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Machine Learning Concepts with Python and the Jupyter Notebook Environment: Using Tensorflow 2.0 Nikita Silaparasetty pdf download

The document provides an overview of various machine learning and deep learning concepts, primarily using Python and TensorFlow 2.0, as presented in the book by Nikita Silaparasetty. It includes links to additional resources and related books on machine learning, supervised learning, deep learning, and data analytics. The content covers topics such as artificial intelligence, machine learning workflows, and the Jupyter Notebook environment.

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100% found this document useful (4 votes)
47 views

Machine Learning Concepts with Python and the Jupyter Notebook Environment: Using Tensorflow 2.0 Nikita Silaparasetty pdf download

The document provides an overview of various machine learning and deep learning concepts, primarily using Python and TensorFlow 2.0, as presented in the book by Nikita Silaparasetty. It includes links to additional resources and related books on machine learning, supervised learning, deep learning, and data analytics. The content covers topics such as artificial intelligence, machine learning workflows, and the Jupyter Notebook environment.

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© © All Rights Reserved
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Machine Learning
Concepts with Python
and the Jupyter Notebook
Environment
Using Tensorflow 2.0

Nikita Silaparasetty
Machine Learning
Concepts with Python
and the Jupyter
Notebook
Environment
Using Tensorflow 2.0

Nikita Silaparasetty
Machine Learning Concepts with Python and the Jupyter Notebook
Environment: Using Tensorf low 2.0
Nikita Silaparasetty
Bangalore, India

ISBN-13 (pbk): 978-1-4842-5966-5 ISBN-13 (electronic): 978-1-4842-5967-2


https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-5967-2

Copyright © 2020 by Nikita Silaparasetty


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or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of
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The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms,
even if they are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to
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While the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the
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Printed on acid-free paper
Table of Contents
About the Author��������������������������������������������������������������������������������xv

About the Technical Reviewer����������������������������������������������������������xvii


Acknowledgments�����������������������������������������������������������������������������xix
Introduction���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������xxi

Part I: Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and


Deep Learning������������������������������������������������������������������������������1
Chapter 1: An Overview of Artificial Intelligence���������������������������������3
Artificial Intelligence Primer���������������������������������������������������������������������������������3
The Inception of Artificial Intelligence�������������������������������������������������������������������4
1930s–1940s: Over the Years��������������������������������������������������������������������������4
1950s: Discoveries and Breakthroughs�����������������������������������������������������������5
1960s–1970s: Advanced AI������������������������������������������������������������������������������6
1970s–1980s: The First AI Winter��������������������������������������������������������������������6
1980s–early 1990s: The Revival and the Second AI Winter�����������������������������7
Late 1990s: AI Reborn��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������8
Pros and Cons of Artificial Intelligence�����������������������������������������������������������������9
The Pros����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������9
The Cons��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������10
Challenges Faced by Artificial Intelligence����������������������������������������������������11
The AI Winter�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������11
The First AI Winter (1974–1980)��������������������������������������������������������������������12
The Second AI Winter (1987–1993)���������������������������������������������������������������13

iii
Table of Contents

AI Ethics��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������14
Scenario 1: Deepfakes�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������14
Scenario 2: Making Decisions�����������������������������������������������������������������������15
Artificial Intelligence and IoT������������������������������������������������������������������������������16
Applications of IoT�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������17
How Does AI Relate to IoT?����������������������������������������������������������������������������18
Summary������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������19
Chapter 2: An Overview of Machine Learning������������������������������������21
What Is Machine Learning?��������������������������������������������������������������������������������21
The Machine Learning Workflow�������������������������������������������������������������������22
What Is Data Science?����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������23
Branches of Data Science�����������������������������������������������������������������������������23
Big Data���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������24
Data Analytics������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������25
Collection of Data������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������26
Pre-processing Data��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������28
Types of Data�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������30
Supervised Learning Algorithms�������������������������������������������������������������������������31
Linear Regression������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������32
Logistic Regression���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������33
K-Nearest Neighbors�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������34
Applications of Supervised Learning Algorithms�������������������������������������������34
Unsupervised Learning Algorithms���������������������������������������������������������������������35
K-Means Clustering���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������35
Principal Component Analysis�����������������������������������������������������������������������36
Applications of Unsupervised Machine Learning Algorithms������������������������37
Applications of Machine Learning�����������������������������������������������������������������������38
Summary������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������39

iv
Table of Contents

Chapter 3: Introduction to Deep Learning������������������������������������������41


Origins of Deep Learning������������������������������������������������������������������������������������42
Neural Networks�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������43
Working of an Artificial Neuron (Perceptron)������������������������������������������������������45
Step 1: Accepting Inputs��������������������������������������������������������������������������������45
Step 2: Setting the Weights and Bias������������������������������������������������������������45
Step 3: Calculating the Net Input Function����������������������������������������������������45
Step 4: Passing the Values Through the Activation Function�������������������������46
Step 5: Producing the Output������������������������������������������������������������������������49
Digging Deeper into Neural Networks�����������������������������������������������������������������49
The Process���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������50
Additional Concepts���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������51
Types of Neural Networks�����������������������������������������������������������������������������53
Summary������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������56

Chapter 4: Machine Learning vs. Deep Learning��������������������������������57


Factors Used When Comparing Machine Learning and Deep Learning��������������58
Differentiating Between Regular Machine Learning and Deep Learning������������60
Quantity of Data Required�����������������������������������������������������������������������������60
Accuracy��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������61
Computational Power������������������������������������������������������������������������������������61
Cognitive Ability���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������62
Hardware Requirements��������������������������������������������������������������������������������63
Time Taken����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������63
Summary������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������64

v
Table of Contents

Chapter 5: Machine Learning With Python�����������������������������������������67


Introduction to Python�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������68
Key Python Features��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������69
Python’s Competitors������������������������������������������������������������������������������������70
Python as a Preferred Language for Machine Learning��������������������������������71
Python’s Machine Learning Libraries������������������������������������������������������������72
Other Applications of Python�������������������������������������������������������������������������73
Installing Python�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������74
Installing Python with Anaconda�������������������������������������������������������������������74
Python Interpreters���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������78
The Python Shell�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������81
Opening the Python Shell������������������������������������������������������������������������������81
Exiting the Python Shell���������������������������������������������������������������������������������85
Summary������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������86
Quick Links���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������87

Part II: The Jupyter Notebook����������������������������������������������������89


Chapter 6: Introduction to Jupyter Notebook�������������������������������������91
Understanding the Notebook Interface���������������������������������������������������������������92
A Brief History of the Notebook���������������������������������������������������������������������92
Features of a Notebook���������������������������������������������������������������������������������92
Commonly Used Notebooks���������������������������������������������������������������������������93
An Overview of Jupyter Notebook�����������������������������������������������������������������������93
Features of Jupyter Notebook�����������������������������������������������������������������������94
Advantages of Jupyter Notebook������������������������������������������������������������������95
Text Editors and IDEs������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������96
Getting Acquainted with Text Editors�������������������������������������������������������������96
Getting Acquainted with the IDE��������������������������������������������������������������������97

vi
Table of Contents

Features of an IDE�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������97
Benefits of an IDE������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������98
Some Popular IDEs����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������98
IDE vs. Text Editor������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������99
Jupyter Notebook vs. Other Programming Applications������������������������������100
Installing Jupyter Notebook�������������������������������������������������������������������������101
Launching Jupyter Notebook����������������������������������������������������������������������������102
Inside a Jupyter Notebook��������������������������������������������������������������������������������107
Cell��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������109
Kernel����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������111
The Cell Drop-Down Menu���������������������������������������������������������������������������112
The Kernel Drop-Down Menu����������������������������������������������������������������������113
Additional Information���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������114
JupyterHub��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������114
Jupyter nbviewer�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������115
Voila�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������115
Google Colaboratory������������������������������������������������������������������������������������116
Keyboard Shortcuts�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������116
Summary����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������118
Quick Links�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������118

Chapter 7: Python Programming in Jupyter Notebook���������������������119


Opening a New Notebook���������������������������������������������������������������������������������120
Naming the Notebook���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������120
Adding a Heading Cell���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������121
Printing the Output of a Code Cell���������������������������������������������������������������������121
Taking an Input from a User in a “Code” Cell����������������������������������������������������122
Calling a Variable����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������123

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Arithmetic Operations���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������123
Creating a Function�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������124
Creating Lists����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������126
Creating Dictionaries�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������126
Creating Loops��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������127
While Loop���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������127
For Loop�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������128
Nested Loops�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������128
Adding Conditional Statements�������������������������������������������������������������������������130
If Statement�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������130
If-Else Statement�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������131
Elif Statement����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������131
Adding Notes Within the Program���������������������������������������������������������������������132
Deleting a Cell���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������133
Adding a New Cell���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������133
Copying a Cell���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������134
Moving a Cell����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������135
Merging Cells����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������135
Splitting a Cell���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������137
Running All Cells�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������138
Clearing the Current Output������������������������������������������������������������������������������139
Clearing All Outputs������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������139
Restarting the Kernel����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������140
Restarting the Kernel and Clearing the Output�������������������������������������������������141
Interrupting the Kernel��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������142
The Help Menu��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������143
Summary����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������144

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Part III: The TensorFlow Library�����������������������������������������������147


