Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1893-10-26
THE WHITE DEATH"


SIaSs grew ten and twelve feet high.
Inc house itself had n tropical charar.
ter II was Spanish-American, with cool
shaay veranda, a long. low front. nsinte,l
walls and latticed windows, a spacious
court and fiat roof, provided with a MIRA.
pet, which gave the whole structure the
appearance of fort. Many acres of culti.
waited land showed long lines of sugar cane
and tall trees laden with bananas in sur.
prising contrast to the dark, impenetrable
mass of wild husband which in The diS.
tance surrounded the settlement.
Sonora Diaz was one of the tropical bean.
ties OF whom Murillo dreamed.
am going to test your gallantry," she
saiu, coming out on the veranda where |
Sae' oy asking you to help me to water my
MOWERS, for with my lame hand it is not
easy Tor me to lift the heavy watering not -
am at your service, but allow me-am
1 Wrong'-to remind you that you prom.
ised to tell me the story of how your hand
was lamed."
Certainly. AS soon as the flowers ore
watered we will have coffee on the veranda
and you will hear all about it."
Accordingly was shortly afterward sin
ping coffee with the little Lolita, my hosts
only daughter and my pet, beside me. while
her mother rolled cigarette, lighted il
and began as follows:
Nhen we first came here, years ago. IL
was very different looking place The
wild husband reached to the ed,e of tho
water and was such dark wilderness of
thorns, brambles, palms, wild fig trees and
other tropical vegetation that | did moi
dare venture into its depths. But NV hus
Dand and his workmen went manfully to
work, felled trees, uprooted stumps, made
hedges and bitches all day long, except in
the severest heat, and | often saw them
come home so wearied that they would fall
asleep where they stood, and first think of
food three or four hours later when they
awoke
AFTER awhile they got "A portion of the
ground under subjection, but after the
acres were cleared and we began to plant
we had throng Of foes to combat. The
worst were the ants, which being watched
for ON account of their depredations ON
plantations have Il way OF making under
ground passages till they undermine the
whole surface of II field, and it falls in like
the crust of a cake.
Just north of us is great gap in the
ground, full of bushes and wild grass. with
here and there some rotten timber, where
whole settlement sank in consequence of
the ants undermining the foundations From
this comes the saying we have in Para
quay that our worst enemies are the Indian
braves and the Indian ants.
Luckily, the only Indians in our vicinity
were friendly ones, who exchanged all
kinds Of provisions, especially dried meats,
for knives and brandy. We poisoned the
ants, dug up their nests, flooded their pas
sageways with boiling water and so, in a
great measure, were free from them, al
though even now they sometimes come
from the woods to attack the plantation.
But after them came another plague
snakes. For long time thought it was
hopeless to contend against them. NY
husband used to call them the tax collect
ors, and they did come just as regularly.
No day passed without our finding one or
more in the house And once-oh, heayenl
what fright had!
When Lolita was a baby, my husband
and his men went off one morning to work,
as usual, and the child lay asleep on mat
Mt the end Of the room. Suddenly saw on
the floor the skin of mouse, from which
the whole body had been sucked, as from an
orange. knew at once that n snake must
be near, for they feed on mice and eat them
In this fashion; but, carefully as | looked
about me, could see no snake till all at
once 1t occurred to me that it might be un-
der the baby's mat. | snatched the child
up and placed her in safety. Then lifted
softly part Of the mat, and there it was,
the long, Shiny, green and gold reptile,
coiled up and fast asleep. All, how |
jumped | ran ont into the courtyard to
call for help. Luckily our man, Jose, was
there, and he killed the reptile. But as we
cleared more acres the snakes left us to hide
themselves in the forest | began to hope
our cares were ended, but they were only
just begun. Wild beasts now first appeared
on the scene.
One morning while we were at breakfast
one OF our herdsmen brought the news
that our cattle, which Craze in the tall
grass on the other side Of the river, had
been attacked by jaguar that had killed
one OF the bulls. The man who told US
this had escaped with bis life, yet he would
have scarcely done so II he had not misled
the beast. or had there not been fat os
there.
A week passed without a new alarm, AMI
We had come TO think less about II, when
suddenly thiee or four Indians rushed in
to tell us how great jaguar had broken
into their camp and killed woman and
one Of their dogs.
When my husband heard the story he
judged that 1t was the same animal that
had attacked our bull, for the Indians de
scribed it as creature Of singular color,
far lighter than any they had seen about
there, so that they named 1t The White
Death"
We all thought it high time TO do some
thing, and my husband called his people TO-
gether TO go out and hunt the animal.
/ remember that morning distinctly
They went away cheerfully enough, each
man with his gun and hunting knife, and
Moro, our bloodhound, was with them. Ny
husband turned around just M he entered
the wood and kissed his hand to me; then
he and his companions vanished in the for
est.
When found myself with Lolita alone
In the house and thought Of what might
happen II they met that terrible wild ami.
NAL, such anxiety seized me (althou1h |
never thought I could be In danger). that
could not be contented till ! had locked
every door In the house; and then | seated
myself In the great sitting room, took 10
Gta on my lap and tried 10 tell her a story,
Suddenly heard a scratching along the
roof, and then dull tbud, as IL something
heavy had fallen.
Anxious and nervous as was, | started
up with cry. although ! had no present..
pent what IL was
The psxt moment heard just over me
sound which ! could not mistake-a long,
passionate roar-a cry that ! had often
heard from the wOois ut night, and never
without feeling ~ II my heart stood still.
The thought rushed through my mind.
'Oh, heaven, the jaguar"
shall never forget that momenti For a
'econd was quite rigid and helpless. as II
life had departed, and then a thought