The Red Cloud chief., 1918-06-20

TO STOUT; ne was too Desperately IA.
gagged. His rifle was empty, he had It's
hot barrel In his hands: he dimly dig.
tingnished Asenslo welding his mach
etc. Then he found himself down
and half stunned. Something smote
him heavily, at last-whether a hoof
or a gun-stock he could not tell and
next he was on all-fOurs, trying to drag
himself out of this rat-pit. But his
limbs were queerly rebcllious, and he
was sick; he had never experienced
anything quite like this and he thought
he must be wounded. II greatly sur
priSed him to find that he could strug-
gle upward through the brambles, even
though II was hard work. Men we're
fighting all around and below him,
meanwhile, and he wondered vaguely
what made them kill one another when
he and his negroes were all dead or
dying. It seemed very strangc-of a
piece with the general unrenlity of
t~hlngs-und 1t troubled him not a lit
tie. One of his arms was useless, he
discovered, and he realized with a curl
Gus shock that II was broken. He was
bleeding, too. from more than n
wound, but he could walk, after a
fashion.
He was inclined to stny and finish
the fight, but he recollected that Rosa
would be waiting for him and that he
must go to her, and so he set out
across the fields, staggering through
the charred cane stubble. The night
was not so black as 1t had been, and
this puzzled him until he saw that the
plantation house was ablaze. Flames
were belching from Its windows. cast.
Ing abroad a lurid radiance; and re-
~membering Pancho Cueto. 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 1t. lie was ready to die now he
was so i'll; moreover, his left arm
dangled and got I'm his way. Only that
subconsclOus realization Of the neces-
sity to keep going for Rosa's sake sus-
tanned him.
Daylight came ut last to show him
his way. More than one he paused,
alarmed, at voices in the woods, only
to find that the sounds issued from his
own throat.
1t had grown very hot now, so hot
that heat-waves obscured his vision
and caused the most absurd forms to
take shape. He began to hunt aimless.
ly for water, but there was none. Evi.
IDENTIFY this heat had parched the land,
dried up the streams, and set the
stones afire. 1t was incredible, but
true.
Esteban reasoned that he must be
lear 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
seen the path he trod. but for that mat
first place he knew that he was goinl
west, and yet the morning sun persisted
in beating holly into his face! ThaI
alone convinced him that things hat
gone awry with the world. He coul(
remember a great CONFUSION of som,
sort, but just what it was he had NJ
clear idea! Evidently, though, 1t hat
been sufficient to change the rotation
Of the earth. Yes, that was 1t; thu
earth was running backward upon III
axis; he could actually feel 1t whirlin,
under his feet. No wonder his %journe.
seemed so long. He was laboring owe
a gigantic treadmill. balancing like al
equilibrist upon a revolving sphere
Well, 1t was a simple matter to stoI
walking, sit down, and allow himsel