Chapter 8: The Tensorflow Machine Learning Library����������������������149
TensorFlow at a Glance�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������150
Tensors��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������151
Flow�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������153
Importance of TensorFlow���������������������������������������������������������������������������������154
Applications of TensorFlow�������������������������������������������������������������������������������154
TensorFlow’s Competitors���������������������������������������������������������������������������������155
Advantages and Disadvantages of TensorFlow�������������������������������������������������156
Advantages��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������156
Disadvantages���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������157
Installing TensorFlow����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������158
Getting to Know “pip”����������������������������������������������������������������������������������159
The “pip install” Method������������������������������������������������������������������������������159
Other Useful pip Commands������������������������������������������������������������������������159
Using “pip install” to Install TensorFlow������������������������������������������������������160
TensorBoard������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������163
Exploring the TensorBoard Dashboards�������������������������������������������������������164
TensorBoard.dev������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������166
Summary����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������167
Additional Information���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������168
TensorFlow Dev Summit������������������������������������������������������������������������������168
TensorFlow Blogs����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������169
The TensorFlow Developer Certificate���������������������������������������������������������170
Quick Links��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������170

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Chapter 9: Programming with Tensorflow����������������������������������������173


Importing the TensorFlow Library���������������������������������������������������������������������174
Program 1: Hello World�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������175
Program 2: Constants, Variables, and Placeholders������������������������������������������176
Part A: Constants and Variables�������������������������������������������������������������������178
Part B: Placeholders������������������������������������������������������������������������������������181
Program 3: Operations in a Computational Graph���������������������������������������������184
Program 4: Taking Inputs from a User for a Placeholder����������������������������������187
Closing the Session�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������188
Summary����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������189

Chapter 10: Introducing Tensorflow 2.0�������������������������������������������191


Features of TensorFlow 2.0�������������������������������������������������������������������������������192
Eager Execution�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������192
Introduction of Keras�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������192
API Cleanup�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������193
Removal of Global Variables������������������������������������������������������������������������193
Better Deployment Capabilities�������������������������������������������������������������������194
Powerful Experimentation Tools������������������������������������������������������������������194
Increase in Productivity�������������������������������������������������������������������������������195
Code Comparison����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������196
The tf.print() Function����������������������������������������������������������������������������������197
Lazy Execution vs. Eager Execution������������������������������������������������������������198
Removal of tf.global_variables_initializer()�������������������������������������������������200
No Placeholders������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������202
@tf.function Decorator��������������������������������������������������������������������������������203
Upgrading from TensorFlow 1.0 to 2.0��������������������������������������������������������������205
The tf_upgrade_v2 Upgrade Script�������������������������������������������������������������206
Using the Upgrade Script�����������������������������������������������������������������������������207

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Table of Contents

Summary����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������210
Quick Links�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������211
Additional Information���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������211
Running TensorFlow 1.0 by Disabling TensorFlow 2.0���������������������������������211
Ragged Tensors�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������212
TensorFlow Addons�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������213

Chapter 11: Machine Learning Programming with


Tensorflow 2.0����������������������������������������������������������������������������������215
Structure of a Machine Learning Model������������������������������������������������������������217
Data Loading and Pre-Processing���������������������������������������������������������������219
Building the Model��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������222
Training the Model���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������222
Testing the Model����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������223
Keras�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������224
Features of Keras����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������225
Binary Classification������������������������������������������������������������������������������������226
Multi-class Classification����������������������������������������������������������������������������227
Programming with TensorFlow 2.0�������������������������������������������������������������������228
Image Classification: An Overview��������������������������������������������������������������228
Program 1: Image Classification Using a Pre-Trained Model����������������������231
The Working�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������232
The Structure�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������232
The API���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������232
The Program������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������232
Program 2: Handwriting Recognition Using Keras in TensorFlow
(Single Layer, Multi-class)���������������������������������������������������������������������������237
The Working�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������238
The Structure�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������238

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The Dataset�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������238
The API���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������239
The Activation Functions�����������������������������������������������������������������������������239
The Optimizer����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������239
The Program������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������239
Program 3: Clothing Classification Using Keras in TensorFlow
(Multi-layer, Multi-class)������������������������������������������������������������������������������247
The Dataset�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������248
The Activation Functions�����������������������������������������������������������������������������248
The Program������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������248
Program 4: Clothing Classification Using Convolutional Neural
Networks (Multi-layer, Multi-class)�������������������������������������������������������������255
The Structure�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������255
Dataset��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������256
API���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������256
The Activation Functions�����������������������������������������������������������������������������256
The Optimizer����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������256
The Program������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������256
Program 5: Handwriting Recognition Using Convolutional Neural
Networks (Multi-layer, Multi-class)�������������������������������������������������������������260
Dataset��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������260
The Program������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������261
Program 6: Image Classification for CIFAR-10 Using Convolutional
Neural Networks (Multi-layer, Multi-class)��������������������������������������������������264
The Dataset�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������264
The Program������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������265

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Program 7: Dogs vs. Cats Classification Using Convolutional Neural


Networks (Multi-layer, Binary)���������������������������������������������������������������������267
The Dataset�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������268
The Program������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������268
Summary����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������276
Quick Links�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������277

Conclusion����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������279

Index�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������283

xiii
About the Author
Nikita Silaparasetty is a data scientist and an
AI/deep-learning enthusiast specializing in
statistics and mathematics. She is currently
pursuing her Masters in Data Science at
Liverpool Hope University. She is the head
of the India-based “AI For Women” initiative,
which aims to empower women in the field
of artificial intelligence. She has strong
experience programming using Jupyter
Notebook and a deep enthusiasm for TensorFlow and the potential of
machine learning. Through the book, she hopes to help readers become
better at Python programming using TensorFlow 2.0 with the help of
Jupyter Notebook, which can benefit them immensely in their machine
learning journey.

xv
About the Technical Reviewer
Mezgani Ali is a Ph.D. student in artificial
intelligence at Mohamed V University in
Rabat, Morocco, and researcher at Native
LABs, Inc. He likes technology, reading, and
his little daughter, Ghita. His first program was
a horoscope in Basic in 1993. He has done a
lot of work on the infrastructure side in system
engineering, software engineering, managed
networks, and security.
Mezgani has worked for NIC France, Capgemini, and HP, and was part
of the site reliability engineer’s team that was responsible for keeping data
center servers and customers’ applications up and running. He is fanatical
about Kubernetes, REST API, MySQL, and Scala, and is the creator of the
functional and imperative programming language PASP.

xvii
Acknowledgments
“And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of
the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

—Colossians 3:17

First and foremost, I would like to thank God Almighty for giving me this
amazing opportunity, and for helping me to successfully complete
this book.
Next, I would like to thank my Dad, S. Mohan Kumar, my Mom, Agnes
Shanthi Mohan, and my elder sister, Vinita, for being my constant support,
help, and inspiration throughout this endeavour.
I’m also extremely grateful for the entire Apress team, who worked
tirelessly and patiently to review my chapters, put forward their
suggestions, and provide the necessary guidance that I needed, with the
aim to make the final product truly enriching to its readers. Working with
them has taught me so much.
Of course, I mustn’t forget my friends, acquaintances, peers,
well-wishers, and other people in my life who contributed in their own
way, by praying for me, motivating me, guiding me, and even tolerating me
when I seemed to be too busy for them.
Last, but not least, I’m grateful for the Internet, which played a major
role in this entire process.

xix
Introduction
I remember one day, when I was about 15, my little cousin had come over.
Being the good elder sister that I was, I spent time with her outside in the
garden, while all the adults were inside having a hearty conversation.
I soon found myself chasing after this active little 4 year old as she bustled
around, touching every little flower and inspecting every little creature.
At first, she carried this out as a silent activity, the only noise being her feet
as she ran across the grass. After a while, however, she could no longer contain
herself, and she began questioning me about each and every object and
phenomenon within her radius of sight. For a while, I felt thrilled that I was
old enough to answer these questions satisfactorily. This thrill was short-lived,
however, as she began delving deeper in her thirst to know more.
This lasted until my mom came outside and called us for dinner. As I
gratefully made my way back into the house, I came to two conclusions:

1. The human mind is brilliantly inquisitive

2. I’m not as smart as I thought I was

Now when we think about it, it’s quite interesting to note that all that
we know to do, from counting the number of toes we have, to singing the
national anthem on key, to naming the planets in the Solar System, are all
skills that we have developed over time.
Were we born with these abilities?
No, of course not.
But we do have the ability to learn how to do all these things, with the
help of our brain which continuously learns and processes information.
The more we learn, the greater our knowledge. The greater our knowledge,
the more intelligent we are.

xxi
Introduction

Not just human beings, but animals too. A dog can be trained to sit, roll
over, and play dead, by teaching it that when it does these tasks correctly,
it can earn a reward in the form of a tasty treat. By knowing how to perform
these tasks, it is deemed to be an ‘intelligent dog’.
So how do we learn new things?
One way of learning is through enquiring. When my cousin was asking
questions about everything she saw, she was trying to obtain answers from
what she saw as a reliable source. She knew that I already learned about all
these things, and so I could give her the answers she needed.
Another way of learning is by observation. Before my cousin began
asking me questions, she was observing everything. She noticed that the
sky is blue while the grass is green, and the grasshopper hops about while
the ant crawls alongs the ground. She was able to learn new things on her
own, without having to ask anyone for help.
The more questions she asked and the more she observed, the more
her knowledge increased.
It’s quite fascinating, really, to think that just by learning, a being can
become intelligent.
It is this intelligence that made the world what it is today. People grew
in knowledge and made new discoveries which made daily life quicker and
more efficient. This resulted in an increase in the number and variety of
jobs available and skills required.
Soon, people began to develop new ideas and methods to perform
various tasks. They managed to create objects that could automatically do
certain things, like hammer a nail, tighten a screw, and so on. In other words,
people created what we now call ‘machines’, which were made to simulate
the actions of a person. These machines reduced the amount of manual
labour needed, especially in the process of manufacturing. We now have
machines that have taken over a lot of our work - Leaving us with more time
and energy for the slightly more intellectual tasks, which these machines
could not do, because even though we could make the machines perform
specific actions, we could not get them to think in the way human beings do.

xxii
Introduction

Now consider this… What if machines could think, and therefore,


perform these intellectual tasks as well?

