The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1921-05-05

SafTOS SLSTeu Ut hiCdIuo, uueu Tie
dark blood in him came to his defense;
his tense pose relaxed; the fright
and despair left his swarthy counte-
nance as II erased with q moist
sponge, leaving him as calmly stoical
and Indifferent as q ctgarstore Indian.
He fumbled In his o a pocket for a
gold cigarette case, selected a ciga-
rette, lighted 1t 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 1t.
He realized 1t would delight his cap
tor to know he dreaded to face the
issue, and 1t was not a SarrOs practice
to give aid and comfort to the enemy.
"Spuuky devill" 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. ~ 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 a
double guard in the arsenal" he or
dered. present my compliments to
the officer In charge there and tell
him 1t is my wish that a priest be
provided for the prisoner tonight, and
that tomorrow morning, at six o'clock,
4 detail of six men and a sergeant
escort this man to the cemetery in
the rear of the Cathedral de la Cruz.
! viii meet the detail there and take
command of it,"
Two of R~icardo's imported fighting
men stepped to the prisoners side,
seized him, one by each arm, and lift
ed him to 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
a 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 plOw'ed 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 direct hit be-
Of RicardO's stringent orders
not to use artillery on the palace IN
less absolutely necessary to smoke
SarrOs out. Scattered I've the grounds
Ricardo counted ONE 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 az they ran.
From this grim scene Ricardo raised
his eyes to the palace, the castellated
towers Of which, looming through the
tufted palms, were %refecting the set
ting sun. Over the balustrade Of one
Of the upper balconies the limp body
of q Sarros sharpshooter, picked of
from the street, dropped gr~otesQuely,
his arms hanging downward as If in
ironical welcome to the son Of Ruey
the Beloved. The sight induced in
Ricardo a n Of profound sadness;
his Irish Imagination awoke; to him
that mute figure seemed to call upon
him for pity, for kindness, for for
b%earance, for understanding and SYM
pathy. Those outflung arms Of the
martyred peon symbolized to Ricardo
Ruey the spirit Of liberty, shackled
anu HeipleSS, CuiliHs upou hilu Luz uc-
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 a 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
pulsory education and evolve from
the ignorance Of the peon an intelli-
gence hat would build up that which
Sobrante. in common with her sister
republics, so wickedly lacked-the
great middle class that stands always
as q buffer between the aggression
and selfishness Of the upper class and
the helplessness and c%hildishness 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 I may not prove unworthy"