Evening star., 1921-05-29

! The cafe was crowded. A bar ran
along one whole side of the long. mar
row room. Behind it, shelves full of
glittering glasses and bottles and two
1 or three enormous mirrors Were un-
broken-the only bar in Magella to
escape the revolutionary vandals On
d raised platform at the farther end
of the room two boys We're playing
guitars. A crowd of men stood about
cleared space watching the dane
ers-tall plainsmen in gaudy ponchos.
Neapoiitans, the dregs of the foreign
A., population. Chinese. spectacled Ger
mans wearing pongee coats and din
gy straw hats. the inevitable mozo.
| whose enormous hats lowered above
the crowd, one or two soldiers. and
the ragged remnants Of Gonellrs hired
| natonaliSts.
| cloud of smoke hung under the
| ceiling. The air was close and fetid
like Whit from some Internal fur
| mace. There was an incessant clap
ping of hands. loud. insistent shuf-
| fling of feet. roar of voices singing
the passionate refrain of the dance
music.
| Pug elbowed his way through the
crowd. He had forgotten Gonelli
! He stood on the rim of the dancing
floor. looking for Cammarillo He
was not surprised at the crudeness of
/ his feelings.
LIE was farther from 9Th avenue
than he had ever been. Civilfza-
ton was ten thousand miles away,
and he was standing elbow to elbow
with the maddest adventurers left on
| the face of an enlightened globe. The
very word liberty was favored with
folly. Progress went hand in hand
with murder. There were no laws,
only insane ideals. lofty intentions
and fiabby morality. Pug felt like
modern Don Quixote from Manhattan.
triots would go on strangling. plum
derlng and dying until some miracle
Tade plain the insane futility of their
struggle. Then. perhaps. Masella
would be safe.
The music stopped: the dancers,
painting and laughing. swept back
against the watching crowd. and Pug
saw A girl standing alone in the CEN
ter of the cleared space. Her smooth
hair was held in place by gilt comb:
she wore shawl over her shoulders
and tight calico skirt. She stood
motionless. her eyes on the crowd
smiling slight. disdainful smile that
was provoking and audacious
Querita. some one called. in a
thick voice, dance for u.s."
The girl shrugged and looked over
her shoulder at the guitar players.
Then. slowly. with her hands on her
hips. her eyes closed. and her Iips
parted. she began to dance. The gull
tars swept into frantic melody. the
staring rancheros shouted, and there
began again the humping of feet and
the clapping of many palms Some
one climbed up on the platform at the
end of the room and Smote the piano
with crash. Querita was dancing
,he tanGo-not the tango of the bou-
IevardS. nor of Broadway nor of
Michigan avenue-the tango of the
South American dance s-tll She was
seductlVe. malicious. implaca BILE
Slowly circllng the crowd of eager
men. she searched for a partner.
Gonelli whispered. touching Puc's
arm: "Cammarillo is sitting over there
with three other men-the table in
the center. The little fellow in the
straw hat. Now that you have seen
him. let's get out of this"
Pug shook his head You don't nm
derstand me. Gonelli. never 60 nome
until the tables are stacked I'm go
ing to dance with Querita myself"
Querita had paused before Cam
marillo. She said something to him in
without paying the slightest atten.
ton TO her, weht on drinking and
talking. The dancer, lips tremhIed
She stamped her foot. threw back her
mead, and said in loud voice.
Querita?"
The spaniard. after a slight pause.
turned his head ana let his ewes rest
on the girl with an uncompre hendiny
stare. Ihe crowd was silent while ;
Cammarillo and the DANGER faced each
other Some one in the background
laughed, there was loud, sibilant
hiss from the rest. and the amused
onlookers held their breath before the
little tragedy of Querita's failure.
Cammarillo's eyes Travelled from her
head to her feet appraisingly; then he
shrugged. frowned and turned his
back.
For moment the girl hesitated She
saw the look that flashed into the eyes
Of the crowd: she heard murmur of |
laughter and mockery. Backing; away
from Cammarillo a step or two. on |
tip-toe, she stood rigid and furious
Then. swapping her fingers and stamp
ing her foot. she began dancing again.