A Simple Example of Artificial Intelligence


Consider an email inbox. Earlier, it was just a regular interface through
which we could carry out trivial tasks like reading, replying to, and deleting
emails. Nowadays, we have much more advanced inboxes, with folders
for ‘Spam’, ‘Important’, ‘Other’, etc. Our inboxes automatically detect if
something is spam, and send it to the respective folder. They even detect
if something is comparatively important, and send it to the ‘Important’
folder. All other emails go under the ‘Other’ folder.

Figure I-1. Email Classification

xxiii
Introduction

But how does the inbox know the difference between these categories?
The answer is simple - It learned.
It learned how to detect if a message is spam, the same way we learned
to do so - By looking for certain characteristics in the message. These
characteristics include:

1. Irrelevant advertising

2. Request for sensitive information like an account


number, contact information, etc.

3. Use of a general term to address the recipient, rather


than using the actual name

4. Suspicious attachments

Once the inbox identifies such a message, it marks it as a possible


spam email. It then sends that message to the ‘Spam’ folder. Thus, it saves
us the trouble of dealing with numerous unnecessary emails everyday. All
we need to do is go to our ‘Spam’ folder, select all the messages, and delete
them. We don’t even need to open the messages and read through them.
The ability of a machine to think and perform tasks like this is known as
‘Artificial Intelligence’ (AI), and the process by which it gains this Artificial
Intelligence is known as ‘Machine Learning’ (ML).
This example of email segregation is just a simple application of
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. In fact, there is room
for mistakes in this technology as well. However, these fields actually
have massive potential. Just think about it - With the help of Artificial
Intelligence and Machine Learning, we can create machines that think,
infer, and then perform tasks. This would result in a quicker, more
convenient lifestyle for people.
How?
Well, imagine a world where everything was automated, from picking
our outfit in the morning based on the weather and the occasion, to
driving to office through the busy traffic, to watering the garden at the

xxiv
Introduction

right time. Our daily chores would no longer be ours to do. And, on a
broader level, there would be even more applications, in the areas of
business, medicine, education, and more. For example, there would be AI
Recruiters, AI Doctors, AI Teachers, and so on. Long story short - People
would be replaced by Robots that can do their work with greater efficiency.

Replacing Mankind with Machines


I think before we can consider replacing women and men with machines
that can perform their work, we need to seriously ask ourselves the
following question -
Would that be a good idea?
Well, at present, that’s an inconclusive topic for debate. But it’s
definitely an interesting area to have a look at.
Some of the first AI bots started out as unbeatable champions in
games like Checkers and Chess. These bots could replace a human
player in games that require technique and strategy. This was not just
an entertaining phenomenon to spectate, but also a measure of how
advanced the AI technologies were. Seems pretty harmless, right? All the
AI did was play a game really well.
Later, however, people realised that if AI bots could replace world class
champions in games, then they can definitely be used in more cardinal
situations. However, this did have its own drawbacks.
A very popular example of this is when amazon.com Inc. attempted
to replace their human recruiters with AI recruiters. The results were
not what was expected, as the machines became gender-biased and
began rejecting applicants that were female. This caused quite a stir, as is
expected, but also taught AI developers a valuable lesson when it comes to
building self-learning machines.
Let’s have a brief look at what happened.

xxv
Introduction

The Gender-Biased AI Recruiter


In general, when a recruiter looks through a list of candidates for a job,
what would be the factors that are considered? Some of them may include,
in no particular order:

1. Relevant Experience

2. Area of Study

3. Qualification

4. Extra projects

5. Background

6. References

The recruiter would go through the resume, check their information


with regards to the job that they are applying for, and probably give them a
call to verify the information. Throw in a few extra tests and assessments as
well, depending on the company. And if the person ends up being a good
fit, they are given the job.
That’s pretty much how an ethical employment process works, right?
Now when it comes to AI bots, they do not have the mind of a human
being that enables them to understand the differences between relevant
and irrelevant factors. All they have is data that they go through, find
patterns in, and make decisions on.
The bots at this highly reputed company were trained with at least ten
years’ worth of job applications. And as we know, there are usually more
men in the work-place than women, right? So the machine, while learning
from its data, thought that a person’s gender was an important factor to be
considered when hiring. Its thought process was basically this:

Men = Good Fit,

Women = Bad Fit.

xxvi
Introduction

Thus, it began rejecting applications that had any sort of reference to


females on it. In this way, it was biased against the female applicants.
Of course, the company made efforts to fix this. They altered their
program so that it would remain neutral in such instances. However, many
people are still quite critical towards it, as they feel that the machine can
still come up with new ways to be discriminative.
This was a great learning experience for AI enthusiasts, because they
realised that while all AI machines don’t end up being prejudiced, it is still
a possible outcome that needs to be tackled in the right way. It also shows
that precaution must be taken while developing the AI machine itself. We
must especially be careful about what kind of data we are using, since it is
this data that the machine depends upon to learn.
It’s quite interesting, isn’t it? It’s like raising a child. The child learns from
all that she or he is taught. If she/he learns good things, and is given good
experiences, it is more likely that the child will manifest it outwardly. However,
if the child is raised with the wrong ideas, it will adversely affect her/him.
There have even been times when certain areas of Artificial
Intelligence proved to be disappointing to researchers, and people nearly
stopped showing enthusiasm towards the field. Such a period is known as
an ‘AI Winter’, which we will read about later on.
One thing that almost everyone can agree on, though, is this: Artificial
Intelligence and Machine Learning are progressing greatly, and are
extremely important. If done in the right way, we can create systems that
can truly revolutionise the world and the way we live.
This is why there is so much demand for jobs in these fields. This
is also why there is so much research going on, and several new ideas
being introduced with regards to it. Capturing data, storing it, and then
programming with it has become so much easier and faster.
So as we begin our Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
journey, let’s have a look at some of the important concepts that we will
need to know in order to really understand what we are getting into, and
how we can use it to create useful and efficient technology.

xxvii
PART I

Artificial Intelligence,
Machine Learning,
and Deep Learning
In Part I, you will be introduced to the fundamental concepts of artificial
intelligence, machine learning, and deep learning. If you are a beginner,
this will be a good way for you to get familiar with the terms and basics that
are commonly used and good to know while working in this field. If you
are a little more experienced, this will help you to recap all that you have
learned so far. You might even come across something new!
What to expect from this part:

• An introduction to artificial intelligence


• An introduction to machine learning
• An overview of machine learning concepts
• An introduction to deep learning
• An overview of deep learning concepts
• A comparison between machine learning and deep
learning
CHAPTER 1

An Overview of
Artificial Intelligence
In this chapter, we will take our first steps into the world of artificial
intelligence. Although it is a vast field, and we would probably require
a whole other book to really dive deeply into it, we will go through a
summary of important AI facts and concepts—what it is, how it came
about, its benefits and drawbacks, and how it is being implemented in our
present lives.

Artificial Intelligence Primer


We have all heard about intelligence. From experience, we have found that
students who score higher grades supposedly have more intelligence than
those who score lower. This may not always be the case, but it is what we
tend to conclude.
We also know that Einstein had an IQ of about 160. What is astonishing
is that a twelve-year-old girl in England ended up scoring 162, thus beating
the world-renowned genius in this measure of intelligence.
So, what exactly is intelligence?

© Nikita Silaparasetty 2020 3


N. Silaparasetty, Machine Learning Concepts with Python
and the Jupyter Notebook Environment, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-5967-2_1
Chapter 1 An Overview of Artificial Intelligence

Intelligence can be defined as the ability to acquire and apply knowledge


and skills.
This is why we are given an education from childhood. Over the years,
we are fed with knowledge that is meant to help us become more intelligent.
Over the years, people worked hard and expanded their research and
scientific advancements. They used their “natural intelligence” to come up
with bigger and better innovations. Eventually, they were able to program
machines to work and think like them, which they soon began to refer to as
“artificial intelligence.”
Artificial intelligence can be defined as the ability of a machine to think
like a human being, in order to perform a particular task, without being
explicitly programmed.
It is also sometimes referred to as “machine intelligence” and can be
compared to “human intelligence.” It is, as a matter of fact, inspired by a
human being’s natural intelligence. It aims to replicate the cognitive abilities
of the human brain, like learning, understanding, and solving problems.

The Inception of Artificial Intelligence


Artificial intelligence did not always exist. It was probably only something
that existed in people’s imaginations, and maybe just an exciting part of a
science fiction novel. However, around the late 1930s, people slowly began
considering the possibility of machines’ being able to think in the way that
human beings do, which is what inspired researchers to go about making
this a reality.

1930s–1940s: Over the Years


A few scientists from different fields came together to discuss the
possibility and practicality of creating machines that could think and
respond and act like human beings.

4
Chapter 1 An Overview of Artificial Intelligence

One of the early works that inspired machine learning was the Bombe
machine made by Alan Turing and his team during World War II. This machine
could crack the Enigma code used by the Germans to send encrypted messages.
This was a major milestone in the field of machine learning.

