Evening star., 1921-06-19

OF the mated Yank. the spirit OF prog
ress. the symbol of political sanity.
will kill me because I am his friend.
You they will hold for ransom, some
where in the hills
Things like this don't happen"
They happen in Magella, signorina"
why don't you do something?"
Gonelli stared down at her with a
look OF amused admiration. why
not? Why not, indeed?" He glanced
| over his shoulder at the picturesque
raSamuffin who was prodding him
forward with gentle insinuations and
pressures. "Signorina." he said in a
low voice. you are the prettiest girl
have ever seen. 1 expect to die very
shortly-ten minutes or ten hours; it
is all one! Dying men should have GER
tain privileges. Forgive me, signorina,
saw you: I am Neapolitan by birth.
a Magellan by choice. We Magellans
live for the fun OF living. We fight for
the joy of fighting. We love for the
glory of loving. We die when there is
no longer honor in living. 1 will fight
to live. to love you. and to win you
Ebbere?"
a. don't know what ebbene MEANS
Rita said. but I grasp the plot"
And:' be 1t frankly said. she smiled
into Gonel!i's- eyes.
They were met on the beach by the
temp nationalists. The ten had. by
SOME obscure political sum In arith-
metle become twenty. And there were
horses tfthered in the meager shadow
of the cocoanut palms. .
Pug smiled at Rita '"They are TAX
ing us to Cammarillo's hacienda" he
said. TRY to look pleased"
~ always ride before breakfast"
Rita laughed.
The way led across a narrow .pla-
teau. a place of palms and fruit trees,
Nf RI fD~ ,l~s
banks to the sea, of dense vegetation,
brilliant flowers and sudden open
stretches drenched with sun. The
twenty nationalists divided themselves
and guarded their prisoners with en-
thusiaSnl.
Gonelli rode at Rita's side. He talk
ed to her of life, of sunshine. of youth
and the precious certainty of,loye He
told her Of MaEella-the great noun
tains and the plains. He spoke to hef.
with gentle insistence. of herself.
You are an American. Yet you
speak to me in the language Of my
people-with your eyes. You are beau
tiful. You have been in my dreams al
ways-you have come with your long
brown hair spread over your shouI.
ders, with whispers that were just for
me. You are straight and flexible and
swaying as the stem Of young BAN.
boo. You have stirred my heart" Il.
says things like that unless there is q
calcium moon and slow music"
I'm Magella." Gonelii answered, I'VE
say things like that whSh we love-"
You love easily"
I'VE are not subject to mean hesita.
tions and fears"
At noon they halted in the very
shadow of the Christmas at the mouth
of & narrow gorge through which
some estuary of the Marias river
poured into the plain. A fire. was
lighted and the hungry prisoners were,
given coffee and bread. Afterward
they mounted again and. splashed
through the gorge to the river bed
beyond-that fabulous floor Of pink
sand at the base OF the Christmas:
X
THAT night the nationalists made
camp two Thousand feet above the.
river in a scooped-out pocket shell
tered from. the wind. Mr.. Blanchard
groaned' like a wounded man. when
they lifted him from his horse. and,
moved by pain and fury. to reckless
speech, he shouted: Outrageous! Hoe