Martinsburg W Va evening journal. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1913-1920, 1918-07-30

z itLiliHS. Lie tOulu Icel LID oiiP
pjng-slipping. His last thought, as he
went whrling end over end through
space was of his sister. She would
never know how hard he had tried to
reach her.
4
Late on the second day after the bat
/ tie Asensio returned to his bohio. Rosa
and Evangelina, already frantic at the
delay, heard him crying to them while
he was still hidden in the woods, and
knew that the worst had happened.
There was little need for him to tell
his story for he was weaponless,
stained, and bloody He had crossed
< the hills on foot after a miraculous es-
4 cape from that ravine of death. OF his
companions he knew nothing what
ever; the mention of Esteban's name
caused him to beat his breast and cry
aloud. He was weak and feyerish, and
his incoherent story Of the midnight
encounter was so highly colored that
Rosa nearly swvoned with horror.
The girl stood swaying while he told
4 how the night had betrayed them, how
i he had wrought incredible feats Of
4 valor before the shifting tide of battle
4 had spewed him out the end of the
I sunken road and left him half dead in
the grass. Asensio had lain there I'M
/ til, finding himself growing stronger,
\ he had burrowed into tangle of vines
at the foot of a wall where he had re-
NAMED until the fighting ceased. When
1 the Spaniards had finally discovered
/ their mistake and had ceased riding
one another down. when lights came
and he heard Colonel Cobo cursing
them like one insane, he had wriggled
away, crossed the caiZada, and hidden
in the woods until dawn. He had been
walking ever since; he had come home
to die. -
Asensio recovered, but he was sadly
\ changed. There was no longer any
martial spirit in him; he feared the
I Spaniards, and tales of their atrocities
cowed him.
Then Cobo came into the Yumuri.
The valley, already well-nigh deserted,
4 was filled to the brim with smoke from
4 burning fields and houses, and through
it the sun showed like copper shield.
Refugees passed the bohio, bound
farther into the hills, and Asensio told
the two women that he and they must
also go. SO the three gathered up
4 what few things they could carry on
their backs and fled.
They did not stop until they had
I gained the Businesses of the Pan de
4 Matanzas. Here they built a shelter
and again took up the problem of liv.
ling, which was now more difficult than
ever.
The Pan de Matanzas, so called be.
| cause of it's resemblance to mighty
loaf Of bread, became a mockery tC
the hungry people covering in it's shell
ter. Bread! Rosa Varona could not
I remember when she had last tasted
: such luxury. Raw cane, coconuts.
the tasteless fruita bomba, roots, the
A pith from palm tops, these We're her
articles of diet, and she did not thrive
\ upon them. She was always more OF
4 less hungry. She was ragged, too, and
she shivered miserably through the
n long, chill nights. Rosa could measure
the change in her appearance only by
( studying her reflection from the sur
face of the spring where she drew wa.
& ter, but she could see that she had be-
f come very thin, and she judged that
the color had entirely gone from her
cheeks. 1t saddened her, for O'Reilly's
sake.
!. Time came. when Asensio spoke of
giving up the struggle and going in.
2 They were gradually starving he said
and Rosa was i'll. the risk of discovery
was ever nresent. If was better to go
& while they had the strength than slow
lv but sure,v to nerish here He had
heard that there were twenty thousand
, kreconcentrados in Matanzas: in such a