The Cairo bulletin., 1909-03-18

ana rnu nuttons IN ms Guns. Won
| dered whether ii would be better 10 |
| poison him or cut out his heart with |
| big knife. | decided that the knife |
and the poison would be too quick and |
! | tried to think Of something else.
One day | went to Tondo 10 visit |
| some friends. | found them all weep |
ing bitterly, for the father of the fam
| ily, had the leprosy and the govern !
ment doctors were preparing to take |
| him away and burn the house. The |
| le0er was still in the house and a
guard would let no one near him.
! 1t was then that | made a plan. I
| did not want to kill Lieut.. White too
quickly | wanted to see him suffer.
| SO | thought | would try and steal
the leper's drinking cup and give if to
the lieutenant with water to drink
some night when he called to me- as
he often did, and said he was thirsty.
In that way he would become infected
with the leprosy.
Bnt | reasoned that If Lieut.. White
took the sickness he would soon be
sent away to Culion and | would not
see him die by inches on the lonely
island. If | wanted to witness his af-
Fiction | must also be sent TO Culion
as leper. AS my father and mother
were both dead | had nothing to make
me happy. What could give me more
ioy than TO see Lieut.. White falling TO
pieces?
While my friends were weeping |
! went up to the guard, and before he
knew what | was doing, | had rushed
past him and seized the leper in my
arms. | kissed the old man several
times on the mouth, as if bidding him
farewell, and when the guard came to
seize me slipped through his gloyed
hands and escaped through the win
dow.
Every day after that | examined my
body and my joy was great when
saw the shiny spots showing on my
| skin Then the whitish spots began to
come out on my limbs, and knew
that | was a leper.
Lieut.. White gave n dinner one
night to some OF his officer friends He
was going TO get married in few
months and the woman was soon to ar
rive on a transport.
| heard him tell them about the
house he had engaged that day, and of
the pleasant times his friends should
have there after he and Mrs White
came back from the journey of mar
riage to China.
They drank a great deal and it was
nearly day when the last cochero
drove away from the house. | put
Lieut.. White in his bed and he knew
nothing at all about it, or what hap
pened afterwards.
While he snored loudly, | prayed
that | might be successful. His
snores sounded like the r-r-r-rr-r-r-r-
of the awful gun which had killed my
father and mother. considered those
snores a good omen, and was sure
that the spirits of my father and
mother were pleased with what | was
doing
Until long after the daylight came
through the window sat on the side
| VI lllt uCh anu hlASfi lAlNht' " h''' '''
the mouth. He tried to brush me away
once, thinking that ] was a fly, and
then went on snoring like the rr-r-r-r-
r-r-r- gun.
| was afraid the liquor he had taken
would kill the poison of the leprosy, so
| scratched his wrist with pin and
held the cut to my mouth, Then
| Of tho
and let the blood trckle out on the
scratch on his wrist ! put the pin
point in Gne of the spots and then
scratched his gums with the pin. |
! gave praise to the saints for letting
me think of such excellent ways of
| making a man take the leprosy.
| lie called me in the afternoon and
felt very badly. He threw his shoes
} at me because | was slow in bringing
him his bathrobe, but / smiled at him
pleasantly.
The days went by. The white spots
, on my body were getting bigger, but
, was not concerned about them.
!, was wondering if Lieut.. White was a
loper,
Olt llibl hlllb llN Ahll'h w III N'''tN
he was at the bath. | had hidden the
soap He cursed me for my stupidity
in not keeping things where they be-
longed He was under the falling wa
: ter and did not see me smiling There
! were the beautiful patches of leprosy
on his shoulders Just beginning to
, come out good and strong. | was very
: happy.
, one day | heard him cry out in
alarm. Then he began to sob and
moan. Suddenly he reached for pis.
, tol and pointed it at his head, but il
had nothing in it. | had buried every
bullet in the house. Some officers
! going by heard him fighting with me
to get at his razor and soon
we were here at Culion.
gave myself up week after they
put him in the hospital. He thought
had taken the sickness from him. 50
he kept me for a servant and shared
| ., 4Isr NH