CHAPTER XL.

A VISIT TO CARMEN.

After Northfield, Missouri was deemed an unsuitable field for operations by the James Boys. Nor did it afford a safe place of retirement for persons who had engaged in such a desperate warfare against the established order of society. But they were accustomed to make long expeditions, and they were at home anywhere. The shelter of a rock sufficed for them in the wintry nights, and the branches of a tree, with their spreading leaves, furnished roof enough for them when the summer nights came. Far away, in that region of the great state of Texas known for many years as the Territory of Bexar, where a beautiful stream flows down from the rugged mountains toward the west, to unite with the Rio Pecos, Jesse and Frank had established a retreat which they called Rest Ranche. It is many miles east of Fort Quitman, and a long way from San Estevan. To the west there are rugged hills and low mountains, covered with chaparral almost impenetrable to man or beast. Far away in a southern direction is the little frontier post called Fort Lancaster. There are no frequented trails near the place which they had selected. The Rio Grande road, from Fort Quitman to Fort Lancaster, runs southwest of the rugged region alluded to above, and the usual line of travel from Fort McKavitt to the military posts and settlements on the Upper Rio Grande, in New Mexico, was a long distance from their chosen retreat. Toward the northeast are the Salt Plains, and, further away still, the Staked Plains, the dread of all travellers in those regions.

In this retreat they were free from the intrusion of prying neighbors, and the inquisitiveness of passing travellers. It was and is a lovely place. There are few traces of the presence of man in that wilderness land. The Pecos flows miles away from their place through a valley full of natural beauties. But the region is lonely--so lonely! There are only trails occasionally followed by a band of predatory Lipans, or traversed by marauding parties of Comanches and Kickapoos, on raids to the Mexican border through that vast region. It was in such a country the daring bandits found repose; and, when occasion suited, to ride untrammeled by fears.

"When the wild turmoil of this wearisome life, With its scenes of oppression, corruption and strife; The proud man's scorn and the base man's fear, And the scoffer's laugh and the sufferer's tear; And malice and meanness, and falsehood and folly, Disposed them to musing and dark melancholy; When their bosoms were full, and their thoughts were high, And their souls were sick with the outlaw's sigh-- Oh, then there was freedom, and joy, and pride, Afar in the broad plains alone to ride!"

Such seasons of reflection concerning that which is, and that which might have been, come to all mankind, and it came to the outlawed brothers, because they are members of the great family. It was doubtless at some such time, when their spirits were subdued by their lonely communion with the grander mysteries of nature, that the James Boys plead for pardon of past offences, and promised future amendment and conformity to the laws established for the government of society. They have often manifested a desire to be at peace with the world. But such resting did not wait upon them.

Issuing from their retreat, they dared the danger of the border, plunged through the chaparral, ascended rugged mountain steeps, plunged down their western slopes to the sand plains which border the Rio Grande. Passing through the poor pueblo of San Estevan, noted as the haunt of cattle raiders and bandits; alarming the people at early morn by their imperious behavior and skill as pistol-shooters, exhibited by bringing down a chicken for their breakfast at a distance of sixty paces, they rode away to the Grande river, crossed over to the Mexican side, and passed westward until the adobe walls of Mojmia rose before and around them.

The brothers had grown weary of secluded living. They had now started on an expedition destined to create a profound sensation all along the border. They passed on through Santa Rosa, and through the desert lands, and over the mountains to the westward of that place. These men never pause before obstacles which would appall others. Neither the rugged mountain passes where the Mexican Guerrillas have their hiding places, nor the desolation and terrors of "the Dead Man's Journey" arrested their course.

Carmen is a village of considerable size and importance in the northern part of the State of Chihuahua in Mexico. Surrounded on three sides by rugged hills rising into mountains, it is situated on a line with an important pass through the Sierra Madres. Carmen is therefore a halting place for caravans of traders, and through its plaza passes treasure-conductas from the mines of Chihuahua. The bold riders from the north of the Rio Grande had an object in going to Carmen, which was made plain in due time.

Arrived at Carmen, Jesse and Frank, who had been joined by three other members of the band at Santa Rosa, among them Jack Bishop, put up at the leading _posado_ of the place. They were a well-behaved company, and as they paid liberally for all they desired, the people regarded them as a valuable accession to the population. The boys had a delicate way of demonstrating their capacity to shoot, by killing a fowl, or pig, or dog, by shooting it with a revolver from a great distance, taking care always to make the exhibition as public as possible. So it happened on this occasion. The Guerrillas and other rough characters about Carmen had a very respectful manner toward such persons. The Mexican, whose pig had been shot, received four times its value and conceived thereafter a very ardent affection for the American gentlemen of the north.

