Evening Star Newspaper, February 13, 1921, Page 56

THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C., FEBRUARY 13, 1921—PART 4 THE CABURE FEATHER ORALES was going to fire his Mauser again when his friend Jaramillo, who was sighting sitlon a few yards away, velled at the top of his voice to make himself heard above the deafening rattle of the mus- ketry volleys. “Don’t shoot! What would be the wse? You can't kill him. That man has a paye of great power. They had landed about midnight mear the city wharf. Two river tugs had ferried them across the Parana. There were more than @ hundred of them, a resolute band recruited Paraguay and the wild Chaco terri- tory, nearly all the state or Corrientes who had gone into exile after some unsuccessful political ture or an affair of the heart which made a change of residence expedient. Mingled with these rebellious sons of Corrientes went a few born fighters. men of the type who love danger for its own sake, a small group of genuine adventurers who prowled around the outlying provinces of tie Argentine Republic ready to rush wherever there was the slightest possibility of an up- risipg against the constituted au- thorities. R Counting on the incredible audacity of their coup and the shock that their Ppolitical adversaries wers zoing to v ceive. they advanced boldiy over (he streets which converged on the police Barracks, marching rapidly, with the confidence of men wio tread miliar ground. The peaceful citizens who were sitting in froni of their homes enjoying the cool night ai beat a hasty retreat. realizing the im- port of this sudden irruption of armed men. in natives of * # ARDLY had the landing party come within pistol-shot of police head- quarters when the doors of the bar- racks were closed and barred and the guard opened the invaders through the windows. The coup had failed! The enemy had been neither shocked nor surprised. But. despite this. the rebels did not think for one moment of flecing. Just because the attack had failed to surpris lice there was no good reasom Why they should deprive themsclves of the pleasure of exchangine u few shots with the hated adversary. “Hurrah for Dr. Sepuiveda!” they shouted vociferously. “Down with the usurping government!” And having relieved their feclings vocally and expressed their opinion about the character of the established government. they fell back in small groups. took positions in the street corners which faced the square where the police station was located, and be- gan to return the enemy’s fire with their Mausers A police officer, a stout. dark man exposed himself in one of the windows with amazing coolness, He would raise his arm and empty his revolver, meanwhile volleying the rebels with an uninterrupted flow- of vile lan- suage. ‘Scoundre! * % ire on Canallas! Sonslof 'a —— barrel: And as soon as he discharged the contents of one revolver, he would chanze hix position and open fire with another. his body filling the entire windowframe and offering an easy target to the as- sailants. Occasionally e would dis- appear to reload his wéapons, return- ing almost immediately to continue the fight. The majority of therrebels seemed to have forgotten the political motive that had brought them there. “usurping government” and the neces- sity of capturing the police barracks. Their whole attention was centered on that fat, dark man who insulted them and who took absolutely no precaution to save his own skin. Bullets flew all around him, but not a single one seem- €d to hit the mark. “Don't waste Your cartridges, brother.” continued Jaramillo with a fatalistic air. “That man has a talis- man, a paye. which takes him invul- merable. He is safe fram bullets: the devil himself is not safer. Hum, I D; his rifle from a kneeling po- | on fa-| the po-| the | { I 1 i i | WITH BOTH HANDS HE PULLED BACK HIS SHIRT, SHOWING THE BARE CHEST AND THE YOU TO R MARVELO! FIREY An Unusual Story Ly Vicente Blasco Ibanez US LITTLE BAG. “SHOO _— should not be surpri: cabure feather around his neck.” | Morales ceased firing. He had ab-! solute faith in the wisdom of hix com- rade. Moreover, since his childhood he bad always known the power of a abure feather. | “Down with Sepulveda!” Reinforcements were advancing to upport the loyal troops. Shots were now heard in the bottom of the streets, Having recovered from the surprise of the first ‘ush, the government forces had now sized up the situation {and were moving very rapidly to re- !lieve the barracks “It’s ail over. We have to retreat.” jsaid Jaramillo. And the two friends rsn back to the wharf, ducking to { escape the bullets with which their jenemies were speeding them away | The rest of the band held their| ground, defending themselves stub- born: They reached the waterfront in time | to see one of the tugs fast disappear- ting in the darkness and making its | escape up the river, while the other | was beginning to t off. This treachery did not surprise