The Central Nevadan. [volume] (Battle Mountain, Nev.) 1885-1907, 1903-04-02
UNDER TWO FLAGS

Z violent clash on her love for the
nopulace and their liberty.
She looked a moment longer through
the gilded scrollwork. then thrust her
pistols well within her sash aud, push
Ing herself through the prickly cactus
hedge, launched herself with mimi
table dexterity OF to the other side OF
the cncti. She crossed the breadth OF
the grounds under the heavy shade Of
arbutus trees with a hare's fieetness,
and stood a second looking at the open
windows and the terraces that lay
before them. brightly lighted by the
summer moon and by the lamps that
tparkled among the shrubs. Then
down she dropped. as quickly, as
lightly, as a young setter.
ABR she said, quickly and sharply,
with n deep drawn breath. The single
ejaculation was at once a menace. a
tenderness. a whirlwind of rage. q vol
ume of disdain. a world Of pity. 1t
was intensely French. and the whole
nature of Cigarette was in 1t.
Yet all she saw was q small and bril-
liant group sauntering to and fro be-
fore the open windows after dinner.
listening to the bands and laughing low
and softly, and at some distance from
them. beneath the shade Of a cedar. the
figure Of a corporal OF chasseurs. calm.
erect. motionless, as though he were
the figure of q soldier cast In bronze.
"a srx~ .11Itz.tt 11,z n.,ow1I xrI,orn
she lay among the rhododendrons, while
her eyes grew very soft as she gave the
highest word of praise that her whole
range of language held. "a true SOL
der! How he keeps his promise. But
It must be bitter"
the chasseur where he stood under the
Lebanon boughs: then her glance swept
bright as q hawks over the terrace and
lighted with a president hatred on the
central form of oil, a woman's. There
were two other great ladies there. but
she passed them and darted with un-
errIng instinct on that proud, fair, pa
trician head with Its naughty, staglike
carriage and the crown Of its golden
hair.
Cigarette had seen grandes DANES by
the thousand. but now for the first time
the sight of one of those aristocrats
smote her with q keen. hot sting Of
heartburning jealousy. with a sudden
perception. quick as thought. bitter as
gall. wounding and swift and poignant,
Of what this w~omanhood that he had
said she herself had lost might be in
its highest and purest shape.
"Unsexed-he said | was u~nsexed,"
she unused. while her teeth clinched on
the ruby fullness of her lips. and her
heart swelled half with lmpotent rage.
half with unconfessed pain. For the
first time looking on this imperial for
eIgn beauty. sweeping SO slowly and so
idly along there In the Algerian star
light. she understood all that she had
missed. all that he had meant when he
had used that single word for which
she had vowed on him her vengeance
and the vengeance of the army Of AZ
rica.
III those are the women that lie
knew before he came here. | do not
wonder that he never cared to watch
even my dance" was the latent. unac
knowledged thought that was SO cruel
to her: the consciousness which
forced itself in on her while her eyes
jealousy followed the perfect grace of
the one In whom instinct had found
her rival-that. while she had beer SO
proud of her recklessness and her dew
llty and her troopers slang and her
deadly skill as a shot. she had only
been something very worthless. some-
thing very lightly held by those who
liked her for u riba!d jest. a dance and
a spahis' supper Of headlong riot and
drunken mir,h.
The mood did not last. She was too
brave. too fiery. too dauntless. too un-
tanned. "Eah. She would faint. | dare
say. at the mere sight Of these pistols"
she thought. with her old disdain. and
would stand fire no more than u gu