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The rain was cold, the briers beside the overgrown path were sharp, and they scratched the boy's bare legs cruelly; his stomach clamored for a companion to that solitary sweet-potato, too, but in his breast glowed ardor and pride Jacket considered himself a fortunate person--a very fortunate person, indeed Had he not found a brother, and did not that brother love him? There was no doubt about the latter, for O'Reilly's eyes, when he looked doere kind and s, his voice was friendly and intimate Here was a man to die for
The downpour lasted but a short time, then the sun came out and dried theWhen evening caar- They were on the main calzada, now, the paved road which links the twonoon their destination was in sight
O'Reilly felt a sudden excitement when Matanzas came into view From this distance the city looked quite as it did when he had left it, except that the blue harbor was ale of hills that hid the Yuhts with Rosa Varona-- seemed to smile at him like an old friend For the thousandth time he asked himself if he had co delays had proved his own and the girl's undoing
O'Reilly knew that although Matanzas was a prison and a pesthole, a girl like Rosa would suffer therein perils infinitely worse than iht he could not bear to dwell upon
Signs of life began to appear now, the travelers passed sarden-patches and occasional cultivated fields; they encountered loaded carts bound into the city, and once they hid themselves while a column of mounted troops went by
O'Reilly stopped to pass the time of day with a wrinkled cart into the city, are you?" the fellow inquired "Starved out, I suppose Well, it's as pleasant to starve in one place as another"
Jacket helped hian to strip it with his teeth
"Will the soldiers allow us to enter?" Johnnie inquired
"Of course Why not?" The old ed "Go back," he said, "go back and die in the fields Matanzas stinks of rotting corpses Go back where the air is clean" He swung his long lash over the oxen, they leaned against the load, and the cart creaked dismally on its way