1950s: Discoveries and Breakthroughs


In 1950, Alan Turing published a paper, “Computing Machinery and
Intelligence,” while he worked at the University of Manchester. In this
paper, he introduced what is known as the Turing Test. In this test, he
proposed that if a person is allowed to talk to another person and a machine,
and if the first person is not able to differentiate between his two conversation
partners, then the machine exhibits intelligent behavior. The conversation
would be text-based only. This test proved to be a way to convince many
people that a thinking machine was at least possible.
In 1951, Christopher Strachey developed a checkers program with the
help of the Ferranti Mark 1 machine. Dietrich Prinz wrote one for chess as
well. These technologies come under the “Game AI” umbrella, which is
used even to this day to understand how far AI has come.
Around 1955, Allen Newell and Herbert A. Simon came up with the
“Logic Theorist.” It was the first program that was made for automated
reasoning, and is thus known as the first artificial intelligence program.
It ended up proving thirty-eight out of fifty-two theorems in Principia
Mathematica by Alfred North Whitehead and Bertrand Russell, and
thus opened the eyes of researchers to the possibilities of manipulating
symbols, which could help with human thought.
In 1956, Marvin Minsky, John McCarthy, Claude Shannon, and Nathan
Rochester organized the Dartmouth Conference. It was here that the term
artificial intelligence was first coined by John McCarthy and accepted
by researchers in the field. AI also gained a proper identity in the field of
science during this conference.

5
Chapter 1 An Overview of Artificial Intelligence

1960s–1970s: Advanced AI
After this, interest in artificial intelligence began to grow rapidly. It was the
hot topic at the time, and people were coming up with newer ideas and
better techniques to help machines think. In the 1960s, researchers began
developing robots as well. The WABOT project began in Japan in 1967,
with an objective to create the first “intelligent” humanoid robot .

1970s–1980s: The First AI Winter


The 1970s started out pretty well for AI. The WABOT-1 was finally completed
in 1972. It had limbs that could move either to move around or to grasp
onto objects. It had artificial eyes and ears that helped it measure depth and
direction. It also had an artificial mouth with which it could communicate
with people in Japanese.
However, AI had still not reached the extent that people had hoped it
would. Development seemed to go at a snail’s pace, and investors were not
satisfied with the situation. Eventually, they began to halt all funding for
undirected AI research.
Some of the reasons for the slow rate at which AI was moving forward
include the following:
1. Need for massive data and storage: Machines
did not have the capacity to gather and store
information about the world. This was a huge
obstacle because machines require immense
quantities of information in order to become
intelligent.

2. Need for greater computational power: Machines


still did not have the power to carry out any
substantial computations.

6
Another Random Document on
Scribd Without Any Related Topics
gave you leave to stop on and to go and hunt in the mountain the
wild cattle, which are the children of the cattle of the Indians. And
you stayed with us all this winter past, and you have been happy
here among us; but now you say that you must go far away again,
following your business. Now we say this: you have done a thing to-
day that we are glad of, and our children will be glad of, and their
children, too, for ever. Now we say this: you live alone, and life alone
is very lonesome. It is good that you should give up the life of
wandering so far and being so lonesome. It is good that you should
live here with us, and we will build you a house, and we will give you
a wife, a young one and a good one, whichever one you please
among the girls, and we will assign you pieces of land of the village,
and you shall have it to cultivate the same as we do. If you do not
want to work with the plough and the hoe yourself, you have money
and you can hire others to work. And you shall live here safe and at
ease, and if we want to do more to the ditch, or to keep the
smallpox away, you shall do it, because you are wise and know the
arts of the Americans. We have talked it over, and that is what we
think." And he closed his oration and folded his blanket about him,
not without dignity.
Stephens was sitting on the side of his bed, leaning forward and
looking down, with his pipe in his mouth, when Tostado began his
speech. As it proceeded, he stopped smoking, and still sat looking
thoughtfully on the ground, holding his pipe in his hand, and a
curious smile came over his features.
"People seem determined to make a squawman out of me
somehow," he meditated. "First a lying stage-driver goes and swears
to Sam Argles that I'm one already, and now here comes this worthy
Tostado with an extremely public offer of the pick of the bunch. Well,
how am I going to decline? Shall I say, 'Thanks very much, my good
friend, but I'm not taking any, this time'? Pretend to blush and be
embarrassed, and play the funny man generally? Not much, I guess.
My jokes with these people don't seem to come off. They're not their
style. No, I'll just refuse civilly; but, seeing that they're making
themselves so particularly sweet to me at this moment, I believe I'll
trot out my best card and ask for the mine."
He waited till the applause that followed Tostado's peroration had
quite died away, but instead of rising to make a formal speech in
reply, he remained sitting on the side of the bed.
"I'm sure I'm very much obliged to you, Tostado," he began
conversationally, looking at the friendly face of the Turquoise
headman, "and to all of you chiefs here present,"—he cast a
comprehensive glance round the circle,—"for the good opinion you
say you have of me, and for your proposal that I should settle down
among you. I take it very kind of you that you offer me a wife and a
home here. But I'm not quite prepared to settle at present. You said,
Tostado, that I had money; so I have, but only a little, not enough,
not as much as I want. Now, I've got this to say to you. There's just
one thing that would induce me to remain here, and not go away.
Don't be startled, it's a very simple matter; you know that I'm a
miner, and live by finding and working mines. Well, I want you to
give me leave to open and work your silver mine, the silver mine
that you have up in the mountains, and that you keep so carefully
hidden. If you'll make a contract with me to do that, I'll stay on here
and work the mine for you. What do you say?"
Never was the admirable facial self-control of the red man better
exemplified than in the reception of this speech. To the Indians the
very name of mines in connection with themselves was a horror.
They had awful traditions of ancient Spanish cruelties, of whole
villages stripped of their young men, who were forcibly carried off to
work in a slavery which was degradation and death. Spanish
enterprise in that line had ceased with the exhaustion of the labour
supply, and the accumulation of water in the shafts which they had
no steam-pumps to remove. But the terror of those evil days lay
upon the souls of the red men. They had hidden those ancient
shafts where their forefathers laboured in the damp, unwholesome
darkness, till sickness and misery found their only respite in death.
They guarded the secret of them jealously, and never with their
goodwill should they be reopened.
At the words of the American, the chiefs turned one to another with
looks of astonishment, and acted their little play admirably.
Tostado remained silent, and the cacique was the first to speak.
"Silver mine?" he innocently asked. "What silver mine?" thus
ignoring the fact that the prospector had broached the idea to him
already. "We have no silver mine. We know nothing of such things.
The Mexicans have some, far away in the south. The Americans
have some, far away there," he pointed to the north. "But there
never have been any here, never. Is it not true, my brothers?" He
appealed to the circle of chiefs. There was a chorus of replies: "It is
true." "There never have been any." "None of us ever heard of such
things here."
"Nonsense, Salvador," retorted Stephens, laughing as good-
humouredly as he could by way of reassuring the suspicious
redskins. "Everybody round here knows that you fellows have a mine
that you keep well covered up so that nobody shall find it. Very
sensible plan that of yours, too. Quite right not to let other people
get hold of it. I allow that. But you're all wrong about one thing.
You're afraid the Spaniards may come back and force you to work in
the mine again. No fear. The Spaniards have gone for keeps, and the
American Government has come, and it's going to stop. There's
absolutely nothing to be afraid of. I've heard of your mine; now, you
let me work it for you; I'll make money out of it for myself and
money for you. The money will buy you lots of cows and sheep and
horses, and improved ploughs and good guns, and all sorts of
things. You say you have got confidence in me, here's your chance
to show it."
He might as well have expended his eloquence upon the dead adobe
walls. The chiefs stared at him vacantly. When Stephens ceased
there was a pause, and then Tostado took up the subject.
"It is quite true what you say, Sooshiuamo. You are our friend. The
American Government is our friend; it has protected us from the
Mexicans when they tried to ride roughshod over us, and we are
grateful to the American Government. But the stories about a silver
mine are foolishness. These Mexicans must have been yarning to
you; they are idle talkers. We have no mine. We never had a mine.
We don't know anything about mines, and never did." And again all
the chiefs chorused:
"We know nothing of a mine; nothing whatever."
For a whole hour Stephens argued with them. Vain effort. No solid
rock was ever more impenetrable than an Indian who has made up
his mind, and the baffled and wearied prospector gave it up in
despair.
His thoughts drifted away to earlier days when he first found himself
in the midst of that wonderful rush to the El Dorado of this century,
the Far Western goldfields. He thought of his hopes, his failures, and
his struggles; how he had always intended "when he had made his
pile," to go back East and marry a nice girl of his own race, and
settle down comfortably. When he had made his pile!—the will-o'-
the-wisp that has led many a man such a weary dance through the
sloughs of life. He had to admit to himself that he had lowered his
figure. He had set it at first at a million, a brownstone front, and a
seat in the United States Senate. It had come down step by step in
the last ten years, till it stood now at ten thousand dollars,—enough
to buy a nice little place back East, and stock it, and have something
left on hand; but, alas! he was not half-way yet even to that goal—
and now there was offered him a mud home, an Indian squaw, and
a corn patch. "Not yet, I reckon," said he to himself, with a grimmer
smile than ever. "I've not come to that quite yet. Not but what these
Indians are the honestest and most virtuous folks to live among that
ever I knew. But I can't quite go turning squawman yet."
"Much obliged to you, Tostado," said he in response to a renewed
offer, "but I don't want to settle down just now. No, thank you. I
have business to see after far away, beyond the country of the
Navajos. Not that I don't like you here. I consider you as my friends.
You know that. Perhaps some other day I may think about settling
down, but now I have other business. But I am much obliged to you,
all the same."
"No," said the Indian; "it is we who are obliged to you for what you
have done for us. It is a great thing, and we are grateful to you for
it. There is nothing we would not do for you." And then he went on
to praise and compliment Stephens, and the Americans generally;
for he was no mean proficient in the art of oratory, and enjoyed
doing what he knew he could do well, and what his people admired
him for.
Poor Stephens could not escape from the flow of language by quietly
walking off, as he had done in the morning; and though he wanted
badly to get free to finish reading his San Francisco weekly paper, he
could not be so discourteous as to cut the speech short abruptly. But
all things come to an end at last, and finally the chiefs, having made
speeches to their heart's content, took their leave, folded their
blankets around them, and filed off into the moonlight.
CHAPTER X
AN ELOPEMENT

