Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1913-05-21

probably stolen at the market. he
stopped down and kissed them on
the forehead.
Then he padlocked the door to be
alone and took his station by the side
of the little cot; and the morning
passed as the night had, and he felt
himself slowly becoming mad In the
afternoon a thought made his heart
thump.
At Sibalay, twenty miles below
the mouth of the Hog, there was
then a post of native constabulary,
and once every two months a launch
from Olo-Ilo came to stock it with
provisions. He had made a note of
the dates the boat was to come. He
looked among his papers and found
it. 1t was due that very day. Since
morning, while he sat stupid there,
the boat had been discharging cargo;
that very evening it would leave for
Ilo-Ilo, and in Ilo-Ilo there we're
Americans, doctors, hospitals, hope.
And there was still a chance The
boat, in it's course back to Ilo-Ilo,
There might be time to intercept it,.
He ran out of the house and down
to the river, and the best he could
find after All hours search were two
old hancas, mouldy and full of
water, but he dashed them together.
Then he stormed at the Casa Popu-
lar till they gave him the town pris-
oners, villainous six. He then had
his wife carried on her cot to the
boat, and they started down the riv-
| er.
From the beginning everything
went wrong. He had counted upon
the swollen river current; he found
that the sea tide was on the food
and backing it up. The impressed
prisoners were sullen, and after he
saw that promises of reward had no
effect he made them work with his
revolver at their backs.
Thus they went down the river,
between the high palm-lined banks,
the boats leaking, the tide purring
against them, the men straining with
fear upon them and he standing at
the stern, tense as maniac, feeling
hope slowly and inexorably slipping
from him. And all the time, from
the cot at the bottom of the boat,
came the soft, continuous, patient
little plant.
When they reached the mouth of
the river the surf was booming on
the bar and they could not cross. 1t
was dark, and in the distance red
, and a green light were passing slow
ly. on s
y They padded back five miles up the
, river to the pueblo of Hog and camp
ed in the deserted convent. Toward
midnight White, the constabulary Of
ficer, came along. He was on his
way to Sibalay. noe
The two men had long confer
ence. Then White impressed two car
ibaos from the presidente and start
ed off in a drilling rain. There
was an army wagon with two Amer
lean horses at Sibalay and he was
going after them. With the wag-
on, Delaroche could perhaps make
Pulupondan, sixty miles to the north
and catch the little steamer that
piled between that town and Ilo-Ilo.
All night Delaroche sat by the bed
of his wife in the big, empty, ruined
convent. Once, toward dawn, she
started up suddenly and he caught
her. 'Laddie, laddie!" she cried
with a great joy in her voice, as she
felt his presence. Then she fell
back into the stupor.
At noon the wagon came, driven
by an old army packer, long, lanky
westerner. The cot was placed upon
it and fastened and they started. 1t
was in the midst of the rainy season
the roads were bottomless, and pro-
gress was fearfully slow. At Hima-
maylan, fifteen miles from the start,
the horses were SO plainly given out
that they had to stop. They passed
the night in the hut of the presidente.
The driver cooked their own food and
Delaroche filled the canteens with
boiled water for the morrow, for
lthey were on the edge of the cholera
/, district. His wife was in the same
condition.
They started early the next NOR
ming, but calamities began to over
take them. They were mired for an
hour soon after the start. Near
Binalbagan the off-horse dropped, |
foundered. They stole caribaos
from the fields and went on. Dark
ness overlook them at Jinagaran, and
they had gone only ten miles.