Page 93 (1/1)

The mention of Cobo's nahts Now he collected the See what Lacret's men handed me; they are posted from one end of the island to the other" He displayed a printed bando, or proclaeneral, and read as follows: "All inhabitants of the country districts, or those who reside outside the lines of fortifications of the towns, shall, within a period of eight days, enter the tohich are occupied by the troops Any individual found outside the lines in the country at the expiration of this period shall be considered a rebel and shall be dealt with as such"

It was that inhuman order of concentration, the result of which proved to be without parallel in e author the na the arch-fiend of a nation reputed peculiarly cruel Neither Esteban nor Rosa, however, grasped the full significance of the proclamation; no one could have done so No eye could have foreseen the merciless butchery of non-combatants, the starvation and death by disease of hordes of helpless men, women, and children herded into the cities Four hundred thousand Cubans driven from their homes into shelterless prison caer and disease; a fruitful land laid bare of all that could serve as food, and changed to an ash-gray desolation; gaunt famine from Oriente to Pinar del Rio--that was the sequel to those printed words of "Weyler the Butcher" which Esteban read

"Eight days! When is the time up?" Rosa inquired

"Bless you, this is already teeks old!" her brother told her

"Why, then, it ht"

"Exactly! But we sha'n't be caught, eh? Let the tiht at the squeaks of this old black-bird Let theo into the cities: we shall have the more to eat!" Esteban crumpled the paper in his hand and dropped it "Meanwhile I shall proceed toward my settleave Rosa courage