The Worthington advance., 1900-01-12

He rat- u
|ey 4 on Dill His ilbow ssiint sd
pin out on III red wet; grass under him,
till his head nodded down in til crook
av his arrum loike he were droWsy an
tlroppin off to slape tn ! blood hand
On his chist fell lump p-loiles beside him.
Thin he eopened his yes slee loike:
SWanst, an nut tered loike he We're half
drealnin': 81 Ills a. woman sin gin
.'Thin he shut his eyes and dropped
off aisy. An I wint on with me rat kill
in' Thin I heard tn mountain guns
barkin' behind me an tth fire from til &
front slackened. I could hear You min
thramplin' through tn dry grass. An
here I am. But Bill he were a man s
Margarita or no Margarita."
It was the evening of the day after.
The men Of y were leaning listlessly
out on the easements Of the big casa
where the, company was quartered, to-
catch breath of cool air. Across the
u
shack. Under its projecting root. the.
forms of a man and a woman dim
" visible. The woman gently touched
the strings of guitar and just the sug-.
gestion of a plaintive melody floated
across .the way. The men leaned fur
ther out of the easements and listened.
'"Shure," said Seyenspot, "thot little
| No. 70 hor nd
whin we putt away. poor Bill tn morn
in. sWhin tn bugle sounded taps, I
shure thought she'd.wape herself into
nothing but pint av&wather. 'Tis a
tinder heart she has under q brown
skin. 1nisdoubt me I may have mis-
| judged tn brown wimmen." ~
The banjo. across the way gave forth,
moaning, wailing, heart-breaking mel
ody, deep-chested alto chanted sadly,
monotonously in the native tongue.
The soldiers looked and listened SILENT
| ly. The woman's voice rose and fell vi
brantly in a wierd chant full of tears
/ and means and broken hearts, and then
died away in hopeless sob. Sevenspot
drew a long, shuddery breath. -,
"'Tis the first native I iver heard
: sing," he whispered. '.Who is she?"
."Bill's Margarita," said Smithie, COM
pany Us authority on Kakiack lingo
and customs. -.
''Bill's Margarita!" exclaimed Seven
spot. ''Shure thot explains it! Twas
thot voice, not tn brown woman thot
Big Bill married! 'Twas an echo an a.
mimory thot he welded, poor iad!" Il
Smithe nodded and puffed his cigar.
''Poor little brown Margarita," con-
tinued Sevenspot. "Av I could sling tn
lingo tits mesilf would go an thry an
say a kind worrud to her. 'Tis tn death
song av her love she were singing an
tits not unlike an honest Irish keen.
Ills SAD me ould heart is for tn poor lit
tie brown divil left all one-alone."
Smithie threw back his head and
laughed aloud.
"Pwhat!" exclaimed Sevenspot, turn
ing fercely, ''pwhat do yez foind so
funny in a brave soldiers widow, be
she brown or black?"
"Sevenspot!" said Smithie, putting a
|
ening arm. "Don't get sentimental in
this climate. At least, don't get that
way till you know the ways and lingo
of the Tags: That was no death song.
Twas no keen. Twas love song. And
twas the poor little brown divil, Bills
Margarita, singing to her new husband.
She married him this afternoon. Ills
name is Yen Shee. Appropriate name,
too. In Chenoo it means Number Two.
He is the wealthy Chenoo banker at
Iloilo. Savey? If Bills white Marga-
rita in the sa nl1nies was a ditto girl,
too, he surely lost out against the love
game.'
Just then the guitar across the way
thrumned again, and again deep
chested alto began to chant mOurnful
song full of tears and means and broken
hearts. Sevenspot leaned far out of the
easement and drew deep breath His
big chest rose and swelled until the
arch of it touched his chin. Then he
roared and the candle1ights of all Jaro
went out as if by the wind of his bel
lows.
shut up! Shut up! caramba! Shut
up, before come and pull that epi-shack
about your ears! Ye female tarantula!"
The alto voice quivered and stopped.
The dimly outlined figures of man and
woman disappeared stealthily and cat
like within the door of. the thatched
shack. Across the plaza the bugle
sounded taps plaintively. The town
was silent and far-winged dreams of
home and white Margarita lowered
over the casas of the soldiers, to be dis
turbed now and again by the crack of a
Kakiack's remington OF the bark of an
Americans krag, as the outposts took
sly pecks at each other through the
night.--N. Y. Sun. >...
ELOPES WITH MOTHER-IN-LAW
| Queer Couple Which Has Arrived at