Jasper County Democrat, Volume 21, Number 64, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 November 1918 — RAINBOW'S END A NOVER [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

RAINBOW'S END A NOVER

By REX BEACH

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SYNOPSIS. 'CHAPTER I—Don Esteban Varona, a Cuban planter, possesses a great treasure board. This wealth has been hidden In a well on the estate by Sebastian, a slave, and only he and his master know the sestet cache. Don Esteban's wife dies at the birth of twins, Esteban and Rosa. Don Esteban marries the avaricious Donna Isabel, who knows there is hidden treasure and tries to wring the secret from Sebastian. When the slave refuses she tries to hurt him by having Evangelina, his daughter, whom he loves dearly and who M the special servant of the twins, sold. CHAPTER ll—Through Donna Isabel’s Scheming Don Esteban risks Evangelina at cards and loses. Crazed by the loss of his daughter, Sebastian kills Don Esteban and himself. ’ CHAPTER lll—Many years Donna Isabel searched for the hidden wealth of the man she had married. A few years later She seeks to marry Rosa to the rich Don Mario, but Rosa is promised to O Reilly, the American, and awaits his return from Hew York, whence he has gone to break Kt his engagement to his employers daughter. Esteban is secretly aiding the Insurrectos. CHAPTER TV—Donna Isabel is at the mercy of Pancho Cueto, her unscrupulous administrator, who knows the deeds to the plantation are lost with the treasure. One night she walks in her sleep and meets her death in the treasure well. Esteban and Rosa are forced to flee when Cueto denounces them as rebels. '■ CHAPTER V— Rosa writes to O’Reilly pf their plight and urges him to come and save her. CHAPTER Vl—O’Reilly soon lands In Cuba but finds he will have hard work to reach Rosa, as communication witn the Insurrectos is difficult and dangerpus. ' CHAPTER Vll—O’Reilly meets Leslie Branch, newspaper man, who is a victim pf tuberculosis, and they plan a way to join the Insurrectos together. I CHAPTER VIII—In the meantime Cueto Plans to lead Cobo, a Spanish colonel of volunteers, execrated for his cruelty, to the hiding place of Esteban and Rosa. CHAPTER IX—Cobo and his men capture Rosa, but she is Immediately rescued by Esteban, and Cobo is injured In the fight. O’Reilly plans to reach the Tnuurrectos by the aid of Doctor Alvarado, B friend of the Cuban cause. CHAPTER X—O’Reilly is about to reach the Insurrectos, but his plans mlscarry. He and Leslie Branch are ar•rested and sent back to America. Esteban tells Rosa of the coming -of General Weyler to “pacify” the Island. CHAPTER Xl—Esteban raids Cueto’s home and kills him, but Spanish troops come up and Esteban escapes badly 'wounded. He does not reach home. With (Esteban missing, Rosa, Evangelina and her husband, Asensio, with whom Rosa has been staying, give up hope and go Into a Spanish concentration camp. CHAPTER XII—In New York O’Reilly plans a filibustering expedition to Cuba end is offered assistance by Norlne Evans, a wealthy girl, who insists on financing the venture and going along as a nurse. Soon the expedition starts for Cuba in a small tramp steamer. CHAPTER XIII—The filibusters land In Cuba and O’Reilly learns of Esteban and Rosa. Norine begins her duties as nurse. Rose, in Matanzas, visits her old home, which is in ruins. CHAPTER XIV—In a raid Esteban, dangerously ill, is rescued from a Spanish prison by O’Reilly and the Cubans. CHAPTER XV—Esteban tells O’Reilly ihe believes the treasure is hidden in the .well on the plantation. O’Reilly learns (the town in which Rosa is held prisoner *and determines to go to her. ' CHAPTER XVf—With Jacket, a Cuban boy, O’Reilly starts out determined to save Rosa. After many trials they enter Matanzas, the City of Death. and replaced the planks which had covered the orifice, then hid the rope in some nearby bushes. On their way back he endured his young friend’s banter absent-mindedly, but as they neared Asensio’s house he startled Jacket by .saying,, “Can you manage to find a pickax dr a crowbar?” , Jacket’s eyes opened; he stopped in the middle of the dusty road. “What did 'you see down there, compadre? Tell me.” “Nothing much. Just enough to make me want to see more. Do you think you can steal some sort of a tool for me?” “I can try.” “Please do. And remember, say nothing before Asensio or his wife.” Rosa met O’Reilly just inside the door, and at sight of her he uttered an exclamation of surprise, for during his absence she had removed the stain from her face and discarded that disfigurement which Evangelina had fitted. to- her back prior to their depart-

