Mexico Missouri message., 1918-08-08

lieve that tender girl like Rosa Va
roma could long have withstood thu
hardships of this hideous place; strong
er people than she had succumbed, by
the hundreds. Even now the hospital.
were full, the sick lay INTENDED in
their novels. No one so far as OReilly
knew, had undertaken to estimate how
fast they were dying or the number OF
dead which had already ridden ont 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.
tance bent figure of want. It was a
negro woman, grubbing in the earth
with a sharpened stick. After a sus-
plcious scrutiny of him she resumed
her digging.
Nothing but a heap of stones and
| plaster remained of the Varona home.
The grounds, once beautiful even when
neglected as in Donna Isabel's time,
were now scene of total desolation. A
few orange trees, TO be sure, remained
standing, and although they were cool
and green to look at, they carried no
fruit and the odor of their blooms was
a trial and a mockery to the hungry
visitor. The evidences of Cueto's van.
dalism affected OReilly deeply; they
brought him memories more painful
than he had anticipated. Although the
place was well-nigh unrecognlzable,
nevertheless it cried aloud of Rosa,
and the unhappy lover could barely
control the emotions it awakened. II
was indeed a morbid impulse which
had brought him thither but now that
he was here he could not leave. I'm
consciously his feet turned toward the
ancient quarry which had formed the
sunken garden-his and Rosa's tryst-
ing place.
O'Reilly desired above all things TO
be alone at this moment, and so he was
annoyed to discover that another DER
son was before him-a woman, evident
ly some miserable pacifico like himself.
She, too, appeared to be looking for
roots, and he almost stumbled over her
as he brushed through the guava
bushes fringing the depression.
His sudden appearance alarmed the
creature and she struggled, panic
stricken, out of his path. Her rags
could not conceal the fact that she was
deformed, that her back was crooked,
SO he muttered reassuring word to
her.
This place was more as he had left
it-there was the stone bench where
he had said good-by to Rosa; yonder
was the we'll
"Senor" Johnnie heard himself ad-
dressed by the hunchbacked woman.
Her voice was thin, tremulous, eager,
but his thoughts were busy and he
paid no heed. "SenorI Do you look
for something-some one"
"N-no. Yes" he answered, abstract
edly. "Yes, I am looking for some
thing-some one."
Something you have lost?"
something have lostr' The ques-
ton came to him family, but it was so
in tune with his unhappy mood that it !
affected him strangely. He found that |
his eyes were blurring and that an
aching lump had risen into his throat. |
This was the breaking point.
OReilly's hearing, too, was going
wrong, for he imagined that some one |
whispered his name. God! This place |
was not dead-it was alive-terribly |
alive with memories, voices, q pres |
ence unseen yet real. He laid hold of |
the nearest bush to steady himself, he |
closed his eyes, only to hear his name
spoken louder.
"O'Rall-yew
Johnnie brushed the tears from his
lashes. He turned, he listened, but |
there was no one to be seen, no one,
that Is, except the dusky cripple, who |
had Strengthened herself and was fac
ing him, poised uncertainty. He looked |
at her a second time, then the world /
began to spin dizzlly and he groped his
way toward her. He peered again,
closer, for everything before his eyes
was swimming.
The woman was thin-little more
than skeleton-and so frail that the
wind appeared to sway her, but her
face, uplifted to the sun, was glorified.
O'Reiliy stood rooted, staring at her
until she opened her eyes, then he
voiced great cry:
"Rosal" What more he said he
never knew. ~
He took the misshapen figure into
his arms, he rained kisses upon the
dlscolored face. But Rosa
did not respond; her puny strength
had flown and she lay inert in his en-
brace, scarcely breathing.
Dazed, doubling, astounded, It was
some time before Johnnie could con-
vince himself of the reality of this mo-
ment, and even then words did not
come to him, for his mind was In tur-
moil. Joy, thanksgiving, compasslon-
4 thousand emotions-mingled in a sort
Of delirium, too wild for coherent
thought or speech.