SHORT STORY. TWO RECRUITS FROM SPAIN.

Otago Witness, Issue 2318, 4 August 1898, Page 42

SHORT STORY. TWO RECRUITS FROM SPAIN.

I AX EPISODE OF THE CUBAN REBELLION. They were called ' the Mejilla Six" ba1 ! cause they \\qy& all enlisted at Aiejilltt, in ; tho Pxovmce of Leon — the \vdll-phicaid in- ' ducerucnt; of 250 pesetas par man doun had ' , won them. The 101 st Intantry \\\u< the regi- • merit that owned them as they started forth i ' tsst from Cienfuegos -where they had landed . from Sp.fi i — tor their first real taste of war ; in Cuba. TJ)eir namei were Pedro, Isidor, Diego, 1 iSancho, Fernando, and Juan ; but it is with Pedro and Im<loi- Wm'cia alone that we have especially to concern ourselves. These two had been "(lie twins" from early boyhood. 1 Ui exactly ihc k*uv> height, they had the ; Mine eye?;, lath moustache, dimpled chin, a", d depoiunent. Only in their \ cites were they distinguishable ' The voice ot Isidor was gruff, wherca.s Pedro's voice was as amiable -as hiin&clf . I The six chatted intimately as they 1 marched gaily on under the blue Cuban sky. Discipline was not very f-lvict. lje>ide;>, they Avero <>n -a ' red' expedition, ;aid (.he t lUiue! didiiot un\i U, van the rif-k oi more de-scrlions from disuusi. " You are quite the soldier, I<-idor," said Pedro Garcia to his brother, Lmghmg. " And so. then, must you be," retorted I-sidor, " *in r .e Aye are \ha i-aisie iv e\ erything. Ah, it yets wearisome to Lo ov.ly half one's self." But Pedro laughed again. "Wait, my brother,"' he said. "Theic'il be scars goin^ soon, you'll see. One of us owes it to the other lo get a splash across the cheek. After tkil we shall live smoothly." "' i'i-\ ' said the grumpy Isidor : '"but tli \- hiv vih<ji: liir.Cxi "f fc.uv, and thoy're not plwtf-unt things at tho bc^t." 'ihiM they joined in the low song of the oilier four Mejilla men. Its rhythm helped their march. AK-o. Ib recalled the homeland : that yellow-brown little village in the mount. '.ins. They could &ec Don CarrivJc. the parish piicil, uhile they sang. 310 i).(C(;d as ever I>ei:e,it )) the trees, with one hand under his long skit t-1 ails, and scatty <:d bitssiu^-5 and snuft among his parishioners. But towards noon the order was passed for strict silence. They were in the mountains then, with the palm-trees thinning about, them. They hailed by a crystal spring for tho lnicM'.y meaL. and each man looked to his wenpon«!. The Mejilla t^ix were to have their first taste of bloodshed. There was a village a bit highev uji, and above was a plateau which the regiment "was to hold for a time clear of insurgents. '" Xoi.c aro to be spared ! " Ho tlie word went from colonel lo coipora], and irom man to m.iii. it wai a largish village, with yellow maize straw roofs to the hou&es, and Avith bare legs running from it. These last afforded a certain amount of nuii-ket practice. But the regiment was ilEelt biokcn up quickly to " burn and slay." Our .Mejilla Six went into ilui business with set teeth, more were sctcviik enough, and ihnnes on all sides. The whole place was soon thick with smoke, which hid worse sights. But the bugle at length drew the men from their butchery, and they rejoined the colonel and his brother officers. " LA>i w,ncl ! " was given, and Ihoy marched on. Then Pedro told Isidor what had happened to him. " I could not kill her, my brother," ho whispered. " I have never seen so beautiful a girl. And her name is Mercedes. (She had an old mother, and the way they folded their hands to rue— Santa Maria, I was sick with shame ot myself! I gave her a peseta, and burned down a shed that was near instead. Afterwards she kissed my boots. lam dizzy still." "IS he must have been beautiful ! " said Isidor. ""Not that I believe it. You are &i> soft-hearted. I ran an old man and a boy through the body, half- way between Ihe neck and the stomach, lr wasn't fun, either. And then I stuck the^e roosters." The "roosters" "\\eic impaled on his bayonet. N { ,r were the other Mejilla men any the Letter plcsed with their firs'L " affair."' However, they feuppo&od in time they would get to like even such warfare. And all the -way , up to the plateau they sang on about tho A.-lunan giant and the tiny little lady of i Mejilla who controlled him, by way of his [ heart, as if he were no more than a 1 marionette. I Then the camp was formed. But before ■ the <.;uaid was set, Pedro Garcia ran to his brother, and urged him to get his musket and accompany him. The Colour] had 10.-.fc hi* ■•old-rimmed eye-glass by the burnt village^ He (Pedro) and two others Averc to hurry down and seek it. This they did, and found it also. But aftoi wards," on a pielext. Pedro diow his brother aside, and these two hastened away | to the cottage of the beautiful Mercedes 1 . They did more: they look bread and wine fioin one of the half-burnt ruins and carried it with them. " Caramba ! " muttered Isidov when lie s-aw the glorious terror in the girl's eyes, and its change to grateful confidence. Afterwards when they were leaving. th(i "irl, who had already shown surprise at the ] extraordinary physical resemblance of the two young men, suddenly put her arms about 1 Isidor' s neck. " May God and his saints ! bless you, as 1 do ! " she whispered in his car. Pedro laughed rather constrainedly about this as they returned to their comrade. " Isidor." he said, " 1 believe I could become Cuban for the sake of such an one." "And I anything! " added Isidor, after a pause. Then they looked at each other, and understood that* for the first time in their lives something deadly had come between them.

n. Rough times followed in the Vega Alta, as tlus higlibncl dimping-place was called. The Cubiin insuvgnnts were tough to dislodge Diego of "the Mejilla Six" wai

tilled, and many another of (he 101 st, and the Colonel's frowns grew deeper daily.

