The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1918-07-25

ted fuse and cap TO his precious piece
of dynamite.
Now while Esteban was thus busted, |
PanchO Cueto was entertaining an IN
welcome guest In the late afternoon !
he had been surprised by the visit OF a |
dozen or more volunteers, and mas
much as his relations with their COLO |
mel had been none OF the frfendliest |
since that ill-starred expedition into |
the Yumuri, he had felt a chill of ap-
prehension on seeing the redoubtabIe |
CObo himself at their head
The colonel had explained that he
was returning from a trip up the San |
Juan, taken for the purpose of round |
ing up those inhabitants who had been
dilatory in Obeying the new orders
from Havana. That smoke to the south |
ward was from fires of his kindling:
he had burned a good many crops and
houses and punished good many peO-
pie, and since this was exactly the sort
of task he liked he was in no unpleas-
ant mood. He had demanded of Cueto
lodging for himself and his troop, an
nouncing that a part of his command
was somewhere behind and would re-
join him later in the night
Cueto had welcomed his visitor in
all humility; he put up the soldiers in
the bate of the sugar mill, and then
installed CObo in his best room, after
which he ransacked the house for food
and drink and tobacco.
When Cobo finally took himself of
to bed Cueto followed in better spirits
than he had enjoyed for some time.
For one thing, it was agreeable to look
forward to a night of undisturbed re-
pose. PanchO's apprehensions had fat
tened upon themselves, and he had
been living of late in a nightmare of
terror.
But it seemed to him that he had
barely closed his eyes when he was
awakened by a tremendous vibration
and found himself in the center Of the
floor, undecided whether he had been
hurled from his bed or whether he had
leaped thither. Still ia a daze, he heard
a shout from the direction of Cobo's
room, then 8 din of other voices, fol-
lowed by a rush of feet; the next in
slant his door was flung back and he
saw, by the light of high-held torches,
Esteban Varona and a ragged rabble
VI D1dCh HELL NuClO mat
faced death. He lodged a blow from
Esteban's dubbed rife only TO behold
the flash of a machete. Crying out
again, he tried to guard himself from
the descending blade, but too late; the
sound of his hOarse terror died in his
throat, half born.
Quick Soak the bed with oil and
fire it," Esteban directed; then he ran
out into the hall to investigate that
other shouting He found the chamber
whence it issued and tried to smash
the door; but at the second blow he
heard a gunshot from within and the
] wood splintered outward almost into
| his face. Simultaneously. from some
where outside the house, arose the
notes of a Spanish bugle-call.
| Young Varona waited to hear no
more. Nor did his men; realizing the
peril into which they had been led,
| they bolted from the house as fast as
| they could go. There was no need for
| questions; from the direction OF the
| sugar mill came beloved orders and
| the sound of men shouting to their
| horses. Evidently those were troops
and trained troops, too, for they took
no time to saddle; they were up and
mounted almost before the marauders
had gained the backs of their own ami
mails
Instantly there began 2 blind battle
in desperately cramped quarters.
Riders fought stirrup to stirrup with
dubbed rifles and machetes; saddles
were emptied and the terrified horses
bolted. Some of them lunged up the
banks, only to tumble down again,
their threshing limbs and sharp-shod
hoofs working more havoc than blows
from oId-time battle-hammers.
OF course, after the first moment Of
conflict, Esteban had not been able to
exert the least control over his men /;
in fact, he could not make himself
heard Nor could he spare the breath
| to shout; he was too desperately en-
gagged. His rifle was empty, he had its
hot barrel in his hands; he dimly dis
tinguished Asensio welding his mach
| etc. Then he found himself down
and half stunned. Something smote
him heavily, at 1aSt-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
|
| was sick; he had never experienced
anything quite like this and he thought
he must be wounded. It greatly sur
prised him to find that he could strug-
gle upward through the brambles, even
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 unreality of
thIngs-and it 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 a
fashiOn.
He was inclined to stay and finish
the fight, but he recollected that Ross
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
/ uoS mt So black "a If had hoa1 an6