The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1894-09-06
n1r;1 orOo i1rnrIy down DeSluc fer.

girl.
With hop the bird took the edge
Of Il tilc-shard nearer to that myS-
tcriOuS summons. lie twisted his
head with Unsuitable curiosity.
AS the Kissing whistle went on in.
ouistirc twittcrings fell from ragged
fringcs Of thatch overhead, excited
shadows wIuked across the sunshine;
bird after bird slipped down the gold
Ell chute and alighted.
In the midst Of this growing flock
Chepa was cautiously gathering up
she hem of her gown 50 as to make d
deep bag.
Whistle, whistle. A knot Of snake
grass. stirred by Heaven knows what,
Tor nothing else was stirring, rustled
with sound Of life trailing by: but
cot a bird took fright. Whistle,
whistle. A wild tobacco tree, whose
top, dripping slendcrly over the
wall, dipped deep into the sunstrcam,
sprang up suddenly, riding some flaw,
and sprinkled Chepa and her en-
hanccd observers with sundrops.
Whistle, whistle. Swiftly Chepa'S free
hand darted out 10 catch bird, and
returning, whiSk it into her improV'
ised bag.
The other birds flew wildly away,
but Chcpa knew how to lure them
oack until her game pouch IS as
.ull rs she cared TO have it.
What did she mean to do? With.
ont doubt the Cahuilla girl had kept
aer captiyes Tor the spit.
Chepa stood up, gathering the
! 'kirt Of her gown closer and closer.
She talked to her prisoners aloud:
You will never, never lily again:
no."
An ever-recurrng "no' from the
Spanish tongue was shaded to Infinite
meanings on Chcpa's lips; was defer
initial, gracious, wistful, from mood
10 mood.
"Only your feathers will fly when
pick them. One by one they will
lY away to the top Of the trees;
away high up to the sun"
The imprisoned birds chirped fran
;ically. Chepa was thrilled by tle
.eel Of their tiny feet kicking and
, 'cratching.
But you will be dead, dead, dead
With this dire repetition she gave
The tumbling, palpitating mass an
.cstatlc squceze-and let her goWD
'all.
The birds rolled downward as one,
out only far enough to catch thel,
wings, and whirr! They were slant.
ing madly up the sunbeam-up, up,
Is if not to stop short of the sky.
; Chepa'S very heart rose with them.
She stretched up her arms as if to
share in their glorious liberation.
Her rebelliouS mood had given way
20 an ecstasy Of hope.
This hope had some foundation. &
corporation of medical specialists
Here bargaining for a thousand acres
If her granGfather'S land. They
we're to build a sanitariull for con-
iumptives, to plant gardens and or.
:hards in which patients hight worB
,ut their own cure,
The Captain thought it magnsf.
cent scheme. He had gone into it
leart and soul, raising his price en-
Enthusiastically from day to day. lie
talked to Chepa incesSantly, with
aashes of youth in his weak. old eyes,
If what he would do with changing,
ret always fabulous sums of money.
The birds were gone. Chepa sat
iown once more on the rubbish heap
in the midst Of her red-gold bush Of
lair.
A dream Of the future glittercd
And spun like the sunshine, adorably
pure, laden with balm and ozone
which men were coming to buy With
ocr grandfather's land.
Out Of this dream Of the future,
Advancing to meet the self she was to
De, came her lost playmate. Pablo
Mcnamara.
He turned adoring eyes upon her.
"You are beautiful" he seemed to
,av, land l love YOU"
\ sound not human bNokc upon her
ears with startling nearness. Just
one thrilling note, and at an omln-
ous interval another.
The bells of the Mater Purissima
had begun to toll.
Ineffably clear and right at hand,
and vet those tones had singular
sound of remoteness. No material in.
terposition produced this effect. Il
was spiritual quality, An aloofness,
In touch with the dead pueblo, with
it's summer-burned hills and the
sccping away Of life.
Those vibrations as they Widened
out toward lnfinity took Chepa's soul
with them. Her dream Of the future
passed into them as a breath passes
into widc-wingcd wind and is lost.
She rose quickly and went to look
through the great blossom brushes Of
The castor-bean with an instructive
.lTort to lay hold upon some object
chat would bring back the present to
lcr senses, bring back her hopes for
.hc future.
Beyond the thickct, across a sun.
baked open space, stood the little
chapel. AS through 4 mist she saw
its side door standing open, its dark
~, r],a,.t,tr nlrhn nf Sh 0G0Ip