Show artlie blade ca cc a 0 a f P I 1 ey wr BY S 2 the th copyright boban ty by co fred frea mclaughlin TV N U service CHAPTER XI continued 13 nis ills jaw dropped the fires of anger to in his eyes died down passion went out ont of ills his face nod and a happy smile spread over it IL francois Francol sl 1 lie cried 1 none I catler brugiere Brug lere ue ile held my hands and laughed aloud in an excess of joy he put his arms around me we rave gave you up for lost dear friend what are you yon Fran francois cols twins lie ile pointed to the still form of bl madorella adrella Ma drella if you yon are Fran francois cols and you yon are beyond a doubt who in the name came of god cod Is that who Is he be ue Is the man who killed lestrange and stabbed the good colonel lopez ue ile ls is captain francois do de vigny lato late of his maj bestys service and belog being dead ho he Is therefore no more a fugitive from justice I 1 what a thing 1 cried brugiere Brug lere A wagon escorted hy by a squad of soldiers came from the garrison at cuernavaca and carried away the body of madorella Ma drella brugiere Brug lere told me that louis bouts napoleon of france who cared less for mexico than he did tor for his mustache had withdrawn nil all support that the great republic to the north ofus of us awakening slowly from a dibas trous arous civil conflict had made a gesture of displeasure and the good louis sensing his own danger from a rising tide of in tile the enst east had dodged ne he said that the feared attack of juarez upon cuer cavaca had not materialized and that maximilian needing badly the reinforcements for cements he bad sent recalled them then will fall my friend said 1 I and after that the city 1 I cannot say said Drug brugiere Eru giere lere my service francois calls for fighting not for thinking and maximilian still loans leans upon a large army fiu ug giere ere seemed less interested in L problem than in my own peculiar case As he Is dead Bl madorella adrella Ma drella I 1 mean and captain vis vig ny fly will be buried tomorrow or the day thereafter who are you youl I 1 lau laughed bed 1 I am not do de vigny and I 1 find substantial faults about the identity of Mn bl adrella drella so I 1 cannot be that clever gentleman besides a lady glorious lo rious la anita whom you have doubtless seen told madorella Ma drella that she love him film and I 1 do not care to be one whom the senorita cannot love could she love de vigny in quiren brugiere Brug lere aye and de vlony Is dead ue ile chuckled your luck Is out francois 1 I CHAPTER XII the fall of cuernavaca after the burial of Sl Ma drella adrella as de vigny I 1 left the town of cuernavaca for I 1 wanted to be alone I 1 had no 1 wish to see people I had bad lost an identity I 1 had died disgraced I 1 bad lost la anita because I 1 lind had killed de vigny and add she had bad loved de vlony I 1 had killed the man she loved lind and to take ills his place I 1 must face another disgraceful death there was orte orie solution an aas easi one I 1 could still die de vigny vlony ant and as she loved de vigny I 1 might take away with mth me wrapped up in my soul a portion of that wondrous love of hers hem to be with me through all eternity yes that was tile hie easiest way and I 1 had faced death too many times to fear it the thing was too easy the problem was solved for surely such a love as hers bers could reach into another world my bly mind was made up I 1 would go home I 1 would take the liand hand or of brave honest pasqual lo in mine and I 1 would bid him goodby good by I 1 would thank hlin him and ills his lovely little dolores for the many things that they lidd done for me I 1 would write a letter to my mother and a letter to anita and then now approaching me at breakneck speed a horseman came into view end and looking more closely I 1 recognized the calico pony and knew the rider for Ila pasqual squal why he ride so BO swiftly why should lie he hurry tin the world held much for him wonder at 4 ag thus I 1 waited af ted ile he brought brou glit the pony to a bildin sliding odust dust raising halt in front of me die ills eyes were wild with 1 ith excitement and his fits tall body trembled senor the soldiers of benito juarell they are everywhere senor they approach m house the they y flit the valley and they the line the ridges there are many thou sands of them I 1 now I 1 knew that brugiere Brug lere would get the fighting ills service signi signified fled and I 1 reared feared that so far as thi french were nere concerned cuernavaca would be ba closed behind us came the clear notes ol of a bugle the cuernavaca garrison mas preparing tho the frail skeleton ol of a host that would have hare been required to hold the city against juarez I 1 had saved it once nee and it had bad dropped back bach into a fools dream of security ali ah ical I 1 the Blex mexican ican guard touch iris irla llie file french outpost outposts opened up an intermittent bring and the french and belgians fired cred also and for the first time in many months I 1 heard the soft drowsy drone of 0 speeding bullets the excitement of the battle got too into my bloode blood I 1 must see it I 1 must get into it I 1 found a narrow water tang fashioned from the skin of a goat I 1 filled it and with ith a drinking gourd set out no one