Judsonia weekly advance., 1918-07-31
CHAPTER xI-continued.

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 But the time came when he could walk no farther. He tried repeatedly and failed, and meanwhile the earth spun even more rapidly, threatening to whIrl him off into space. It was a ter rible sensation; he lay down and hugged 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 failing 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 secorG day after the bat tie 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 a 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, end hlS incoherent story of the midnight encounter was so highly colored that Rosa nearly swooned with horror.
 The girl stood swaying while he told how the night had betrayed them, how he had wrought incredible feats of vaior 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 un- til, finding himself growing stronger, he had burrowed into tangle of vines at the foot of wall. where he had re- mained until the fighting ceased. When the Spaniards had finally discovered 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 home to die.
 AsensiO recovered, but he was sadly changed. There was no longer any martial spirit in him; he feared the 6paniards, 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 1t the sun showed like copper shield. Refugees passed the bohio, bound further into the hills. and Asensio told the two women that he and they must also go. So the three gathered up what few things they could carry on their backs and fled.
 They did not stop until they had gained the businesses of the Pan de Matnnzas. Here they built a shelter and again took up the problem of liv- ing. which was now more difficult than ever.
 The Pan de Matanzas. so called be- cause of it's resemblance to mighty loaf of bread, became mockery to the hungry people covering in its shel- ter. Bread! Rosa Varona could not remember when she had last tasted sucE q luxury. Raw cane. cOconuts, the tasteless fruita bomba, roots, the pith from palm tops, these were her articles of diet and she did not thrive upon them. She was always more or less hungry. She was ragged, too, and she shivered miserably through the long, chill nights. Rosa could measure the change in her appearance only by studying her reflection from the sur face of the spring where she drew wa far. hut she could see that she had be-