Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1907-09-27
CHAPTER XIII.

at last.
CHAPTER XIII.
Don Martial watched the various
movements of the capataz. Seeing at last
that he did not seem inclined to max the
confession he was SO impatiently await
ing, he touched him slightly. Carnero
started as if suddenly branded with a
hot iron.
.What you have to reveal to me must
be very terrible" the Tigrero at length
said in a low voice.
$50 terrible, my friend" the capataz
answered, that though alone with you
in this room l fear to tell it you"
The Tigrero shook his head sadly.
Speak, my friend" he said in a gentle
voice, II have suffered such agony during
the last few months that all the springs
of my soul ave been crushed by the fatal
pressure of despair"
'Yes, you are q man carved in granite.
I know that you have struggled triumph
antly against lost fortune; but, believe
me, Don Martial, there are suferings a
thousandfold more atrocious han DEATH"
1.-THE pity You testify for me is only
weakness. 1 cannot die before 1 have ac-
complished the task to which I have de-
VOIeu my WreIcHeu eAlStenCe. 1 nave
sworn, at the peril of my life, to protect
the girl who was betrothed to me-"
Garry out our oath, then, Don Mar
tial, for the poor child vas never in
greater peril than now"
What do You mean? For heavens
name explain yourself" the Tigrero said
passionately.
II mean that Don Sebastian covets the
---tA1 &c 1900. -
lessly and shamelessly laying aside all hui
man aspect. forgetting that the unfortu-
nate girl the law has confided to him is
insane. he coldly intends to become her
murderer"
"Go on, go on! what frightful scheme
can this man have formed?"
"Oh!" the capataz continued with saw
age irony; "the plan is simple, honest,
and highly praised by some persons"
Explain yourself"
well, now all, then: General Don
Sebastian Guerrero intends to marry his
ward"
Marry his ward. he" Don Martial ex-
claimed.
Yes. You little know this man. the
capataz repeated with a laugh. with the
implacable will, this wild beast with a
0uuAu lACct WIZ RbIilCSSly UIGdhS every
n who dares to resist him. He is re-
solved to marry his ward in order to strip
her OF her fortune, and he will do so, |
tell you. We nave now reached the point
I have been aiming at so long. Now
listen to me. I told you, I think. that on
her arrival in Mexico Dona Anita was
of the BE- uardines."
svns I forov Z c~p ro-ap,hor ,,o,
saying so."
Good! Dona Anita was received with
open arms by the good nuns. The young
lady, on again finding herself among the
companions of her childhood, treated with
calmness returning to her mind her grief
gave way to q gentle melancholy her
ideas, o%verthrown by a frightful catastro-
madness which shad spread it's black wings
over her brain was driven away by the
soft caresses of the nuns
$50, them, Don Martial exclaimed, "she
has regained her reasons"
II will not venture to assert that, for
she is still insane in the opinion of every
body
But in that CASE"
H III tAut SASCs as III tIC NOkiu DNACNSc
it, it must be so until the contrary is
proved"
but how did you learn all these de-
tails n
I'm the most simple name My mas
ter, Don Sebastian, has sent me several
times to the convent with messages, and
chance decreed that I recognized in the
Sister porter a relation of mine. The
worthy woman, in her delight, and per-
haps, too. to make up for the long silence
she is compelled to maintain. tells me
whenever she sees me all that is said and
done in the convent, and there is a good
deal to learn from the consa-sction OF a
nun. She takes a great interest in me,
and as l am fond of ner, too, ! listen to
her with pleasure
"Oh. go on! Go on"
well, this time I have nearly finished
1t appears. from what my relation tells
me. that the nuns and the Mother SD.
perior are utterly opposed to the generals
plans of marriage.
''Oh, the holy women! the Tigrero ex'
claimed with simple JOY.
Are they not?" the capataz said Will
a laugh. This is probably the reaso.
why they keep SO secret the return Of
their boarder to her senses, for they
doubtless hope that. SO long as the poo:
girl is mad, the general will not dare
contract the union he is meditating. I'm
fortunately they do not know the mar
with whom they have to deal and the
ferocious ambition that devours him an
ambition for the qualification of which
he will recoil from no crime. however
atrocious it may be-
.Alasv!' the Tigrero said. despairingly
"yon see, my friend, that 1 am lost"
Wait, wait, my good sir: your situa-
ton, perhaps, is not so desperate as yor
imagine it. Yesterday I went to the con
vent the Mostef Superior, to whom !,
had the nonor Of speaking, confided to ns
under the zeal OF secrecS-fox she know.