Judsonia weekly advance., 1918-07-18

What Is Evangelina thinking about?" Asensio muttered.
 "But seel It grows brighter" There followed a moment or two dur ing which there was no sound except the breathing of the horses and the creak of saddle feathers as the riders craned their necks to see over the low tree tops before them. Then Esteban cried
 Come! fm-afraid it's our house." Fear grpped him, but he managed to say, calmly, Perhaps there has been an--accident.o
 Asensio, muttering excitedly, was trying to crowd past him; for a few yards the two horses brushed along side by side. The distant point of light had become n glare now; it winked balefully through the open ings as the party hurried toward it. But 1t was still a long way off. and the eastern Sky had grown rosy be- fore the dense woods of the hillside gave way to the sparser growth of the low ground.
 Esteban turned a sick, white face over his shoulder and jerked out his orders; then he kicked his tired mount into swifter gallop. It was he who first broke out into the clear ing. One glance, and the story was told.
 The hut was but a crumbling skel- eton of charred poles. Strung out across the little field of malangas, yuccas and sweet potatoes were sew eral hilarious volunteers, their arms filled with loot from the cabin. Be hind them strode an officer bearing Rosa struggling against his breast.
 Esteban drove his horse headlong through the soft red earth of the garden. His sudden appearance seemed briefly to paralyze the ma- rauders. It was moment before they could drop their spells. unsllng their rifles, and begin to fire at him, and by that time he had covered half the distance to his sister. A bullet brought his horse down and the boy went flying over its neck. Nothing but the loose loam saved him from injury. As he rose to his feet, breath less and covered with the red dirt, there came swift thudding of hoofs and Asensi0 swept past him like rocket. Esteban caught one glimpse of the negro's face, fleeing vision of white teeth barred to the gums, of distended yellow eyes, of flat, distort- ed features; then Asensio was fairly upon Colonel Cobo. The colonel, who had dropped his burden, now tried to dodge. Asensio slashed once at him with his long, murderous machete but the next instant he was engaged with trooper who had fired almost in his face.
 Cobo's men, led by the terrified Pan chO Cueto, turned and fled for cover, believing themselves in danger of an- initiation. Nor was the colonel him. self in any condition to rally them, for Asensio's blade had cloven one full dark cheek to the bone, and the shock and pain had unnerved him.
 The field was small, the jungle was close at hand. A moment and the in- terlopers had vanished into 1t, all but one, who lay kicking among the broad malanga leaves, and over whom Asen- sio kept spurring his terrified horse, hacking downward with insane fury.
 This was the first hand-to-hand en- counter Esteban's men had had, and their swift victory rendered them fero- cious. Flinging their guns aside, they went crashing into the brush on the trail of their enemies.
 Rosa found herself in her brothers arms, sobbing out the story of the out rage and quivering at every sound of the chase. He was caressing her, and telling her to have no further fears both of them were fairly hysterical. Evangelina, thanks to her thick skull, was not dead. In the course of time under Rosas and Esteban's ministra- tions she regained her senses, and when the other men returned they found her lying sick and dazed, but otherwise quite whole.
 Then, there beside the ruins of the hut, was a strange scene of rejoicing. Asensio recovered now from his burst of savagery, was fearful, compassion- ate; his comrades laughed and chat tered and bragged about their prodig ious deeds of valor. Over and over they recounted their versions of the encounter, each more fanciful than the other, until it seemed that they must have left the forest filled with corpses.
 Esteban was grave. He had heard of Colonel Cobo, and, remembering that denim-clad figure out yonder in the trampled garden. he knew that se- rious consequences would follow. The