Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1905-10-14
DAILY SHORT STORY
MAJOR ANGELO.

after the close of hot weather 1 was
not there in vacations. During this Pc
riod l understood that my sister had u
love affair, but since she was older
than / and was at an age when mel
Their my sympathy nor my judgment
was in demand very little was said to
me about the affair
4 few years later the Spanish-Amerf
can war broke out, and /. being lieu
tenant in the national guard, went out
10 fight the dons. In the very first en-
counter i'll which l took part l was
wounded and taken prisoner. 1 had the
good fortune to be located near one OF
the best Spanish hospitals. to which 1
was taken and treated with every at
tention. One morning the officer of the
day went through the ward where /
was lying in company with the sur
geon. When the officer passed my bed
/ noticed that my face caught his at
tention. Indeed he stared at me as If
he had known me before, The next
day l received a basket of fruit TO
which was attached the card of Major
Adelberto Angelo.
Major Angelo came to see me every
day after that and loaded me with at
tentionS Naturally / became very
fond of him. / endeavored to gain from
him the cause of his having noticed
me and of his attentions. but failed
signally He declared that it was the
result of fancy. The intimacy lasted
five weeks. at the end of which time L
was discharged from the hospital and
very soon after exchanged
The next time i saw Angelo he was
lying mortally wounded on the battle
field. We were pressing the Spaniards
before Santiago, and having cleared
a way directly In front of our regi-
ment with n Gatling gun we pushed
forward over field. Stepping over
what l supposed was corpse. l
glanced down to be sure that l should
not touch IL. and looked into the livid
face of Major Angelo. 1t was not per-
missible for me TO leave my company.
but | did. STOPPING. l raised his head.
Angelo opened his eyes, and Il loving
smile told me that he recognized me.
l saw him try TO move his lips to speak,
but the effort was u failure. Then he
fell Sack-dead.
l went home, like most of my COM
rades, sick, but 1t was not long be-
fore l WAS on my feet again and
joined the family in October in Wash
ington. My sister hal for some time
been going into IA decline, and my
mother forbade me to excite her with
accounts of my war experiences, espe-
cially my stay in hospital. When l
went into Adele'S room to greet her
after my long and eventful absence, l
lot ha .1,n
1t was Il hungry look. II look as If l
might have news to tell her that she
lOnged to hear. / was shocked ut her
appearance. and saw that she was
doomed. She wished me to talk about
the war. but i agreed with my mother
that it would not be we'll to do SO. and,
though Adele kept turning to 1t, i
held TO other topics. Indeed. on ac
count of my sisters condition, | was
not asked to recount wars horrors, as
most of my comrades were. and l was
glad of 1t. Such experiences are more
agreeable TO the narrator when mel
lowed 10y distance. and in my case,
with the shadow of death over us, i
did not wish TO dwell upon them.
One day l was sitting by Adeles
les when she said suddenly:
You were wounded and taken to a
hospital when you We're in Cuba,
weren't yOu?"
Yes"
And Spaniard was very kind to
you:"
Yes. But you have heard nothing
about it from me or from father or
mother, because l have not told them
a word about it, How did you
Hush. Don't tell them that / men
toned it,"
But tell me-
At the moment mother came into the
room and broke in upon my question.
The next time l was alone with Adele
/ endeavored 10 reopen the subject, but
an expression passed over her face
that warned me to desist, and i never
referRd 10 il again.
One evening between day and dark
1 was passing through the lower hall
when i saw a figure of a man come
in at the front door Since his back
was to the light, / could not see his
face. but IL was familiar. He appear
ell to be gentleman and walked
through the hall as if perfectly famil-
lar with the premises. For this reason
did not regard him as a thief; but per-
mitted him TO go where he liked. fol
lowing him from a distance He mount
ed the staircase. and 1 noticed that
though there was but the bare wood to
walk on his step was so light that
did not hear IL. He was considerably
in advance OF me and had turned and
disappeared down the upper hall be-
fore l reached the top OF the staircase.
When / did reach it he was nowhere
TO be seen. He must have entered
some room on that floor. and since
Adele's was one OF them l hurried to- ;
ward il. Just before reaching her door.
which stood open. l heard the word,
SpOkeQ I'm a voice familiar IN mo-