would stop a bent old roan man intent on giving wounded soldiers the blessing of a drink the clash of contact came to me the thudding of cannon and the rasp ins ing screech of a shell the swift crash of musketry the wild yells of sudden charges and the shrill agon zing scream of a wounded horse it was all so real to me all so vivid and I 1 longed to be shoulder to shoulder with nith the brave french and bel glan lads who were nere waging a hopeless tight fight but I 1 was nobody I 1 had no identity no country no future no ties I 1 was just an man following in the wake of a victorious army bearing a water bag now I 1 saw leroux and besancon captains in the army thea led the center of that vast force and I 1 remembered their words some day a great battle between tile the rm em pire and the republic will ban hang in the balance then will come our opportunity port unity and the republic will lose 11 I 1 the city scarce a half mile away lay before us ant an between us and that goal an army barred tile the way the right wing of tile the liberal forces touched the bench to the east of the city the left wing spread across the valley while the center held to tile the rond road the wings were thrust forward like a great swooping bird of prey I 1 could not but wonder how hon helpless the bird would be without that body and leroux and ros ancon controlled the massed forces in the center which made up the body the two brave sons solis of france must have had the same thought also for the center came apart opened grad natty bally as soldiers under orders of their two captains went ca eastward stward toward the bench or ve westward stward toward the valley leatna a gap that esen een a small force of french entering quickly and turning might inight have put tile the army to a gi levous dis advantage now leroux played the game that lie and besancon Res ancon had doubtless rehearsed hear sed lie ile stood out in the middle of that fatal opening in the liberal position and facing the allied forces fashioned a sort of bugle with hiss his hands bands come on he called in french the way Is hopeni open I 1 approach sons of france and win an empl empire rel I 1 I 1 wrung my hands in impotent misery why why did not they charge here vas as a cliance chance to save the city to crush the army to capture possibly the great general himself slon dien had they turned to stone surely they hey could hear him less than three hundred meters distant are sou cowards screamed leroux why dont you move ap the gate Is wide the gate to fre freedom coorn to glory come ini ile fie waited expectant but they did not moe now its his voice shrilled fir far above the tie clamor of strife name of G d are you lead dead on your feet or do you stand out there to have your pictures taken have jou come to battle bat I 1 ie or do you seek siesta the mexican soldiers understood his gestures if not ills his words A dozen guns spoke behind ilia him and le roux raising ills his arms in final sup fell the promising gap closed again and tile the body of the giant bird of prey moved on I 1 approached the road I 1 raised his head lind and poured a gourd of cavi water down his chroal tin out lie ile opened ills his eyes 1 I 1 I thank you lie whispered whispered A glorious thing itene I 1 cried it Is Fran francois cols do you know me ile he smiled a little ilithe ever a cle cleer er rascal I 1 general juarez never knew for madorella Ma drella came caine well veil we tried lie attempted to raise his head bead ant and failed a film came over his eyes why did they not come in francois with the way fly so easy I 1 raised my lay ebes to the hie field of bat tie the allied army had retreated into file he town slid arid the wings of tile invading force had closed in ia I 1 knew that maximilian had lost the last strategic gateway to the historic city what do you see francois ev ery grything thIng Is black before me tell nip what aou atu see 1 I see said 1 a man on yonder ridge who mile wigwags Ig wags a signal with two aasa what does he say dear friend renes whisper was faintly audible I 1 boohen that message frow from across the valley Is deabill that was it colonel lama adrid tile commandant of the garri garrison sou at had been killed tilts this then was why they charged lion alon dieu I 1 I 1 could not repress a sl sigh ii what la is it francois what pies mca sage does be send I 1 cannot annot soi see i cannot hear the guns tell me quick ly I 1 aut am going lie ile says itene I 1 lied that the french have won and that the empire Is saved thaia the good godl godi whispered leroux smiling and smiling died s 0 0 0 s 0 the short shore mild winter had gone and spring had bad come again the sun at midday was hot and the early morning had bad lost its chill we had bad broken ground for the spring crop pasqual and I 1 had sowed bowed the seed and now the tiny shoots were coming up but bui in my heart there was no spring no do happiness no rebirth the fields the horse the plow food and sleep that was my life I 1 had bad become la in very truth a brother to the ox they had put away de vigny had prayed for the salvation of his fits soul and de vigny was no more I 1 was only the husk of a human being being the empty shell from which identity had long since fled from which the soul had been removed since tile the mexicans