The Monticellonian., 1918-07-26
CHAPTER xl!l-Continued.

CHAPTER xi!l-Continued
 "I inferred as much from what Io- peg told me" The general nodded his white head. "Well, you'll make a good soldier, 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 exag- geration. as anyone could see from the number of beggars there. Of all his military operations, this 'paeifica= tion' of the western towns and prov inces WAS the most cOnspicuously sue cessfnl and the one which gave Valeri- ano Weyl.r the keenest satisfaction; for nowhere did the rebellion lift it's head-except, perhaps, among the ranks of those disaffected men who hid in the hills, with nothing above them but the open sky. As for the popula tion atdarge. it was cured of treason It no longer resisted, even weakly, the
  dying. Weyier's cure was simple, eff cacious-it consisted of eXtermination, swift and pitiless.
 Poverty had been common in Matan- gas, 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 iY, I.trf fha 1t became apparent that the govern ment intended to let them starve, the better citizens undertook an effort at relief; but times were hard, food was scarce and prices high. Moreover, it soon transpired that the military frowned upon everything like organ ized charity. and in consequence the newcomers were. perforce, abandoned to their own devices. These country people were dumb and terrified at the misfortunes which had overtaken them; they wandered the streets in aimless bewilderment, fearful of what blow might next hefall. 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 might live. Work. however, was even Scarcer than food, and the time soon came when they crouched upon curbs and door steps. hopeless, beaten. silently re proachfu of those more fortunate than they Their eyes grew big and hollow their outstretched hands grew gaunt and skinny. The sound of weep ing women and fretting babies be- came a common thing to hear.
 Dogs and eats became choice articles of diet. until they disappeared. The government did supply one quality of food, however; at intervals, it diStrib- uted yucca roots. But these were starchy and almost indigestble. From eating them the children grew pinched in limb and face. while their abdomens bloated hugely. MatanZas became peopled with n race of grOtesquelY mlsshapen little folks, gnomes with young bodies. but with faces old and sick.
 Of course disease became epidemic, for in the leaky novels, dirt-floored and destitute of any convenience, there fould be no effort at sanitation. Con ditions became unspeakable. The chil- dren died first, then the aged and in firm. Deaths in the street were not uncommon; nearly every morning bod les were found beneath the pOrtales. Starving creatures crept to the mar ket in the hope of begging stray bit of food. and some of them died there. between the empty stalls. The death wagons. heavy with their daily freight, rumbled eeaselessly through the streets, adding to the giant piles of unburied eorpses outside the city
 Typhoid. smallpox yellow fever, ragged unchecked. The hospitals were crowded. and even in them the com honest necessities were lacking. It is believed that men have returned from the grave, but no one either Spaniard or Cuban, had ever been known to return from one of these pesthouses and. in consequence, those who were stricken preferred to remain and to die among their dear ones.
 Yes Matanzas was pacified. Wey- Ier's boast was true, Nowhere in the entire province was a field in cuti vation: nowhere. outside the garri- soncd towns. was house left stand- ing. Nor vas tho city of Matanzas the onlr concentration camp; there were others dotted through Santa Clara, Habana and F;nar del Rio. In them half million people cried for food. Truly no re5ellious land was ever more completely paeified than this, no