The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-09-21
holding up the unattractive bundle
of feathers to the "child.

holding up the unattractive bundle
of feathers to the "child.
Constance Stanley had no father
or mother, and, living with broth
.er who was endeavoring to effect
the drainage of "the richest silver
mine in the world,'' she wandered
unchecked through the crowded,
narrow streets of the old town, with
a young criada her only safeguard.
She had often longed to explore a
dark street that plunged downward
from the paved and civilized one.
It was damp and murky, starr
case of stone, with crumbling adobe
walls two and three stories high.
Across the streets narrow width
futtered strings Of washing. The
women, with their red petticoats
and blue rebozos, made bright blots
of color. The men loafed about,
lean and ragged. It reminded her
of Naples. The doorways swarmed
with babies and dogs, poverty
marching always side by side with
those innocents.
Down she went. The street made
an abrupt turn. At the corner she
was startled by seeing, protrudlng
from a hole cut ina squalid door
way, several long, black fingers.
They were withdrawn, and she saw
as She passed the door two blood
shot eyes peering out like beasts
eyes.
nina, ninita, the good mother OF
God sent you, and see what gain
will be yoursln Turning, Miss Stan
lev beheld Rosita at her heel. She
had plate to sel-a coarse, iron
stone china plate, Clipped and
cracked. There was look of In
tense anxiety on her old face, and
her wee hands shook as she drew
her treasure forth from under her
rebozo. The plate was impossible,
and Constance, breaking that fact
very gently to the little dwarf, was
astonished to. see; the tears gather
and fall over her shriveled cheeks.
ssFor two days, senorita, ] have
not dared unlock that door, And
she nodded toward the mean portal
where the eyes had shone and the
fingers protruded restlessly. s Lit
tie brother has nothing to eat, ex-
eptthe few tortillas thepoor around
here could give, and many of these
go hungry from the SUMS coming
up q until the SUMS going down"
Constance sent her servant and
Rosita to the plaza for some cooked
food, and while she waited she
talked in the doorways with Pepita
and Lola and Juana. They told her
how Rosita worked and starved for
her brother.
aHow old is hea' asked Con-
stance.
..Quien sabea' they said.
"Is he a child or is he big enough
to work for hera' she asked impa-
tiently.
sAh, he is grandote, but also he
Is loco. IN maniatico. See; that is
Jose now who glares from the hole
in the door. .
Miss Stanley listened to them with
that rapt attention we all give to
tales of the mad: He dug deep holes
in the earth floor, burrowing Like
an animal Sometimes he escaped
in that way, and then there was
fear in the narrow street, and the
police after a bloody fight would
drag him shrieking back to the one
poor room Rosita called home. She
had always put food through the
door to him before venturing to
open it.
Once for a long time he had not
menaced the peace Of the street.
That was when he killed the sereno.
A policeman had teased him as he
peered from the hole in the door,
much as people tease hyena snarl-
ing.in a cage. The mad have memo
ries, for Jose, one night when the
moon was big, crept softly about the
dark room and, finding the key Ro-
sita's small cunning had hidden,
opened the door, crept again softly
up the street to an adobe doorway
where was sleeping a sereno, his
head on his knees. Thepolice have
day and a night shift, but once
not expecta madman to know every
thing. So it was an innocent man
who had his neck wrung as the cook
does chickens. They could only
guess what then happened. There
were only the pulsing stars looking
silently down and the great, calm
moon. However, it was evident he
must have dragged and worried and
teased that poor piece of clay for
God knows how far OF long.
They found him asleep by the
dead serene, and, although too po-
lite in the ''Land of the MONDAY
Sum- to manacle or chain, they took
the precaution to tie with stout
maguey rope Jose's slumbering bulk