Jaramillo. “What can you expect from these foreigners, gringoes, without political faith, men who don't belong to our party! They shouldn't hav trusied those two Italian captain | But he and Morales. with the nimble- ! ness of men bred in the jungle, leaped | into the black void and landed on the deck of the fleeing boat. An inch or plunged into the dark alligator-infest- ed waters. ay God have mercy on the brave brothers left behind!" sighed Jaramillo. When the lights of the port began to fade in the distance Jaramillo, con- sidering himself safe, began to criti- cise the unsuccessful attack. “Who ever thought of starting & revolution at midnight when every- body is wide-awake and full of fizht? Why, itU's absurd. One could pull off a revolution at midnight in a cold climate where people go to bed early. ot here: certainly not. One o‘clock in the afternoon—that's the hour for us! His hearers nodded their approval. * * * * «T)URING the siesta,”” Jaramillo went on, “we could have come in and | no one would have seen us. It would|3°™e have been as safe as taking a walk in the cemetery. We could have sur- sed if he carries a | two more, and they would have | overnead ana the heat stifiing, the jungle sleeps without a_ shudder or a throb; it sleeps with the appalling | silence of the grave At nightfall, the life of the jungle Stirs again; in-| weapons; a bill stronger than the best | patients died, but they died because sects buzz, birds flap their wings.|tempered steel and a most devilish|they got restless and called in the quadrupeds stretch their legs, and as|cunning. Where its weapon struck|doctor. That killed them. the shadows grow thicker, all the ani-|a breach was opened. It alw “The best of his secrets,” Jaramillo. { | mals make preparations to attack or|aimed at the head of its enemy, bored | the son. once said, the remedy to | defend themselves, to devour or be de-| through the skull to ihe brain and|cure the snake-bite. He revealed it voured. With the coolness of the|sucked the soft mass before its vic-|to me just before his death. 1 value night, the jungle becomes alive once:tim could escape. No skull it more than an inheritance of many | more and its adventures and tragedies: enough to withstand the repeatedbags of gold pieces.” | continue.” blows of its drill-like beak. It at- -l me the secret, brother” | Morales admired the eloquence and|tacked the wild bull and the tiger|Morales implored. the deep and varied knowledge of his«[und it tackled the tough-skinned| aramillo was startled. friend, Jaramillo was the son of alalligator despite the armor-like cov- can't tell you. The, secret can | wizard and had inherited many of his|ering which give it the appearance|be revealed only on Good Friday.. If | tather's secrets. S | of an ironclad I tell it on some other day I lose the | “Sometime: Jaramillo continued| This diminutive fowl of devilish{ power of healing until the following | with “studied’ oratorical “effect. “the|cunning was the cabure. Good Friday.” night life of the jungle is suddenly * % % ¥ paralyzed by a long pause of awe- silence. A terrible hunter is out,| \] ORALI prowling through the jungle,—the ~'" names and a few drops of Euro- |Jaguar, the American tiger. With(pean blood to the Spanish conquerors large, round spots on his coat, whom the Guarani Indians have nicknamed 1 from early childhood. Two were i who had come to their country cen- and powerful bird the despot of the| jungle; but the fame of this dreaded fiyer had been a familiar thing to him and Jaramillo owed their spoke aloud. “If it hadn't been for ithers, doctor. the other fel-| o killed me. But. you| t him first. 1 was quicke took his feathers and his sword nd were going to deprive him | of his liberty for a great number of | vears—the victim happened to by of those who wore a white handk chief—when he escaped from jail and took refuge in Paraguay. whose fron- tier was only a few hours away Jaramillo, who did not know to do during the absence of hi decided to follow him, and this flight and match Moral he Kkilled another “white chief” betaking himsel -public d for work in one of the plantations where m he native tea made popular 3 uits Jong when they ruled the theocratic republic of the Missions, founded by them in a terri- tory situated close to the frontiers of Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina. Anxious to return to their native land. Morales and Juramillo gave up thelr work several times 10 Join revo- what friend » justify s record handker- to the neighboring They verbaic appl th the J pren Jutionary expeditions organized by their party. The great leader of the party. Dr. Sepulveda lived peacefully in Buenos Aires waiting for the right opportunity to regencrate his provinee, while his followers spared no effort to bring about the triumph of his ideals: arted revolutions by night, and lutions by day. uprisings in the urban centers and uprisings in the country The Aires scarcely