Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1918-08-09

There was brief pause; then Este
changed. ''Tell me, have you heard
any news?"
mot yet. but we will hear some be-
fore long I'm sure"
"Your faith does as much for me as
this lady's care. But when you go
away, when I'm alone, when begin to
think"
Don't think too much; don't permit
yourself to doubt" O'Reilly 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 know now and
everything that has happened to me-"
81 don't know how you came to be in
cell in San Antonio de los Banos, two
hundred miles from the place you were
killed. That is still mystery"
"It is very simple, amigo. Let me
see: I had finished telling you about
the fight at La Joya. was telling you
how l tainted. Some good people found
me few hours after / lost conscious
ness. They supposed l had been at
tackled by guerrillas and left for dead.
Finding that still had life in 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 u.s."
"Not Valdes, the notary?"
"The very same. Alberto Valdes and
his four daughters. Heaven guided
them to me. Alberto was an old man;
he had hard work to provide food for
his girls. Nevertheless, he refused to
abandon me. Oh, they were faithful,
patient people! You see, / had walked
east instead Of west, and now / 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 a desert.
Il finally became able to drag myself
around the hut. But / had no means
of sending word to Rosa, and the I'M
certainty nearly made me crazy. My
clothes had rotted from me; my bones
were just under the skin. I must have
been a shocking sight. Then one day
there came fellow travelling east with
messages for Gomez. He was one of
Lopez men, and he told me that LO-
pei 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. 1t was from him
that / learned" Esteban Varona's
thin hands clutched the edges of his
hammock and he rolled his head weak
ly from side to side. "It was he who
had ravaged the Yumuri and that my
sister-was gone"
"There, there We know better now"
O'Reilly said, soothingly.
"It was a hideous story, story of
rape, murder. l wonder that l didn't
60 mad. 1t never occurred to me to
doubt, and as q matter of fact the fell
low was honest enough; he really be-
lieved what he told me. After the
man had finished 1 felt the desire to
get away from all I had known and
loved, to leave Matanzas for new fields
cause. I was free to enlist, since
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
these dispatches, for we were taken
crossing the trocha-at least / was
taken, for Pablo was killed. They'd
have made an end of me, too, / dare
say, only was so weak. 1t seems
century since that night. My memory
doesn't serve me very we'll from that
point, for they jailed me- and I grew
worse. I was out Of my head good
DEAL"
The two men fell silent for a while.
Esteban lay with closed eyes, exhaust
ed. O'Reilly gave himself up to frown-
ing thought. His thoughts were not
pleasant; he could not, for the life Of
him, believe in Rosa's safety so i'm
plicitly as he had led Esteban to sup
pose; his efforts to cheer the other
had sapped his own supply of hope,
leaving him prey to black misgivings.
He was glad when Norine Evans re-
turn put an end to his speculations.
"Have you narrowed this poor mans
feelings sufficiently for once?" she in