The Monticellonian., 1918-08-02


 ful ! When l first saw her bending over me I thought \ was dreaming. Some times, even yet, I think she cannot be real. But she Is. eh?"
 "She is quite substantial" O'Reilly smiled. All tbe sick fellows talk as you do"
 Esteban looked up quickly; his face darkened. "She~-er-nurses others, eh? Pm not the only one?"
 "Well, hardly
 There was brief pause then Este ban shifted his position and his tone changed. Tell me, have you heard any news?"
 Not yet, but we will hear some be- fore long I'm sure"
 Your faith does as much for me as away, when I'm alone, when I begin to think"
 Don't think too much don't permit yourself to doubt" OReilly said, quick ly. Take my word for It, Rosa is alive and we'll find her somewhere, some how. General Gomez will soon have word of her. That's what I've been waiting for-that and what you might have to tell me-"
 You know all that I know now and everything that has happened to me-"
 q don't know how you came to be in a cell in San Antonio de los Banos, two hundred miles from the place you were killed. That is still mystery"
 Tt is very simple, amigo. Let me see: I had finished telling you about the fight at La Joya. I was telling you how I tainted. Some good people found me a few hours after I lost conscious ness. They supposed 1 had been at tackled by guerrillas and left for dead. Finding that still had life fin me, they took me home with them. They were old friends from MatanZas by the name of Valdes-cultured people who had fled the city and were hiding in the manigua like the rest of us"
 Not Valdes, the notary?"
 "The very same. Alberto Valdes and his four daughters. Heaven guided them to me. Alberto was an old man i;
 
 his girls Nevertheless, he refused to abandon me. Oh, they were faithful, patient people! You see, had walked east instead of west, and now I was miles away from home, and the coun- try between was swarming with Span iards who were burning, destroying, killing. You wouldn't know Matanzas, O'Reilly. It is desert.
 "I finally became able to drag myself around the hut. But I had no means of sending word to Rosa, and the un- certainty nearly made me crazy. My clothes had routed from me- my bones were just under the skin. I must have been a shocking sight. Then one day there came a fellow travelling east with messages for Gomez. He was one of Lopez men, and he told me that Lo- peg had gone to the Rubi Hills with Maceo, and that there were none of our men left in the province. He told me other things. too. It was from him that I learned" Esteban Varona's s thin hands clutched the edges of his hammock and he rolled his head weak
 
 told me about Rosa. He said that Cobo had ravaged the Yumuri and that my sister-was gone v
 "There, there We know better now" !" O'Reilly said, soothingly.
 Tt was hideous story, a story of rape. murder. I wonder that I didn't go mad. It never occurred to me to doubt, and as a matter of fact the fel- low was honest enough; he really be- lieved what he told me. After the man had finished I felt the desire to get away from all had known and loved, to leave Matanzas for new fields and give what was left of me to the cause. l was free to enlist, since I couldn't reach Lopez, and I came to join our forces in the Orient
 "That is how you found me in this province Lopez man never delivered