these exploits distant prov- racially forms of Bucnos paid any attention to and revolutions in the onging to Argentina reople Moreover, these things took | in one of the remotest corners 1 natio way off in the terri- tory bordering on razil and Para- guay, a region which, while politically belonging to Argentine. racially forms a part of Paraguay. for the majority of its inhabitants speak Guarani. After the bloody failure of that night attack, the two friends returned to the Paraguay plantation to gather mate. They were the first consumers of the tea. During the rest hour they would =it by the river bank and, hold- ing in one hand the small gourd stuff- ed with aromatic leaves of mate and filled with hot water, they would suck the delicious drink through a small tube. At such times they spoke in the measured low tones of their native land. Occasionally. the conversation had to do with the elder Jaramillo and his prodigious wisdom. “1 have seen N cure a patient, { Morales witness, awed | by the “in less time | |than it takes to say the Creed. He {would suck the aching part or he |would put his own lips against the of the sick person and inhale ath. And before you could wink he would spit oNt a varm, a stone, w small snake or a spider. It was the dise he could draw it out of a sick body quicker tham you could uncork a bottle. Some of the * *x *x % T Morales began to bother his triend with childish persistence and gave him no rest for weeks and He remembered vividly how weeks. prised the cuartel and killed the ! : ayelnicle ; the Lord Ocasionally, however, the | turles before; but in reality the: - guard. 1 bet the guard would have|silence Is caused by something more|were two (uarani half-breeds, shore| O @ ¢ertain occasion one of his been snoring in the shade” After a|terrible. A Shrill cry pierces thelin stature, mimble. apparently woake. | neighbors had returned to his ranch he continued philosophically, | darkness, as fearful screech which|limbed but possess 3 with an arm swollen and black from pause, at night in a country like ours. We ought to remember what happens in | no larger than my flat, a sort of owlet. the jungle.” His audience, composed almost en- tirely of men bred in the jungle, mmve new signs of approval. And Jara- millo proceeded: “When the sun is | “It is madness to risk a revolution | makes all those who hear it shudder | This terrible cry is uttered by a bird All the animals that fly, run or crawl seem to tremble when they hear this | screech.” Morales had never been fortunate |enough to catch a glimpse of txe small and com- Amelia diey Becky Sharp had pleted some years of in- tensive finishing at Miss Pinkerton's School, Amelia left sigh- ing and Becky left shying a diction- ary at the principal's sister as a parting token. Becky usuaily faced the world with downcast eyes, but when she spotted her victim, said eyes emitted a Rreen slow some thousand watts in vamp strength. Amelia, on the other hand, was a weepy, timid who had been engaged since infancy lanfied Clawi by, Anne Jordan Pitt's rich spinster sister came for a’ brief visit Bec irreverence and udacity wou the worldly old woman. %0 no hand but Becky's could give her medicine when the old ludy got sick from mixed drinks and lobster. Capt. Rawdon Crawley. the heir to the old spinster aunt's seventy thou- | sand pounds, caught a twinkle from he's a | Becky's eye and remarked. neat little filly, Il be bound” But |Rawdon had yet to live and learn what a track record she could boast. HE! l ¥ %X * ¥ W Miss Crawley want back to| London Backy went with her as | |companion. Sir Pitt came often to | !beg her to return, but Becky refused | to leave the dear old find. = Rawdon at th GEORGE OSBORNE WENT WILD making the elder Oshorne rich, was ordered to break off his engagement with the now penniless Amelia. His friend and guardian angel. Capt William Dobbin. played on George's virtues, however, and made him run away and marry the girl regardless. He was disinherited by his father, but they had money enough to go to Erighton for a honeymoon. and there ran into Becky Sharp and her hus- band, living on nothing a year and getting fat on it. After one week of serving as an animated blotter for Amelia’s tears, George fell for Becky. Then came the bugle call. Rawdon Crawley, George Osborne and his friend Dobbin were all ordered to Bel- gium to help end Bonaparte's career. “Wasn't it nice of Napoleon to ar- range things this way?’ sighed little creature Crawley, too, became a regular visitor | Becky, as she féund herself in Brus- house of his fond aunt and sels, getting attired for the Duke of 2 debtor's prison. WITH MILITARY ENTHUSIASM. and Amelia Sedley had little boys, but Becky farmed hers out because he Was too much trouble When they returned to London they found young Pitt Crawley wedded to a very rich woman, Lady Jane, and the heir of his rich aunt's seventy thousand pounds. Through their in- fluential relatives, Rawdon