Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1918-09-13
CHAPTER xI-cOntinued.

3
But the time came when he could
walk no farther. He tried repeatedly
and failed, and meanwhile the earth
spun even more rapidly, threatening 10
whirl him OF into space. It was ter
rible sensation; he lay down and
Rugged the ground, clinging to roots
and sobbing weakly. Rosa, he knew,
was just around the next bend In the
trail; he called to her, but she did not
answer, and he dared not attempt to
creep forward because his grip was
FILLING. He could feel his fingers slip
ping-slipping. His last thought, as he
went whirling end over end through
space, was of his sister. She would
never know how hard he had tried to
reach her.
Late on the second day after the bat
lie Asensio returned TO his bohio. Rosa
and Evangelina, already frantic at the
delay, heard him crying to them while
he was still hidden in the woods, and
knew that the worst had happened.
There was little need for him to tell
his story, for he was weaponless,
stained, and bloody. He had crossed
the hills on foot after miraculous es-
cape from that ravine Of death. OF his
companions he knew nothing what
ever; the mention of Esteban's name
caused him to beat his breast and cry
aloud. He was weak and feverish, and
his incoherent story of the midnight
encounter was so highly colored that
Rosa nearly swooaed with horror.
The girl stood swaying while he told
how the night had betrayed them, how
he had wrought incredible feats of
yalor before the shifting tide of battle
had spewed him out the end of the
sunken road and left him half dead in
the grass. Asensio had lain there I'M
I'll, finding himself growing stronger,
ne had burrowed into tangle of vines
at the foot of wall, where he had re-
NAMED until the fighting ceased. When
their mistake and had ceased riding
one another down, when lights came
and he heard Colonel Cobo cursing
them like one insane, he had wriggled
away, crossed the calzada, and hidden
In the woods until dawn. He had been
walking ever since; he had come hope
to die
Asensio recovered. but he was sadly
changed. There was no longer any
martial spirit in him; he feared the
SpaniardS, and tales of their atrocities
cowed him.
Then Cobo came into the Yumuri,
The valley. already well-nigh deserted,
was filled to the brim with smoke from
burning fields and houses, and through
II the sun showed like copper shield.
Refugees passed the bohio, bound
farther into the hills, and Asensio told
Tue two women that he and they must
also go. So the three gathered up
%hat few things they could carry on
their backs and fed.
They did not stop until they had
gained the Businesses OF the Pan de
Matanzas. Here they built shelter
ana again took up the problem of liv-
ing which was now more difficult than
ever.
The Pan de Matanzas, so called be-
cause Of its resemblance to a mighty
.oaI OF bread, became a mockery to
.ne hungry people covering In its shell
VET. Bread Rosa Varona could not
Senember when she had last tasted
sueh a luxury. Raw cane, coconuts,
ue tasteless fruita bomba, roots, the
pun from palm tops, these were her
araeles Of diet, and she did not thrive
Spon them She was always more or
.eSS hungry. She was ragged, too, and
cue shivered miserably through the
lug chill nights. Rosa could measure
s+e caange in her appearance only by
s.uuying her reffection from the sur
@ee OF the spring where she drew wa
e.' OUT she could see that she had be-
~ ue very thin. and she judged that
ch e color had entirely gone from her
Bake. AeA' A0i y A'e.AAS
s.. Inc came when Asensfo spoke Of
r. 'lAs up the struggle and going In.
az sy We're gradually starving, he said,
g. 81 i'osa was Ill; the risk Of discovery
80, ever present. 1t was better to 20
h .e Iney had the strength than slow
- Dl' surely to perish here. He had
So 49, mat there were twenty thousand
- .leentradOs in Matanzas: in such a
"sS could easily manage TO