The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-01-21

ing. toward the girl with outstretched
hands ''you are a wizard But make me
know those wondrOus secrets, and am
your slave forever"
Something must be allowed for the old
dOh's boundless enthusiasm; something
for the 1owery exuberance Of Spanish
adulation; something for scene which
truly thrilled the old naturalist with Wis
ions of professional acquisition and tri-
umph and something stu for the perfect
savage innocence Of the girl who formed
the central figure, and the equally child
ish innocence Of the little old man who
had never until this moment given any
human being deeper thought or better
place than musty Latin classification and
label
But there and then in the widest wilds
of Cuba this shrivelled old classic. de-
spite the scowls Of jose STROBE straight
to the girl, grasped her hands joyously,
saluted her with stately kiss upon her
barred head; and then, as if instantly OBJ
liviOus Of girl. of Indian and of all the
wide universe about him, f1uttered around
those cages as tenderly and TREMENDOUSLY
as the bride Of an hour will fondle and
crocodile her priceless wedding ring.
Thus, pirouetting and fiuttering, halt
ing and starting, wheeling and circling,
this white old owl of the city schools,
this bird Of bright plumage Of the car
boneros' huts, and this Indian hawk of
the jungles and the forests, made their
way to camp.
And Juanita had never been called
Donna" before. Perhaps it was this
one magical word that proved the pro-
fessor's open sesame to deeper secrets
than even Juanitas most wondrous wood
craft wiles
From this moment there was no re-
serve between the naturalist of the schools
and the naturalist of the woods. The
professor was Matagas' guest, and none
could question his coming and going
Juanita was Matagas' daughter. She
went and came at will, more feared than
loved even by Matagas himself for her
strange nature-craft and secret power
over reptile bird and beast.
1.-Two crazy children together" Mata-
gas would say with grave smile to old
Tomasa, as the professor and Juanita set
out each morning to the llanos, the jun
giles and the forests but Tomasa, like so
many other women past the glorious
heyday morn of life, and now trans
formed to a bird of i'll omen. would merely
sniftie and groan, and ruefully shake her
prophetic head.
The professor, as pack-mule pannier
laden for carrying their spoils, and Ju-
anita, armed with short Machete and
acknowledgements quiebrahacha club,
slender as an arrow and with knOboed
head, the whole as heavy and strong as
iron, were continually in transports :
scholasticism for the once standing Joy
fully agape before simple nature-wit +;
while Juanita, child of nature that she
was, had never until now quaffed that
sweetest Of intoxiCants, the ecstacy Of
revelation to one who hungers and who
knows.
In the mighty forests she disclosed TO
her companion the marVelS of the virgin
woods, and taught him volumes never
found in books-Of the quiebrahacha,
toughest of all woods, hard as horn last
ing as iron, deadlyas f1intin bandit battle
of the lordly almiqui, statelier and more
crimson in fiber than the noble redwood
Of the west; Of cedars tremendous
in size and hight, past all record
of the books; Of the caobas al
most touching the clouds and
twelve times her reach from fin
ger tips to finger tips in circumference
of the mantequros with it's March drifts
of blossoms like millions of snowy cam
elias, whose drowsiI g odor left the wood
choppers arm listless at his side: of the
silvery hueso, the "bone-wOOd" of the
Cuban oxen yol1es; of the sabina or san
dal-wOod whose fragrance fills countless
lingerie closets in all the zone of homes
Of the palma de manaca whose broad
leaves form the roofs Of the carboneros'
huts for seven years without renewal; of
the majestic laurel and royal palm; and
of the cocoa, mystic and lone, with the
tropic breezes ever chanting and soughing
among It's sky-piercing, pinnate leaves.
Continuing in her endless surprises she
would fling her maChete in the trunk of a
beautiful tree, the carne de doncella DeX-
trouslo withdrawing the blade, its edges
and point would drip as with blood when
she would gleefully shout,
Mira-la sangre de la doncella !"
| (See the blood of the VirginD while
the professor, long since at the end of
verbal adulation, could only gasp and
gesticulate his praises and delight
If in their far pilgrimings they lacked
for food it always came at Juanita's bid
ding.
Motioning the don aside, she would
glide noiselessly into the forest depths.
Shortly her companion would hear a soft
"Che-ip-a-deel Che-ip-a-dee! - Che-ip
che-ip! che-ip2"
Rustling and chattering would always
follow. In an instant more the glowing
faced girl would bound back to the don
with fat, squirre-like huita dangling
from her appraised hand
! So, too, her seductive Turing of the wild
| pigeons was astounding to Don Eduardo.
! With her two hands she first made loud
sharp clippings, gradually softening
these to a perfect imitation of the wing
| Tapping of the homing wild fowl. This
would be followed by her vocal call, SO
! like that of a wild pigeon that one seemed
really Nesting there above their heads.
To these would come low. half doubling
answers from the interlacing branches oil
the trees. Again the tremulous voice
call of the girl and the scurryiug and
rustling of the deluded birds, when
Juanita with out-reaching head and light
full eyes would walk straight TO the covert
and return with the charmed pigeons
! posing and trembling upon her head,
| shoulder or hand.
Again, if they were athirst, she would
lead the professor like a helpless child to
the mighty stems of the para cimarona
or wild grape, which, like wild MOoris h
| fret-work, was between earth and over
hanging branches beneath a score of
stately trees. .e
Here is Aaron s rod, - she would laugh-
ingly exclaim, as she fondled the blade of
the machete, Il will give you to drink .
| With one stroke the huge, knotty trunk
would be severed, and from the mouth OF
the hanging tube they would drink their
fill of the whey, refreshing sap.
In this idylic way passed the days and
weeks of summer. Every sunlit hour
brought the professor some new and
precious specimen, not only from the deep
woods and maintain fa b,,A So,