Deeper, too, grew the estrangement between Pedro find Isidor, though either might have been shot at any hour. Their commonplace endearing phrases became fewer and fewer, and at length it was neither " Good morning!" nor "Good night!" between them.

Isidor started it, and Pedro, being proud', shrugged his shoulders, and said that since L'is brother asked for sour wine, he should have it. They both understood that this Cuban girl Avas at the bottom of the misery.

The time came now for reinforcements if ihe regulars were to hold the plateau. A lieutenant, the Marques cte Grijo, was chosen to seek them, and Avith him Pedro Garcia vras also to go. This accentuated the bitterness, and worse, in Isidor's heart. Four days passed, and then Pedro returned alone. Avitb a blood-stained bandage about his head. The lieutenant had been killed, and he (Pedro) had escaped with difficulty. But he brought the desired news : 500 fresh men were coming from (he lowlands. Nor was this all. That night, as if he forgot the barrier that had arisen between them, Pedro told his brothei something. "Though I was so faint I could hardly crawl, I found my way to Mercedes. She is still where she was, but so thin, brother ! She embraced me as if she were my sister. It was like aqua vita to my blood. This, also, happened. In the village were three rebels ; and when she told them Avhat 1 — we, that is — had done for her, they gave me cigars and dressed my wounds. They were like brothers. Isidor," lam more than before inclined to love Cuba than Spain." " Because of her? " said Isidor, half triumphantly. " Yes, because of her, most of all. "And the Cubans your brothers?" suggested Tsidor, this time with a sneer. Pedro flushed, and turned away, saying— " I had better have held my tongue." Then for nearly a week Isidor asked himself what lie shoiild do, and was unconvinced by the answers he gave himself. A word to the sergeant, who was jealous of Pedro s soldierly qualities, and his brother would be arrested and shot. Then it would be open to him (Isidor) to desert, fly tc Mercedes, and .say it was for her sake. On the seventh day of the week Pedro, going on guard for the night, put his arm around I&fdor's neck and whispered:^ A Dios, hermano !" (" Farewell, brother ! ) Isidor s eyes flashed at him as -he whispered on. . „ " Sonic day— perhaps in Me] ilia again. Tint was all. Pedro slid off into the darkness, and Isidor knew that he had no longer a brother in the army of Spain. It was a wild nidit for Isidor. so that the other Mejilla men did not like, when they saw him in the morning, to break the news ot las brother's loss. He dissembled bravely, however, wnsn lie heard. They condoled with him, supposing Pedro had been stabbed and dragged away, like others. And he murmured gloomily about the fortunes and misfoi tunes of war. But the eyes of Mercedes (whom he had seen •for a mere five minutes) were now more with him than ever. . 1 The insurgents, meanwhile, had increased their forces in the Vega. It was war to the hilt between them and the royalists. JNov was this all. Three devastating descents bad been made by the Spanish army upon helpless villages. The bloodshed here had sickened many— lhe remaining iuejilla men among others. When no one was by except his own comrades, Sancho whispered treasonable word-;. i\ ( m did the other Mejilla men resent them. > it, was now that, three weeks after Pedro s de-ertion, a regular battle took place on the Ye.fa Scores on both sides were killed. The Mejilla men escaped, to hear in the tn-enin"- the crushing intelligence that Pedro Garcia" had been taken prisoner as a rebel, AVi th a smashed arm. " Never you mind, man ! said tho sergeant- grimly to Isidor. who stood its it petrified. " We'll soon polish the fellow ofi Why, he's a disgrace to that village ol " May I speak to him?" asked Isidor. " Likely ! " aswered the sergeant. avlio then retorted, as it in jest : " Would you shoot him?" - [—1 think I would," said Imcloi-. Then the sergeant clapped him on the back. "Who knows," he said, "if it mayn fc he jnanaged ? Well, he deserves it the traitor ! " The" Mejilla men thought over these words that night, and so did Isidor. Nor Avas the latter surprised in the morning to hear more to the same effect. "You four," said the sergeant, with a

brutal laugh, as lie caught the Mejilla men at breakfast tooeiher, " leave that, and bring your muskets." "Is it Pedro? '' .asked Isidor faintly.

"You'll s.ee," paid the sergeant. " FoJloav

They obeyed, of course. And of course, tno, it Ava,s Pedro. He Avas between a couple of guards, on the outskiils of the camp, Avitii his broken arm tied at the Avrist to the other arm. The agony of his face settled everything. "Comrades," whispered Isidor qui-kly, find his feAV words Avere of the most earnest kind. The other three Mejilla men Avcre not difficult now to persuade. And so Pt I lie word "Fire! " from the sergeant, it A\ns not the deserter who fell dead, but the- seigennt himself and the two guards. " Quick, Pedro ! " cried Isidor, and all five of them took to the scrub. Though tortured Avith pain, Pedro ran Avith the best of them— led them, indeed, to a recent camp of the insurgents, in the very village where the, recruits hod i\v>={, Avolted their & words. Here they wero Avelooincd Avilh enthusiasm, and Pedro's arm vras attended to. Isidor Availed until this Avas done, and then he mentioned Mercedes. "Ah, the poor girl! You shall see! 1 said Pedro. And ho straighlAvay took his brother into the Avoods, Avherc two mounds were conspicuous among the trees. "That is the mother, and this is Mercedes! One died of starvation, and the other of lead! Peace to their souls ! " Then after a pause, the tAvo brothers joined hands across the grave of Mercedes. "For always, Pedro," said Isidor, "For always, Isidor," said Pedro.