The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1918-08-23

I 5"ASo' AAiS ~ was GlIPkys lac lIhO lla
hot barrel In his hands; he dimly dis
tinguished Asensio welding his mach
etc. Then be found himself dowl
and half stunned. Something smot(
him heavily. at IaSt-whether 4 hoo1
or q gun-stock he could not tell and
next he was on a~ll-fours. trying to draa
himself out Of this rat-pit. But bis
limbs were Queerly rcballious. and h
was sick: he had never experienced
anything quite like this and he thought
hs must be wounded. II greatly sur.
prtsed him to nnd that he could strug.
gle upward through the brambles. even
though It wa hard work. Men were
fighting al around and below him,
meanwhile. and he wondered vaguely
what made them kill one another when
he and his negroes we're ali dead or
dying. 1t seemed very strange-of a
piece With the general u~nreality Of
things-and It troubled him not q lit
tie. One Of his arms was useless. he
discovered. and he realized with q curl
q shock that It was broken. He was
bleeding. too. from more than one
wound. but he could walk, after q
fashion.
He was inclined to stay and finish
the fight. but he recollected that Rosa
would be waiting for him and that he
must 60 to her. and so he set out
across the fields, staggering through
the charred cane stubble. The night
was not 50 black as It had been. and
this puzzled him until he saw that the
plantation house was ablaxe. Flames
were belching from its windows, cast
Ing abroad Q lurid radiance; and re.
memberfng Pancho Cueta, Esteban
laughed.
By and BY. after he was well away.
his numbness passed and he began to
suffer excruciating pain. The pain had
been there all the time, so it seemed
he was simply gaining the capacity to
feel it He was ready to die now, he
was SO i'll: moreover, his left arm
dangled and got in his way. Only that
subcOnscious realization OF the neces-
sity to keep going for Rosa's sake sus-
tanned him.
Daylight came at last to show him
his way. More than once he paused,
alarmed. ut voices In the woods, only
to 1nd that the sounds issued from his
own throat
It had grown very hot now. 20 hot
that heat-waves obscured his vision
and caused the most absurd forms t.
take shape. He began to hunt aimless.
II for water, but there was none. Evil
IDENTITY this heat had parched the land,
dried mp the streams, and set the
stones anre. Il vas incredible, but
true.
Esteban reasoned that he must be
near home BY this time, for he had
been travelling for days-for years. The
country, indeed. was altogether unfa-
miliar: he could not recall ever having
seea the path hs trod. but for that mat
ter everything was strange. In the
drSt place he knew that he was going
west, and Jet the morning sun persisted
in beating hotly int HE facet That
alone convinced him that things had
gone aw1y With the world He could
remember . great convulSon Of some
sort, but Just what It was he had NO
clear idea! Evidently. though. It had
been sufficient to change the rotation
Of the earth. Yes, that was It; the
earth was running backward upon tn
axis; hs co1ld actually feel II whirlins
under his feet No wonder his journey
seemed - loAg. He VA laboring over
. gigantic tFsadmill. balancing like an
e~Quilibrist upon q revolving sphere.
Well, Il was Q simple matter to stop
waking 1t down, and allow himself