The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1900-11-28
CHAPTER II.

| planted out by the accQuia had seen
spring give place to summer and au-
tumn to winter nearly 13 times, when
at last one day old Berrendo and Girls
tino, his neighbor, hit upon merry
plan. IIenceforth there should be no
more wrangling. The field over which
the water flowed was to be Liana's
marriage portion.
or course they would have to walt
awhile for the wedding. Inoccncio,
BcrrcndO's grandson, was only ~, and
Llama, the granddaughter of Cristino,
was but 9, Meanwhile, having deter
mined upon the plan which should put
an end to the contention of years, the
TWO old men were I'm rare glee In
their abandon they drank to the health
Of their grandchildren more times than
was good for them in Parras brandy OF
the best
Berrendo was sharply denounced In
consequence by his wife, but Cristino,
poor old fellow, had no scnoras gra-
cious presence In his house. TO be
sure, Llama opened her great eyes
wide when he laughed inordlnately
and snt down on n table instead Of a
chair. But as he allowed her to take a
picture of st. Catherine that hung OH
the wall and cut out the saints figure
for doll she thought, on the whole, Il
was rather nice.
Inoccncio and Llama had grown up
together, and they were both alike In
this-they were orphans. The little
girl was but 3 years old when her par
ents, who had gone to spend n week
with some cousins in near by pueblo,
were carried Off by pestilence OF
smallpox which swept down upon the
town. The boys mother had died In
giving him birth. AS to his father
we'll. no one ever spoke Of his father,
and lnocenclo grew so at last that he
disliked to ask his grandfather any
questions concerning him.
However, he noticed a singular thing
In this connection. Whenever by any
chance 1t happened that he was bold
enough to broach the subject Berrendo,
having grufily wardcd him off, would
Invariably break into the same little
snatches Of an old Spanish song:
De mi laZo tescaparas
Psro dc mis- bola-QuandCt
And then he would go about his WORK,
putting and steamlng at q great rate.
Berrendo had never been A. gaucho-
Inocencio was sure OF that-so why did
he sing this couplet? That was 4
gaucho's song.
The devoted grandm0ther-she who
nursed the stone bruises, picked out
the slivers, kissed away the troubles,
gladdened the young heart by her sim
pie tales-had told him one thing,
though. His fathers name was Claude.
His mother had asked that the priest
should give her baby that name, too,
and he had-Claude Inoccncio.
But Inoccncio is name loag
enough to hear every day" the old w0-
man had concluded. "and your gra nd.
father likes 1t better"
Llama liked 1t too. She would have
been lonely without Inocencio. He had
been her champion and lover--aye, and
her worshiper as well--evcr since baby
hood. Once when the tiny, soft eyed
thing, coquette even then, had put
her arms around the stalwart boy and
lisped in pretty Spanish that she loved
him he had stopped whiting his stlcb
and answered solemnly:
"But, Llama, you do not love me az
well as Pancho Manuel. You gave him
half Of your banana yesterday"
"Oh, ST." she had answered. with q
slight toss Of her lovely baby head, 81
liked Pancho yesterday, but like you
Inocencio, today"
| And Inocencio had kissed her, no
satisfied and not understanding, We
trying to be content. The glamour o
his love cast about her an unreal light
out of which shonc so perfect figur,
that he bowed before her, while hi
straightforward nature endeavorcd t.
grasp the tortuous wlndings OF TEN
perament beyond his comprehension.
Yet at times was he also masterful
The day, for instance, when unknown
to them Berrendo and Cristino had dc
cided upon their merry plan. The chi!
dren were making little adobes an
building toy jacals out under the mas
nolia tree, fetching their water fror
the acequla In miniature ollas.
"Why do you sigh, Inocencio?" aske
Llama, stirring her wet clay vigorousl.
"Is 1t because the English that tn
padre gives you for your lesson tomo
] row is so hardT