FLOWER OF THE CRAZED.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 60, 21 September 1907, Page 4

FLOWER OF THE CRAZED.

Laurence Kirby was young, good-look-ing in a fair soil, of way, a. great favorite with women. ..:i.| riK of the best constructing c, ■.' ■<■;■, Unit the "Pacilieo"' ever hail in tVdr i-mjilciv. At home in New York lie was a dub member, one of the bright, ami shining lights in the Kugineors' L'liirm, ami, lastly, engaged In marry .Miss Kent, daughter ami hciivs, ol' old "Dull" Kent. Kirby had her picture, and once, in a tit of unwonted friendliness, showed it to inc. She was n„t s „ very prettv—too thin ami fragile for Hint. lint' it was a .v.vcet, pure-spirited face, and I thought then that Kirbv was a lucky man.

At that lime we were travelling along at. a pretty rapid'ratc in the Acapulco direction, and surveying ml! more miles per day than you would believe,were 1 in tell you. I'nder the circumstances, all tic tents and e'juipiucnt, including the commissary department, of which old Tenuis was chief, with his wife .luan.i as cook, were moved along with us each day. This iptick work only lasted, of course, so long as we were in good surveying country; soon wcgutto the Sierras, or (Juerrero Mountains, and then we had to call a slow-down and take things more quietly. Old ■linina. in suite of her age and llesh (-he weighed'close mi two hundred and lil'lyi. ind held out pretty well, considering (he amount of cooking she did and i lie way in which Aw hail been hustled alone' across tl„. State of (blcrrcro. \o sooner had we readied the "Jlueno l-'e" I'anon. Iciwever. than she gave out j completely, and said that she must have

an ;i--i.-l;iiit cook. Kirby turned the matter over to me. T. asked ."lunna if we should bring her down n man cook from the citv of Mexico. "No, sonor"; sic would iwve no rude, awkward man pot-i.-ring about her tent and brasenw. ll' Hie -euor would give leave. Consuclo would willingly come. Cvusuclo was her

niece, and a very good and simpatiea Rirl, too. Sim was Ilmv j„ (jhil|iancmgo with her mother, kn would surely come to her old Tia at the word. How much would the aenor pav for tin; services that Consuelo would lend? Fifteen pesos? Good: then the girl should lie notified at once.

About a week later, Consuelo arrived. She was not much on the cook—though her frijoles vcfritos were good—and Ido not think she ever did more than wash the dishes and keep the brasero going. But she was, out and out, the handsomest savage I have ever seen, with her six feet of strong, beautiful body, and the eyes ami face of a tragedy queen. i-flts of such women are to "be seen throughout (iucrrcro, but I do not remember a grander woman, in all my trips, than Consuelo. Not that lam much in favor of big, handsome, blackeyed women; they generally have , the devil in them, somewhere, and sooner or later it breaks out. Jtut even so, you could not help admiring Consculo. Our total force, comprised about thirty men, over half of whom were Mexican's and peones. Being pretty well un on the genus Me.xicauo, I had long ago informed old Juana that we would have no flirtations in camp; if Consuelo wished to remain mid gain her fifteen dollars per month, she must have nothing to say to the men. ft was against discip(me, and Senor Kirb.y would not have

it. .Juana smiled quietly and went on with her work. "The senor need have no care; he does not know Consuelo. It would be a brave men who attempts to molest her in her work." So 1 went iway convinced, in spite of my knowedge of the Mexican character!

Soon afterwards, 1 had ocular proof of the fact that Consuelo would not permit indiscriminate attentions. It was on a pay-day—Sunday at that. Some Of our Mexicans had gone over to the little pueblo of Santa "Maria, near by, and just about supper time three or four of them straggled in, rather the worse for liquor. However, as they were not boisterous, Kirby said nothing, and 1 followed suit. Three of the men slunk oir to their own teut. and the fourth one, it little fellow called Antonio, swaggered into the eating teut. Shortly, I went in, too, for my supper, and arrived there just in time to see Consuelo, with the face of a fury, lift Antonio fully three feet into the air, after which she caught him and shook him as a terrier would a rat. 11 interposed, and asked what was the trouble. It seemed that Antonio had mildly and sentimentally remarked to her, ''Beautiful one, with the luminous eyes!" There the matter ended, though Antonio took good care never even to look thereafter in Cousuelo's direction, being a badly scared Mexican. I told kirby about the matter ami we had a good laugh over it.