Once again Felipe waited patiently for the setting of the moon, in the
dark corner between the mud oven and the wall where we saw him
first. Thoughts keen almost as sensations chased each other through
his mind as he crouched there watching. Dominant was the feeling
of the eternal sense of need: "I want her and I'll have her." All this
trouble, and strife, and disappointment only made him more
obstinate. "I will succeed," he said to himself. "I will. If I fail now I
shall be a loser all my life—always wanting, never getting. If I win I
shall have what I desire all my life and be happy." This was frank
egoism. Felipe's moral standpoint may be guessed from the fact that
had he been told he was egoistic he would not have understood the
implied reproach. To himself his position was simply natural.
But it would be wrong to suppose that generous and unselfish
impulses did not run side by side with self-regarding ones. He
thought of Josefa, lonely and sad in her father's house. His anger
rose as he thought of the unkindness and the threats she had to
endure, and of the heartless way in which she was being disposed
of. He longed to save her from the present trouble and from the
hateful future that threatened her. How sweet she was and how
beautiful! Every fibre in his frame thrilled at the thought of becoming
her protector, at the delicious idea of her seeking safety in his arms,
while he acted as her shield against tyranny and wrong. And through
her sweet eyes there looked out, he knew, the faithful soul of a true
and loving woman. She was good. He felt as sure of that as he did
of his own existence. Her kindness and dutiful spirit he knew, for he
had seen her behaviour in the daily life of the village. What a shame
it was that she should be so ill-treated just because she was by
nature gentle and obedient! Poor girl, she would want to be
comforted a great deal to make up for all the trials she was
undergoing now. He would have to be very good to her in every
way, and he swore to himself that he would be so; he would do his
best to make her happy. Ah, if they could but once get to the padre
at Ensenada and be married by him, it would be all right; and at the
thought his pulse beat high.
At last the welcome hand appeared at the hole in the wall he had
been watching so long, and he flew to the spot.
"Is that you, sweetheart?" he whispered as he stretched his hand
along the wall to meet the little fingers. "I always tell myself you will
not come, just to tease myself, for I know all the time that you will.
And at last I see the signal and I know it is all right."
"You know I always do come," she returned, "you bad boy, as soon
as I feel sure they are sound asleep. But now tell me what news you
have."
"Bad enough," said he despondently. "I asked the American—I
begged hard of him; but he would not lend me one of his beasts. I
waited till he was in a good temper, after he had blasted the rock;
but it was no use. I will go to-morrow to the sierra for my father's
horse and I will come back for you in the night. He is thin and
cannot travel fast, so you must come early before the moon sets or
we shall not have time enough; but we must take our chance as we
can get it. I will tie him away off on the edge of the mesa, so that
there will be no horse tracks for them to follow close here. You must
come afoot so far."
"Stay, Felipe," said she. "I have been thinking. Can you get a saddle
—now—to-night?"
"I can get one of the American's," he said. "He has an old one he
never uses. He would lend me that, I know."
"Yes, but can you go to him to-night, Felipe?"
"Oh, yes," he answered. "I would wake him—he doesn't mind what I
do. But what horse are you thinking of? One of his?"
"No, no," she cried; "I have a better plan than that. We must take
my father's horse. I got the key this evening after he went out. Go
first and get the saddle, and then here is the key."
His fingers tightened eagerly on hers. "You darling!" he whispered.
"How clever you are! Ten times cleverer than I. Why didn't I ever
think of that before? Wait. I'll be back in a moment." He gave her
hand one more rapturous pressure, and loosing it, darted off like the
wind to Stephens's house.
Stephens was a sound sleeper, but in the middle of the night he was
waked by a sudden angry growl from Faro. He opened his eyes, but
it was pitch-dark. A low knock was heard at the door. "Who is it?" he
cried, first in English, then in Spanish.
A voice answered, likewise in Spanish. "Oh, Don Estevan, it's me,
Felipe."
"Felipe!" he exclaimed. "Why, what the mischief are you up to now?
But come in, the door isn't locked."
He heard the latch pulled, and seized the collar of Faro, who was
snarling savagely. The door opened and the cool night air blew
freshly in. A figure was dimly seen in the starlight. Felipe approached
the bed. "Oh, Don Estevan!" he began at once, "do be kind to me;
lend me your saddle—the old saddle, not the good one. You know
the old one hanging on the wall in there."
"Why, what's up, Felipe?" said Stephens, surprised at being roused
by this request in the middle of the night. "What do you want with
it? What makes you come bothering me now?"
"Oh, please don't be angry, but lend it me," pleaded the boy. "I will
bring it you back, and I know you don't want it; you never use it."
"What mischief are you after?" said Stephens. "You want to go off
sweethearting somewhere—that's what it is, you young rascal.
That's what you wanted my mare for to-day. I know what you are up
to."
"Oh, Don Estevan," begged the boy,—"the saddle, please. If you
won't lend it to me, sell it to me. I have money,—five dollars."
"Hold on till I strike a light, and shut the door, will you?" said
Stephens. "Lie down, Faro, and be quiet." The prospector got out of
bed, struck a match, and lit a candle. "You're a pretty sort of fellow,
to come roaming around this time of night!" he went on as, candle
in hand, he stepped cautiously across the floor in his bare feet to the
door of the inner room, which he unlocked. "Sensible people are in
bed and asleep at this time of night," he grumbled. "Come in here
and get your saddle."
Felipe followed him instantly to the storeroom where he kept his
powder-keg, mining-tools, pack-saddles, and provisions.
"There it is," said Stephens, pointing to an old saddle hanging by
one stirrup from a peg in the wall. "Get it down. And the bridle; yes,
that's it"—and the pair emerged again into the outer room.
Stephens locked the door again, and turning round encountered
Felipe's hand with a five-dollar bill in it. "Here it is, Don Estevan; five
dollars," said the young Indian.
"Tut, tut, I don't want your money," said the American cheerfully.
"Keep it or give to your sweetheart to keep for you. She'll do that
fast enough"—and he chuckled at his own wit. "Now don't you
smash that saddle," he continued; "and mind you bring it back when
you've done with it."
"Oh, thank you, Don Estevan, a thousand times!" cried the young
Indian. "God will reward you for it."
"Likely story," growled his employer, "when I guess it's the devil's
business you're riding on. There, that'll do; be off with you," he
added; and he escorted Felipe, still protesting his gratitude, to the
door.
As the boy stepped outside, Stephens asked through the half-shut
door, "Who's going to look after my stock to-morrow?"
"Oh, Don Estevan, my brother, my little brother Tomas. He will see
to them. I have told him."
"Much good he'll be!" retorted the Californian. "Whom did I hire, him
or you?"
"Why, me, Don Estevan, but my little brother will——"
"Yes, your little brother will play the mischief," said Stephens, cutting
him short. "I know you. There, get along with you. I'm tired of
you,"—and the sarcastic prospector turned growling to his blankets
again. "Who is she? for there's some woman at the bottom of it, as
sure as fate," said he to himself as he turned over on his bed before
going to sleep. "One of the young squaws I suppose. Felipe used to
be a pretty good sort of a boy, but durn my skin if I don't believe
he's going to turn out just as ornery as the rest of 'em. Who is she, I
wonder, anyway?" He was just dropping off to sleep when the
thought struck him, "Maybe he's gone to the corral to get the mare!"
He half rose at the idea, but lay down again, soliloquising slowly,
"No, he never would have come here to borrow the saddle if that
had been his game; he dursn't. I'd break every bone in his
confounded young carcass if he dared do such a thing"; and
comforting himself with this hypothetical revenge, he finally dropped
asleep.
With the saddle safely tucked into the fold of his blanket, Felipe flew
round the corner and down the street to the back of the cacique's
house. When he came to the place he stooped down and picking up
a tiny pebble he tossed it through the hole. Josefa was waiting inside
and answered his signal instantly.
"Have you got the saddle?" she whispered.
"Yes, yes, all right," answered her lover.
"Here is the key," said she rapidly; "take this and go to my father's
stable and get out the horse and take him away outside the pueblo
and tie him, and then come back for me. I mustn't risk being caught
getting out unless we are quite sure to succeed; it would prevent
our ever having another chance."
"Good!" said Felipe shortly; and without a moment's delay he started
off.
"Stop, Felipe, stop an instant," she whispered. "Don't tie him near
the corrals; he'll neigh to Don Estevan's animals."
"As if I didn't know that!" returned the boy almost indignantly, and
he turned again and darted away. It was all plain sailing now. How
clever of Josefa! How thoughtful she was!
He reached the cacique's stable, looked stealthily round to be sure
he was not watched, and then turned the key in the lock and
entered. The horse, a noble and intelligent creature, was standing
there quietly. In a minute Felipe put the saddle on him and brought
him out, locking the door again behind him. He led him straight
away from the pueblo, up along the acequia; a few dogs began to
bark at the unwonted sound of hoofs in the night. He tied him to a
tree in a peach orchard, and gave him a handful of corn fodder
which he had brought from the stable to keep him quiet. Then he
flew back to the village.
"All right, Josefa, come! I have him tied ready," he whispered.
The little hand met his once again through the hole in the wall, and
he pressed it. It trembled in his clasp. "You will always be good to
me, always?" she said. "I shall have nobody but you now."
"Yes, I swear it, my heart's joy, I swear it!" he cried earnestly. "But
come, come quick!" The clasped hands unlocked, and the Indian boy
sank down once more to wait; this was to be the end of his waiting.
It was not for long. Three minutes later, a head peeped over the
edge of the terrace above him, and in a moment more Josefa
dropped into her lover's arms. One long kiss, one long, rapturous
embrace, was all they dared delay for; and then without a word,
hand in hand and side by side, they fled with stealthy steps up the
street.
Perhaps it was the fact of a woman's being abroad at that hour of
the night that excited the suspicions of the dogs; but whatever it
was, the whole hundred-and-odd of them belonging to the pueblo
seemed to begin to bark just then. The clamour brought one or two
Indians to their doors, but they saw nothing; the lovers had already
disappeared.
Up along the acequia they ran. They reached the peach orchard. The
horse was there all right. Felipe bridled him in a moment and then
sprang across the acequia with the lariat in his hand. He pulled at
the rope, but the horse refused to follow. "Hit him, Josefa," said he
to the girl, "hit him." She shook the fold of her blanket at the animal,
and with a snort he sprang across after Felipe. She bounded over
lightly and stood beside him.
He lifted her to the saddle and vaulted on to the croup behind her.
He slipped his arms round her waist, both to hold her securely and
to grasp the reins, and striking the horse's sides with his feet, he
urged him forward. The noble creature made nothing of his double
burden, and bounded forward.
"It's no use trying to dodge," said he as he guided the animal
straight towards the trail that led to the Rio Grande. "They'll track us
anywhere to-morrow; but they can't see to trail before daylight, and
by that time we must be at Ensenada."
"Hark to those dogs," said she, as the chorus of barkings from the
village rose and fell upon the night wind.
"Never mind; we're off now," said he, holding her closer to him.
"The dogs are always barking anyhow. They'll think it's only some
Mexican going down the valley. Why, if they did wake up and miss us
now, they must wait till morning to know which way we've gone, so
don't you be frightened, sweetheart."
They struck into the trail at last—a well-marked bridle-path, which
led across the mesas. There was no fear of their missing it, dark as
it was after the moon had set, for both the horse and his rider knew
the trail well enough. On they pushed, on, on, the keen night wind
from the east blowing freshly in their faces, and causing them to fold
their blankets more closely to them. The stout little Indian horse was
used to carrying double, as indeed most horses in those parts are,
and he travelled onward without flinching or staggering under his
burden, cantering where the ground was not too rough, and picking
his way with wonderful sure-footedness up and down the steep sides
of the ravines, which here and there intersected the broad table-
lands.
Felipe had to tell Josefa of his vain attempts to borrow the mare of
the American, and he gave her a laughing description of the way in
which he had roused him at midnight to borrow the saddle. "I'm
glad, though, he didn't take the five dollars from me," said the boy.
"Perhaps I should not have had money enough left for the padre if
he had."
"But you have enough?" inquired Josefa eagerly. "How much have
you?"
"Oh, I have fifteen dollars," replied he. "I have saved my wages,
every cent, since Don Estevan came here last autumn, and my
father let me keep half. Fifteen dollars is more than enough. It is
only the rich people who pay twenty and twenty-five dollars. Why,
lots of poor people pay only ten. I am sure we are poor enough."
"I am afraid we are indeed," sighed she sadly.
"Never mind," said he cheerfully, trying to keep up her spirits, which
were failing somewhat at the strangeness of this lonely ride over
lands unknown to her, under the immense vault of night. "Never
mind that. Why, I have sown six bushels of wheat more than last
year, and I am going to put in plenty of corn too. There is plenty of
land, and if we have not enough the head Turquoises must give us
some more. There is lots of water now in the ditch to sow a
thousand bushels more than we used to."
"Yes," said Josefa thoughtfully. "I know how hard you have worked,
dear Felipe, and that you will not be slack now, but are you quite
sure of your father? Will he not turn us out?"
"How can he?" said the boy scornfully. "You know he is too poor to
hire anyone to work for him. He cannot do without me. He is getting
old and cannot put in a crop by himself, and Tomas is too young to
be much good. It is I who do the work on the land. You know,
Josefa, I would work ten times harder for you," and he pressed her
closer to him again.
"Yes, yes, Felipe," she cried, "I know that. I am sure of that. I never
could have trusted you so if I had not known you were good at
home. But, Felipe dear, if they are cross to me at your house I shall
hate it."
"They sha'n't be cross to you," he cried hotly. "I am a man now, and
they must listen to me. If I support them they must do what I say—
at least sometimes," he added, correcting himself. "Besides, my
mother loves me, and when she sees how I love you, and how you
are all the world to me, she will love you too; I know she will."
"Ah, perhaps not, Felipe," said the girl doubtfully. "You talk like a
man. Women are not always like that, you know."
"But she will; she must," said Felipe decidedly. He had a comfortable
masculine conviction that women's feelings were something that
could always be put down or got round. He felt that he was acting a
man's part now, and that it was time for him to assert himself. How
could he feel otherwise with his arms round his sweetheart's waist,
with the free sky above them and the broad mesas around, fifteen
dollars in his pocket to pay the padre, and a good horse (he did not
stop to think whose) to carry them to Ensenada! For the first time in
his life he felt himself a man and free. They had left behind them the
village with its narrow, cramping laws and customs, its parental
tyrannies, and its hateful distinction of rich and poor. To Felipe,
Ignacio with thirty cows was an odious monopolist. How delightful it
was to have hoodwinked the watchful guardian of Josefa and baffled
his miserly rival!
While the fugitives thus sped onward through the night, peace once
more reigned supreme over the pueblo. The barking of the dogs at
their departure had soon ceased, and no one took the trouble to
inquire seriously into the source of their wrath. They might have
been barking at a hungry coyote, come to explore the heaps of
household refuse deposited day by day outside the village by the
tidy squaws, or at some belated Mexican passing up or down the
valley, or even at some stray donkey escaped from his owner's
corral. At any rate, no one cared enough to prosecute his inquiries,
and no movement was perceptible in the village till the first grey
dawn.
Dawn caught the lovers descending the long hill that leads from the
mesas down to the wide flats of the Rio Grande valley. The light was
too dim as yet to do more than show vaguely the broad line of the
wooded banks of the river, still some distance ahead of them. The
sun rose as they were pushing across the sandy flats and passing
through the poverty-stricken hovels of the Mexican village of La
Boca, past a surprised-looking, unkempt peon, who blinked drowsily
at the couple from his doorway. On they pressed and still onward,
making for the point where the road forded the river.
But what roar was this that met their ears as they neared the grove
of cottonwood trees through which the road to the ford ran,—a dull
strong roar as of the rushing of many waters? Felipe recognised it,
and on the instant his heart felt like lead in his breast.
"Valgame Dios, Josefa!" said he, "I believe the river is up. Oh! what
luck! what luck!"
CHAPTER XI
MY DUCATS AND MY DAUGHTER