and Becky got introduced at court, and Beck struck up a particular friendship | with the wealthy Lord Steyne. Becky | met the noble ladies, was invited to all the best houses, and glittered with diamonds that had never been given by Rawdon. But Becky was glittering to a fall. A hundred times Lord Steyne visited her in her own home, with Rawdon none the wiser, but things came to a climax when Rawdon was thrown intd Becky told him 8 marry one George Osborne 4t Amelia’s home in Russell square Becky met Joe Sedley, Ameliv's brother, who besides a number of other distinctions, was collector of Boggley-Wollah, home from India on leave. Becky trained her groen eyes on Joseph, and decided that a collec-y tor's pay ought to beat that of a governess—the career she had chosen for herself—even if divided by half. But George Osborne. Amelia’s flance, doctored Becky's hazh by getting the rotund Joseph lit up like @ country church and telling him what a fool he’'d been. Master Joseph fled haste, and Becky ended her visit to Amelia and went to Queen's Crawley, where she was 1o be governess to Sir Pitt Crawley's two daughters. The Crawley family lived to fight each other, but Becky got along with them all. Her downcast eyes went well with young Pitt Crawley's prayers, and flash with green at old @@= Lul's ribaid humor. And whea Sir in | billpaver. Before long. Lady Csawley died and scarcely waiting *wr he con- ventional two or three weeks of mourning to pass by, old Sir Pitt fell on his unused kneccap and begged Becky Sharp to marry him and re- turn to Queen's Crawley as Lady Crawley. Becky almost wept with | vexation. ‘Of all the luck, T have the tough- est |but I'm already married." | The next day Becky, now publicly Mrs. Rawdon Crawley, went to live |with her husband, who was speedily cut off by his aunt | “Never mind, my sweet | Pop.” soothed Becky will support you.” Meanwhile. " Napoleon bounced back from Elba. and honest old John cdley, Amelia's father, having bet gainst Nappy on the curb market, found the wolf not only tapping at his door, but gnawing at the furni- ture. George Osborne, who had been promised to Amelia by his father as & token of gratitude to old Sedley for '} big lolly- “your snookums she moaned. “I'd do it, Sir Pitt, ) Richmond's ball the night before the battle of Waterloo. Becky was the belle of the ball. George Osborne went wild with mili- tary enthusiasm, and wrote Becky a note imploring her to elope with him. Amelia, a big-eyed, dew-besprinkled wallflower, was cheered only by the presence of Capt. Dobbin. Rawdon Crawley left Becky with all his trinkets and two horses, which Master Joseph Sedley bought at Becky's own price, when he heard the French were winning, and flew back to England to tell forever after how he had helped to win the battle. * ok ko EORGE OSBORNE fell on tre field of victory, Beckey and Rawdon Crawley went to spend the victorious winter of 1815 in Paris, where Becky shone with dukes and duchesses, and Rawdon manipulated the ace, king and queen so skillfully that they had money for every need. Bolh Becky 3 she had tried in vain to get hi and when he did secure his i:'}afi'.‘l' through another's kindness, he came home to find Lord Steyme kissing Becky's hand. He thrashed the lord denounced Becky and, searching her private desk, found thousands of pounds In bills that Lord Steyne had given her. He invited Lord Steyne to fight a duel, but his grace got Raw- don an appointment as governor of a distant island instead. Becky, still living on her wits, wan- dered from one city to another, dodg- ling creditors and wheedling trades- men, until at last she ran across {Amella and Joseph Sedley in a little townin Germany. It was late In life | for .Joseph, but Becky nabbed him. He died soon, leaving her halt his lite insurance. Amelia Sedley married her faithful friend Dobbin, after Becky had tipped her off to her sainted George's perfidy. And everybody who was left living Jived happily evepafterward, ing amazing pow- tackled their jobs with the vim and set purpose of men who are fighting their mortal epemies to death. The gang bosses recently imported from Europe watched them with sincere admiration. “And people say that the Indians are lazy . . . " the foreman mused. But on Saturdays, when they received their weekly wages, Morales and Jaramillo would disappear, and their employers ‘and admirers would wait for them in vain the following Mon- breast and a red handkerchief around the neck. This last article they deemed the most important detail in their apparel. They might go about in tatters, but .without their red handkerchief—never: It was the party emblem, the symbol and battle- flag of the Reds, and a counter to the white handkerchief worn by their rivals. They carried their swords under the arm; not old swords with wooden handles like those of ordinary peons, but brand-new blades with glittering hilts and leather scabbards, similar to those used by the urban