The Ely miner., 1943-11-25


There was no reason to get hot
under the collar, Pete told himself.
Maybe Anne was deliberately con-
cealing her intelligence. Sometimes
she did it without deliberation. Fur
thermore, there was nothing offen-
sive in preferring girls charm to
her intelligence. Latins weren't the
only ones who did that.
"What have you done with the
young ladies, by the way?" Taussig
inquired.
'My cousin is with some of my
other cousins. Miss Haywood has
had firing day. She's gone up
stairs"
''I hope you'll remember your sug-
gestion about the sugar plantation.
I'm sure Miss Haywood would en-
joy it too"
'I'm sure we can arrange it, Mr..
Taussig. I'll speak to my father.
Are you engaged tomorrow"
'I'm afraid I am," Taussig said.
''The Army is taking me on tour
of the island, stopping at Borinquen
Field for lunch"
Mr.. Taussig bowed to both of
them. Goodnight, he said.
Miguel Valera turned to his uncle
and spoke again rapidly. Pete
caught Graciela's name and "casa,"
and decided that Miguel was telling
his uncle to take the girl home. At
any rate Gongaro left. Miguel and
Pete were alone in the patio, and
the light in Anne's window was still
on. Pete, watching with a kind OF
forlorn hope for one brief glimpse Of
even her shadow on the screen, tTy-
ing to make up his mind not to go
and call her up just to hear her
voice and know she was there, start
ed to get up. As he did Valera rose
and came across the grass.
"Good evening, Captain" he said.
eff you aren't in hurry wonder
if you'd join me in a nightcap?"
For a moment the two of them
stood facing each other, the Latin
tall and slender with gray eyes and
black hair, the Saxon tall, lean and
rangy with hazel eyes and SUM-
bleached, tow-colored hair, each
taking the others measure.
Thanks" Pete said. "Glad to-"
They sat down. Miguel called the
waiter.
You're at Headquarters, under
stand" he said when he had or
dered.
THAT'S right" Pete said. "And
you?"
81 was ordered to Buchanan. But
my orders were cancelled. I was
ready, and thought / might as well
come home. It was too cold in New
York for me anyway. I'd been up
for several months on business for
my father"
you're a lawyer, aren't your"
Pete asked. It sounded as if being
lawyer in time like this was a
little like being snake in the grass,
which was not what he had meant
Miguel laughed.
"a sort of lawyer. You have to
know law to manage a. sugar Cen
trail, these days of government regu-
1dL1O1l. OOII pIdSL1CG.
"Politics?"
Politics is in Latin blood" Mig
uel answered. RED corpuscles,
white corpuscles and politics. 1t
means everything down here"
"What about your father? Has he
been in political officer"
mo. My father isn't a United
States citizen. After the American
occupation we were given the choice
of accepting citizenship or remain
ing Spanish. My father chose to
retain his own citizenship. A good
many people did. What do you call
them-diehards, isn't it?"
care they the ones who don't like
the United States?" Pete asked.
Valera hesitated.
81 think there's a parallel between
Puerto Rico and the Southern States
on the mainland" he said evenly.
aren't there people there who still
refer to the damyankees? 1t seems
to be human nature. If you're proud
you don't like defeat, and you don't
like your conquerors. I don't mean
that's general in Puerto Rico, but
there are still few old-timers like
my father, who fought for Spain in
the Spanish-American war and re-
member the good old days. It
doesn't matter if the good old days
were bad. They've forgotten that"
Would they like to see Spain
back?"
Miguel Valera shrugged. 'I sup
pose there's the dream of seeing the
scarlet and gold of Spain flying from
FL MORO. It's natural enough for
the people who are predominantly
Spanish. If the United States were
conquered, you would just wait the
chance to kick your conquerors out.
Isn't that what we're waiting for
the Poles and Danes to do, the
French and Greeks and Norwe-
gians?"
He leaned forward intently.
I'D like you to understand what
I mean. There are all shades of
opinion down here. A former gov
ernor posed at the Cathedral door
with the Falangist leaders in uni
form, not so long ago-during the
civil war in Spain. It never oc-
CURED to him that they were the
people plugging for cooperation
with the Nazis.''
"And what about the National
ists?" Pete asked.
Miguel shook his head. 1.-THE ca
Clique, or leader of the party in pow
er, has said Nationalism is not an
issue at the present. I don't think
there's any important organized Ma
tionalist opinion here now. The Fa-
langists and the Nationalists are the
two extremes-in between you have