Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1915-10-14

Cuba
By MARTHA V. MONROE

q al DIV ulC I'LL ILL
infantry regiment in the Spanish war.
One day while he was on picket duty
the sun was hot, the insects were buzz
ing about him, and there was absolute
ly nothing to interest him. He sat
down on a stone. The hills, the blue
sky with a leecy cloud floating over it,
a meadow directly before him. all be-
came jumbled together.
The next thing Frank knew a Span
lard was kneeling over him holding a
knife within an inch of his throat. AS
soon as his eyes were opened, for he
had been asleep, the Spaniard, who
had possessed himself of the Ameri-
cans musket, made signs to him to
get up. When he had obeyed the Or
der his captor pointed down the hill
side. The pickets were badly posted,
and Franks supports did not see him
till be had gone some distance. 1t then
took them some time longer to consid-
er what their comrade was doing walk
ing down the hill followed by a man,
but supposed he was going down to
the brook for a drink Of water. By
the time they understood that Frank
was being marched away a prisoner
his captor was directly between them
and him, and they could not put a
bullet into II without endangering
the other. Then captive and captor
disappeared in a wood.
Fronly norr1noa uroc +olyo, rs n 1S++,o
village near by and lodged in a low
building, or, rather. clubhouse. 1t was
not fitted for a Jail, but a guard was
posted about it, and Frank would be
shot if he attempted to escape.
Frank was a handsome fellow, the
was very light and his eyes very blue.
The house in which he was confined
was directly back Of a little store
where pins, needles, thread, cakes, can
dy and fruit We're sold. The day after
his capture. looking out through a Win
in the back Of the store evidently
working on accounts. Presently she
looked up, and their eyes met.
A handsome boy of nineteen, looking
into the eyes of a pretty girl of fifteen
at any time is liable to kindle 4 spark.
This girl looked away, but not for long.
She was the only daughter Of a nan
who was fighting for Cuba against the
Spaniards. She and her mother attend
ed to the store, supporting a family of
small children. One day their neigh
borS began to crowd the store, making
purchases. There were not more than
Il hundred people in the village, and it
seemed that at least a third of these
were in constant need of something to
be bought at the store. Many of these
persons carried home their purchases,
but the children Of the ~storekeeper
were constantly going out with bun
dies.
This was noticed by the only Spanish
sympathiZer in the town, who lived
opposite the store, and he wondered
how it could be that the sleepy little
shop could SO suddenly have Weakened
up. The villagers were no richer. nor
was there any evidence that their ne
cessities were any greater than before,
and Yet they were all buying, some of
them many times Il day. AS for the
soldiers, they We're all Spaniards and
strangers, and, being hated by the peo-
pie as their enemies, they knew little
and cared less what was going Oh in
the town.
Meanwhile there were snatches Of
lovemaking between Frank Dorrance
and the Cuban girl, though there was
no means of communication between
them. Frank had picked up Il few
words Of Spanish and. having no ink.
cut his finger with a knife brought him
for meals. and with the blood made
an apology for a small message. But
the girl made signs for him to desist,
evidently fearing that he would be seen
by the guard.
One night Frank was awakened by Il
scratching sound under the door.
Thinking it was caused by rats, he
turned over and went to sleep again.
But the scratching continued and
sounded like an animal burrowing.
Frank listened awhile, then got up and
put his ear down to the floor. He
heard some n digging.
He sat on the side Of his bed and
tried to think out what it meant.
The floor was old and rotten. Sud-
denly he began to feel of it and found
directly above the sound a board that
he could pull up. This he did, and.
though the noise he made was slight,
the scratching ceased. But it soon be-
gan again, and Frank began to scoop
up the dirt under the floor where he
had removed the board. 1t was not
long before some Of the earth gave way
and Franks hand came in contact with
another hand much softer and smaller
than his own.
"Senor!!"
"Senorita!"
1t dawned on the soldier that the lit
tie Cuban girl had burrowed under the
ground to come to him. She had pre-
pared herself with enough English to
tell him to crawl through the tunnel