The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1918-09-06

sternness, the exalted detachment, OF
the eagle, and O'Reilly gained 4 hint OF
the personality behind It. Maxine
Comes was counted one Of the worlds
ableaE guerrilla leaders; and indeed
It had required the quench1ess enthu-
siasm Of a real military genius to fuse
into Z homc geneous fighting force the
~ill-assorted rabble OF ~nondescripts
whom Comes led, to school them to
prfvation and to render them SUFFICIENT
" mobile to defy successfully ten
times their number Of trained troops.
This, however. was precisely what the
old Porto Rican had done. and in doing
It he had won the admiration Of milf
tary students.
With 4 bluntness NOT unkind he
asked OReilly what had brought him
to Cuba.
When O'Reilly explained the a
for his presence the old fighter nod
ded.
"So1 You wish b 80 west, chr
Yes. Sir. ! want to And Colonel
Lopez"
"Lopes7 Miguel Lopezr the gen.
eral inquired quickly. 'werl. you won't
have to look far for him." General
Gomez leathery countenance lightened
into a smile. He happens to be right
here in Cubitas." Calling Judson to
him, he said: amigo, take Mr.. OReilly
to Colonel Lopes.; you win find him
somewhere about ! am sorry we are
not to have this young fellow for a
soldier /; he looks like q real man and
quite equal to Ave quintoA chr
Il was the habit Of the Cubans to
refer 70 their enemies a. quintos-
the NTH part OF q mani With q wave
Of his hand Comes returned 20 his
reading.
Col. Miguel Lopes, q handsome, ami
mated fellow. took OReilly's hand In
Q hearty clasp when they were intro
duced; but Z moment later his smile
gave way to . frown and his brow
darkened.
SOL You are that OReiry from
Hatanzas," said he. II know You now,
butt never expected We would meet"
sEsteban varona told you about me,
did be notr
The colonel inclined his head.
TIN here at last, after the DEVILS
own time. I've been trying every way
to get through. The Spaniards stopped
mo at Puerto Principe-they sent me
back home, Jon know. I've been per
fectly ez1sy. = You3. O.Reilly
swallowed hard. you know where
Esteban Isl Tn me-
"Have you heard nothingT
Nothing whatever. That n, moth
ing since Rosa, his sister You I'M
derstand, she and I are-engaged-s|
Yes yes; nstebaA told me all about
you."
Something in the CubanAs gravity Of
manner gave O'Reilly warning. A sud-
den fear assailed him. His voice shook
a he asked:
what IL it, Not bad newsr
There was 10 need for the o6lcer
to answer. In his aveeted gaze !
O'Reilly resd confirmation Of his sick
ct apprehendonA
TELL mel Which ons1s - whis-
pered.
aBothts
0'Reily rscened: = spasm distorted
his chalky facA He began to shake
weakly. and his fingers plucked aim
lessly at each otheE.
Lopes took him By the arm. Try to
eoutyol yourself aid he. ~Gt here
while I try 70 ten you what little
know. Or would Il not b better to
wait awhile, until fyou ars calmsrr'
A. TIE young man made no answer. ex-
csp< 10 stare at him In Z white agony
Of suspense. hs dEhed:
I wf1 ten you III I know-which
isn't much. Esteban varona came to
me soon altar he and his sister had
nsd from their home; he wanted to
join my fogceA but We were harassed
on every side, and ! didn't dare take
the grl-no woman could have en-
dured the hardships We suffered. So
! convinced him that his first duty was
to hsF, rather than to his country, and
he agreed. He VA Z fne boyl he
had spirit. Re bought some stolen
rides and armed 4 band Of his own
which wasn't . bad iden. I used to
hear about him. Nobody cared to
modest him. I on tell you. until finally
he killed some Of the regular troops
Then Of course they went after him.
he managed 70 destroy his
own plantations, which Cueto had
him q. You know Cueto1'
sYenN