The Ely miner., 1929-06-21
CHAPTER XIII
The Coming of La Anita

Il
| twilight fell. for this was my last sun
set, this the last time that I might
see the soft purple veil that comes
before the night
had been found guilty OF murder
! in the death of Captain Lestrange,
! of resisting arrest and of making an
| unprovoked attack upon a superior
officer in the person of Colonel Lo-
pez. and of desertion In that ! had
fled and had not returned to the serv-
| ice of the Empire for more than half
year. My sentence, of course. was
| death.
Anon, the silent guard appeared
bringing my supper of baked chiva.
frijoles and tortillas; and with him
came Neville and Brugiere, who sat
mute or signing deeply. and watched
| me eat
81 cannot stand ii, Francois" Ne
Vile said at last; you eat the food
as though you might enjoy it. and
| you face your last night with a
dreamy sort of smile upon your face.
Are you mad. dear friend; has life
been so unfortunate thing-a thing
of such overwhelming sorrow-that
| you leave it with smile?"
life has been beautiful thing.
Neville-a glorious thing-and have
lived it. No man has got more out
| Of life than l."
Madness, Francois; you have lived
as a stupid old man so long your
brain has dried. There are left so
few of US. so very few; all In less
| than a year. Some day. Francois. l
will have to tell your mother"
Now, having finished this final mea
of mine. got up and put an arm
across his shoulder. There is no
man in all the world that | would
rather have tell her than you. my
friend And you may tell her that
died for a love worth dying for
and that | was happy. Nova little
cheerfuIness. Neville; is it thus that
you come to my death chamber and
pull sigh that fairly bends the bars
Of. my eager"
A slow smile spread across his
handsome face, but hurt lay deep
in his eyes.
do you know" he said, after
long silence, that the emperor plans
to break through the Liberal lines
and make for the city-or the sea"
He can do it." said Brugiere;
..when?"
'Tomorrow-a forlorn hope. He
has but ten thousand men, and all
of Mexico is up in arms against him"
Tomorrow ahi Not so forlorn
hope, Neville. An effort worthy of
our emperor"
"But ten thousand men," said Ne
| Vile 10
rs enough. Xenophon led ten thou
sand men across fifteen hundred miles
of alien country-and lived to write
about it. Shall Macmillan do less?"
IF Lopez" | began, but stopped,
cobbled walk under my window came
| to US; footsteps and a voice-a low
musical voice that brought my heart
| into my throat. ANITA" I whis-
pered, would she come here?"
AYE" said Brugiere; shall shs
journey a hundred and fifty miles
over this GOd-forgotten land to see
| you-and pause at the portals of a
prison? You do not know La Anita" :"
"Mon Dieu." gasped, "Mon Dieu.
she would come here?"
"Assuredly." Brugiere grasped my
arm. "Shall she find you sad, Fran
co.'s. or happy? Shall we wait-sol-
emn, silent-fearing death, or shall
she find three merry soldiers of the
Empire. facing light-heartedly any
| thing that may come?"
81 thank you, dear friend. We must
not hurt her. She shall find US in
joyful celebration; we shall drink
and !augh-and singI"
We might have been at our aecus
toned table at the Cafe Miramon /:
we were laughing gaily together. and
trying, with woefully inadequate
voices, to sing when the guard
brought her to the door and let her in.
Ah-what a glory she brought into
that prisoni She gave me her hand,
a warm sweet smile on her lovely face
"What wondrous friends you have.
senor."
"A good friend. senorita. is a gift
of God"
Then you are twice blessed" She
offered slim fingers to Neville. Bru
giere caught her swiftly in his arms
and kissed her: then. while she stood.
blushing prettily, said: Francois is
thrice blessed, gracious lady. for he
has a friend among the angels"
you should save your honeyed
words for Colonel Lopez. He is be-
side himself with fury"
/ Brugiere laughed. 'Our Franken-
stein will hesitate before be builds
another monster"
yet he will do some desperate
thing. fear. No one may reach his
majesty: | have tried"
The colonel" explained Neville.
has thrown a Gordon of his own crea-
lures around the emperor. | have
striven for week to gain the ear OF
Macmillan. No one may even ap
proach La Cruz. What Lopez is plan
ming TO do I cannot imagine"
what the estimabIe colonel may
choose to do" said Brugiere, need
concern US this night not al all, for
what he does will be stupid or dis
honest. and neither stupidity nor dis
honesty can avail him anything. WheI
the emperor hears the truth about Lo
peg we will have another chief OF
staff"