It was in the late spring-time and the road through Carmen was travelled by many traders and miners, bound north through New Mexico, to the markets of this country.

The adventurers from Rest Ranche noted everything. There were little parties travelling together with considerable money, on their way to purchase supplies in the United States.

But it was not for such small profits that they proposed to practice their profession. One day, six pack mules, each loaded with 150 pounds of silver, and each with a muleteer to control him, moved out of the City of Chihuahua. With these rode twelve men as a guard. They kept on until Carmen was reached, without anything unusual happening. At this place they halted for a day's rest. The outlaws went among the guards, sought out the persons to whose charge the treasures had been committed, and ascertained the direction of their future movements. Nay, further, they simulated fears of the lurking Indians and plundering Guerrillas along the road before them. They claimed to be anxious to get into the United States, but had heard so many stories of the dangers of the road that it had deterred them from undertaking the journey. They professed to be American gentlemen who had been looking over the mines of Chihuahua. Their manners were affable, and their story plausible. When they made overtures to the chief of the conducta, to be allowed to journey with the treasure party for mutual protection across the dangerous border, their desires were acceded to, and when the cavalcade moved slowly away from Carmen the next day, the unsuspecting merchants and treasure-bearers were accompanied by five men of the most desperate character. For the first three days of the march the Americans were watched with some degree of vigilance, and the Mexicans maintained a strict guard over the treasure-pouches.

But the deportment of the outlaws was such that they soon succeeded in allaying any suspicion which might have attached to them. Carmen was a long way from the border, and the bandits did not care to strike the blow which they had resolved upon when too far away from their retreat, and that, too, on unfamiliar ground. So they journeyed on with their intended victims on the most amicable terms. A suitable opportunity to seize the treasure was now all that they wanted, for the Mexicans had grown somewhat careless in consequence of their confidence in the numbers of their party.

One day they halted by a crystal stream which flowed down from a gorge in the mountains, and where a spring of pure, cold water gushed from the rocky bank. It was noon time, and the weary travellers took the burdens from their beasts, and allowed them to graze in the fresh, tall grass in the valley.

It was a lovely day, and the scenery about them was very charming. The muleteers and guards, all save two, who stood sentinel over the treasure-pouches, had thrown themselves on the verdant bank, and were lazily conversing about the beauty of the situation; the length of time yet required in which to complete the journey before them, and like topics of small interest to our readers. There were in the company a Senor Molines, and another Mexican gentleman, both merchants of Chihuahua. The American desperadoes stood upon the bank under the shade of a tree, a little apart from the group of guards, who were in fact largely owners of the treasure they watched. The muleteers formed a little group not far away. The guns which the Mexicans carried had been stacked, or rather leaned against a tree. Mr. Molines and his friend sat smoking on a moss-grown rock by the bank of the stream. It was a picturesque scene, and the surroundings heightened the effect of the picture.

The two guards on duty carried their guns carelessly on their shoulders. Suddenly, Jesse James called out,

"Let's go, boys!"

There was a sharp report of pistols. The two armed guards sank quivering to the earth. The outlaws rushed to the tree where the guards had left their arms, and placed themselves with presented revolvers between the guardians of the treasure and their weapons. The two Mexican merchants were ordered to throw up their hands, and with the forcible argument of leveled dragoon pistols, presented as an alternative, they yielded, and one of the gang went and disarmed them. The muleteers were paralyzed with fear, and remained sprawled upon the grass carpet. The place has been well named _La Temido_ (the place of fear.)

It had been but a minute since the first act in the drama was presented, and in that time the whole tragic play had been completed. What a revolution in the circumstances of the actors had taken place? Two were dead, and sixteen survivors were prisoners, and at the mercy of five of the most desperate men who ever played the part of freebooters on this continent.

They took the horses of the merchants and guards, broke their guns, forced the muleteers to place the treasure pouches upon the best and fleetest of the horses; shot the mules and other horses not required, and threatened the frightened men who were in their power with death, and finally left them a long way from any human habitation, without horses and without food, and proceeded to the Rio Grande at an unfrequented part of its course, many miles above Fort Quitman, where they had provided a boat before they ventured on their expedition, ferried the captured treasure and swam their horses across, and in less than twenty-four hours after their surprise and capture of the treasures of the caravan, they had disappeared in the rugged region which lies between the Rio Grande and the Pecos, in the Territory of Bexar, Texas. They had so completely hidden their trail that all attempts to follow them were futile.

In a few days after this successful foray into Mexico, Jesse and Frank were at their ranche enjoying much-needed repose. How the members of the wealthy party, with which they travelled from Carmen, managed to get once more into the haunts of civilized men, we have received no information. The great heap of silver which they had taken was brought by the outlaws into their retreat in the mountains, and there divided among the five daring brigands.