The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1918-08-15


one to conjure with, whose lineage was
Of the highest! She to beg? The
thing was quite impossible. One crumb,
so taken, would have choked her.
Rosa preferred TO suffer proudly and
await the hour when hunger or disease
would at last blot out her memories
OF happy days and end this nightmare
misery.
Then, too, she dreaded any risk of
discovery by Mario de Castano, who
was hard, vindictive man. His part
ing words had shown her that he
would never forgive the slight she had
put upon him; and she did not wish to
put his threats 10 the test. Once Rosa
saw him, on her way to buy a few
centavos' worth Of sweet potatoes; he
was huddied il his victoria, a huge
bladder of flesh, and he rode the
streets deaf to the plants of starving
children, blind to the misery Of be
seeching mothers. Rosa shrank into
doorway and drew her tattered shawl
closer over her face for fear Don Ma
rio might recognize In this misshapen
body and in these pinched, discoIored
features the beauteous blossom he had
craVed.
Nor did she forget Colonel Cobo. The
mans memory haunted her, asleep and
awake; Of him she was most desperate
~ afraid. When for the first time she
saw him riding at the head Of his cut
Threats she was like to swoon in her
tracks, and for whole day thereafter
n
every sound.
In these dark hours she recalled the
stories of the old Varona treasure and
Esteban's interesting theory Of its
whereabouts, but she could not bring
herself to put much faith in either OF
course it was barely possible that there
was indeed treasure, and even that
Esteban's Surmise had been correct.
But it was little more than a remote
possibility. Distance lends a rosy
color to reality to our most absurd
imaginings. but. like the haze that tints
far-Of landscape, it dissolves upon
approach Now that Rosa was here, in
sight Of the ruined Quinta itself, her
hopes and haf-beIiefs faded.
More than once she was tempted to
conf1de in Bvangelina and Asensio, but
she thought better Of it. Although she
put implicit faith In EvangelinaIs dis
erection, she knew that ASensio was not
the sort of fellow to be trusted with a
secret Of great magnitude-he was
boastful, laxative, exeltable; he was
just the sort TO bring destruction upon
all of them. Rosa had sufficient intel
4 70 ~ =
her fathers riches they would only
constitute another and a greater men
ace to the lives OF all Of them. Never
theless, she wished to set her mind at
rest once for all Taking EvangeHna
with her, she climbed La Cumbre one
day in search CT roots and vegetables.
1t turned out to be sad experience
for both women. The negress Wept
noisily at the destruction wrought by
PanchO CuetO, and Rosa was overcome
by painful memories. Little that was
familiar remained; evidence OF Cue
to's all-deVOuring greed spoke from the
sprouting burrows his men had dug,
from the naked trees they had felIed
and piled in orderly heaps, from the
stones and mortar Of the house itself.
The well remained, although it had
been planked over, but it was partially
filed up with rubbish, as Rosa discov-
cred when she peered into 1t. Only a
tiny pool of scum was in the bottom.
After a long scrutiny the girl arose,
convinced at last OF her brothers delu-
sion, and vaguely ashamed of her own
credulity. No. If ever there had been
a treasure, it was hidden elsewhere /;
all Of value that this well contained for
Rosa was her memory Of a happiness
departed. Of such memories, the well.
the whole place, was brimful. Here,
as child, she had romped with Este
ban. Here, as girl, she had dreamed
her first dreams, and here O'ReiIly, her
smiling knight, had found her. YOnder
was the very spot where he had held
her in his arms and begged her to
await the day OF his return. Well, she
had waited
But was that Rosa Varona who had
promised so freely and so confidently
this pitiful Rosa whose bones pro-
truded through her rags? It could not
be. Happiness, contentment, hope
these were hctions; only misery, de
spair, and pain were real. But 1t had
been a glorious dream, at any rate-a
dream which Rosa vowed to cherish al
ways.