The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1892-01-20

already formed in my mind. I may be
pardoned for saying that iny resolve was
carried out, though perhaps not as I had
hoped.
'tIt was evening when I reached the
city, with its narrow streets and low,
~leaf-thatched houses, rudely and weakly
built, but having some show of neatness
on the inside. All the buildings seemed
alike, and there were no stores or big
SIGNS of hotels or restaurants. The dusky,
half savage people stared ooldly at me.
and made me feel more alone than ever.
I wandered along, hoping to see a IA
miliar sign of some sort, at least some
show of a decent nights lodging and a
good square meal. The. tough.looking
guides on the other side of the mount
aims had robbed me of most of my
money, but I had a little left. Yet it was
growing dusk and I did not know what
to do, for I could not speak the ordinary
patois of the people to make any In
qulries.
cat last, however, my happy eyes saw
the Spanish word for Restaurant
printed on a slip of white paper with a
lead pencil and stuck in a glass window.
Without ceremony I entered. There was
a large room of rough, plain boards, and
in the middle of it n long table COW
cred with q white cloth. At first I
thought that there was no one present.
But as I grew used to the faint light I
made out the form of a girl sitting at
the farther end of the table, with her
head buriel in her arms. I tapped on
the table to attract her attention, and she
quickly raised her head. As we'll as 1
could see I thought she was good-look-
ing and a young woman. I vaguely felt
happy and wondered what language she
spoke. As I revolved in my mind the
possible methods of finding this out, and
was about to begin with English and try
all Iknew,I picked up al earthen plate,
and as I toyed with it on the table in
my embarrassment, I accidentally let it
fall to the floor, where 1t broke in sew
eral pieces, much to my a%stonishment.
At this the girl started quickly to her
feet in a little alright, exclaiming very
distinctly: -
"'Graciousn
$50 she was English. In my delight
at the discovery I forgot all about the
plate, but stepped quickly forward and
took her hand, now quite without en-
barrassment, and explained, as briefly as
I could, who I was and what I wanted.
You NAV be sure she was as delighted to
see me as 1 was to see her. For a whole
year the only kindred face she had seen
was her fathers, and that, she remarked,
was covered with a shaggy beard. She
confessed that when I came in she was
shedding O few tears of homesickness
herself and wondering if no friend would
come to see her, or if her father could
not be persuaded to take her back to
Cuba, where her home had been.
81 think I was never happier in my
life than I was that night. W. two
seemed to have come to each other at
lust the noment that each was most
welcome, and we found our thoughts so
alike and our tastes so congenial that we
sat and talked a full hour before my
hungry stomach ever had a chance to
assert itself. You may be sure I was
we'll served with a good supper, as hot
and steaming and dainty as an English
girl could make it. Then when we had
spent another hour in eating it and chat
ting over it, and I had helped clear the
dishes away and wash them, and my
friend had decided to let the sweeping
90 until the morning, because I must
start early, the old father, a bluff,
t~aciturn man, came in and joined the
conversation with US, and I quite forgot
my WEAKNESS until it was very late.
"My new-found friend, the old
gentleman, was a person of some
authority in the place, and offered to
provide me with an escort of twelve
mounted men to Buenos Ayres, which
was some nine hundred miles across open
plains, where two hostile tribes were at
war. Each tribe had a cockade as a
badge, one of red the other OF white.
By having both of these sorts of cock.
AIDES in our pockets and dexteriously
pulling out the right n when a com
pany of armed men approached us, we
hoped to pass all lines safely, and the
event proved happy, though we had
some narrow escapes.
"When I was ready to start in the
morning, I suddenly, half jokingly,
asked the young woman to whom I had
become much attached in a single even
ing, to accompany me as far as her old
home in Cuba, and I promised her father
to take good care of her. Somewhat to
the establishment of US all, she took the
notion of begging her father to let her
accept my offer, and he finally con-
sented.
"We were just in the nick of time at
Buenos Ayres to head off the runaway
ship. The Captain had taken out his
papers already when we arrived, and was
planning to sail the next morning. But
he and all his mates were quietly
arrested while still on shore, and I my
self took command of the vessel shipped
a new crew, and with my n~ewly-dis.
covered treasure from the heart OF the
desert, sailed for the West Indies, where
I spent a happy month at the young
lady's home in Cuba.
ut is needless to say that she became
Mrs. Farlow, and you are quite well
enough acquainted with her to excuse
me from expatiating further upon her
beauty and other attractive qualities. -
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