Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1918-04-23

sorry for what l did. 1t is you who have
done wrong. Your soul is black with
this crime. Where is my girl?"
"The devil! To hear you talk one
would think you were free man." The
planters eyes were bleared and he
brandished his riding-whip threaten
ingly. Il do as please with my slaves.
I tolerate no insolence. Your girl?
Well, she's in the house of Salvador,
longs"
Sebastian had hung sick and limp
against the grating, but at these words
he suddenly reused. He strained at
his manacles and the bars groaned I'M
der his weight. His eyes began to roll,
his lips drew back over his blue gums.
Noting his expression of ferocity, Este
ban cut at his naked back with the
ridingwhip, crying:
"Ho! Not subdued yet, Ell? You
need another f1ogging."
Course you and all that is yours"
roared the maddened slave. May you
know the misery you have put upon
me. May you rot for a million years in
hell. May your children's bodies grow
filthy with disease; may they starve;
may they"
Sebastian was yelling, though his
voice was hoarse with pain. The lash
drew blood with every blow. Mean
while, he wrenched and tugged at his
bonds with the fury OF maniac.
pablo Your machete, quick ~
painted the slaveowner. 'Ill make an
end of this black fiend once for ALL"
Esteban varona's guests had looked
on at the scene with the same mild in
terest they would display at the whip
ping of a balky horse; and, now that
the animal threatened to become dan
gerouS, it was in their view quite the
proper thing to put it out of the way.
Don Pablo Pea stepped toward his
mare to draw the machete from its
scabbard. But he did not hand it to
his friend. He heard shout, and
turned in time to see a wonderful and
terrible thing.
Sebastian had braced his naked feet
against the wall; he had bowed his
back and bent his massive shoulders
"a back and a pair of shoulders that
looked as bony and muscular as those
of an OX-and he was heaving with
every ounce of strength in his enOr-
nous body. AS Pablo stared he saw
the heavy grating come away from its
anchorage in the solid masonry, as q
shrub is uproOted from soft ground.
The rods bent and twisted; there was
! a clank and rattle and clash of metal
upon the flags; and then-Sebastian
turned upon his tOrmentOr free man.
save only for the wide iron bracelets
and their connecting chain. He was
quite insane. His face was frightful to
behold; it was apelike in its animal
rage, and he lowered above his master
like some tabled creature out of the
African jungle of his forefathers
| Sebastian's fists alone would have
| been formidable weapons, but they
were armored and weighted with the
old-fashioned, hand-wrought irons
which Pancho Cueto had locked upon
them. Wrapping the chain in his fin
gers the slave leaped at Esteban and
struck, once. The sound of the blow
was sickening, for the whole bony
structure of Esteban Varona's head
gave way.
There was a Mortified cry from the
other white men. Don Pablo Pea ran
forward, shouting He swung his
machete. but Sebastian met him before
the blow could descend, and they went
down together upon the hard stones.
Again Sebastian smote, with his mas
sive hands wrapped in the chain and
his wrists encased In steel, and this
! time it was as if Don Pablo's head had
been caught between a hammer and an
anvil. The negros strength, exceptional
at all times, was multiplied tenfold; he
had run amuck. When he arose the
machete was in his grasp and Don
PablO'S brains were on his knuckles.
1t all happened in far less time than
it takes to tell. The Onlookers had not
yet recovered from their first conster-
nation; in fact they were still fumblng
and Juggling at whatever weapons they
carried, when Sebastian came toward
them, brandishing the blade on high
Pedro Miron, the advocate, was the
third to fall. He tried to scramble out
of the Negroes path. but. being an old
man, his limbs were too stiff to serve
him and he went down shrieking.
BY now the horses had caught the
scent of hot blood and were plunging
fuTsfpnSlV hn O1O Of
mingling with the blasphemies of the
riders while Seba stian's beStial roar
ing made the coTnmotion even more
hideOuS.
Esteban's guests fought as much for
their lives as for vengeance upon the
slayer, for Sebastian was like a gorilla :;
he seemed intent upon killing them all.
He vented his fury upon whatever
came within his reach; he struck at
men and animals alike and the shrieks
of wounded horses added to the din.
1t was a frightful combat 1t seemed
incredible that one man could work
such dreadful havoc in so short time.
Varona and two of his friends were
dead; two more We're badly wounded.
ana PERUVIAN stallion lay kicking on
the tagging when Col. Mendoza Y Lin
ares finally managed to get bullet
home in the black mans brain.
Those who came running to learn
the cause of the hubbub turned away
sick and pallid. for the paved yard was
a shambles. Pancho Cueto called upon
the slaves to help him, but they skunk
back to their quarters, dumb with ter
ror and dismay.
All that night people from the town
below came and went and the quinta
resounded to sobs and lamentations.
but of all the relatives of the dead and
wounded, Donna Isabel took her be-
reavement hardest. Strange to say.
she could rot be comforted. Now. when
it was too late, she realized that she