Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1918-08-15

maoe no answer he continued, ut Is
time we thought Of getting away from
here, eh?"
Johnnie was sitting with his face In
his hands. Without lifting his head he
inquired: GLOW are we going to get
away? It is easy enough to get into
Matanzas, but" He shrugged hope
lessly.
Jacket frightened at the thought Of
escape. "Ho! I'll bet we can find a
hole somewhere" said he. "We're not
like these others. They haven't the
spirit to tryj' There was q moment of
silence, and then: "Caramba! You
remember those jutias we ate? They
We're strong, but 1 would enjoy the
smell Of one now. Eth? Another week
Of this and we shall be living on garb-
age like the rest Of these poor peo-
ple."
Leaving Jacket to take his time,
Johnnie completed the climb alone,
meditating upon the boys words. The
spirit to try!" Where had his spirit
gone, he wondered. Perhaps it had
been crushed beneath the weight of
misery he had beheld; surely he had
seen enough. Hourly contact with sick.
ness and misfortune on such a gigantic
scale was enough to chill anyone's
hopes, and although his sensibilities
had been dulled, his ap%prehensions
had been quickened hour by hour.
Now that he, looked the matter square
ly in the face, it seemed absurd to be,
lieve that a tender girl like Rosa. Va,
roma. could long have. w%ithsttooda the
h%ardships Of this .hideoussplace; strong.
er people than she, had. tsuccumbeds by
the. hundreds. Even now the hospitals
were full, the sick lay untended in
their novels. No one, so far as O'Reilly
knew, had undertaken to estimate how
fast they were dying or the number of
dead which had already ridden out of
Matanzas in those rumbling wagons,
but there were many. What chance
was there that Rosa had not been
among the latter?
AS he breasted the summit Of La
Cumbre, O'Reilly beheld at some dis
lance a bent figure Of want. 1t was q
negro woman, %grubbing In the earth
with a %sharpened stick. After a sus'
picious scrutiny Of him she resumed
her digging.
Nothing but a heap of stones an6
plaster remained of the Varona home
The grounds, once beautiful even wher
neglected as in Donna Isabel's time
were now a scene Of total %desolation. A
few orange trees, to be sure, remained
standing, and although they were coo
and green to look at, they carried nc
fruit and the odor of their blooms wa:
, a trial and a mockery to the hungry
p visitor. The evidences of Cueto's van
dalism affected O'Reilly deeply; they
brought him memories more painful
than he had anticipated. Although tn,
place was well-nigh unacceptable
nevertheless it cried aloud of Rosa
and the unhappy lover could barrel.
control the emotions it awakened. /
! was indeed a morbid impulse whicl
had brought him thither, but now tina
. ne was here he could not leave. Un
: consciously his feet turned toward tn
ancient quarry which had formed tn
sunken garden-his and Rosa's tryst
ing place. ,s'psa::zzR=~=FsaeGs'
O'Reilly desired above all things t
be alone at this moment, and so he wa
annoyed to discover that another pei
, son was before nina woman, evident
:: ly some miserable pacihco like himself
, She, too, appeared to be looking 70
roots, and he almost stumbled over he
as he brushed through the guav
. bushes fringing the DEPRESSION
His sudden appearance alarmed tn
creature and she struggled. panic
stricken, out Of his path. Her rags
could not conceal the fact that she vas
reformed, that her back was crooked,
so he muttered a reassuring word to
her. ..p. ~".r..,.
This place was more as he had left
there was the stone bench where
lie had said good-by to Rosa; yonder
vas the we'll
"Senor J" Johnnie heard himself adj
dressed by. the hunchbacked woman.
Her voice was thin, tremulous; eager,
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