police They had inherited from their remote ancestors of the Conquest an irre- sistible love for the sword. Firearms were good enough for a revolution, they theught, but the quarrels that grow out of a love affair or a drink The elder Jaramillo 5o . ot fati e angja snakesbite: ers of endurance to resist fatigue and | Jo UG eerrain strong remedies privations) United by B2 iiien 'lh th isoned limb, mumbling im- ESMcron ATl h'“'l‘d“,"" which the | ot the body of the snake, clubbed e uilding in their { i, "geugh after :ts felonious attack " They worked like furies. They [ ihe ranchmun. “You are not a real friend, said, with sadness, treat you la brother and vet you have secrets { which you won't share with me.” Jaramilio did not want to be rendered; powerless just to satisfy the whim of his friend. “Suppose one of those poisonous reptiles bites you when you go bare- foot in the yerbal?” Jaramillo argued. o danger,” replied Morales, with assurance. “Remember that you gave me a pair of garters made of owl- skin, and poisonous snakes flee from That was all. But the magic words must be spoken in Guarani. The snakes, natives of Paraguay, cannot understand Spanish, the language of Jaramillo said, with a touch of sadness, “ Il have to wait until next Good Friday Soon after that Jaramillo began to make frequent trips to Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay. friend, in- trigued by these strange visits, forced him to confess. “I have seen him:” teriously. Although he did not give the name of the being he had , the tone of his voice was ] to enable Morales to guess. | "It ‘was the cabure! | _The two friends spoke of the | frequently. “Ah. it they could said Jaramillo. | m bird only ing bout should be settled with a|&el a cabure feather and make them- clean blade behind the thvern. selves invulnerable, and, consequent- ‘Wrapped in their brown ponchos, [1V. the bravest men on earth! Thel with the sheathed steel under the arm | ¢lder Jaramillo himself, despite his| and the broad brim of their som- ‘Nmarknhlo Inr‘t-. had not been able | breros raised over the eyes, they L0 (abtule a cabure. It was extreme looked like two caricatures of the|[¥ difficult to get hold of one of th hidalgos of cloak and sword who had | irds. That was why the younger been their illegitimate ancestors. | Arl{{'lljn on repeating with When the police dropped in to in-Pride: “1 have secn him as close as spect one of the native dances.|' R Seeing your oo cas ] Morales and Jaramillo hid their | . .jno0 wh:rvor ”Ai“h"'° \’M. ap swords, thrusting them through their | Ginar purpose . than o sinds the | sashes ‘and betweer. the trousers and | Plints and the animale of the re- the skin, a maneuver which forced {public, a fat. ruddy checked. fair them to dance with a stiff leg as if they had paralysis. One day, In one of these danc Morales, who was less clever than his comrade but far quicker to pick a quarrel, fell out with a certain fellow who insisted on monopolizing the girl that he liked, and ran him through with his sword. “No es nada! Nothing has happened! Go on with the dance!” all shouted. The man was dead. Nothing, it was nothing! They took out the corpse: you can't dance with a dead body in the way. So out went the victim and no one need worry. The dead man's relatives would see to it that a little chapel was built for him by the road- side, and évery night they would come and light candles for the peace of his soul. A mere incident, something one sees every day. * ok k% BUT the police—the busybodies!—re- fused to accept the incldent with the same philosophical calm, and ar- rested Morales. “Political revenge!” protested the half-breed when he found himself be- hind the bars. “You can see that the usurpers are in power. I am here be- cause I am a Red.” ‘When they took him before the judge and stripped him for the usual search, they found his body covered with ostrich feathers. Jaramillo adorn- ed himself in like manner. They had learned the secret from the wizard, Jaramillo’s father. An ostrich feather laid against the skin makes the wear- er light and nimble. The judge was young and full of fun. The strange “bird” provoked a hearty laugh. “These young doctors who study in Buenos Aires and look down upon the natives,” thought Morales, enraged by the hilarity of his honor, “are an igno- rant crew,” Apnd afteR, a pause he O N N N e haired German doctor who wore gold- rimmed spectacles and was very fond of jesting with the simple-minded folk of the countryside to get all the information he could out of them. In the patio of his home, large as a con- ventual cloister, he had a rich collec- tion of birds and quadrupeds, and in a cage in the center, lording it over this small and restless world, which it could silence with a mere cry, hung the cabure. On several occasions the doctor had found Jaramillo standing outside the front door watching the precious bird through the grating and had asked him to see the specimen “What a beauty, eh?’ the doctor would remark, with pride and satis- faction. “I paid more than its weight in gold for it. Very few of these birds are ever caught alive. It is a rare good fortun: to own one.” A very costly specimen secured at a great’ sacrifice, but the doctor did not regret it when he thought of the eight hundred page volume he was going to write about the cabure and its habits, a book that would surelv bring him prizes from several learned societies. Both friends hit upon the same idea; to steal the prodigious bird or at least to pluck a few feathers from its_tail. ‘They had to raid the gringo's house, and for this the most suitable time was the siesta hour. Jaramillo loved the witching hour of the siesta! It was the safest one! “Morales,” he told his friend, “you stay outside; watch the door: I may need you. One can never tell what may happen. That accursed gringo may take a notion to scream: I may have to kill him.” He shrugged his shoulders. “One life less—it matters little.’ o After scaling the wall of one of the back patios, Jaramillo let himself into the house, ngiselessly, and in his ) i | |cam!' these birds, masters of space? bare feet glided down the « cory “tronger will. Jaramillo was in 0o mood to waste time. With off the padlock and opened the cage, thrusting in his right hand to grab the bird. Despite his determination to make no noise. he could not sup- press a cry of pain. “You son of a she-devil! he groaned. One of his fingers was lanced clean through. More than an ordi v wound, it was like a poniard thrust let. Overcoming the pain, he closed his bleeding hand to capture his enemy. He felt an irresistible im pulse to choke the little beast, and at the same time he was fearful of crushing it to death. for the cabure feather loses all its miraculous pow- ers if it is not taken from the living bird. With his free hand Jaramillo plucked the cabure's tail feathers and the bird uttered its blood-cur- dling screech, making 4 second thrust at the audacious hand that gripped it. The terrifying shriek was followed by deep silence. All the animals in the patio became mute an i hid in the deepest recesses of their cages. Life seemed to cease in the entire neighborhood. The half-breed, unable to endure the pain in his wounded hand, had dropped the cabure and fled toward the poncho his right hand caressed 4 quick jerk. he pulled| or the cruel boring of a red-hot gim- | handle of dy for any e, re dors like a phantom As he unk { er ency past a door he heard the sputr ing | “What's the matter, brother” ask: gurgle of a guttural, strong-junged | Morales when he saw Jaramillo's sleeper. The German doctor his ceding hand Wio woundsd you? anxiet to conform to the customs! Jaramillo shrugged his shoulders of the country, had adopted the sicsta ! With a gesture of indifference and in- habit. o replyinz showed his frienc *x % x r four feathers which he car- N r his wounded hand @i = the main patio. the half-, From that afteanoon on the life of brecd made straight for the cens! the fwo o do~ changed radically,’ tral o, which had been placed in|7274millo had to go to a quack. an old *nd of his father, for immediate the midst of a circular row of bushes | treatment. The wounded finger had covered with red, fine-poin flow irned black and it had to be ampu- language of the country | medicine-man sharpened on a stone stara® { the knife he used indiscriminately to Thanel wanl the tarmansil heae 1| Scrape the mud from his horse and to sort of pigmy red owl. with short,! Slice bread. The operation was pain- curved feet! Man and beast glared | ful but Jaramillo gathered courage at each other as if they were xoing | 4nd fortitnds S cruna by Aeaktex iack head 'in the center chot dag. | Were in that bag. Well could he aftord | gers at the man, but the steady gaze ! 10 SUTer a Lutls pain in exchange for . b ¢ made em | SUL % o 4 lizy of o tion and rrrassed by | favor desired. | i e who wishes to make a he the He hu ir °s 1o speak, em- importance of the finally decided to other, why don’t you give me one the feathers? We have akeays ared everything, as if we had been born of the same mother. You have three feat®ers; vou don't lose anv, ni by giving me one. You will be equally powerful with the other two. | Onic 18 enourh to make you invaner- j able. e * & x % | BUT although Jaramillo had never gone to school, he knew that three was more than two, and he figured that e he kept the three feathers his | might would be all the greater. More- jover. he did not think that it was | right that Morales. whose hands were | | whole, should trv to acquire an equal power. He preferred to have his® friend under the dominion of his su- | periority. | And, surely enough, Morales began {to feel the bondage. His friend had become a despot. Jaramillo loafed al} {day and made hin do his work for | him: frequently the tyrant went so | fas as to ask Morales to hand over his hard-earncd wWago¥: and on one