Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1902-02-06

one. man, woman and child. seemed to
believe 1t depended wholly upon their
individual efforts to make the affair
success.
This aspect of the Central American
character struck Overton even more
forcibly than the peculiar tactics OF
the days battle. AS an artist he could
the bizarre and remarkable, and hence
quickly determined to accept the warm
invitation OF his friend, General BarrA-
10, to visit the public hail. In order to
see still more of the singular habits
and customs of this hotblooded peo-
pie, with whom he had, at least for the
time being, cast his fortunes.
There are times in the lives of all
men when they appear to be mere crea-
lures of circumstances, buffeted upon
a sea of chance. and yet, upon looking
back, one can say that all these events
were not links in a chain that bon
his fortunes, and the absence of any
one would mean the wreck of his ship.
Overton believed-indeed, he often
swore the fact over and over again to
himself-that his heart was dead so
far as the fair sex was concerned-be
that as ii might, ii forced no barrier
to the instinct that bade him as an ar
fist look a second and third time at
the queen of the dance. about whom
to breathlessly center.
She was a magnificent creature, this
daughter of the south, of graceful
mien and dazzling loneliness, formed
in the most voluptuous mold of Iber
ian beauty, whose complexion showed
every violet vein through it's veil of
luscious brown. Her hair was such
as Athene herself might have envied"
for tint. and mass, and ripple. Her
eyes blazed like diamonds from a cav
ern, while her lips pouted of them
selves, by habit, or nature, into a per-
petual kiss. The excitement of the
dance had called the carmine into her
cheeks until it put to blush the Grim
son flowers of the grenadine with
which her black hair was wreathed.
Her eyes blazed with fire bred of the
fierce measures and the ardent pas.
sions of the tropics.
More than once her dusky orbs met
the admiring glance of the artist, and
he could see the invitation extended
in the impassioned look she gave him,
but each time he shook his head and
smiled.
AS the dance went on, the crowd
about the estrada resolved itself into
two factions, each led by a richly
dressed young patrician, both of whom
were evidently aspirants for the hand
of the bewitching Gree. The women
dancing upon the estrada chartered
among themselves evidently jealous of
the attention paid to Dona Juanita,
the beautiful one, who, proud and pal
pitating, clearly felt the power which
made her the beauty queen of the fies-
ia. The rival lovers from their places
on opposite sides Of the estrada,
scowled ominously, and spoke slight
ingly of each others bravery and cour-
age. Thei radherents caught up the
refrain until taunts and jeers were
freely banded between them. 1t was
apparent that the storm was about to
burst, when suddenly the music
stopped and there came a cry of;
"Chammara Machete!" (Sash and
sword.)
At the sound the men exchanged
looks of evident satisfaction, and the
women left the estrada taking up po-
"a II
but Gree. That superb, self-contained
figure stood upon the hard-stamped
floor like a living Venus of flushed
bronze her complexion heightened by
the dance, her bright eyes cleaning
like coal. Her tiny feet still kept in
motion, though the dance had ceased,
seeming to await impatiently the be
ginning of the new measure.
1t soon came.
(To be continued