The Mena weekly star., 1919-01-16

war. 1t is mans agony--woman's de-
spair. II is a defiance of God. War
is without mercy, without law; it is
well, it is the absence of all law, all
good"
Ii was some time before O'ReiHy
spoke; then he said, quietly: Il am
not going back. / am going to stay
here and look for Rosa"
"Sol" exclaimed the colonel. well,
why not? So long as we do not know
precisely what has happened to her,
we can at least hope. But, If were
you. / would rather think of her as
dead than as prisoner in some con-
centration camp. You don't know
what those camps are like, my friend,
but do. Now I shall leave you. One
needs to be alone at such an hour
ehf" With pressure of his hand,
Colonel Lopez walked away into the
darkness.
Judson and his adventurous country
man did not see O'Reilly that night,
nor. In fact. did anyone. But the next
morning he appeared before General
Gomez. He was haggard, sick, list
less. The old Porto Rican had heard
from Lopez I'm the meantime; he was
sympathetic.
II am sorry you came all the way
to hear such bad news" he said.
"war is sad. hopeless business"
But 1 haven't given up hope"
0'ReIlly said. " want to stay here
and-and fight.r
IT inferred as much from what To-
peg told me-" The general nodded his
white head. "Well, you'll make good
soldier, and we shall be glad to have
YOU" He extended his hand, and
O'Rellly took 1t gratefully.
The city Of Matanzas was ''pacified."
SO ran the boastful bando of the cap
tain general. And this was no exag-
geration, as anyone could see from
the number of beggars there. OF all
his military operations, this "pacifica-
tion'' of the western towns and prov
inces was the most eOnspicuously sue
cessful and the one which gave Valeri-
ano Weyler the keenest satisfaction;
for nowhere did the rebellion lift its
head-except perhaps, among the
ranks of those disaffected men who hid
In the hills, with nothing above them
but the open sky. AS for the popula-
ton at large, 1t was cured Of treason
1t no longer resisted, even weakly, the
law of Spain. The reason was that 1t lay
diving. WeyIer's cure was simple. efii-
cacious-it consisted of determination,
swift and pitiless.
Poverty had been common IN Matan-
zas, even before the war, but now
there were so many beggars In the
city that nobody undertook to count
them. When the refugees began to
pour In by the thousands. and when
II became apparent that the govern
ment Intended TO let them starve. the
better citizens undertook an effort al
relief; but times were hard, food was
scarce. and prices high. Moreover II
soon TRANSFERRED that the military
frowned upon everything like organ
lied charity, and In consequence the
newcomers were. perforce, abandoned
to their own devices. These country
people were dumb and terrified at tine
misfortunes which had overtaken
them: they wandered the streets In
ainnless bewilderment. fearful of what
blow might next befall. They were
not used to begging. and therefore
they did not often implore aims but
all day long they asked for work, fol
bread, that their little ones might i've
Work, however, was even scarcer than
food. and the t.v4 soon came when
they crouched upon curbs and door
steps, hopeless. beaten, silently re-
proachful of those more fortunate
than they. Their eyes grew big ana
hollow; their outstretched hands grew
gaunt and skinny. The sound Of weep
ing women and fretting babies Pc
came a common thing to hear.
Dogs and cats became choice articles
Of dirt until they disappeared it