ure from the Pan de Matanzas, She stood before him now, straight and slim and graceful—the Rosa of his dreams, only very thin, very fragile. Her poor tatters only enhanced her prettiness, so he thought. “Rosa, dear! Do you think this is quite safe?” he ventured, doubtfully. Evangelina, who was bending over her husband, straightened herself and came forward with a smile upon her black face. “She is beautiful, eh? Too beautiful to look at? What did I tell you?” > Rosif was in delightful confusion at O’Reilly’s evident surprise and admiration. “Then I’m not so altogether changed?” she asked. “Why, you haven’t changed at all, except to grow more beautiful. Evangelina is'right; you are too beautiful to look at. But wait 1” He drew her aside and whispered, “I’ve been down in the well.” Some tremor tn his voice, some glint in his eyes, caused the girl to seize him eagerly, fiercely. “I may be wrong,” he said hurriedly; “there may be nothing in it-—and yet I saw something.” “What?” “Wooden beams, timbers of some sort, behind the stone curbing.” It was plain Rosa did not comprehend, so he hurried on. “At first I noticed nothing unusual, except that the bottom of the well is nearly dry —filled up, you know, with debris and stuff that has fallen in from the curbing above, then I saw that although the well is dug through rack, nevertheless it is entirely curbed up with stones laid in mortar. That struck me as queer.” “Yes?” “I noticed, too, in one place that there was wood behind —-as if timbers had been placed there to cover the entrance to a cave. You know this Cuban rock is full of caverns.” Rosa clasped her hands, she began to tremble. “Yon have found it, O’Reilly. You have!” she whispered. “No, no, I’ve found nothing yet. But Tve sent Jacket fflr a pick or a bar and tonight I’m going to pull down those stones and see what is behind them.”

“To night? You must let me go, too. I want to help.” “Very well. But meanwhile you mustn’t let your hopes rise too high, for there is every chance that you will he disappointed. And don’t mention It to Evangelina. Now, then, I’ve a few pennies left and I'm going to buy some candles.” Rosa embraced her lover Impulsively. “Something tells me it is true! Something tells me you are going to save us all.” Evangelina in the far corner of the hut muttered to her husband: “Such love-birds! They are like parrakeets, forever kissing and cooftg!” Jacket returned at dusk, and with him he brought a rusty three-foot iron bar, evidently part of a window grating. The boy was tired, disgusted, and in a vile temper. "A pickax! A crowbar!” he cursed eloquently. “One might as well try to steal a cannon out of San Severino. I’m ready to do anything within reason, but —” “Why, this will do nicely; it is just what I want,” O’Reilly told him. “Humph! I’m glad to hear It, for that rod was nearly the death of me. I broke my back wrenching at It and the villain who owned the house — may a bad lightning split him ’—he ran after me until I nearly expired. If my new knife had been sharp I would have turned and sent him home with it between his ribs. Tomorrow I shall put an edge on it. Believe me, I ran until my lungs burst.” Little food remained in the hut, barely enough for Asenslo and the women, and inasmuch as O’Reilly had spent his last centavo for candles he and Jacket were forced to go hungry again. Late that evening, after the wretched prison quarters had grown quiet, the three treasure hunters stole out of their hovel and wound up the hill. In spite of their excitement they went slowly, for none of them had the strength to hurry. Fortunately there were few prowlers within the lines, hunger having robbed the reconcentrados of the spirit to venture forth, and in consequence Spanish vigilance had relaxed; it was now confined to the far-flunfc girdle of intrenchments which encircled the city. The trio encountered no one. Leaving Jacket on guard at the crest of the hill, O’Reilly stationed Rosa at the mouth of the well, then lowered himself once more Into it Lighting his candle, he made a careful examination of the place, with the result that Esteban’s theory of the missing riches seemed even less Improbable than It had earlier in the day. The masonry work, he discovered, had been done with a painstaking thoroughness which spoke of the abundance of slave labor, and time had barely begun to affect it Here and there a piece of the mortar had loosened and come