neca- sion he took from him a certain Para- guay belle of fair complexion and are rogant figure who had shown marked the door. And the bird. seeing the|predilection for Moriles. cage open, had come out of it as if | 1 shall have to kil him” Morales it intended to pursue its enemy. but!began to think. “We can't live to- upon second thought it had changed | gether any more its mind and escaped first to the| But he had to abandon at once his es. finally disappearing. evil plan. Impossible to kill Jar Jaramillo unfastened the latch of | miilo as long as he had in his posse the front door grating 4 got out|sion the talisman, the little bag with’ in the street. His faithful friend | the cabure feathers, which made him Morales was waiting him. Helinvulnerable: < carried no sword. This exnedition | coperight, 1921, McClure's. Printed by speci called for short weapons. butl Under | arrungement with the Metmpoiitan Newspaper Service and The ngton 3 A Lesson of therDéép By ‘William Jean Berthe roy. » Translated From the French by WILLIAM L. McPHERSON. OLANDE was writing at her lit- H tie desk under her little elec- tric lamp, with her little Chinese pieces, her little Dres- den cats and her little Japanese dolls around her. Everything in the room was diminutive. One might have said that in furnishing her sanctum she had tried to bring it into harmony with her own character, which was still constricted and childish. she was writing to her husband, who had been away for several | weeks: “Don’t hurry back, my dear Rene. Take all the time you need to give to vour affairs. 1 am doing very well and the days will not seem too long, enliven them.” She had hardly finished when the door opened and peared. occupied. “I am to be here only a few hou! he said. “I came to get you. Pack vour trunks. You are to go away with me tonight. We take the train for Havre and tomorrow we sail for America.” “Mon dieu!" the ne ap- He seemed nervous and pre- she exclaimed, in dis- day. They never returned to renew | my feet when they scent the skin.” [may. *I thought you had given up their accursed work until they had| Finally. one afternoon. Jaramillo |that trip.” spent the last cent in the taverns,|gave in and sacrificed himself for his| “I had. I believed that it wouldn't drinking and dancing to the tune of | friendship. {be necessary. Bui My pres an_accordion. You insist on knowing. * * * Welljence is required in San Francisco. When they dressed up, the barefoot,| ® * ® * and closing his e he seems. where we are going to open copper-colored belles. attired ! vealed the zreat secret. “All jnew office. But we shan't be there or pink skirts, with their thick braids | have to do is 1o bend over the dead|Very ion t more than a year. 1 dangling on their backs, rushed to|snake and say in low tones: ‘Thou jhope” p the doors of their huts to watch them |4t no snake: thou art a cricket!{ “Ab Mon dieu! she sighed 4 b, A brave show they mad ‘lmm(-:huu-l' the poison in the body j Couldn’t you go alo sers mneatly fastened to the|Of the victim loses its vemomous! He looked at her reproachfully. with long, thin strips of leath- [ quality.” 7 " W c:im“x vou really prefer "that? a nut-brown poncho covering the | disappointed. “Is that all there is ;0105 VOO woulan t worry about putting such a distance between us? She turned red. “T spoke hastily,” she said. *Please excuse me. I was taken by surprise. So everything must be ready this evening?” “Evidently,” he answered, in a voice which brooked no contradiction. * % ox x “HE left her little retreat. Rene glanced around. The apartmen was going to be closed. All th puerile and useless things would be relegated to the past. They two, Ro- lande and he, would begin a new life amid new surroundings. He had taken that resolution, because he doubted his wife's fidelity, but because he saw her becoming more and more absorbed in ste e and narrowing thoughts and habits Air and space were nveded to Vivify ' her youthful intelligence, and since the occasion had presented itself he was now more than eager to spiritl her away from her present envirou- ment. Rolande returned in a few min- utes. She seated herself beside him on the lounge and put her arms about his neck. “Is it really true that you want to g0 away? I think that you are only submitting me to a test. People don'ty make long voyages on such short no- tice. Rene, we were so happy here “Can it be that you were contented with this narrow kind of happiness”” | “Would you offer me some other: kind?" she asked. He took her on his knees and kissed her hair. “You are a little girl. a very little girl. One must grow and expand to enjoy life. When we come back you will see that I was right and you will} thank me.” ( She made no answer, but looked sad | and troubled. “What do you regret. then?” Rene asked, with a tinge of suspicion. “Nothing. I merely have a fear of the unknown. L am afraid. What may happen so far away in a foreign coun- try >You will