The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1918-10-04
CHAPTER XVII.
Roea

'Tookl" Jacket clutched at O'Reilly
and pointed q shaking finger. "More
beggars! Christie! And those little
children 7" The boy tried to laugh. but
his voice cracked nervously. "Are they
children. or gourds with legs under
them?"
O'Reilly looked, then turned his
eyes away. he and Jacket had reached
the heart Of Matanxas and were facing
the public square, the Plaza de la Lib
ertad It vas called. Matanzas ap-
peared poor and squalid, depressingly
wretched; its streets were foul and
the Plaza dc Ia Libertad-grim mock
cry Of q namrwas crowded with a
throng such as It had never held In
O'Rellly's time. . throng Of people who
were. without exception, gaunt, list
less, ragged. There wa no afternoon
parade Of nneFy. no laughter. no noise;
the benches were full, but their occu-
pants were silent, too sick or too weak
to move. Nor were there any romping
children. There were, to beasure, vast
numbers df undersised figures In the
square, but one needed to look twice
to realise that they were not pygmies
or wisened little old folks. It was not
strange that Jacket had compared
them 20 gourds with legs, for all were
naked, and most Of them had bodies
swollen into the likeness Of pods or
calabashea. They looked peculiarly
grotesque with their spidery legs and
thin faceAs
O'Reilly passed = damp hand across
his eyes. "Just Heaven" he breathed.
"She-she's one Of thessr"
The reconcentrados overran Natan.
zas In m unclean swerm; streets and
plaxas were congested with them. for
no attempt was made to confine them
to their quarters. Btoraing brought
them streaming down from the SUBJ
urban slopes where they lived, evening
sent them winding bsek; their days
were spent In an aimsess search for
food. They snatched 1t crumbs and
combed the cutters for crusts. How
they managed to exist. whence came
the food that kept life II their miser-
able bodies WAS . mystery, even to
the citizens Of the city: no organized
effort had been made to cere for them
and there was insufficient surplus food
for half their number. Yet somehow
they lived and fingered On.
At the time Of O'Reijly's arrival the
sight presented BY these innocent vic
Tins Of war was appalling; II reused
In him q dull red rage at the power
which had wrought this crime and st
the men who permitted It to continue.
Spain was . Christian nation, he re-
11ected: she had Get mp more crosses
than any other, and yet beneath them
she had butchered more people than all
the nations Of the earth combined.
This monstrous, coldly calculating eff
fort to destroy the entire Cuban people
seemed to him the blacklist infamy Of
all, and he wondered Il It would be IL
lowed to succeed.
Fortunately FOR thu two friends, Gen
eral Betancourt's generosity served to
relieve them from any immediate dam
ger Of starvation. After making I few
and eating with the utmost
frugality. they began their search.
Later they stretched themselves ont to
sleep on the stones beneath the p~ortales
At the railroad station.
They spent 4 horrid, narrowing night,
Tor now the general distress was
brought homo TO them more poignant
y than ver At dawn they learned
that these people were actually dying
Of neglect. The faint light betrayed
the presence Of new .corpses lying
upon the station flagstones. From
those still living, groans, signs. sick
mutterings 81 until O'Reflly finally
dragged his youthful companion out Of
the place.
GRO I'm CoNTINUED.l
Deg 10 Mans Friend.
However much or little the average
dog Gusts he pays back to humanity
n--