away, but for the most part It stood as solid as the stones between which it was laid. Shoulder-high to O’Reilly there appeared to be a section of the curbing less smoothly fitted than the rest, and through an interstice in this he detected what seemed to be a damp wooden beam. At this point he brought his iron bar into play. It was not long before he discovered that his work was cut out for him. The cement was like flint and his blunt makeshift implement was almost useless against it. Ankle-deep in the muddy water, he patiently pecked and pounded and chipped, endeavoring to enlarge the crevice so as to use his bar as a lever. The sweat streamed from him and he became dismayed at his own weakness. He was forced to rest frequently. Rosa hung over the orifice above, encouraging him. inquiring eagerly as to his progress. During his frequent

breathing spells he could discern her white face dimly illumined by the candle light from below. After he had worked for an hour or two, he made a report: “It begins to look as if there really was a bulkhead or a door in there.” The girl clapped her hands and laughed with delight. “Do hurry “ dear; I’m dying of suspense.” O’Reilly groaned: “That fellow, Sebastian, knew his business. This cement is like steel, and I’m afraid of breaking my crowbar.” Rosa found a leaf, folded a kiss into -ft, and dropped it to bim. “That will give you strength,” she declared. O’Reilly lost all count of time after a while and he was incredulous when Jacket came to warn him that daylight was less than an hour away. “Why, I haven’t started!'* he protested. He discovered, much to his surprise, that he was ready to drop from fatigue and that his hands were torn and blistered; when he had climbed the rope to the upper air he fell exhausted in the deep grass. “I —I’m not myself at all,” he apologized; “nothing to eat, you know. But the work will go faster now, for Fye made a beginning.” “Do you still think—’’Rosa hesitated to voice the question which trembled on her lips. “I’ll know for sure tonight.” He directed Jacket to replace the planks over the well; then the three of them stole away.

O’Reilly spent most of that day in a profound stupor of exhaustion, while Rosa watched anxiously over him. Jacket, it seemed, had peacefully slumbered on picket duty, so he occupied himself by grinding away at his knife. The last scraps of food disappeared that evening. When night fell and it came time te return to the top of La Cumbre, O’Reilly asked himself if his strength would prove sufficient for the task in hand. He was spiritless, sore, weak; he ached in every bone and muscle, and It required all his determination to propel himself up the hill. He wondered if he were wise thus to sacrifice

hfsf waning energies oh a hope so forlorn as this, but by now he had begun to more than half believe in the existence of the Varona treasure and he felt an almost irresistible curiosity to learn what secret, if any, was concealed behind those wpter-soaked timbers at the bottom of the well. He realized, of course, that every hour he remained here, now that food and money were gone, lessened the chances of escape; but, on the other hand, he reasoned, with equal force, that if he had indeed stumbled upon the missing Jioard salvation for all of them was assured. The stake, It seemed to him, was worth the hazard. Given tempered tools to work with, it would have been no great undertaking to tear down that cemented wall of stones, but armed with nothing except his bare hands and that, soft iron bar, O’Reilly spent nearly the whole night at his task. Long before the last rock had yielded, however, he beheld that which caused him to turn a strained face upward to Rosa. ‘There’s a little door, as sure as you live," he told her. The girl.wa^,beside herself with excitement. “Yes? What else? Wlint more do you see?” “Nothing.) It .appears to be made of solid timbers, and has two huge handwrought locks.” “Locks! Then we have found It.” Rosa closed her eyes; she swayed momentarily. “Esteban was right. Locks, indeed! That means something to hide, i >h, if I could only help you!”

