The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-11-12
MARGARlTA OF The MESA.

ulANUANIIA UF HE lIENA,
lived in a large town of southwest
ern Texas. in a whitewashed adobe with
thick walls and heavy blinds. The ranch
on the mesa was the abode of Marga-
rita; can see her now with sunlight
on her long braidS of FURNISHED gold.
All my thought l shared with Marga-
rita. 1t was / who taught her to read
ana write I. bad boy, educated this
enda on the mesa.
Tlmid Margarita learned to ride my
IractlouS burro- Neb. Once she was in
the act of mounting; one baby foot was
scarcely in the stirruD when l banged
VICIOUS Neb with piece of mesquite
root Nebs heels flew skyward and
on ne dashed. | laughed with glee.
tnough expected her to be thrown to
the ground and trampled by Neb's
hoofs. She chung to the saddle and
found her voice Out of the ranch
came Big Ike, her brother. He rescued
Eer; then turned his attention to me.
prevent him from clubbing me with
the mesquite root until L went limping
home.
MarsRrita was my destined bride.
EVERY evening found me on the wooden
platform In front of the hacienda. How
could she know? Was not always
win her. or at the law Office where 1
was clerk? Who knew of the hours
|
across the river in the room behind
the wineship, where Pepitas languor-
Gus black eyes watched the gamer
married Margarita Nieland. Pepita
knew why 1 had married. When we
returned from our honeymoon trip,
Mafgarlta knew, and though she said
nothing. her father found out For her
sake he did not prosecute me for the
forged check. Ike had been gone for
months, no one knew whittier, else my
case would have Jared ILL.,
We lived in the house under the mesa
where had spent my morally untrain-
ed boyhood. Soon Margarita made dis
coVeries of the gambling den in Juarez,
Mexico, just across the muddy, crawling
no Grande, where Pepita reigned.
When my resources were nearly ex-
hausted I invited the boys to my mud
castle for a game. As usual, everything
Went against me. Margarita sat around
IKE ghost watching me with wide
eyes in her white face until something
within me shrieked out in agony. 1
arose from the table, and would have
struck her down, but she fled in terror.
found her gone when the boys left.
The next morning when I presented N.Y.
self at the hacienda, old Nieland warn
ed me away with gun. 1 was in des-
perate straits, so donned the blue uni
form to be sent to the Philippines
While al the fort, Big Ike from the
/ Oklahoma volunteers Joined our COM
pany- He was a large, powerful man,
4nout six feet three, and very broad.
Big Ike did not choose to recognize me
My opportunity for paying off old
scores came when we were located in
Luzon island. l was regimental clerk
and slept at headquarters, a nipa shack
with a stable underneath, on the usual
| plan of Philippine architecture Two
officers and I slept at this place some
distance from the barracks
One night We were awakened by
terrible noise below US. Colonel S.
sprang up. I'VE are attacked by insur-
RhnfGi'' exclaimed % h~dn has w
descended. By the light of the moon
we saw Ike, frenzied by vino, fighting
the horses The colonel and his aide
drew back.
Campbell roareG the colonel.
had him locked up. On my way
back glanced up at the barred window
facing the swamp and SaW=that facet
1 had forgotten a certain likeness be-
| tween Marguerite and her brother
4 1t was on me again, an unutterable
longing for one glimpse of Marsarita
Earth and sky reeled before my blurred
vision. I flung myself madly upon the
ground and the world rolled away from
me in darkness. When I came to myself
IN the early gray dawn I noticed the
swamp. I knew that exhaIations from
that gloomy abyss of foulness must be
dangerous. Yet I fingered, wondering in
my too-late remorse. if regeneration were
possible for me. When I arose to go I
was chilled with a deathly chill. Thought
knew that he was doomed man.
I had inhaled the deadly miasma. With
health gone. I had been discharged for
disability. The companion of my voyage
on the small transport was Big Ike going
home to die. We buried the Ratchet. He
knew nothing of Margarita's marriage
and I kept my own counsel.
shall never forget the horrible days
"P. 81 hope your chest is better, as
you will probably have to come home
soon" and nights in the vile-smelling rat
infested hold of the ship, where we poor
dying soldiers were forced to spend our
time Ike and I slept in one small bunk
that we might use the two blankets in
the cold of that November voyage across
the Pacific.
Big Ike, grown feeble and gray of face
took his first walk in the biting air A
dark night. The slippery deck of the
steamer A high wave weak moan
The hungry greenness swallowed up Big
Ike I felt the grasp of the giants arm
of the long interval that followed my
memory refuses to go. l had CLEANS OF
consciousness when I found myself frozen
to immobility in spite of the two blankets
l would reach out for the curly mop OF
golden hair. Then the chill would come
and the rats with their red eyes in the
dimply-lighted hold. the wailing of the
ocean rocking its dead and the moaning,
concert of the ship
recined. propped by pillows, in the
wide window seat, as the moon peeped
over Franklin mountains. Pepita was pres
ent. though could not separate her from
In the misty moonlight the phantoms
gathered. Ike. my drowned companion
arose pale and massive Pepita's star-lkt
eyes shone upon him tenderly- Heaven
poured down vivid radiance. The light To-
cussed the holy face of white-rooed
Margarita- My soul thrilled with a voice