Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-04-10

OF intense rel1ef, came over the stranger S
face. Turning to the young man. he said
MY friend, forgive me this mistake.
Grief has perhaps dimmed my sight; but
sometimes the iron blade and the blade of
finest temper are not easily distinguished
by the eye"
What can do for you, friend?" said
the Nino.
''Oh, sir, the greatest servicel You can
restore my lost wife to me. The savages
have taken her away into captivity. What
can do to save her-I who cannot make
myself invisible, and fly like the wind and
compass all things!" And here he bowed
his head, and covering his face gave way
to over-mastering grief.
''Be comforted, friend" said the other,
touching him lightly on the arm. Il will
restore her to you. Tell me her name
describe her to me"
''Torcuata is her name-Torcuata de la
Rosa. She is one fingers width taller
than this young woman" indicating one
of the twins who was standing. But not
dark; her cheeks are rosy-no, no, | for
got they will be pale now, winter than the
grass-plumes, with stains of dark color
under the eyes Brown hair and blue eyes,
but very deep blue. Look well, friend
list you think them black and leave her to
perish
"Enough-you have told me enough.
friend, said the Nino, rolling up ciga-
rette.
Enough repeated he other, surprised.
But you do not know; she is my life; my
life is in your hands. How can persuade
you to be with me?"
The young man laughed and rose from
his seat.
Listen to me-" he said II go now to
follow the Indians-to mix with them
perhaps. They are retreating slowly,
burdsned with much spoil. In fifteen
days go to the little town Of Tandil and
wait for me there Then he bent down
to whisper few words in the ear Of the
girl at his side, and Immediately after
wards, with simple 'good-night'' to the
others, stepped lightly from the kitchen.
Then the stranger started up and crying
aloud. ''Stay! stay one monochrome
more!' rushed out after the young man.
At some distance from the house he caught
sight of the Nino, sitting motionless on
his horse, as if waiting to speak to him.
This is what | have to say to you,'
spoke the Nino, bending down to the
other: go back to Langueyu and rebuild
your house and expect me there with your
wife in about thirty days. When I babe
you go to the Tandil in fifteen. days l
spoke only to mislead that man Polycarp,
who has an evil mind If fail to return
with your wife at the appointed time,
take some of that money you have offered
me and bid a priest say mass for my
souls repose.
When Gregory and his women folk
went off to bed, leaving the stranger to
sleep in his rugs beside the kitchen fire,
Polycap, who had sworn a mighty oath
not to close his eyes that night, busted
himself making his horses secure. Driv-
ing them home, he tied them to the posts
of the gate within twenty-five yards of the
kitchen door. Then ne sat down by the
fire and smoked and dozed At intervals
of about fifteen minutes he would get up
and 60 out to satisfy himself that his
precious horses were still safe. At length
In rising, sometime after midnight. his
foot kicked against some loud-sounding
metal object lying beside him on the floor,
which, On examination, proved to be a
copper bell of peculiar shape, and curl
ousIy like the one fastened to the neck of
his bell mare. Bell in hand, he stepped
to the door and put out his head, and
10! his horses were ne longer at the gate!
When the stranger heard next morning
what had happened, he was better able to
understand the Nino's motive in giving
him that caution overnight; nor was he
greatly put out, but thought it better that
an evil-minded man should lose his horses
than that Nino should set out badly mount
ed on such an adventure
"Let me not forget" said Polycarp, as
he rode away on horse borrowed from his
cousin, ''to be at the Tandil this day fort
night"
He was there at the appointed time; but
the smooth-cheeked, mysterious child-devil
came not At the end of that fifteenth
day de la Rosa was at Langueyu, seventy
five miles from the Tandil, alone in his
new rancho, which had just been rebuilt
with the aid of few eighbors. Through
all the night he sat alone by the fire, pom
dering many things. If he could only re-
cover his lost wife, then he would bid a
long farewell to that wild frontier and
take her to that old tree-shaded stone
farmhouse in Andalusia, where his aged
parents still lived, thinking 10 more to see
their wandering son. His resolution was
taken; he would sell all he possessed, all
except portion of his land in Langueyu
with the house he had just rebuilt; and to
the Nino Diablo, the deliverer, he would
say: Friend though you despise the
things that others value, take this land
and poor house for the sake of the girl
Magdalen you love; for then, perhaps, her
parents will no longer deny her to you. -
He was still thinking of these things
when a dozen or twenty military starlings
alighted on the thatch outside, and warb-
ling their gay, careless winter music told
him it was day. When evening once more
drew near his heart was sick with suspense
and longing, and climbing the ladder
placed against the gable of his rancho he
stood On the roof gazing westward into
the blue distance
''On, that | could pierce the haze with
my vision" he murmured, "that | could
see across hundred leagues of level plain,
and look this moment on your sweet face,
Torcuata:
1t is past midnight; the young moon
has set; the last fires are dying down; the
the shouts and loud noise of excited talk
and laughter have ceased and the weary
warriors, after feasting on sweet mare .
flesh to repletion, have fallen asleep in
their huts, CT lying out of doors on the
ground Only the dogs are excited still
and keep up an incessant barking. Even
the captive women, huddled together in
one hut in the middle of the settlement,
fatigued with their long rough journey,
have cried themselves to sleep at last
And Torcuata was in truth a hundred
leagues distant from him at that moment;
and if the miraculous sight he wished for
had been given, this was what he would
have seen. A wide barren plain scantily
clothed with yellow tufts of grass and