The grey dawn that awoke the household of the cacique did so to
some purpose. "Josefa," called the step-mother as she arose,
"Josefa"—but no answer came. "Why, where can she be?" exclaimed
the Indian woman, looking round and calling her other daughters.
Salvador himself rushed into the inner room to look for her. In a
moment he sprang out again.
"She has gone!" he shouted. "She has got through the trap-door and
escaped. Oh, the wretch!"
"Where can she be?" wondered his wife helplessly.
"Where can she be?" he echoed scornfully. "Why, with that pauper
scoundrel of a Felipe. I know her. Oh, I'll make her pay for this!"
He seized his revolver and slipped his belt through the loop of its
case, and grasping a horsewhip he darted from the house. The rest
of the family followed him somewhat timidly, anxious to see what
was going to happen, wishing, perhaps, that he would punish her a
little for not being so good and steady as they were, hoping, too, to
intervene and save her from the extremity of his passion, for they
knew how pitiless he was when roused.
The cacique flew straight to Atanacio's dwelling, and thrusting the
door open burst rudely into the apartment.
"Where is Felipe? Where is my daughter?" shouted he in tones of
fury.
"I don't know. I don't know anything about it," said the old man
humbly. "Isn't your daughter at home? Perhaps she is over at
Sahwaquiu's." Sahwaquiu was Josefa's uncle, her own mother's
brother, and Josefa was a pet of his.
"Where's Felipe, I ask you? Answer me, you old reprobate!" roared
the angry cacique.
"I don't know," said the old man again, in the humblest tones. "I
have not seen him. He was here last night when we lay down, but
he got up and went out. I don't know where he is."
"He's run off with my daughter, that's where he is," shouted the
indignant parent; "and I believe you know about it too," he added,
threatening the old man with his whip. "You had better say what you
know, or I'll make you."
He was a thick-set, muscular man, and looked well able to carry out
his threat, as he stood over old Atanacio, who remained passive,
seated on a sheep skin near the hearth, neither attempting to
defend himself nor to escape. The cacique's black eyes flashed fury,
and his coarse features worked with passion, as with taunts and
threats he cowed the helpless being before him.
But meanwhile the news of the elopement had spread, and the
Indians were buzzing about their village like a swarm of bees round
the hive. Up dashed one of the younger men with news. "Cacique,
Cacique," he cried, "the stable! Your horse has gone, but the stable
is locked. His tracks go all up by the acequia"; and he pointed to
where two Indians, with their heads bent low almost to the ground,
were busily questing from side to side like sleuth-hounds on a scent.
"Oh, the villain!" roared Salvador. "He's got my horse. He shall be
hanged." And he ran first of all to the stable to satisfy himself by
seeing with his own eyes what had happened.
It was true. The stable was locked, but the steed was stolen, as
could be seen by lying down and peeping under the door. The
cacique got up with his white shirt and buckskins all dusty from the
ground, and turning to the crowd called out:
"Here, get me a horse, some of you—Tito, Miguel, Alejandro. Go get
me the mare of the Americano, and mount yourselves, too." And he
himself started out towards the acequia to look at the tracks. Several
Indians ran towards the corrals.
"The saddle," said one; "we want a saddle; go get yours, Alejandro.
You live nearest."
"Hadn't we better tell the Americano," said Tito, "before we take his
mare? Maybe he won't like to lend her."
"But he must lend her," retorted Miguel impatiently. "The cacique
wants her. Isn't that enough?"
By this time they had arrived at the bars of the corral where the
prospector kept his stock, and they stopped to wait for Alejandro to
bring the saddle. Tito took advantage of the delay to act on his own
motion, and darting over to the door of Stephens's dwelling began to
knock vigorously.
"Hullo! who's there?" called out Stephens in response to the
knocking. He was still between the blankets, and had not yet turned
out.
"The cacique wants your mare," cried Tito through the keyhole.
"Wants my what?" exclaimed Stephens, who failed to catch his
words exactly. "Open the door, can't you, and let me hear what
you've got to say," he added, sitting up in bed.
Tito held the door ajar and put half his face into the aperture. He
had a wholesome respect for Faro and did not care to adventure
farther.
"The cacique wants to take your mare to ride, to go after his
daughter," he explained.
"Well, he can't have her, that's all about it," said Stephens, getting
out of bed and beginning to put on his moccasins. He had adopted
the Indian foot-covering as more comfortable as well as more
economical than boots. "Just tell him," he continued, "that I'm not
lending horses just now. When I am I'll let him know. But why can't
he take his own?"
"He hasn't got it. It's gone," said Tito, at the same time signalling
with the half of him outside the doorway to Miguel not to take the
mare. "It's gone. Felipe's run away with the cacique's horse and his
daughter."
"The dickens he has!" said Stephens. "When did he do that?" As he
spoke he recollected Felipe's midnight visit to him for the purpose of
borrowing the saddle, and a light dawned on him. But under the
circumstances it seemed better to say nothing about the matter.
He put on his hat and came to the door. Tito volubly expounded all
he knew of the story. Presently Salvador himself came bustling up
from the acequia, whip in hand and revolver on hip.
"Looks considerable on the war-path," said the prospector to himself.
"Wonder what he means to do about it."
"Here," said the cacique in a loud voice to the Indians round,
"where's the horse? why isn't it saddled?"
Stephens stood leaning carelessly against the doorpost, but took no
notice of his speech. There was silence for a moment, and then Tito
said in a apologetic tone, "Don Estevan says he doesn't want to lend
her."
"Oh, nonsense!" said the cacique; and then turning to the American
and mastering his passion as well as he could, he said, "Lend me
your mare, Don Estevan."
"I can't do it, Salvador," said the prospector deliberately. "I want to
go to the sierra to-day."
"Oh, the sierra!" said the cacique impatiently. "That will do to-
morrow. My daughter is gone and my horse is gone and there's
nothing else to go after them on. You must lend yours for once."
"Not to be ridden to death after them," said Stephens. "Why, they're
leagues away by this time. You'll have to ride like the very mischief
to catch them." There was an accent of contempt in his voice which
infuriated the Indian. Stephens valued the mare, which he had
brought with him from Denver, above all earthly things, and the idea
of letting an Indian ride her near to death in a long, stern chase
seemed to him the blankest absurdity. "Why, I wouldn't do it for my
own brother!" he went on. "You can't have her, Cacique, and that's
flat."
"But I must," said the Indian, enraged at an opposition he had not
expected. "I must and I will. What's a horse for but to ride?" He
turned to the crowd of Indians behind him, and called out, "Saddle
her up, will you, quick!"
Two or three began instantly to run towards the corral, and the rest
were starting to follow when the loud, clear voice of the prospector
arrested their movement.
"Stop right there!" were his words. "You do no such thing. If anyone
touches my stock without my leave I'll shoot him."
The Indians stopped.
"I'll drive you out of here, you Americano," said the angry cacique,
laying his hand upon the butt of his revolver and advancing directly
towards Stephens, who was of course quite unarmed.
"Drive away then, and be d—d to you," returned the American. "I've
hired these rooms from old Reyna till the end of April, and I sha'n't
budge before." And his eyes flashed back defiance.
Salvador kept advancing in a threatening manner, and the younger
Indian men, of whom there were thirty or forty on the spot, closed
up behind their leader; they half felt that he was wrong, but still he
was their chosen cacique.
Stephens stood his ground, and faced the mob with dauntless
coolness. An odd thing struck him. He knew them all personally
quite well, but now he hardly seemed to recognise them. The
expression of their faces, usually so peaceful, was entirely altered. It
gave him quite a turn to think that people who had crowded round
him so full of fun, and so eager to show their friendship and
gratitude only the day before, should change so quickly to a cruel
mob. Yesterday's momentary outburst of suspicion excited by the
dreaded charge of witchcraft had revealed to him the explosive
forces that lay hidden under their quiet exterior, but that had been
dissipated by his own prompt repudiation of the charge, and by the
cacique's influence. Now it was the cacique himself who was
assailing him, and there was none to help, nor hope of anyone. A
hundred black, flashing eyes were fixed on him with an angry glare.
He felt as if he were shut up in a den of wild beasts. He was quite
alone; the new storekeeper at San Remo was the only other
American within sixty miles.
"Take your hand off that pistol, Salvador," said he quietly. "You can't
scare me, so don't you try it on."
The Indian stopped, but his hand plucked nervously at the hilt of the
weapon. Stephens observed his opponent's indecision, and
continued: "A pretty lot of fellows you are, to come crowding round
me as you did yesterday, and call me your best friend, and say how
you'll sing my praises to the third generation, and now this morning
you're ready to cut my throat before breakfast, all about nothing!
I've heard of the gratitude of Indians before now," he continued,
"but this beats all."
The Indians visibly winced at this taunt, the justice of which they
could not but acknowledge, and began to interchange rapid words in
