The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1901-04-20
ESPERUA.

had been shipped back from Bilbao by
the Americans. He left the country pen
nilsss, with every head of his cattle on
the back range Communicated by the
CubanS Esper1ta'S mother died long
ago-one San Juan's Day, of the dread
i fiebre amarillo, when the blue-eyed baby
first began to play in the shade of the
bananas. The baby did not remember
/ the young mother, or how her father
staggered when the gate to the cemetery
on the hill creaked its dismal welcome 10
/ the white, blossom covered coffin. Rag
! ged and bare of limb she trotted about
the town, a haxon-haired outcast. There
wasn't man in the regiment who did
not love that little head of shining hair.
Mercia came from q river town in
Mississippi in the pine timber country,
and her father built bridges in Cuba
| for the army. Mercia talked Spanish
! glibly. There was no one in all Man
zanillO that she loved as she did Perita,
as she called her-not even her mother,
who neglected her for q, group Of OIL
1 GERS who spent half their time drinking
lemonade in the brick court of Mercia's
/ home. Mercia wore pretty clothes, and
/ her pony cart struck Perita dumb at
first, but she was never shy after that
/ drive on the sugar mill road. They play
i ed together in the patio, under the coroer
palm tree, where they kept house"
| When the air stihed the three parrots
into slumber, they chased gay chamt'-
leon lizards that basked stupidity in the
CQlQkS OF the ruined IdIQ wall 0OlLt-
/ times the chaplain brought them ice
cream from the cafe next door When the
coal schooner was unloading the captain
treated them every day to red lemonade,
and gave them real silk ribbons from
Philadelphia.
There was no school during that long
I golden summer. Ferita and Mercia were
known to every inhabitant of the lost,
/ little village. Even the pannier donkeyS
from far off CantO knew the insepara-
} hlnS and the
BayamO road had seen them buying
/ candy at the bridge store. RestlesSiy
/ they spent each day. MeTcia in pretty
/ white dresses, and Perita in bedraggled
| cottons from the German store on the
I Plaza
Perita lived among the starved re-
/ concentrates in the bahia" quarters,
/ with an old negress, whom her father
4 had hired to give the child a bed Of palm
1 branches in the attic of her hut. 1t was
/ a clean shack matched and cool
/ with a black and white print of Gomez
or the wall, and ever so many squawk-
/ ing, fighting parrots about. They lived
on sweet potatoes, which made them
4 plump and healthy, and the old foster
4 mother cooked bananas in a dozen differ
ent ways. Mercia spent many a day at
the hut with Perita, because it was so
cool under the grove when the breeze
4 came over the lowlands from Cape Cruz
4 Sometimes A1ercia did not think Of going
home until the sun had set in the sea
behind the coral islands
When San Salvador's day arrived the
! two saw the sham buIlfght The to1O
was a painted creature carried on a
mans shoulders. Masked toreadors,
brilliant in reds and blues, cracked pigs
| baGders over the heads of the fleeing
/ spectators. When the store lights came
out the girls put sheets about themselves
! and wore face cloths, which hid all but
| the light of their mischieVouS eyes. All
4 the town masqueraded in the blare of
street pianos and ringing of bells.
Across from the deserted Spanish club
the girls peeked through the barred win
dows of the theater. where soldiers and
vividly dressed women were swaying
ana smiling happily. Like butterflies
at play in tropical woods, the little
American girl and her blue-eyed mate
/ fitted through the sidewalk cafes. but
tins into old men, calling shrilly their
/ .'adois."
Summer passed and September came.
! One day the schooner captain return I'd
/ from Philadelphia with more ribbons for
! his sweethearts,'' but he found a great
4 change. Some one told him that Msr-
cia's father had lost his place, and would
! build no more bridges fer the army. Two
| costly bridges had geen carried away Ey
! the June rains. He had saved no money,
4 because he was so sure Of the colonels
4 favor They said at the club that the
i old engineer had only 500 left. and there
We're more bills to be paid His friends
deserted him, which was scandalOus, and
! the sergeant cruelty refused him army
Tations. Gradually the little furniture
/ the family had brought was sold. and
the pony cart, with its pretty red cush-
1 ions and shiny sides. was bought by an
other officer Mercia. was stunned with
| her loss and it is hard to say who cried
/ the harder-the gentle American girl or
/ her little Spanish sister. After the house
was closed Mercia often slept in the
| matched cabin with Perit2. NO C1e
knew where her mother was. Her father
had drunk himself into the barracks
hospital. and the surgeons were afraid
/ of fever. Quinine only made his puise
beat faster and all he could eat was the
guava jelly Perita brought him, with
| CREAMY bananas, plucked in the cool of
| the morning. Every evening he grew
worse. until one day the surgeon said he
must leave Cuba and its tepid, dollhouse
air. The gulf pines of his home alone
could cure him, the doctors said. Every
one knew that the sick engineer could
not stand the railroad journey from CT
enfuegOs to Havana. and there was q
sigh of relief when the schooner's cap
tain iold the nurses that he had received
a cable order to sail in ballast to Mo-
bile at once, and would take the invalid
with him That night AIercia and Ter
father slept aboard and waited for the
morning. land breeze to take them out
beyond tie cape light station and home.
Poor little Merciai How she cried
through that long. hot August night,
sobbing for her mother, who had not
come where was Perita?" she asked
her father. without noticing the strained
features of the sick man.
''Perital' she called aloud, and sat up
RIGHT in her bed watching. hour after
hour through the portfolio for the COM
ing of the one who was more than moth
er to her.
Perita had missed Nercia, who had not
come to the '-bahia" as usual to talk and
watch with her for the eloud-faees in the
srnOuldering sky fires. The cape breeze
cooled the brow of the hill, and the town
lights glimmered- Perita cried softly to
/ herself for it was the first time in many
weeks that AIercia had not come Was
she too sick. and would she be placed by
her father on the bare floor of the bar
racks in a white iron cot2
Down the hill she sped looking for
Mercfa fearful lest harm had befalIen her.
/ No one knew what had become of the
/ little Americana 1t was growing late
L