The Portland daily press., 1899-12-08
Uncle BuSCabeataS
And His Pumpkins
He Carried with Him the Proof That
the Pumpkins Were His.
,,. rnnun srmarta mn srAnrny
BY PEDRO ANTONIO DE ALARCON.

- - - 49, 49, L<~f<-I --f<
The action commences In Rota. Now.
Rota is the least important Of the beauti-
fuI and enchanting villages that form an
-. ..,,,;o;,ol,, oho,,t Cad;z hax. vet
though II oe 'ne 'eas' ''Hp $3.50, ~, nv,
not wanteu eyes 10 taAe no'iee VI " ine
Duke OF osuna' unaer ms ute oi Duhe
of ARGOS, has long heid II up TO view US
one of the pearls of his coronet, possess
ing there seigneurial castle Of the same
name. whose stones I could describe one
Nv ono
os.;o,, -, cos,ios
-, -. - a. es,sh-..as oorn,rv
vi uuNes, gu. $50,
surrounding hota ana OF very numo'e
gardener, whom We shal cal Uncle BUS
cabeatas, although such was not, 1t
seems. his real name.
Uncle Buscab eatas had already begun
TO stoop at the date of the episode that
am about to relate. He was even then
GO wears of ace and had spent 40 of them
In filling A vegetable garden bordering
unon the beach Of Costilla.
That wear he had grown some stupen-
dous pumpkins. which were as big as the
ornamental balls on a massive rampant
and were now turning both inside and
outside Of an orange color. which indicat-
ed that IL was past the middle of June.
ITncle Ruscabeatas knew the shane. de-
gree Of rineness and even the number of
them-above all. the 40 plumpest and
.b;n;oat snecjmens which seemed 70 he
saving. Cook mer' and he passed his
t;ma gazing tenderIv at them and ex-
claiming in n melancholy tone. "Soon we
sboll have 10 nartn
A. last one afternoon no resolved 10
make the sacrifice. and. pickine ont the
hos, ,rr;t q, HE dearly beloved "cucur-
bitaceoe." whose growing had cost him SO
greet labor he uttered the terrible sem
sonoa.
,rr,,norro,v orotb be J sha,, cut
.hosa 40 ond carry Them 70 C,d;z mark Of
H.nrv thay who oar themrS
Tbar.nnon be slowly walked into the
honse and nassed the night in the distress
~ a Gather who. the next dav. IL TO give
bis dougbter in marriage.
ALAS, INV pumpkinsi, sighed he again
and again. unable to WOO sleep. but pres
emily he began TO reflect and concluded
nv saving. "Yet what else can l do but
dispose OF them? Why, that is lust what
I raised them for. THEY'LL bring me in
At least IL 'duros.'"
Endeavor IL Won can to measure the ex-
tent of his CONSERVATION, fury and de-
spair when ON entering his garden the
next morning he discovered that during
the night somebody had stolen the 40
pumpkins. To make the story brief,
Shakespeare's Shylock, in his paroxysm
of rage over the flight of Jessica with his
Jewels. could not have been more frenzied
than Uncle Buscabeatas.
ooh. IL l find thee-if l find theer he
calculated.
Then, quieting down. however, he cold
ly began to consider and comprehend that
his beloved specimens could not be in
Rota, where it would have been impossi-
BILE to expose them for sale without his
recognizing them and where, moreover,
pumpkins were sold very cheap.
1T is plain to be seen that they are In
Cadiz," he argued. THE infamous, ras-
cally thief must have stolen them be-
tween and 10 o'clock last night and car
ried them off on the II O'Clock freight
boat. will go to Cadiz today on the
early passenger boat, and it will be
caution if don't catch the sneak and re-
cover the daughters of my toll"
So saying, he remained about 20 min
utes longer on the site of the catastrophe.
fondling the mutilated stumps and stems
of the pumpkins. counting over again the
missing ones or formulating the sort of
accusation that he should make in COM
mencing a suit, until 8 o'clock struck,
and he started for the pier.
The passenger boat, or hour boat, was
getting ready to sail. 1t Is an humble
barge that every morning precisely at o
O'Clock starts for Cadiz, conveying pas
sengers, just as the freight boat starts
every night at II o'clock, conveying fruit
and garden stuff. The former is called
the hour boat, because in that space of
time. or even in 40 minutes on some days,
IL the wind be astern. it traverses the
u;i,ea .ss i n1s n va LA an CIV
cent c;tv 90 uarc,,Ias
eieh' Guy Vi nefeu'es'