their own language, thereby making themselves unintelligible to
Stephens.
Just at this moment came a most welcome diversion. Round the
corner dashed Miguel full charge on a fiery steed. The Indians
scattered right and left before him. With a jerk on the terrible
Spanish bit he set the horse on his haunches, and as he sprang to
the ground he cried, "Here, Cacique! Here's the horse of the new
storekeeper at San Remo. I've got him for you."
Salvador never spoke, but seizing the rein offered him by Miguel he
sprang to the saddle, turned his back on Stephens and the crowd,
and dashed wildly forwards to the trail.
All eyes were bent on his rapid course. The trackers on foot had
already traced the hoof-marks from the acequia across to the
Ensenada trail, and were running half a mile off like hounds in full
cry. In less than two minutes the galloping horseman overtook them,
and cantered alongside to hear what they had to tell. They reported
that the tracks were several hours old and that the horse carried
double.
"I could have told you that," said Salvador, as he plied the whip
freshly, and galloping ahead disappeared in the direction of the
mesas from the sight of those who were watching him.
"Wonder what he'll do if he catches Felipe!" said Stephens to himself
as he saw him vanish over the hills. "That young man'll have to look
out for himself, as sure as he's a foot high. Rather lucky for me," he
ruminated, turning to go in, "that chap Miguel's coming up with
Backus's horse! I wonder, by the way, how he came to get him. I
don't know what I should have done if Mr. Salvador had gone for me
with that six-shooter, and he was just about mad enough to try it on.
Blamed if it wasn't the suddenest scare I ever did get let in for! Why,
hallo, Faro, old man," said he aloud, on finding the dog at his heels,
"what's up with you? I don't often see you out of the blankets before
breakfast. Blamed if I don't believe you heard me a-talkin' to them
fellers and just come out to take a hand!" He was right. The dog's
quick ear had caught the note of danger in his master's voice, and
he had flown to his assistance.
Stephens took another look at the Indians around. Some were still
watching the mesas; others were going about their daily business. It
seemed as if those who knew him best kept aloof, feeling ashamed
to come up and speak to him. However, an old man whom he hardly
knew, and who spoke Spanish badly, approached him in an
apologetic sort of way, and said, "Salvador very angry!"
"Well," answered Stephens, with a grim laugh, "I should think he's
gone mad."
"Yes, mad, silly," assented the old man; "for why get angry? No
good, no good,"—and he stood there wagging his old head and
saying "no good" in a way that the prospector quite understood to
be intended for an amende honorable on the part of his fellows.
Nor was he the only one. "Señor Americano," said a cracked voice
close beside him, and Stephens felt a light touch on his elbow. He
turned and found himself face to face with Reyna, the Turquoise
squaw from whom he rented his rooms. She and her husband lived
next door to him, and from her he often bought eggs and meal. She
of course had been a witness of the whole affair. She now produced
two eggs, and holding them out to him said, "See, two."
"Yes, I see," said Stephens, "but I don't want 'em to-day. Haven't
got the five cents."
"No, no!" she cried. "No money—two."
Her Spanish was weaker even than the old man's. Stephens turned
to him. "What does she mean?" he asked. "I can't make out what
she's up to."
The two Indians exchanged some words in their own language.
"She means, your honour," said the old Indian man, speaking with
painful elaboration, "that this is for the gratitude of the Indians.
Excuse her, your honour, she does not speak much in Spanish—that
is, not like us, the men"—he added explanatorily, "but she can
understand, and she heard you say the Indians got no gratitude, and
this is for her."
Stephens turned to the old squaw and took the eggs, thanking her
as well as he knew how. "And I'm going now to cook them for
breakfast," said he, as he went back to his room.
"Well, who'd have thought that?" he said to himself, as he began to
whittle shavings from a piece of fat pine to light his fire with.
"They're a queer lot, Indians are, but I suppose it takes all sorts of
people to make a world." His thoughts wandered back to Salvador
and the fugitives. "Wonder what Salvador'll do," he said half aloud.
"He's mad enough to kill the boy, if he gets close enough. Blamed if
I don't think he was about mad enough to kill me! He's real ugly
when he's mad, and it's no foolin' when it comes to six-shooters." He
went over the scene of the early dawn again in his mind. "It does
beat cock-fightin'," he continued to himself, "how folks like these
Indians, that's as quiet and decent and orderly as can be, should
flare up all in a moment and glare at you like a lot of wildcats, and
all for nothing. Why, if I'd gone and killed somebody, or run off with
somebody's wife, there'd be some sense in it, but to burst out just
because I wouldn't lend my mare to be rode plumb to death! It does
beat all."
The fire now burned up brightly, and after setting the coffee-pot on
to boil he filled the nose-bags himself, and went out to feed his
stock. "Confound that boy, running off like this," he grumbled, "and
leaving me this job! Told his little brother Tomas, indeed! I don't see
him around yet; not much; don't expect to neither."
He leaned up against the fence waiting while the stock ate their
feed. Someone must keep watch in order to drive off the hungry
Indian pigs, who prowled around and would have disputed their corn
with the horses. The sun had just risen, and his level rays lit up like
a flame the red cliffs crowned with dark pines, which formed the
western side of the valley. But Stephens did not see them. He was
facing east, with the sunlight full in his face, and his eyes fixed on
the bare, flat-topped table-lands which divided the Santiago valley
from the Rio Grande. "Confound him!" he growled again. "What a
fool trick for him to play! I'm mighty glad it isn't my mare he's
playing it on. He'll find himself in a muss, too, if he don't mind out,
sure. I don't more than half like the notion of that ugly savage of a
cacique getting after him with a six-shooter."
He waited till the stock had finished feeding, and then went back to
his rooms. But he decided not to start for the sierra till the next day.
"Confound the boy!" said he the third time. "I can't take that little
fool, Tomas, and I want somebody to help me dry the meat and
pack it down. Why the dickens couldn't he run off some other time!
He want a wife! He wants a nurse and a birch rod, I should say."
Thoroughly vexed, he prepared to put in the rest of his morning, or
at least as much of it as he could spare from swearing at Felipe's
escapade, in fixing up pack-saddles, mending his tent, cleaning his
beloved repeating rifle, and generally getting ready for the trip he so
unwillingly postponed.
But his plans for the day were destined to be interfered with for the
second time. The inquisitive face of Mr. Backus appeared suddenly in
the open door.
"Mornin', Mr. Stephens," he began; "can I come in? So this is where
you live when you're at home." He dragged a heavy saddle across
the threshold and took a seat. "I told you I wouldn't be long before
comin' up to take a squint at your white squaw."
"She's no squaw of mine, Mr. Backus," said Stephens with rising
anger. "I think I told you so already. And if you want to see her you
can't, for it so happens that she has just eloped." He turned his back
on the storekeeper, kneeling down to arrange his pack-cinches with
a preoccupied air.
"Oh," returned the other, "is that it? I didn't tumble to it that she
was the one who had bolted." His eye wandered around Stephens's
modest abode, taking in every detail, as he tried to gratify his
curiosity concerning the prospector's domestic arrangements. It
seemed to him an incredible thing that a man should settle down
like this among the Indians and not provide himself with at least a
temporary wife. But in these bachelor's quarters there was no sign
of feminine occupation, temporary or permanent. The one novelty
that puzzled him was the neatly built assaying furnace, which he at
first took for a new sort of bread oven, until he detected the parcels
of ore beside it and its true nature dawned upon him. But
postponing the idea of asking questions about it for the present, he
went babbling on: "And here I've been and loaned my horse to a
chief to go chasing after her upon, and left myself afoot. Guess I'll
have to try and borrow that mule of yourn to get back to San Remo
on." Stephens's face at this suggestion became the picture of
disgust. "Say, though," he went on, "I was forgetting. You're badly
wanted down there. I come up partly just to tell you that. Don
Nepomuceno is in a mighty awkward fix. What do you think that son
of his, Andrés, has been up to? You'll never guess in a month of
Sundays. He's bin and had a fuss with a Navajo up yonder in the
mountains over a game of cards, and killed him, and half burned the
body in the camp-fire to try and get rid of the thing. And the
Navajos have got right up on their ear about it and there's a whole
band of 'em now down at San Remo wanting old Sanchez to turn
'em over his whole sheep herd to pay for it. How's that for high,
eh?"
Stephens leaped to his feet. "Who told you this?" he cried.
"Why, Andrés himself," replied the storekeeper. "I've seen him. He's
hidden away now in an inner room down at the house. The Indians
are having a big pow-wow outside. Oh, they'd just murder him if
they could get their hands on him once."
Without a word Stephens caught up his saddle and his Winchester
and started for the door.
"Where are you off to so quick?" asked Backus, rising also.
"To get my mare," was the answer, "and go straight down there. And
you'd best come along, too. You can have that mule."
CHAPTER XII
PACIFYING A GHOST

