The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1898-04-20
HIS TERRIBLE REVENGE.

The little adobe house stood flush with
the street, halfway between the busi-
ness houses and the residence portion
of the town, which turned its back on
the sand and sage-covered hills that.
breaking into gray waves, far off cast
themselves on the beach of blue sky
land in great breakers of sEow-crested
mountains.
At the side of the house was door
yard-so small.-beatsn hard and
smooth as a floor and without tree
or bush. There was no grass even at
the edge Of the sturdy little stream
that ran across the square Enclosure,
talking ali day to the old-faced baby
in its nigh-chair under the shake-cov-
cred kitchen porch. The stream laughed
and chartered noisily to the owl-eyed
baby and chuckled and gurgled all day
as it hurried across the yard and bur-
| rowed under the -bleached
boards of the high fence, to find its way
along the edge of the street. and so on
to the river quarter Of mile below.
But the wee man-child-owl-eyed
and never complaining-sat through the
sunshine hours without one smile on it's
little old face, and never needing the
stream.
AS the days grew hotter it's little thin
hands became thinner, and 1t ate less
and less of the boiled arroz and papas
| the young mother sometimes brought
out when she came to dip water.
''Of a truth, there is no nina so good
as my 'Stacia; she never, never cries!
She is no trouble to me at ALL, Carme-
lita would exclaim, and clap her hands
| at the baby. But the baby only grew
rounder-eyed as ii stared unsmillngly
at it's mothers pretty plumpness, and
laughing red lips. and big black eyes,
| whenever she stopped to talk to the lit
tie one.
Carmelita-pretty shallow-p ated Car
melita-never stayed long; the baby
was so good left alone, and there were
always Anton and Luciano or Monico
to drop in for a laugh with the young
wife Of stupid old Lucas; or Josefa COM
ing in for a game of coyote gallos-
Ii was Lucas who went out to the
porch wenever he could spare the time
from earning money to buy the needed
| arroz and papas, or the rose-colored
| dresses he liked to see her wear.
1t was for Lucas she said her first
| word-the only word she had yet
| learned-"papa!" And she said il, he
thought, as if she knew it was ia
Tiers love he gave her, poor little An
! astecia, whose father-well, Lucas had
never asked Carmelita to tell him. How
could he? Let her keep her secret. Poor
| Carmelita, Only sixteen and no moth
err And could he, Lucas, see her beaten
and abused by that old woman who
took her labor and gave her nothing in
| return? Could he stand by when he
| saw the welts and bruises and not beg
her to let him care for her and the nina?
! Such little nina, too! OF a verify he
was no longer young; and there was his
ugly pock-marked face to say nothing
| of the scars the oso' gave him that day
when he, a youth, had sent his knife
to the hilt in the bear. that 50 nearly
cost him his life. The scars were hor-
rible. But Carmelpa ESQ young, so
pretty did not seem TO mind; and when
the priest came again they were mar
| ried SO that Carmelita had husband
and the pobrecita father.
And sucn a father! How Lucas loved
his little 'Stacia! How tender he was
with her; how his heart warmed To the
touch of her lips and hands. Why, he
grew almost jealous of the redbreasted
robin that came daily 10 sit by the edge
of her plate and eat arroz with her.
He kegrudged the birds touch of the
LITTLE sticky hand covered with grains
OF rice which the robin pecked at 50
| fearlessly And when the sharp bill
| hurt the tender flesh, how she would
scoldi She was not his 'Stacia then at
all-no, some baby very different from
| the solemn little one he knew. There
seemed something unearthly in it; and
Lucas would feel a sinking of his heart
and wish the bird would stay away.
1t never came when others were there.
| Only from the shelter of window or
| doorway did he and the others see the
| little bright bird-eyes watch, with head
| aslant the big black ones: or hear the
! baby bird talk between the two Every
| day throughout the long, hot summer
| the robin came to eat from the nina's
! plate of rice as she sat in her high
| chair under the curling shake awning;
and all the while she grew more owl
eyed and thin. A good nina, she was;
| and so little trouble.
One day the robin did not come. That
night, through the open windows OF the
| front room, passers-by could see a ia
| bic covered with a folded sheet. A very
small tablet did not need to be large;
but tn bed had been taken out of the
small. mean room to give space for
those who came TO look at the poor lit
tie pinched face under a square of pink
mosquito bar. There were lighted can
dies AT the head and feet. Moths fly
ing in and out of the wide-open win
dow, fiuttered about the flames. The
rose -colored dress had been exchanged
for one white and stiffiy starChed.
Above the wee gray face was a wreath
OF artificial orange blossoms, but the
wasted baby fingers had been closed
upon some natural sprays of lovely
white hyacinths. The cloying sweet
of no blpGSOn1S mingled with
the odor of cigarette smoke coming
from the farther corners of the room,
and the smell of fiaring kerosene lamp
which stood near the window. 1t flick
cred uncertainty in the breeze and al
ternately lighted or threw into shadow
the dark faces clustered about the door
way of the second room. Those who in
curiosity fingered for a moment outside
the little adobe house could hear voices
speaking the soft language of Spain.
only some Spanish womans baby
dead"
Tomorrow, in a little white-painted
coffin. it would be borne down the long
street, past the saloons and SSops,
where the idle and the curious would
stare at the procession. Over the bridge |
across the now muddy river they would |
go to the unfenced graveyard on the |
bluff. and there the little dead mite of
illegitimacy would be lowered into the |
dust from which ii came Then each |
mourner in turn would cast a handful |
of earth into the open grave, and the !
clods would rattle DULY on the coffin |
lid. Cab, pobre, pobre LucasD Then /
they would come away, leaving Carme-
lita's baby there under the ground.
CarmeIita herself was now sitting |
alphabetically by the coffin. She DULY |
recognized what tomorrow was to be: |