“Heavens! If I only had something—anything, to work with!” muttered the American as he fell to with redoubled energy. He no longer tried to conserve his strength, for the treasure seeker’s lust beset him. Rosa looked on, wringing her hands and urging him to greater haste. But the. low, thick door was built of some hard, native wood: it was wet and tough and slippery. O’Reilly’s blows made no impression upon it, nor upon the heavy hasps and staples with, which it was secured in place. The tatter were deeply rusted, to he sure, but they withstood his efforts, and he was finally forced to rest, baffled, enraged, half hysterical from weakness and fatigue. Daylight was at hand once more, but he refused to give up, and worked on stubbornly, furiously, until Rosa, in an agony, besought him to desist. Johnnie again collapsed on the grass and lay panting while the other two replaced the planks. “Another hour and I’d have been into it,” he declared, huskily. “You will skill yourself,” Jacket told him. Rosa bent over him with shining (>yes and parted lips. “Yes,” said she. “Be patient. We will come back, O’Reilly, and tonight we shall be rich.” •"♦* ♦ ♦ * * Colonel Cobo lit a black cigarette, leaned back in his chair, and exhaled two fierce jets of smoke through his nostrils. For a full moment he scowled forbiddingly at the sergeant who had asked to see him. “What’s this you are telling me?” he inquired finally. The sergeant, a mean-faced, lowbrowed man, stirred uneasily. “It Is God’s truth. There are spirits on La Cumbre, and I wish to see the priest about it.” “Spirits? What kind of spirits?” The fellow shrugged. “Evil spirits—spirits from hell. The men are buying charms.” “Bah! I took you to be a sensible person.” “You don’t believe me? Well, I didn’t believe them when they told me about it. But I saw with my own eyes.”

Cobo leaned forward, mildly astonished. Of all his this man was the last one he had credited with imagination of this sort. “What did you see?” “A ghost, my colonel, nothing else. La Cumbre is no place for an honest Christian.” The colonel burst into a mocking laugh. “An honest Christian! You! Of all my vile ruffians, you are the vilest. Why, you’re a thief, a liar, and an assassin! You are lying to me now. Come —the truth for once, before I give you the componte.” “As God is my judge, I’m telling you the truth,” protested the soldier. “Flog me if you will —rather the componte than another night In those trenches. You know that old quinta?” “Where Pancho Cueto made a goat of himself? Perfectly. Do you mean to say that you saw old Esteban Varona walking with his head in his hands?”

“No, but I saw that she-devil who fell In the well and broke her neck.” “Eh? When did you behold this — this marvel?” “Two nights ago. She was there beside the well and her face shone through the night like a lantern. There was fire upon it. She came and went, like a moth in the lamplight. I tell you I repented of my sins. Some of the men laughed at me when I told them, as they had laughed at the others. But last night two of the doubters went up there.” “Exactly. And they saw nothing.” “Your pardon, my colonel. They 'came back in a cold sweat, and they spent the night on their knees. The woman was there again. You have seen the salt sea at night? Well, her ■ face was aglow, like that, so they said. They heard the clanking of chains, too, ; and the sound of hammers, coming from the very bowels of the earth. It is all plain enough, when you know the story. But It is terrifying.” “This is indeed amazing,” Cobo acknowledged, “but of course there is some simple explanation. Spirits, if Indeed there are such things, are made of nothing —they are like thin air. How. then, could they rattle chains?

Yoli probaldy saw some wretched pa-« clficos in search of food and imagined tjhe rest.” “Indeed! Then what d!d I hear with these very ears? Whispers, murmurs, groans, and the cltnkety-cllnk of old Sebastian's chisel. For his sins that old slave is chained in some cavern of the mountain. Soundless! I’m no baby! I know when I’m asleep, and I know when I’m awake. That place is accursed, and I want no more of it.” Cobo fell Into frowning meditation, allowing his cigarette to smolder down until it burned his thick fingers. He was not a superstitious man and he put no faith in the supernatural, nevertheless he was convinced that his sergeant was not lying, and reference to Pancho Cuefa had set his mind to working ailing strange channels. He had known Cueto well, and the latter’s stubborn belief in the existence of that Varona treasure had more than once impressed him. He wondered now if others shared that faith, or if by chance they had discovered a clue to the whereabouts of the money and were conducting a secret search. It was a fantastic Idea, nevertheless Cobo told himself that if people were prying about those deserted premises it was with sonfe object, and their actions would warrant observation. The presence of the woman —a woman—with the glow of phosphorus upon her face was puzzling, but the whole affair was puzzling. He determined to investigate. After a time he murmured, “I should like to see this spirit.” The sergeant shrugged. It was plain from his expression that he could not account for such a desire. "Another night is coming,” said he. "Good! Ishall visit the place, and if I see anything unusual I—well, I shall believe what you have told me. Meanwhile, go see your priest by all (TO BE CONTINUED.)

“It Begins to Look as If There Really Was a Bulkhead.”