“‘Here’s where we stay all night.  This is the hacienda.’  They both got out and insisted on my getting out, but I refused to do so.  I reached down and picked up my little grip and was in the act of opening it, when one of them grabbed my arm and jerked me out of the seat to the ground.  I realized then for the first time that I was in for it in earnest.  I never knew before that I could put up such a fine defense, for inside a minute I had them both blinded in their own blood.  I gathered up rocks and had them flying when I heard a clatter of hoofs coming down the arroyo like a squadron of cavalry.  They were so close on to me that I took to the brush, without hat, coat, or pistol.  Men that pack a gun all their lives never have it when they need it; that was exactly my fix.  Darkness was in my favor, but I had no more idea where I was or which way I was going than a baby.  One thing sure, I was trying to get away from there as fast as I could.  The night was terribly dark, and about ten o’clock it began to rain a deluge.  I kept going all night, but must have been circling.

“Towards morning I came to an arroyo which was running full of water.  My idea was to get that between me and the scene of my trouble, so I took off my boots to wade it.  When about one third way across, I either stepped off a bluff bank or into a well, for I went under and dropped the boots.  When I came to the surface I made a few strokes swimming and landed in a clump of mesquite brush, to which I clung, got on my feet, and waded out to the opposite bank more scared than hurt.  Right there I lay until daybreak.

“The thing that I remember best now was the peculiar odor of the wet mole-skin.  If there had been a strolling artist about looking for a picture of Despair, I certainly would have filled the bill.  The sleeves were torn out of my shirt, and my face and arms were scratched and bleeding from the thorns of the mesquite.  No one who could have seen me then would ever have dreamed that I was a walking depositary of ‘Other People’s Money.’  When it got good daylight I started out and kept the shelter of the brush to hide me.  After nearly an hour’s travel, I came out on a divide, and about a mile off I saw what looked like a jacal.  Directly I noticed a smoke arise, and I knew then it was a habitation.  My appearance was not what I desired, but I approached it.

“In answer to my knock at the door a woman opened it about two inches and seemed to be more interested in examination of my anatomy than in listening to my troubles.  After I had made an earnest sincere talk she asked me, ‘No estay loco tu?’ I assured her that I was perfectly sane, and that all I needed was food and clothing, for which I would pay her well.  It must have been my appearance that aroused her sympathy, for she admitted me and fed me.