Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1918-07-25

admOn1tlOnS OF his nurse.
Johnnie O'Reilly had just babe them
both a hearty good morning and now
Norine was saying: One hour, no
more You had a temperature again
last night, and it came from talking too
much. Remember, it takes me just one
hour to make my rounds, and If you
are not through with your tales of
blood and battle when I get back you'll
have to finish them tomorrow" With
a nod and a smile she left.
AS Esteban looked after her his
white teeth cleaned and his hollow
face lit up.
"She brings me new life" he told
O'Reilly. "She is so strong, so healthy,
so full Of life herself. She is wonder
full! When I first saw her bending over
me I thought I was dreaming. Some
times, even yet, I think she cannot be
real. But she is, eh?
"She is quite substantial" O'Reilly
smiled. GAIL the sick fellows talk as
you do"
Esteban looked up quickly; his face
darkened. "She-er-nurses others,
eh? I'm not the only one?"
"Well, hardly"
There was a brief pause; then Este
ban shifted his position and his tone
changed. "Tell me, have you heard
any newsy
"Not yet, but we will hear some be-
fore long I'm sure"
"Your faith does as much for me as
away, when I'm alone, when I begin to
think"
"Don't think too much; don't permit
yourself to doubt" O'Reilly said, quick
ly. "Take my word for it, Rosa is alive
and We'll find her somewhere, some
how. General Gomez will soon have
word of her. That's what I've been
waiting for-that and what you might
have to tell me-"
"You know all that I know now and
everything that has happened to me-"
II don't know how you came to be in
a cell in San Antonio de los Banos, two
hundred miles from the place you were
killed. That is still a mystery"
1T Is very simple, amigo. Let me
see: I had finished telling you about
the fight at La Joya. I was telling you
how I tainted. Some good people found
me a few hours after I lost conscious
ness. They supposed I had been at
tackled by guerrillas and left for dead.
Finding that I still had life in me, they
took me home with them. They were
old friends from Matanzas by the
name Of Valdes-cultured people who
had fled the city and were hiding in the
manigua like the rest Of u.s."
"Not Valdes, the notary?"
"The very same. Alberto valdes and
his four daughters. Heaven guided
them to me. Alberto was an old man ;
he had hard work to provide food for
his girls. Nevertheless, he refused to
abandon me. Oh, they were faithful,
patient people! You see, I had walked
east instead of west, and now I was
miles away from home, and the coun-
try between was swarming with Span
lards who were burning, destroying,
killing. You wouldn't know Matanzas,
OReilly. It is a desert
II finally became able to drag myself
around the hut. But I had no means
Of sending word to Rosa, and the un-
certainty nearly mate me crazy My
clothes had rotted from me; my bones
were just under the skin. I must have
been a shocking sight. Then one day
there came a fellow travelling east with
messages for Gomez. He was one of
Lopez men, and he told me that Lo-
pei had gone to the Ruh Hills with
Maceo. and that there were none of
our men left in the province. He told
me other things, too. It was from him
that 1 learned" Esteban Varona's
thin hands clutched the edges Of his
hammock and he rolled his head weak
ly from side to side. 1T was he who
told me about Rosa. He said that Cobo
had ravaged the Yumuri and that my
sister-was gone!"
"There, there! We know better now"
O'Reilly said, soothingly.
1T was a hideous story, a story of
rape, murder. I wonder that I didn't
go mad. 1t never occurred to me to
doubt, and as a matter of fact the fell
low was honest enough; he really be-
lieved what he told me. After the
man had finished I felt the desire to
| get away from all I had known and
loved, to leave Matanzas for new fields
and give what was left Of me to the
cause. I was free to enlist, since ]
couldn't reach Lopez, and I came to
join our forces in the Orient.
"That is how you found me in this
province. Lopez man never delivered
these dispatches, for we were taken
crossing the trocha-at least I was
taken, for Pablo was killed. They'd
have made an end Of me, too, l dare
say, only I was so weak. 1t seems q
century since that night. My memory
doesn't serve me very well from that
point, for they Jailed me, and l grew
worse. I was out Of my head a good
ianl."