The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1900-03-08
| Flower Of the Crazed.
By John adams.

= Fs-F1'TFT%
7 AURENCE KIRBY was young.
good-lopking in Il fair sort OF way.
!, great favorite with women and one
of the best constructing engineers
that the "l'acifico' ever had in their
employ. At home in New York he was
a club member, one Of the bright and
shining lights in the Engineers union.
and. hastily. engaged to marry Miss
Kent, daughter and heiress OF old
duff Kent. Kirby had her picture.
and once, in :, fit Of unwonted friend
illness, showed it to me. She was not
SO very rretty-too thin and fragile
for that. But it was a sweet. pure
spirited face, and thought then that
Kirby was u lucky man.
At that time we were travelling
along~at u pretty rapid rate in the
Acapulco direction and surveying out
more miles per day than you would
believe, were to tell you. Under the
circumstances. all the tents and equip
ment. including the commissary de-
partment. of which old Tomas was
chief, with his wife .]uana as cook.
were moved along with us each day
This quick work only lasted, of course,
so long us we were in good survey
ing country; soon we got to the 81
erras, or Guerrero, mountains. ard
then we had to call a showdown and
take things more quietly.
Old Juana, in spite of her age and
flesh (she weighed close on to 256),
had held out pretty well. considering
the amount of cooking she did and
the way in which she had been hus-
tied across the state of Guerrero. No
sooner had we reached the ''Buena Fee
canyon. however, than she gave out
completely and said that she must
heve an assistant cook. Kirby turned
the matter over to me. ] asked JuaDa
if we should bring her down man
cook from the City of Mexico. NO,
senor;" she would have no rude, awk-
ward man pottering about her tent
and braseros. If the senior would give
leave, Consuelo would willingly come.
%Consuelo was her niece, and very
| good and simpatica girl, too. She was
now in Chiipancingo with her mother,
! but would surely come to her old Tia
at the word. How much would the
senior pay for the services that Con-
suclo would lend? Fifteen pesos?
Good; then the girl should be notified
, at once.
About week later Consuelo ar
rived. She was not much on the cook
though her frijoles refritos were
gsood-and ! do not think she ever did
| more than wash the dishes and keep
the brasero going. But she was, out
and out, the handsomest savage I have
ever seen, with her six feet of strong.
beautiful body, and the eyes and face
of tragedy queen. Lots of such
women are to be seen throughout
Guerrero, but l Go not remember
grander woman in all my trips than
| Consuelo. Not that l am much in ia.
vor Of big, handsome, black-eyed WON
en-; they generally lave the devil in
| them somewhere, and sooner or later
| it breaks out. But. even so, you could
! not help admiring Consuelo.
| Our total force comprised about so
men, over half of whom were Mexi
cans and peones. Being pretty well
up en- the genus Mexicano, I had long
ago Informed old Juana that we would
have no flirtations in camp; if Con-
splelo wished to remain and gain her
SIS per month she must have nothing
to say to the men. 1t was against dis
cipline, and Senior Kirby would not
have it. Juana smiled quietly and
went on with her work. 1.-THE senior
ho p0f
Consuelo. 1t would be brave man
who attempts to modest her in her
work" So went away, convinced, in
spite of my knowledge of the Mexican
character.
At this time we had emerged from
the canyon and were surveying across
a swampy. malaria bit OF
country. We had our breakfast and
turned out every morning at sun-up.
and l can tell you that it was bitter
cold work, at that. In spite of oul
heavy clothes we all shivered steadily
until the sun got up well beyond the
mountains, after which we would bake
until shutdown. (There is no great
fun in railroading over tropical coun.
tries, l assure youD And then soon
the rainy season buyst oa us, which
added to the discomfort of things.
Many day We worked IN Shiny. un-
healthy water. up pour knees-some
times up to our waists. This. quite nat.
urally, was not conducive to good
health. and the men began to sicken-
particularly the Mexicans, who have
no stamina. anyway We "w}fite men,
got along all right, even though we
had slight touches of chills and fever,
and we worked along steadily, doing
double work to each man, and cover
ing ground nicely, in spite Of all the
drawbacks.
Soon we drew out of the worst coun
try; the Mexicans got well enough tc
work again, and Kirby hus lied MS along
at good rate. in spite offhe fact that
he was even then shaking and burning
by turns with the Guerrero feyet. i
argued with him.buf To- nd aYdifztr1k
ing to induce him to slow down 81
and get himself well before going on
at the old spest.s...I -eonfd % nofkERa
with him; it seemed that upon the
expiration of his -eoise sae ssI6teE lido dfo
not cover many more. hundred miles.
he was to 60 back to New York and
marry Dorothy (that was Miss Keut'&
name). Even SO. ] could not under.
stand his ddeHfsxrTisfn=zHksaIre Is II
over his work and get back to- her. |