dark and loweridfe. with a fa Jp|f
drizzle falling from the flying gulfM|
clouds. Black Eagle crouched behind H
a bush within five yards of the track. HR
Tw'o six-shooters were belted arouclEggp
him. Occasionally he drew a
black bottle from his pocket and HR
raised it to his mouth. jEffi;
A star appeared far down the track.MSfc
which soon waxed into the headHfbhMjj§|
of the approaching train. It came 01 I
with an increasing roar; the
boro dowm upon the ambushing dtt H|
peradoes with a glare and a shr!<' BH
like some avenging monster come •■g||
deliver them to justice. Black EagHHH
flattened himself upon the grous»««
The engine, contrary to their
culations, instead of stopping be w ■pm
kirn and Bud King's place of cra«**|
ment, passed fully forty yards *r H||I3|
before it came to a stand. Eg?
The bandit leader rose to his ■jjg
and peered around the bush. ^BR|
men all lay quiet, awaiting the 8^™(§
Immediately opposite Black Bag BjUt
„ H.|n>r tlinf HroW his attentiOD. MBmII