The Raymer enterprise., 1919-03-27

gagged. His rifle was empty. he had In
hot barrel In his hands: he dimly do
tinguished Asensio welding his mach
etc. Then he found himself down
and half stunned. Something smote
him heavily. at last-whether ho0f
or gun-stock he could not tell--and
next he was on all-fours. trying to drag
himself out Of this rat-pit. But biz
limbs were Queerly rebellious. and he
was sick; he had never experienced
anything quite like this and he thought
he must be wounded. II greatly sur.
prised him to find that he could strug-
gle upward through the brambles, even
though II was hard work. Men were
fighting all around and below him.
meanwhile. and he wondered vaguely
what made them kill one another when
he and his negroes were ail dead OF
dying. 1t seemed very strange-of .
piece with the general unreality of
things-and II troubled him not q lit
tie. One Of his arms was useless, he
discovered, and be realized with curl
ous shock that 1t was broken. He was
bleeding, too. from more than one
wound. but he could walk, after Z
fashion.
He was Inclined TO stay and finish
the fight, but be recollected that Rosa
would be waiting for him and that hs
must 90 to her. and SO he set cut
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
plantation house was ablaze. Flames
were belching from Its windows, cast.
Ing abroad q lurid radiance; and re-.
membering Pancho Cueto. Estebau
laughed.
BY and BY. after he was well away,
his numbness passed and he began ia
suffer excruciating pain. The pain had
been there all the time. so 1t seemed
he was simply gaining the capacity to
feel 1t. He was ready to die now. be
was 20 Ill; 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.
tained 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 hia
own throat
It 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 aimless.
ly for water. but there was none. Evi.
IDENTITY this heat had parched the land
dried up the streams. and set the
stones afre. It was incredible, but
true.
Esteban reasoned that he must be
near home by this time, for be had
been travelling for days-for years. The
country, indeed, was altogether unfa.
miliar; be could not recall ever having
seen the path he trod, but for that mat.
ter everything was strange. In the
nrst place he knew that be was going
west, and yet the morning sun persisted
In beating hotly Into his facet Thai
alone convinced him that things had
gone awry with the world. he could
remember q great convulsion Of soms
sort, but Just what 1t was be had NJ
clear deal Evidently. though. 1t had
been sufficient to change the rotation
Of the earth. Yes. that was It; the
earth was running backward upon ID
axis; he could actually feel II whirlinl
under his feet. No wonder his journey
seemed 20 long. He was laboring ovel
q gigantic treadmill. balancing like q
eQuilibrist upon q revolving sphere
Well. It was q simple matter to stoS
walking. sit down. and allow himself