El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-12-19

4 4 Z IT o@-AQ 4uAAAtNAAs 1 nave
M a strange presentiment- Do
w not leave the house and DO
not let the boy run about in the noun
tains"
Peter a boy of abO1t eight years.
Strengthened himself up proudly and
slapped two wooden pistols he carried
in his belt
"Oh. an not afraid Of anyone he
said.
Mitch took his son into his arms
looked at him, with an expression OF
fatherly love and pride, then repeating
his warning to his wife, mounted his
mule and soon disappeared around
bend of the road
Mitch and his wife lived in one OF
the little MOntenegrin hamlets on the
frontier, which are continually at
tackled and plundered by murderous,
bloOdthirsty Arnauts-
Just as the sun was about to set
behind the white clouds, Maria went
to the cistern- She had barely reached
it when she heard terrible cries from
the mountains and a crowd Of horror
stricken women, old men and children
fled by Ike flock Of sheep pursued
by wolves.
E'1The Arnauts are coming" she
thought, and ran towards her home
Trembling, half dead with fear, she
cried: Peter, Peter"
there appeared before her in the door
way Of her house a big brute of an
Arnaut with bloOdshot eyes and hands
dripping with blood
After two days absence BdiIitch was
returning to his home village. Two
shorten the distance he took a steep
and narrow short cut, a mere trail i'm
passable to wagons. From time to
time he stopped and gazed down into
the valley, trying to make out the
clump OF houses Of which his hamlet
consisted A heavy smoke prevented
him from seeing them, and while ne
hurried the pace of his mule, he asked
himself what this smoke meant A
dog was bowling for the dead some
where in the mountains and the sound
filled his heart with strange fears,
which increased as he neared his home.
Suddenly the blood froze in his veins
Was this the Yillage2 These blood
stained walls and smoking ruins?
The Arnauts have been here" ne
reared He ran forward like a mad
man, his eyes staring wildly at the
CHASTITY scenes Of murder and devas-
tatiOn- Sitting crouched upon the
ruins Of what had once been his cot
tage, was his wife, her dress torn into
tatters, her eyes burning with fever,
and tears and in her lap she was
rocking a lifeless form
There was no need to ask how the
thing had happened He was only sur
prise6 TO find his wife alive when the
boy was dead Grinding his teeth and
shaking his clenched fist in. the direc-
ton Of the mountains OF Abanis. ne
cried:
you dogs Of Arnauts. I swear not
10 give myself an hours rest until I
have revenge.
Months passed Mitch and the su--
vivors OF the massacre found courage
to rebuild their cottage and life went
on as If nothing had happened. Maria
gave birth to another child who was
his dead brother, Peter and 10 this
Mitch attributed the fact that he felt
no love Of the boy.
Simon became a herdsman's appren-
tice. Silent and backward in his man
ners he always avoided the company
Of the other children OF the village
and when he sometimes watched them
playing a strange expression OF cruelty
came into his eyes-he seemed to hate
them an.
Sixteen years had passed since the
Arnauts had sacked and burnt down
the village, when one morning the
rUmOr spread that war had been de-
clared, or was about to be declared.
The heart OF Mitch filled with a
fierce JOY, and be began to think OF
his dead son. Peter and OF the re-
venge he had sworn
Peter would have been "a years old
now he thought, and a fine warrior
he would have made He would have
SimOn-Where was he nOW2 No doubt
he was hiding somewhere, Ike the
coward he was
Mitch sharpened his kandjar. took
down his rifle from the hook and
went out with the rest OF the men
from the village to guard the noun
tain paths and passes which the Ar
nauts would try to get possession OF
before the war was declared
He had been guarding a trail for
some hours, when Militch's traine&
ears caught a suspicious noise from
the Albanian side OF the mountain
With his rifle in his hand and the
kandjar between his teeth, he watched
his eyes staring into the darkness.
Soon he saw a moving shadow ap-
preaching. followed by another and
still another Militch raised his gun
and fired The report went thunder
ing through the mountains. Then
there was silence once more
The Arnauts had fled and Mitch
went forward to examine the trail
Some distance away a dying body was
writhing IN the last spasms Of agony.
An expression OF ferOcious Joy came
into the face Of the MOutenegrin.
SEEKING his victim by the hair, he
cut the head off and brought It TO his
cottage as a trophy
Here is the first one" he cried.
holding up the CHASTITY head Maria.
who sat at the fire dreaming, raised
her head Then she turned 1ivid and
began TO tremble all over. She WrunS
her hands and mOaned. Simon, poor
SimonP'
He took the head between his hands
and held II closer to the fhckeriRS
flame of the old copper lamp
"Oh, GodF' he cried, and his eyes
dilated with horror. 1T is truei 1t is
he, Simon. The traitor. He was with
a gang OF Arnauts and was guiding
them"
FsIPFRFAT, FAMILY OEr CHINA