The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1918-08-22

full When I first saw, her bending over
me thought was dreaming. Some
times, even yet, 1 think she cannot be
real. But she IS, eh?'
''She is quite substantial O'ReIlly
smiled. 'All TIE sick fellows talk as
you do"
Esteban looked up quickly; his face
darkened. "She---er-nUrses others,
Ell? 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 news?"
Not yet, but we Will hear some be-
fore long I'm sure"
'YOur faith does as much for me as
this lady's care. But when you go
away, when I'm alone, when begin to
think"
Don't think too much don't permit
yourself to doubt" O'ReiIly said, quick
". "'Take my word for it, Rosa is alive
and Wen 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 know now and
everything that has happened to me-"
81 don't know how you came to be in
cell in San Antonio de los Banos, two
hundred miles from the place you were
killed. That is still a mystery"
cit is very simple, amigo. Let me
see: had finished telling you about
the fight at La Joya. was telling you
how tainted. Some good people found
me a few hours after 1 lost conscious
ness. They supposed had been at
tackled by guerrillas and left for dead.
Finding that still had life in me, they
took me home with them. They were
old friends from Matanzas by the
name of Valdes-cuItured people who
had fed the city and were hiding IN the
manigua like the rest of u.s."
mot VaIdes, the notary?"
1.-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 peOplei You see, had walked
east instead of west, and now I was
miles away from home. and the coun-
| try between was swarming with Span
iards who were burning, destroying,
killing. You wouldn't know Matanzas,
O'Reilly. 1t is a desert
ST finally became able to drag myself
around the hut But had no means
OF sending word to Rosa, and the I'M
certainty nearly made me crazy. My
clothes had rotted from me; my bones
were Just under the skin. must have
been a shocking sight. Then one day
there came fellow travelling east with
messages for Gomez. He was one OF
Lopez men, and he told me that Lo-
peg had gone to the RubI Hills with
Maceo, and that there were none of
our men left in the province. He told
me other things, too. 1t was from him
that 1 learned" Esteban Varona's
thin hands clutched the edges OF his
hammock and he rolled his head weak
" from side to side. at was he who
told me about Rosa He said that Cob0
had ravaged the Yumuri and that my
sister-was goneI"
saThere, there We know better now
O'ReIlly said, soOthingly.
cit was a hideous story, a story OF
rape, murder. 1 wonder that didn't
go mad. It never occurred TO me to
doubt, and as a matter Of fact the fel
low was honest enough he really be
Heved what he told me. After the
man had finished 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. 1 was free to enlist, since ]
Join our forces IN the Orient.
, THAT Is how you found me In this
proytnce. Lopez man never delITeceC