Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1918-10-18

to shout; he WIS too desperately e.
gagged. His rifle was empty, he had tn
hot barrel In his hands he dlmly dis
unguiShed ASenSio welding his mach
etc. Then he found himself dowa
and half stunned. Something smots
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 rebelliouS, 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, ever
though 1t was hard work. Men were
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. 1t seemed very strange-of a
piece with the general unreallty OF
thlngS-and 1t troubled him not a lit
tie. One Of his arms was useless, he
discovered, and he realized with a curl
Gus shock that 1t 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 SC 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 we'll away,
his numbness passed and he began to
suffer excruclating pain. The pain had
been there all the time, so 1t seemed;
he was simply gaining the capacity to
feel 1t. He was ready to die now, he
was so Ill; moreover, his left arm
dangled and got in his way. Only that
s~ubconsclous 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, at voices In the woods, only
to find that the sounds issued from hid
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 almless-
ly for water, but there was none. Evi.
IDENTIFY this heat had parched the land,
dried up the streams, and set tho
stones afire. 1t was 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
seen the path he trod, but for that mat.
ter everything was strange. In the
first place he knew that he was going
west, and yet the morning sun persisted
In beating hotly into his facet That
alone convinced him that things had
gone awry with the world. He could
remember a great convultIon Of some
sort, but just what 1t waI he had no
clear ideal Evidently, though, II had
been sufficient to change the rotation
of the earth. Yes, that was 1t; the
earth was running backward upon its
axis; he could actually feel 1t whirllns
under his feet. No wonder his journey
seemed so long. He was laboring over
a gigantic treadmill, balancing like an
equilibrlst upon a revolving sphere.
Well, 1t was a simple matter to stop
walking. sit down, and allow himself