Evening star., 1918-02-03
Copyright. 1915. by Harper & Bros.)

outrage women-why. that violates all
Ethics" the colonel cried. harshly.
Ethics? He'll is without ethics. Why
look for ethics in war? Violence-in1us-
-insanity-chaos-that is war. 1t is
mans agony-woman's despair. 1t is a
defiance of God War is without mercy.
without law: it is-well. 1t is the absence
of all law, all good.
There was a considerable silence. Then
Lopez went on In another key.
I'VE Cubans carry heavy hearts. but
our wrongs have made us mighty, and
our sufYerings have made us brave. Here
in the orient we do well enough: but, be-
lieve me, you cannot imagine the DESC
lation and the suffering farther west
whole provinces made barren and their
inhabitants either dead or dying The
world has never seen anything like Wey-
ler's slaughter of the innocents. If
there is indeed a God-and sometimes I
doubt it-He will not permit this horror
to continue; from every pool OF Cuban
blood another patriot will spring up. un-
til. we drive that archfiend and his armies
try now. and il your grief has made you
one Of us in sympathy. tell the world
what that black butcher in Havana is
doing, and beg your government to rec
ognize our belligerency. so that we may
have arms. Arms!"
1t was some time before OReilly spoke:
then he said, quietly: 'T am not going
back l am going to stay here and look
'So." exclaimed the colonel "Well.
why not? So long as we do not know
precisely what has happened to her. we
can at least hope. But. if l were you.
camp. You don't know what those
camps are like. my friend. but I do.
alone at such an hour-eh?" with a pres
sure of his hand, Col Lopez walked away
into the darkness.
Judson and his adventurous country
men did not see O'Reilly that night. nor,
in fact, did any one. But the next morn
ing he appeared before Gen. Gomez. He
was haggard. sick. listless. The old
Porto Rican had heard from Lopez in the
meantime: he was sympathetic.
Il am sorry you came all the way to
hear such bad news" he said War
is a sad. hopeless business.
But haven't given up hope" O'Reilly
said. 81 want to stay here and-and
fight"
81 inferred as much from what Lopez
told me" The general nodded his white
head. We'll. you'll make a good SOL
der. and we shall be glad to have you. :"
He extended his hand. and O'Reilly took
it gratefully
The city of Matanzas was ''pacified.' -
So ran the boastful bando Of the cap
tain general. And this was no exaggera-
ton. as any one could see from the num-
ber of beggars there. OF all his military
operations. this "pacification" of the
western towns and provinces was the
most conspicuously successful and the
one which gave Valeriano Weyier the
keenest satisfaction: for nowhere did re-
bellion lift it's head-except, perhaps.
among the ranks of those dsaffected men
who hid in the hills. with nothing above
them but the open, sky. AS for the popu-
lation at large, it was cured of treason:
it no longer resisted. even weakly. the
law of Spain. The reason was that it lay
dying. Weyler's cure was simple, eff
caciOus-it consisted of determination.
swift and pitiless.
Poverty had been common in Matan-
zas. even before the war. but now there
were so many beggars in the city that
nobody undertook to count them When
the refugees began to pour in by the
Thousands. and when it became apparent
that the government intended to let them
starve. the better citizens undertook an
was scarce. and prices high. Moreover.
it soon transpired that the military
frowned upon everything like organized
charity. and in consequence the new
comers were. perforce. abandoned to their
own devices These country people were
dumb and terrified at the misfortunes
which had overtaken them: they wan
dered the streets in aimless bewilder-
ment. fearful of what blow might next
befall. They were not used to begging,
and therefore they did not often implore
aims: but all day long they asked for
work. for bread that their little ones
scarcer than food. and the time soon
came when they crouched upon curbs and
doorsteps. hopeless. beaten. silently re-
proachful of. those more fortunate than
they. Their eyes grew big and hollow:
their outstretched hands grew gaunt and
skinny The sound of weeping women
and fretting babies became common
thing to hear.
In the suburbs, just within the ring Of
guardian forts. an AREA Of cultivation"
was set aside. and here the prisoners put
up huts of yagua-comfortless bark shell
ters. which were well enough. perhaps. in
wi,h wiua hun hunger ram and nero; Crowded 'uteo toa
gether in indescribable saualor. they
dwelt. seeking comfort in their common
wretchedness. Since they had no farm
implements. no seeds. no means what
ever of cpltivating this ground appor-
toned to their use..it remained untitled
while they grew hungrier day by day
Outside the lines there were yams,
potatoes. edible roots and such. for the
Spaniards' work of desolation had not
been quite complete. and no hand can
rob the Cuban soil of all it's riches; but
the pacificos were not allowed to leave
the city.
Fish were plentiful in the harbor. too.
but to catch them was forbidden. SEN
tries were on guard with ready rifles
and barred machetes: every morning
through the filthy reconcentrado quarter
=
the mutilated bodies of those who had
dared during the night to seek food
surreptitiously. Sometimes they dragged
these CHASTITY reminders at the ends of
ropes: this. indeed, was a favorite way
with them.
Dogs and cats became choice articles
of diet. until they disappeared. The
government did supply one quality of
food, however; at intervals 1t distribut-
ed yucca roots. But these were starchy
and almost indigestible. From eating
them the children grew pinched in limb
and face. while their abdomens bloated
hugely. Matanzas became peopled with
a race of grotesquely misshapen little
folks. gnomes with young bodies, but
with faces old and sick.
OF course. disease became epidemic.
for in the 1eaky novels. dirt-foored ano
destitute OF any convenience. there
could be no effort at sanitation. Con-
ditions became unspeakable. The chill
dren died first, then the aged and infirm.
Deaths in the street were not uncom-
mon: nearly every morning bodies were
found beneath the portales. Starving
creatures crept to the market in the
hope of begging a stray bit of food,
and some of them died there. between
the empty stalls The death wagons.
heavy with their daily freight, rumbled
ceaselessly through the streets. adding
to the giant piles Of unburied corpses
outside the city.
Typhoid. smallpox. yellow fever.
ra ged unchecked. The hospitals were
crowded and even in them the common
est necessities were lacking. 1t is be-
l.eved that men have returned from
hAr N inv