The Bingham County news. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1918-1930, 1921-07-15

tween them, he limped away to his
doom, while his youthful conqueror
remained seated on the dead horse,
his gaze bent upon the ground, his
mind dwelling, not upon his triumph
over Sarros but upon the prodigous
proportions Of the task before him
the rehabilitation of a nation. After
a while he rose and stroled over to-
ward the gate, where he paused to
note the grim evidences of the final
stand of Webster and Don Juan Cafe
tero before passing through the por
tai.
Ricardo had now, for the first time,
an opportunity to look around him
so he halted to realize his home-cOm-
ing, to thrill with this, the first real
view of the home of his boyhood. The
spacious lawn surrounding the palace
had been plowed and SCARED with
bursting shrapnel from the field guns
captured in the arsenal, although the
building itself had been little damaged,
not having sustained direct hit be-
cause of RicardO's stringent orders
not to use artillery on the palace I'M
less absolutely necessary to smoke
Saros out. Scattered over the grounds
Ricardo counted some twenty-odd
government soldiers, all wearing that
pathetically fiat, crumpled appearance
which seems inseparable from the
bodies of men killed in action. The
first shrapnel had probably COM
menced to drop in the grounds just as
portion of the palace garrison had
been marching out to join the troops
fighting at the cantonment barracks
Evidently the men had scattered like
quail. only to be killed as they ran.
From this grim scene Ricardo raised
his eyes to the palace, the castellated
towers Of which, looming through the
tufted palms, We're rejecting the set
ting sun. Over the balustrade of one
of the upper balconies the limp body
of Sarros sharpshooter, picked off
from the street, dropped grotesquely,
his arms hanging downward as If in
iron cal welcome to the son Of Ruey
the Beloved. The sight induced in
Ricardo sense Of profound sadness;
his Irish Imagination awoke; to him
that mute figure seemed to call upon
him for pity, for kindness, for for
bearance, for understanding and SYM
pathy. Those outflung arms of the
martyred peOn symboliZed to Ricardo
Ruey the spirit of liberty, shackled
and helpless, calling upon him for de-
liverance; they brought to his alert
mind a clearer realization of the duty
that was his than he had ever had be-
fore. He had great task to perform,
task inaugurated by his father, and
which Ricardo could not hope to fin
ish in his lifetime. He must solve
the agrarian problem; he must de-
velop the rich natural resources of his
country; he must provide free, COM
pulsory education and evolve from
the ignorance of the peon an intelli-
gence that would build up that which
Sobrante, in common with her sister
republics, so wickedly lacked-the
great middle class that stands always
as buffer between the aggression
and selfishness of the upper class and
the helplessness and childishness of
the lower.
Ricardo bowed his head. Help me,
0 Lord" he prayed. "Thou hast given
me in Thy wisdom a mans task. Help
me that | may not prove unworthy"
=
Mother jerks, grown impatient at the
lack of news concerning Webster, left
Dolores to her grief in the room across
the hall and sought the open air. for
of late she had been experiencing with
recurring frequency slight feeling of
suffocation. She sat down on the broad
granite steps. helped herself to a
much-needed "bracer'' from her brandy
flask and was gazing pensively at the
scene around her when Ricardo came
up the stairs.
"'Ello!" Mother jerks saluted him
"We're ave you been, Mr.. Bowers?'
81 have just returned from capturing
Sarros, Mrs. jerks. He is on his way
to the arsenal under guard"
''Gor' strike me pink !" the old lady
cried. "'Ave lived to see this day!'
Her face was wreathed in happy
smile. II wonder 'ow the beggar feel:
to ave the shoe on the other foot, Ell
the 'eartless 'ound; I'm 'opin' this
General Ruey will ave the blightel
shot"
.You need have no worry on tina
score, Mrs. jerks. I'm General Ruey
Andrew Bowers was just my summe
name. as it WERE"
angels guard me! Wot the bloom
in ell surprise won't we ave next
Wot branch o. the Ruey tribe DO yo'
belong to? Are you nephew o hin
that was president before Sarros sho
i'm? Antonio Ruey, who was ar
brother TO the president 'ad a son :
called Ricardo. Are you i'm, might
arsk?'
81 am the son of Ricardo the Be
loved" he answered proudly.
"Sot the lad as was away al schoc
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