Evening star., 1901-08-24
CHAPTER XNV-Continued.

CHAPTER NNV-Continued.
Sergeant Cardono called Roilo aside and
told him how he had made his way into
g. village as was his custom, and found all
uuiet-the shops open, but none TO attend
TO them. the customs superintendent in
his den by the gate, seated on his easy
chair, but dead-the presbytery empty of
the priests, the river bank dotted with its
array of scr.bbing boards, but not wash
erwoman to be seen. Only q lame lad, fur
lively plundering, had leaped backward
upon his crutch with a swift drawing of
his knife and a woIfish CLEAN of teeth. He
had rst of all warned the sergeant to keep
off at his peril but had afterward changed
his tone and confessed to him that the
plague was abroad in the valley of the
Duoro and that he was the only being left
alive in the village save the yulture and
the prOwling dog.
The plague.'' Sergeant Cardono had
gasped like every Spaniard, stricken at the
very sound of the word.
Yes, and / own everything in the VIII
lage," asserted the imp. IF you want any
thing here you must pay me for it.
The sergeant found it even as the Grip
pie had said. There was not a single liv
ing inhabitant in the village.
AS the others made their preparations
for the night. watering their beasts and
grooming them with the utmost care, the
little croOked-ba cked imp from the village
appeared on the brink of the barranco his
sallow, weakened face peeping curiously
and suspiciously out of the underbrush
and his crutch performing the most curl
Gus eyolutiOns in the air
COnCha shrank inStinCtively at his ap-
pr0ach. and the boy. perceiving his power
over her, came scuttIing like a weazel
through the brushwood till little more than
q couple of PAGES interpOSed between him
wit h hir1cp
and terror, ii was not for some time that
ConCha could cry out and look around
hastily for Rollo-who doubtless in his
capacity of leader of the expeditIon1 was
not slow in Fastening to her assistance
That boy-therer' she gasped: "he
frightens mech. make him go away!"
And she clutched the young mans arm
with such quick. nervous grasp that a
cheek
All uncOnsciously. Rollo reached a pro-
tecting hand across the little white fingers
which gripped his arm so tightly.
Go away. boy he commanded: do Won
not see that you terrify the senorita?"
see-that is why / stayr' cried the
amiahie youth. gleefully nourishing his
crutCh about his head as If on the pofnt of
launching 1t al the party.
Rolio laid his hand on the hilt of Killie-
krankie with a threatening gesture
If You come an inch nearer / Will give
you the plague" cried the boy. showing his
Will grow blaCk-yes and swell! Then Won
Will die. both OF your'
And he laughed and danced till a fit of
coughing came upon him so that he ac-
tually crowed in a kind of ffendish exulta-
ton. But Rollo was not the man TO be
Tested with. either by devil or devils INN.
he drew a pistol from his belt looked care
fully at the priming and with the greatest
cooiness In the world pointed It at the mis-
sh&Den brat.
Now. listen" he said You are old
enough to know the meaning OF words
give You one minute to betake yourself to
your own place and leave us alone! There
is no contagion in pistol bullet. my fine
lad. but it IS quite as deadly as any plague
So be off before a charge of powder catches
you up"
tracted La Giralda. who, looking up hastily
from her task of building the fire beneath
the gypsy tripod at which she and the SER
geant were cooking, advanced hastily with
q lcng wand in her hand.
The imp turned hastily and positively ap-
peared 10 shrink into his clothing at the
sight Of her As she approached he emitted
cry OF purely animal terror, and hastily
whipping his Crutch under his arm. betook
himself I'm series of long hops to a spot
twenty yards higher up the bank. But La
Giralda stopped him by a word or two
spoken In an unknown tongue harsh-sound-
Ing as Catalan, but curt and brief as mill
tary order.
The dialogue lasted for some time till
al last by gesture La Giralda released
him. pointing to the upper edge of the bar
rance as the place by which he was to dis
appear.
During this interview Rollo had stood
sbsent-mindedly with his hand pressed on
Concha's as he listened TO the speech of La
Giralda. The girls color had slowly re-
turned. but the fear of the plague still ran
like ice In her veins. She who feared moth
ing else on earth was shaken as with a
palsy by the terror of the black death.
pf sail nll 7 ntroI IIa
who stood considering with her eyes upon
the ground after her interview with the
crooked ba cked dwarf.
''You must give me time to think" she
said. This boy IS one OF our people-a
Gitano of Baza. He is not OF this place.
and he tells me strange things. He swears
that the queen and the court are plague
stayed at La Granja by the fear OF the
cholera. They dare not return to Madrid.
They cannot supply themselves with VIC
tuals where they are. The very guards
forsake them And the Gitanos-but I have
Gordio,. For am not also Gitano?"
The village where Rollo's command first
called Frias in the district of La Perla,
and lay upon the eastern spurs of the
Guadarrama. II was, therefore. likely
enough then that the boy spoke truth and
that within few miles OF them the court
of Spain was enduring privations in It's
aerial palace OF La Granja.
But even when interrogated by FL Sar-
ria the old woman was obstinately silent
as TO the news concerning her kinsfolk
which she had heard from the ragged
dwarf.
1T has nothing to do with YOU" she re-
peated; 1T is a matter Of the Gitanoi"
But there came up from the bottom OF
the ravine the lantern-jawed sergeant
long, silent. lean, parched as a Manchegar
cow whose pasture has been burnt up by
q summer sun. With beckoning finger he
summoned La Giralda apart, and she
cbeyed him as readily as the boy had