The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-01-03
fchicaro Inter oceanN

! pOrtlcO Of the company quarters at
! Jaro. in the island of Panay, and honed
| his razor. His eyes blinked, dazzled by
| the glazing sunlight, when now ana
again he paused in his task TO stare
| across the plaza. The prospect, as
viewed by SevenspOt, was not pleasing
/ and he kept up a running mutter Of
criticism.
Just luck at tn sun-baked country,
viii yez?" said ne, gesticulating with
| the razor. "Av tn town were mess
av Philadelphia scrapple, it could not
/ be done browner. Luck at tn Wades
/ an brush in thot desert av a place.
/ An luck at tn toy min, av yez call
| thin min. I call thin brown rats. IT'S
waste av good gunpOwder to shoot
/ at tn likes av thin. Shure, We should
| be arrumed with pop-guns. Faugh!'
/ A little grown woman-she was wO-
man, although she weighed no more
! than the average American girl of r.
| shuffled barefoOted down the street. To
unaccustomed American eyes she was
a mere caricature on wOmankind. As
! she shuff1ed along she pulled q huge
! cigar that in color, length and cir
! conference matched her naked fore
/ arm. And the lips that poised the CT
! gar were stained bright red and green
| from chewing betel nuts and leaves
/ But Margarita was a shapely little dab
| of femininity. Her face was saucy
and fascinatingly impudent. Her eyes
were alluring. And she chartered
/ p English vivaciOusly, with grace
| full little gestures of babyish brown
/ hands and pretty puckerings of betel-
| stained lips.
| And the poise and movement of her
| little head was birdlike.
/ Now luck at thoti" exclaimed Seven
| spot, indicating Margarita with an
| other wave of his razor. Just tell me
phwat in tn devil does Big Bill want
av a brOwn-skinned pOCket-pace loike
/ thot Shure aV she Wanst got lost il
| tn tall grass av tn plaza there, Bill
/ couldn't fOind hur with a tiliscOpe. Av
| he'd dab her with -four and carry her
/ under his arrum, he'd resimble wan
av thin Eyetalians phyat peddle little
| statoOaries in Chicago. Think av a
| six-futter loike Bill, snaykin' of an
viOlatin' rigilashuns by marTyin' lit
/ tie brown imp Of a woman no bigger
! than a cheenO cigarillO. FaUghI" And
| again SevenspOt spat upon the ground
his countenance expressive Of castor
J oil and qUinine.
Big Bill On the H.out.
| It lacked an hour of midday. A mile
| to the south Of JarO, in a slight dip in
| the rolling prairie, two men in khaki
uniforms wriggled cautiously through
/ the tall, sun-crisped grass The sun
directly overhead volleyed white-hOt
arrows that pierced them through and
| through. They Teeked with peTSpira-
/ ton; their faces were thOrn-tOTn and
dust smeared. The horny right hand
of each was wound in a blue handker-
chief 20 protect it from the bIstering
heat of the rifles they dragged along
the ground beside them. They moved
by inches, their faces fattened TO the
ground. After gaining each foot or so
of ground they rested side by side,
their cheeks fat to the earth. and look
ing in each others blOOdshOt eyes,
They painted and their tongues lOlled
| like those of heat-spent dogs in August.
| Their dust-cTusted lips gaSped for
water, md their lungs wistfully for air
Thus slowly, arduOusly, they progress
ed for another mile. Then one OF them
lifted himself cautiously to his knees
and glanced first forward and then to
the rear. Then he flattened out again,
and. painting, whispered:
We're twO-thirds Of tn way from
timber to timber"
sight any Kikiack pickets?" asked
the other.
A shake of the head was the answer,
and again the two men painted and
stared in each others eyes. Their lungs
labored huskily. The animate earth
seemed in a dizzy, strangled silence for
lack Of air.
'Sevenspot" finally gasped the lar
ger man Of the two, If you were in the
auditorium right now, what would you
OrdeF2"
Sevenspot Tapped a swollen, dust
rough tongue along his cracked lips.
Doomed av I know" he whispered,
but av l were in the Edelweiss I'd or
der corned bafe an billed cabbage an a
key av cool beer"
Bill" continued Sevenspot, after a
breathing spell, ''phwat put a college
man lOike you in tn regulaTs?"
A Memory of the States.
Bill hesitated, under pretense of mOis-
tening his lips with a mOisturelesS
tongue. Then he whispered vehement
ly. fiercely: Back in the states, in the
time of peace, an enlisted man is a dog,
isn't he?"
Sevenspot nodded.
But now
SevenspOt nodded again.
But now" continued Bill, passion
ately, and right here, by God, soldier
is a man. And he wouldn't step aside
to kick the shins Of the feather-bed men
who look down upon him in the states,
wonder what a fool soldier on $3.50
finds to be proud of. If one Of them
could be in my boots right now and
could feel like I do in here, right now.
he'd know, wouldn't hep
Bill struck his breast with his
cIenched fist, and SevenspOt nodded.
And them" said Bill, less vehement
Iy, there was a.
He came to a full stop. SevenspOt
waited and then finished the sentence
for him: "A woman in it, Not a
brown, but white Margarital An ye
think she'll weep a bit Whin she sees
your name among tn did heroes2 An
you're married to a betel-cheWin brown
wan
"Sevenspot," resumed Bill, did you
ever hear a bird sing on This island?"
SevenspOt shook his head. Then he
said: But there's an Ondacint lizard,
about two feet long, pwhat roosts in tn
timbers over me bunk an shouts in his
slape. An there's another that clatters
all night loike a SEWN machine. May
be he do be a singer"
The big man paid no heed to this,
witticism.
Did you ever hear a woman sing on
this island?" he asked.
Never" said Sevenspot, but Mar
garita, that swate hakiack wife av
yours. Bill. called me something tn
Yesterday. Pwhativer it may name, il
sounds uncomplimenthary.
He were a rale man, were Big Bill!''
said Sevenspot. holding forth in quar-
ters that evening. "Avin' av he did
consort with q brown woman. Shure,
whin he volunteered for tn scoutin'
trip with me, I misliked it at first be-
cause av tn thought av that Kakiack
wife av his. But all tn mOTnin' he were
notin' down tn lay O. land as cool loike
as a county surveyor at home. An
thin. whin the brown divils began
boom-boomin' he squatted there on wan
knee an worked tn lever av his Krag