Vernon Parish Democrat., 1921-06-09

He fumbled in his coat pocket for a
gold cigarette case, selected a ciga-
rette, lighted It and blew smoke at
Ricardo. The jig was up; he knew
it; and with admirable nonchalance
he declined to lower his presidential
dignity by discussing or considering it.
He realized it would delight his cap
tor to know he dreaded to face the
issue, and it was not a Sarros practice
to give aid and comfort to the enemy.
"Spunky DEVIL" Ricardo reflected,
forced to admiration despite himself.
Aloud he said: "You know the code
of our people, Sarros. An eye for
an eye and a tooth for a TOOTH"
Sarros bowed. 81 am at your serv-
ice," he replied carelessly.
"Then at daylight tomorrow morn
ing shall make settlement" Ricardo
beckoned his men to approach. "Take
this man and confine him under
double guard in the arsenal" he or
dered. present my compliments to
the officer in charge there and tell
him it is my wish that priest be
provided for the prisoner tonight, and
that tomorrow morning, at six o'clock,
detail of six men and a sergeant
escort this man to the cemetery In
the rear of the Catedral de la Cruz
I will meet the detail there and take
command of It,"
Two of Ricardo's imported fighting
men stepped to the prisoners side,
seized him, one by each arm, and lift
ed him 80 his feet; supported be-
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 prodigious
proportions of the task before him;
the rehabilitation of a nation. After
q while he rose and strolled 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 a Girect hit be-
cause of Ricardo's stringent orders
not to use artillery on the palace un-
less absolutely necessary to smoke
Sarros 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
a 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. were rejecting the set
ting sun. Over the balustrade Of one
of the upper balconies the limp body
of Sarros sharpshOoter, picked OF
from the street, dropped grotesquely,
his arms hanging downward as If in
i ironical welcome to the son of Ruey
the Beloved. The sight induced in
Ricardo a 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 outfung 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,
a 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
| pulSOIy 6uuCdllOu anu eVOiN6 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 a buffer between the aggression
and selhshness Of the upper class and
the helplessness and childishness of
the lower.
Ricardo bowed his head. ''Help me,
o Lord" he prayed. "Thou hast given
me in Thy wisdom mans task. Help
me that I may not prove unworthy. !"
.
Mother jerks, grown impatient at the
lack Of news concerning Webster, left
Dolores to her grief N the room across
the hall and sought the open air, for
OF late she had bees experiencing with
recurring frequency a slight feeling OF
suffocation. She sat down en- the broad