The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1901-08-14
By !. OUIDA :
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level Oh 5tllis lSsSIiSA OilJ =.
beautiful yes! She could not bring
herself to hate him; she could not
help the brimming tears binding her
eyes Wheu she looked at him stretched
senseless thus. But he was welded
to his past; that toy; in his breast,
whatever it might be. whatever tale
might cling, to it, was sWeeter to him
than her lips would ever be. BAIL III
There were better men than he. Why
had she mot let him lie and die as he
might under the pile Of dead
ssY on deserve to be shot-youi' said
cigarette, fiercely abusing herself as
the put his head off her lap, and rose.
abruptly and shouted to a Tringlo who
was at some distance searching for
the wounded. Here is a chasseur
with some breath in him. she said,
curtly. as the man with his mule cart
and its sad burden of half dead, moan
ing, writing frames drew near at her
summons. PUT him in. Soldiers cost
too much training to waste them on
jackals and kites, if one can help it.
Lift him up! Quick
Tie is badly hurt. said the Tringlo.
She shrugged her shoulders.
"Oh, no! I have had worse scratches
myself The horse fell on him; that
was the mischief. Most of them here
have swallowed the leaden pill once
and for all. II never saw a prettier
thing every lascar has killed his own
,,l,; nr1y e1,orr, 4r,ia
and neat they look
She was not going to have him inn
agine she cared for that chasseur whom
he lifted up on his little wagon with so
kindly care-not she! Cigarette was
as proud in her way as was. ever the
Princess Venetia Corona.
S. Nevertheless she kept pace with the
mules, carrying little Flick lack. and
never paused on her way. though she
passed scores of dead Arabs, whose sill
yer ornaments and silk broideries,
commonly after such a fantasia, re-
plenished the knapsack and adorned in
profusion the uniform Of the young
flibuster, being cleaned by her right
and left as her lawful harvest after the
fray.
Leave him there. will have look.
at him, she said at the first empty
tent they reached. Cigarette. left alone
with the wounded man. lying insensi-
bic still on a heap OF forage, ceased her
song and grew very quiet. She had a
certain surgical skill. and she dressed
his wounds with the cold. clear water
and washed away the dust and the
blood that covered his breast.
He is too good a soldier to die. One
must do it for France. 8 she said to her
self in a kind Of self apology. And as
close and bathed his breast, his fore
head. his hair, his beard, free from the
sand and the powder and the gore a
thousand changes swept over her mo-
bile face. 1t was one moment softand
flushed and tender as passion: it was
the next Jealous, fiery, scoraful. pale
and full Of impatient self disdain
He was nothing to her. He was an
aristocrat, and she was a child of the
people. She had been besieged by
dukes and had fouted princes. She
had borne herself in such gay liberty
such vivacious freedom. such proud
and careless sovereignty bah. what
was it to her whether this man lived
or died? If she saved him. he would
give her a low bow as he thanked her
thinking all the while of miladi. And
yet there she staid and watched him
She took some food. for she had been
fasting all day. Then she dropped
down before the fire she had lighted
and in one Of those soft, curled. kitten
like attitudes that were characteristic
of her kept her vigil over him.
She was bruised. stiff, tired, longing
like a tired child to fall asleep. Her
eyes felt hot as fame, her rounded,
supple limbs were aching, her throat
was sore with long thirst and the sand
that she seemed to have swallowed till
no draft of water or wine would take
the scorched, dry pain out of it,. But,
as she had given up her fete day in the
hospital. so she sat now--as patient in
the self sacrifice as she was impatient
when the viyacious agility Of her young
frame was longing for the frenzied de-
lights of the dance or the battle Ev-5
cry now and then, four or five times in
an hour, she gave him whom she tend.
ed the soup or the wine that she kept
warm for him over the embers. He
took It without knowledge. sunk half
in lethargy. half in sleep. but 1t kept
the life glowing in him which, without
h It. might nave perisned Of cold and ex-
haustion as the. chill and northerIy
wind Of the evening succeeded to the
heat Of the day and pierced through
/ the canvas walls Of the tent. Il It was
very bitter, more keenly felt because
of the previous burning Of the sun.
There was no cloak or covering to ding
over him She took off her blue cloth
tunic and threw it across his chest and
sshivering despite herself, curled closer
to the little fire.
She did not know g why she did it, lie.