Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1918-07-19
REX
BEACH
Continued from last week

He was inclined to stay and finish
the fight, but he recollected that Rosa
would be waiting for him and that he
must go to her, and $50 he set out
across the fields, staggering through
the charred cane stubb1e. The night
was not so black as It had been, and
this puzzled him until he saw that the
plantation house was ablaze. Flames
were belching from it's windows, cast
ing abroad lurid radiance; and re-
Numbering Pancho Cueto, Esteban
laughed.
By and by, after he was well away,
his numbness passed and he began TO
suffer excruciating pain. The pain had
been there all the time. so it seemed;
he was simply gaining the capacity to
feel it. He was ready to die now, he
was so i'll; moreover, his left arm
dangled and got in his way. Only that
subconsciOus realization of the neces-
sity to keep going for Rosa's sake sus-
tanned him.
Daylight came at last to show him
his way. More than once he paused,
alarmed, at voices in the woods, only
to find that the sounds issued from his
own throat.
1t had grown very hot now, so hot
that heat-waves Obscured his vision
and caused the most absurd forms to
take shape. He began to hunt aiAless-
" for water, but there was none. Evi-
IDENTIFY this heat had parched the land,
dried up the streams, and set the
stones afire. 1t was incredible, but
true.
Esteban reasoned that he must be
near home by this time, for he had
been travelling for days-for years. The
country, indeed, was altogether unfa-
miliar; he could not recall ever having
seen the path he trod, but for that mat
ter everything was strange. In the
first place he knew that he was going
west, and yet the morning sun persisted
Ia steating hotlY into bis faeet Chat
aioHe convinced finn that Shhfgs. had
gone awry with the world. He could
remember a great CONFUSION of some
sort, but just what 1t was he had no
clear idea! Evidently, though, it had
been sufficient to change the rotation
OF the earth. Yes, that was 1t; the
earth was running backward upon it's
axis; he could actually feel it whirling
under his feet. No wonder his journey
seemed so long. He was laboring over
a gigantic treadmill, balancing like an
equilibrist upon a revolving sphere.
Well, it was a simple matter to stop
walking, sit down, and allow himself
to be spun backward around to the
place where Rosa was waiting. He
pondered this idea for some time, I'M
til its absurdity became apparent IN
doubtedly he must be going out of his
head: he saw that it was necessary to
keep walking until the back-spin OF
that treadmill brought Rosa to him.
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. 1t was a ter
rible sensation;. he lay down and
Rugged the ground, clinglng to roots
end 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
falling. He could feel his fingers slip
.ping-slipping. His last thought, as ne
every extra dollar, you know, goes
the same way as my extra trou-
Sers. It will be sort of patriotic
poverty party Come at seven'
please"
That evening O'Reilly anticipated
his dinner engagement by a few mo-
ments in order to have a word alone
with Alvarado.
''This lady who is coming here to-
night has influence with Enriquez," Al
varado told him. "Yous remember
told you that she has contributed lib
orally. She might help YOU"
O'ReiIly had met women with ideals,
with purposes, with avocatiOns, and
his opinion of them was low. Women
who had missions" were always tire
some he had discovered. This one, 1T
appeared, was unusual only in that she
had adopted particularly eXactlne
form of charitable work. Nursing
even as a rich woman's diversion
must be anything but agreeable
O'Reilly pictured this Evans person In
his mind-a large, plain, elderly crea
ture, obsessed with impractical ideas
of uplifting the masses! She would
undoubtedly bore him stiff with stories
of her work; she would reproach hin
with neglect of his duties to the suf
fering. Johnnie was too poor to bt
charitable and too deeply engrosset
at the moment with his own trouble:
to care anything whatever about the
masses" And she was ''miss.'
That meant that she wore thick glasses
and probably kept cats.