had taken cuer cavaca and held it against the french 1 I had never been to that thai city though it was only a mile or two away after the tall fall of cherna cuerna vaca I 1 had given up a prey to bitter discouragement and had set out on the road to acapulco where I 1 had taken a sailing balling ship for the states but when the pacific port bad dropped behind us sinking in the mists of the ocean the irresistible lure of la anita came back bach to me and I 1 knew that separated from her by so vast a distance I 1 should die so I 1 left the boat at manzanillo and took the next nest one back to acapulco where I 1 labored for a pittance load ad ing ships with bales of cotton and bags of sugar and co coffee afee one night in an acapulco cantens cantins I 1 land lad heard a dashing d Alex mexican ican officer gle a toast to the glorious ar relin re llanos nos the goddess of cuerna cherna vara Curen avaca then she bad left the city that sent me back to tile plantation of pasqual pasqua where I 1 resumed my work in the fields the knowledge that slie she ivas was nesi gave me consolation yet I 1 never won dered why she find come nor had I 1 ever gone to cuernavaca to see her my lly mind could not conceive of my looking upon her again I 1 was deal W J J what Is it francois what message does he send and she loved me surely that was sufficient for or coming balk bak to life would be no gain ah the years I 1 ched in those few mont months list one lay day in april the acapulco road suddenly filled with people the traveled afoot on the back of 0 burros mules horses and even oxen in wagons in carts in great high wheeled prairie schooners scho ners oneri that held a score or more and to in every con celyn ble manner than roan will travel bound all for cuernavaca A wagon filled with half balf drunken soldiers and drawn by two lean mules stopped al AI alejo old onel one I 1 they yelled come on we ne go co to cuernavaca where the generals review the troops before we ue march upon the city I 1 ride nide with ith I 1 shook my hend head whereupon hereupon after some soine boisterous consultation four of them aln m dese descended ended from the wagon climbed the fence took me by the arms halt half drugging drag ginz halt half carrying me toward the wagon agon laughl laughing rig gaily all the while they deposited me as they would have a bag of coffee into the bay haylen hayl binl ln I 1 equipage find and thrust a bottle into my hands drink alejo ahls Is greatest day P 1 I 1 drank it was feci ullia the flery poison that the mexican peon considers drink it put a thime into my blood the years fell away from me and I 1 waed my bat at passersby passers by and yelled and whistled and wing sung in half delirious fervor so we came to cuernavaca where tile ali were lined with milli people und anil where a hollday holiday spirit filled tile the air I 1 gained the impression from what I 1 heard that tile the menacing cloud of imperialism which had hovered over the land tor for three years rears was gradually passing away and tile bright sun or of freedom had begun to shine again the empire had failed the emperor had find lost bostl I 1 from afar came faintly to us tile the sound of cheering a ripple of applause swept over the waiting crowd punctuated by sharp cries of viva viva juarell viva Esco escobedoe bedol As the carriage drawn by a pair of magnificent black horses and con kalning two generals in gorgeous form came into view a booming voice roared at my ear viva la senor ita I 1 now I 1 looked and saw la ia anita and lier her autiel aunte their backs to tile tie driver they faced the blex mexican ican gen brals and although she smiled at the multitude I 1 thought her lovely face was very pale all the old love came hack back to nip me burning me azain like a flume lining filling my empty soul with new re resolve tolve A hat bat a wide brimmed high crowned sombrero hurled doubt doubtless lesa by some devout disciple of drink sailed gracefully through the air and struck one ne of the nervous fil high strung horses hitched to the glittering car arlage lie ile squealed reared plunged filled his male with ills his own fear and the two beyond control of the driver and maddened by their own increasing in terror dashed away plunging wildly the frail equipage lurching like a 0 tiny dory in a storm slie she was in danger la anita might be killed I 1 I 1 took no thought of consequences my life ilfe and the spending of it was hers As they sped by I 1 launched my body at the racing horses reaching blindly sly aly lingers fingers touched a strop clutching ohp great ring that forms tile the end of a mexican bit found its way by good fortune into my other hand and thanking god cod for the good strength that ne ile had given me I 1 held and held as tile the pounding hoofs bent beat ne me down one of the horses fell and before he could ond find his fits feet again the crowd closed in slie she was safe then she was unhurt and as the myriad faces above me wavered and were lost at in the sen sea of blackness and canle came back again my heart san sang because she was safe she was unhurt now I 1 saw her she was coming to ward me and I 1 was afraid I 1 tried to arise and failed so I 1 lay waiting sho she bent over me fear and anxiety in the deep amber eys ays ah what a glorious being |