"Say," asked Mr. Backus, as the pair rode out of the pueblo side by
side, "how're ye getting on with the silver-mine question? Had any
new developments?"
"No," replied the prospector, "I bounced them straight out about it
last night, and learned nothing. They just won't open their heads on
the subject at all. They simply swear there never was a mine, and I
don't believe it's any use to go on working at them."
"And what'll you do next?" queried the storekeeper.
"To tell you the truth," said Stephens simply, "I've not quite made up
my mind what I want to do, but I'm much inclined to chuck it up."
"Look at here," interjected Backus, "did ye ever think to try them
Navajos? They used to roam all over these mountains in the old
days, and they know 'em still just like a book. They know what silver
is, too, for you see all their high-u-muck-a-mucks wearing plates of it
all over 'em. How about them knowing where the mine is?"
"I doubt it," returned Stephens. "They'd have sold the secret of it to
the Mexicans long ago if they had known it."
"They're too suspicious of the Mexicans to do that," said the other;
"they don't trust 'em. They'd be afraid they'd cheat 'em; but mebbe
they might trust you or me enough to think we'd pay 'em if we
promised to."
"They don't trust the Mexicans far, by all accounts," said Stephens, "I
allow that much. But say—I want to know more about this fuss
between Don Andrés and the Navajo. How was it?"
"Oh," said Backus, "the Navajo came to the sheep camp where
Andrés was with his two herders. The Navajo had his squaw along.
And he and Andrés got to playing cards by the firelight, and Andrés
won all the money he had, six dollars and a half. And then the Injun
got mad and swore Andrés had cheated him. And Andrés told him to
go to Halifax! And then the Injun got madder, and drawed his
butcher-knife and went for Andrés right there. But Andrés was too
darn quick for him, and pulled his gun,—he wears a mighty nice
pistol, does Andrés, a Smith and Wesson nickel-plated,—and he
plugged him just under the heart and laid him out. And then the
squaw bawled and ran off into the woods, and Andrés and the two
sheep-herders were powerful frightened over what they'd done, and
they chucked the body on the camp-fire to burn it up, and they
packed their camp outfit and drove the sheep herd that night right
away to the Ojo Escondido. But when the squaw got back to the
other Injuns and told them, they just naturally knew their best plan
was to come down on old man Sanchez at oncet. That's why they're
here. They got here this morning, and Andrés come in only a few
hours ahead of 'em, about midnight last night."
"Well I'm sorry for Don Nepomuceno," said Stephens.
"And he's tarnation sorry for himself too, you bet," added the Texan.
"He's in an awful sweat over his flock of sheep. I never saw a man
look sicker. Why, if the Navajos was to run off his sheep it'd bust him
wide open. He's liable to have to make the original herd good to old
man Baca, you see."
"By George!" returned Stephens, "I don't wonder he's in a sweat.
What does he want to see me for, d'you know?"
"Wal'," replied Backus, "he reckons that as an American you might
be able to help him some. The Americans are running this Territory
now, and the Navajos have darned good reason to know it, and he
thinks they'll mind you. I left him and some of his compadres pow-
wowing away with them outside the house, but they hadn't come to
no conclusion. Pretty Miss Manuelita"—he looked knowingly at the
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