be with me. Isn’ enough?” “I don't know.” she answered in so0 low a voice that he guessed her words, rather than heard them. * ¥ ¥ % HEY bad embarked and were on their way across the vast Atlan- tic. Rolande showed little interest in the incidents of the Vovage. A flock of seagulls kept ahead of the ship. ceming to direct its course. Whence | | t that| No land was in sight. Rene said to his young wife: i “Don’t you wonder at their vigor and the sureness bf their flight? Wouldn't you like to have some of enturesome spirit? she replied. “I feel strangely thanks to the little distractions which | letter | not | |treatment hang the hot-wuter bag up don’t seem 1o belong to the carth any more. “What foolishness!"” he said, bending tenderly over her. Yet he began to reproach himself for having brought her along against her will. Might she not be one of those creatures with a4 narrow brain and feeble will who find pleasure only in the commonplaces of exeryday ex- istence? When he had married her he had hoped to make her over in his own image—to inspire her with hid enjoyment of freedom and his disdain for the conventional. Must he re- mounce that hope? And what would their life together be, in that case? “How many davs will it take to get to San Francisco™ Rolande asked. “Two weeks, at least. Would vou like to have us stop the first day -at > “What good would that do” The wind began to blow ha and the sky grew black. - “We musi go inside,” said Rs o ! storm is coming. Tt will rz | few minutes She obeyed Her passivity v @ cor plete. In her stateroom. wher ever : thing was shaken up, she b.gan o° think of her little Chinese pieces a « the fragile little porcelains of Ler boudoir in Paris. “To think that I have given them- all up for this!" The sea ran high. Through the port.” hole Rolande saw a vellow mass ol angry waves, one dashing upon am other. She was separated from them only by the thickness of a glass win dow. ‘The idea filled her with hore ror. She preferred to see the stormi tossed ocean from above. She mounts ed to the deck ¢ I % ¥ was almost deserted. Some of the crew were running hither and her, makinz things fast. Shd heard th, r officers abovy ithe noise of the tempast. She clung to a rope. was, to speaMy suspended above the abyss. smelt the sea wind, which expan her lungs and filled her with its age ardor. A new sensation, po lful ana marvelous, took posse {of her frail body. A furtive shone here and there through black mantle of the sky. The was dying in the west. There just light emough to let the Vi |range around the four quarters !the horizon. And the idea of the ! infinite imposed itself on her, inelugd { tably, as the sole reality. | s possible,” Rolande feel a whole w 1l in i {I" shouts the She so | herself, “that we are at once 80 g: | and so small? 1 | awakened in me. 1 uo longer few death. Rather | would fear life, |it didn't brinz me what 1 shall hergs after demand of it.” foird She remained thus, plunged mystery, while the sea gradu: almed. The sky also became clé | and the golden crescent of the mi floated softly in it, like the barg of Isis, “the barque of millions years” which carried to cterni@g souls freed of their terrestrial bonds She smiled at her dreams. Pross ently she gave a start. Lene was beside her. He had Jooked in her stateroom and, not finding her theres had run upon deck, fearinz somess thing had happened to her. y “How reckless! Were you here adl; through the storm" ' She looked at him with a changed ion You 1 have no fear mow. take me wherever you wish. never be afraid again.” added tenderly, in a whis. 1 can shall And she per 1 know. now, what love ought thy be in hearts which are deep enough: to contain . 3 Medicinal Uses of Salt. For catarrh a lukewarm solution of salt and milk should be snuffed up the nostrils three times daily, one-fourth teaspoonful of the salt being used in half a pint of milk. To take this, above your head containing thé so- lution, then bend the head fors Inches. below the bag, using the small gt nozzle for the treatment. fn this way, the solution will flow easily up’ through the nostrils and down ihe throat, coming out through the mouth.. 4 Tired quently ) eves smould be bathed fre- witn water in which a sma!‘. Al amount of salt is dissolved, and should be applied very strong to sprains and bruises. Moistened salt should be bound upon burns, and if pplied in time will prevent all blfs- ing. Mixed with the white of a ez, it will prevent felons. Give on teasponful of salt in a teacupful of. cold water to relieve colic. All housewives know the value o) the hot-water bottle in times of ill ness, but when a hot-water bottle i$ not at hand, a small sack loosely filled with salt and thoroughly warm= ’ upset, Rene. This sudden chang= in my lite! Yesterday I still enjoved a | sense of calm and security. Today 1' ¢ / ed is equally good, especially for neu- ralgia, as the salt adds its curative properties to the warmih. - [ Regaise.