Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1880-12-17
NO. 297.
Gales ano Skettbes.
MtNrELlrl.
A ROMANCE on CENTRAL AMERICA.
Continued from sestcr.sy.l


In = moment she resumes more calmlys
'.He-you know who | mean--Gongales
he came riding up Ia our little home 10
see my brother Pedro. and then thinking
would be an easy prey. called mo
pretty girl and offered me necklace. l
declined the gin and took no notice Of his
pretty speeches but thai only served to
pique him. and he has followed me up
day by day since then. What need to tell
you what have suffered. You can divine
it all. Aud the old mother--you know
she is old and broken, that she lives in
the past and grasps At any glittering
promise like child. She, too. has made
it hard; oh. SO hard. ~ she SAYS, in
faltering voice. The poor old mother,
she believes all the promises with which
that smiling libertine is So ready. To her
he weavcs visions OF wealth and power;
tells her how he will be President and
she will live with us, and see me the first
lady in the land, his wife,
Fair visions. truly; but IL know too
well how he would make mo his wife
Faueh. could kill myself when | think
his vile thoughts even have touched me.
But the poor childish old mother. who
dreams dreams and sits grooming halt the
day in the sunshine, believes il all and
never ceases To prate OF my indifference
and ingratitude. and. hardest ofall. 10 tell
me that you-my darling-would never
come back TO me again. Pedro, too,
believes in him. and has allowed himself
to be led deep into the plots of Gonzales
by promises of place and power, when the
pronuncamento shall be made. and Con
zales is President All. but that is only
part of his plot. TOO. An hour ago he
came galloping up 10 our door. with the
mask fallen from his smiling face and
angrily demanded where I was.
"The old mother called. but | did not
answer. and then--thcn he threatened me-
Told the mother that if did not 20 with
him he would betray my brother, that old
woman's last son, and denounce him us a
rebel. Ii rushed over me that if he were
To do that Pedro would surely suffer. since
his word would never stand against that
of the wealthy. honorable Gonzales. But
even then, Antonio. did not waver: bet
ter that he should take my only brothers
life than kill my soul. But she con
tinued after n moment. in a low. intensely
sad voice, at seemed rs though nv heart
broke then. but came 10 YOU. Kill me,
please and will thank you ; can live ut
the cost of my brothers lie? Oh. no, no.
no. she sobs, II after agony of spirit. ~
she sinks on the pcbbly floor of the canyon.
Antonio stands over her with his arms
folded and the same lurid light cleaning
in his eyes that once illumined the crater
above his head. a hell of secthing pas
sions take possession OF him. civilizations :
teachings are lost upon him for the
moment, and the old, Wild fierce blood of
the Aztecs pulsed through his heart Once
he raises his hands above his head. and
grasping the limb OF n tree. tears It down.
and with one wrench twists il fibre from
| fibre, and casts it at his feet
| Over and about them still hangs the
hush of midday. the marmoset has gone
TO sleep with his head on his breast. the
thunder heads creep insensibly higher AMI
higher in the heavens, and the cadence Of
the streamlet murmurs unnotced in the
canyon.
Speech at length becomes necessary
relief to Antonio. and his words pour forth
as the torrent rushes down from storm
in the mountain, overlapping its banks in
its mad rush. Even as the chiefiains sang
of old their death song and recounting the
triumphs of their lite so nerved themselves
IOT utdtU. AutDDlo Ittiits his NTOUnS anN
sorrows in chant. from which his voice
ever and again rises till it rings through
the canyon and wakes from his slumbei
the little marmoset
"What hast thou done. oh my beaut
full fatherland that you should become
the prey of the vilest wretches and dema
gogues the earth can produce? Why are
your glorious hill-tops and fertile yalley'
but the arena in which scheming politi
clans pit your faircst flower Of manhood
the one against the other. brother agains,
brother, and father against son. innamins
their hearts to revolution, and giving theiI
bodies TO the sword.
Liberty In thy name on these hill
slopes are perpeirated crimes against
which all the nations Of the earth cry ou
in horror
"When the yoke of kings was shaker
off twas but the beginning Of thy trouble
for time and again since then, ever,
streamlet within thy borders has been en-
sanguned with the blood Of thy sons and
in the name Of liberty.
''Oh my brothers, why will you be 81
blinde Can you not see that you are the
tools Of the men who call themselve
Holy Fathers? That when in the name o
liberty they bid you rise against the Gov
ernment. they only sell your lives for s.
much gold, and barter you to some mis-
ereant like Miguel Gonzales, who, ambi
tious Of power. proclaims revolution il
the land.
Has not experience taught you tina
over and over again this same deadly gam
/ is PLAYED and that it matters little win
wins. Your breasts receive the bayone
thrusls, and in your threats the bullet
lodge But if you refuse: Oh. then
then the curse will be hurled at you
heads "a II has been at mine, and yo
will be hunted till, like me. you max
your lair in the Businesses of the hill top
with the wild beasts for companions am
the blue skies for your shelter!''
..Oh, God Of justice, invoke thy ours
on the heads of these miscreants who thu
pollute thy fairest of created lands ~
Manuelita, who has risen to her feet an
stood with hands clasped listening eager
: ly to Antonio's fiery invectivc, says q
|, length:
a ''Oh, Antonio, ifthe youth were all lik
: you we would have none OF this work
!. our fair Patria."
ZIP am like the rest. only hav