Evening star., 1918-01-27
ESTEBAN REASONED THAT HE
MUST BE NEAR HOME THIS TINE.

ESTEBAN REASONED THAT HE
MUST BE NEAR HOME THIS TINE.
OF the volunteers who pressed them hard
est began to shoot wildly, for this typical
ly Cuban refusal to stand ground enraged
them beyond measure.
made good their escape had 1t not been
for that other guerrillero returning from
its raid; but, as 1t happened. the two
forces met In the sunken road. Nothing
but the darkness and the headlong ap-
proacf: Of the fleeing men saved them
from Immediate destruction. for the col
lision occurred between banks too steep
pack too close behind to permit Of retreat.
Instantly there began a blind battle in
these desperately cramped quarters. AT
ter the first moment or two friend and
both parties began firing or thrusttng at
whatever loomed nearest out Of the
gloom. The narrow ravine quickly be-
came place of utter confusion. vol
plunging. struggling bodies. Horses
reared and bit at one another. Riders
fought stirrup to stirrup with clubbed
rifles an and Ias machetss; saddles were were emptied
Of them lunged up the banks. only
ing limbs and sharp-shod hoofs working
more havoc than blows from old-time
=
Cobos men who had ridden out from
the sugar-mill naturally attributed this
new uproar to a stand of their enemies,
and began to rake the road with rifle
fire; then. in obedience to the COM
mands OF their half-clad colonel, they
charged. A moment and they were
fighting hand to hand with their re-
turning comrades. Spaniard clashed
with Spaniard, and somewhere in the
melee the six marauders battled for
their lives.
OF course, after the first moment of
conflict. Esteban had not been able to
exert the least control over his men;
in fact. he could not make himself
heard Nor could he spare the breath
to shout: he was too desperately en-
gagged. When the full truth Of the sit
uation dawned upon him he gave up
hope for his life and at first merely
strove to wreak such havoc as he could.
Yet while some of his faculties were
completely numbed in the stress Of that
whfte-hot moment. others remained
singularly clear. The shock of his sur
prise, the imminence of his peril, rem
dered him dead to any emotion save dis
may, and yet. strangely enough, he re-
nembered Rosa's pressing need for
him and. more for her sake than for his
own, fought to extricate himself from
the confusion. His rifle was empty, he
dimly distinguished Asensio welding
his machete. Then he found himself
down and half stunned. He was run
ming here and there to avoid lunging
horses; he was tripping and falling, but
meanwhile, as opportunity offered he
continued to use his dubbed weapon.
Something smote him heavily, at last
whether hoof or a gun-stock he could
not tell-and next he was on all-fours,
trying to drag himself out Of this rat
pit. But his limbs were queerly re-
bellious. and he was sick; he had never
experienced anything quite like this
and he thought he must be wounded.
1t greatly surprised him to find that he
could struggle upward through the
braYnbles, even though 1t was hard
work. Men were fighting all around
and below him, meanwhile and he won
dered vaguely what made them kill one
another when he and his negroes were
all dead or dying. 1t seemed very
strange-of piece with the general
unreality of things-and it troubled
him not a little
At last he gained the top Of the bank
and managed to assume an upright po-
sition, clinging to the bole of a palm
tree. One of his arms was useless, he
discovered, and he realized with a curl
GUS shock that 1t was broken. He was
bleeding, too. from moro than one
wound, but he could walk. after a fash
ion.
He was inclined to stay and finish
the fight. but he recollected that Rosa
would be waiting for him and that he
must 30 TO Hef, ana SO ne set out across
the fields. staggering through the
charred cane stubble. The night was
not so black as it had been. and this
puzzled him until he saw that the plan
tatfon house was ablaze. Flames were
belching from its windows, casting
abroad 1urid radiance; and remember
Ing 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 1t. He was ready to die now, he
was so Ill: moreover, his left arm dam
gled and got in his way. Only that
subconscious realization of the neces-
sity to keep going for Rosa's sake sus-
tanned him.
After while he found himself on a
forest trail; then he came to other
fields and labored across them. For
tune finally led his feet down into a
creek-bed, and he drank greedily, sit
ting upon a stone and scooping the