Dating from this time, it seemed to me that Kirby paid more visits than were necessary to old Juana's tent; also it occurred to me, more than once, that Consuelo gave more attention to Hie table-serving of our good-looking chief than she had formerly been accustomed to give. However, it was none of my business, and I made no remarks. At this time we had emerged from the canon and were surveying across a swampy, malaria-breeding bit of country. Many a day we worked in slimy, unlieallliful water, up to our knees—sometimes up to our waists. This quite naturally, was not conducive to good health, and the men began to sicken—particularly the Mexicans, who have no stamina, anyway. We '•white men" got along all right, even though we had slight touches of chills and fever, and we worked along steadily, doing double work to each man, and covering ground nicely, in spite of all the drawbacks. Soon we drew out of the worst country; the Mexicans got well enough to work again, and Kirby hustled us along at a good rate, in spite of the fact that he was even then shaking and burning, by turns, with the Guerrero fever. [ argued with him, but to no avail, trying to induce him to slow down a bit and get himself well before going oil the old speed. 1. could do nothing with him; it seemed that upon the expiration of his contract, which did not cover many more hundred miles, he was to go back to New York and marry Dorothy (that was Miss Kent's name). Even so, I could not-understand his sudden feverish desire to rush over his work and get back to her. 1 suppose now that he had begun to realise the seriousness of his little flirtation with Consuelo, even though it may have gone no further than one or two hand-squeezes, maybe a careless kiss or two, and few admiring, halfmeant words. In other words, Mr Kirby was slowly and surely llinling out that a mild llirtation with n half-sava"o Indian girl is not exactly the fun that some people might imagine it—so far as results are concerned. It is all right to say ''l love yon" to a girl of your own race and education; she will possibly laugh at you, or tell you the same thing and you both know that it is only in fun. But a woman of Consiielo's 'type would never so understand it; savages have strange ideas about these things, and they have very matter-of-fact opinions as to veracity, It was not very long before what 1 predicted came to pass, and Mr Kirbv was raving and groaning, tint on his back, with the worst case that I had ever seen of (luerroro fever; a good deal of malaria being mixed in with it, just to even up matters, 1 suppose. Not that there was any particular danger, for people rarely ever die from attacks of Guerrero fever and chills (vou onlv wish that you could die]. The usual remedy is to take i|iiinine,lie quiet with plenty of blankets over you. This is where, iii Kivby's case, Consuelo proved to be of use and he]]).

In point of fact, no one else could be spared to look after the sick man. There was .Insula- but Juaua had the food of thirty men to look after-, very natmall.v she could not be spared to do nursing. Kirby would not let a Mexican come near him, and we few Americans had to keep on with the surveying and trackplanning, else the contract would run out, with our work half finished. Under the circumstances, wc simply had to turn Kirby over to Consiielo's care. One good point was that she was a careful and very devoted nurse.

In two weeks or so he was up again | and working a little, every ,lav. lie seemed to have lost his former desire to j hurry our work to its end, ami took things a little more coolly. No doubt Consiielo's constant care ..and devotion had had some effect on him. As for the girl, she followed him about like a dog; bringing him quinine at various hours during the day, cautioning him, in her broken Spanish, about the necessity for wrapping up well, or else making up savory hot drinks, such as the Indians use "for the taking away of the chill." And so it went. 1 was sorry both for the girl and for Kirby, and let him see it. For which T naturally received no thanks. Meanwhile she was as happy as a woman ever gets to be in this world, and he obediently took the quinine and hot drinks, and wrote fewer and fewer letters to Miss Kent.

Well, we were working along briskly' at only a few days distance from Pueblo de Maria, our stopping point, when late one evening I received a message that Kirby wanted to see me. I was having my supper and sent the mozo back to him, saying that as soon as 1 had finished f would be with him. Somehow, T spotted at once that Consuelo was at the bottom of this message, and i thought things over as I drank my coffee. f had noticed Hlrlv that his careless and oiihand treatment of the girl had grown even more t ■-•.-.'less during the last few days; she, en her part, had nevei>6eemed to wish for more than the 'privilege to fetch and carry lor him. A servile, savage sort of love, l» he sure, but that is the way Indian women are.

Kirby was sitting at his writing-table, a worried, nervous look on bis face, and Miss Kent's picture and a just opened letter before him. As I sat down, f glanced lightly a t the letter. It was a very thiii one, covering only two pages, and the signature was visible; T shamelessly read it. "Vour very sincere Iriend, Dorothy Kenl," is not the way in which a fiancee usually signs letters, and I at once understood. Miss Kent had doubtless gathered from Kirby's letters that he was making love to some other woman, and, Wing a girl of spirit and pride, had at once written to breakoil the engagement. Kirbf, however, had little to say. He merely wished me to notify "Consuelo, old Juana's niece," that her services were no longer necessary. Her wages would b<> paid two months in advance, and she was to lie furnished an escort to her own home in Chilpancingo. "And, by the way, Jackson." he finished up, "give her this lifty-dollar bill and lei! her that I send it! I really owe her more than that for her attention to me

when [ was sick. I think that's all. « ill you please see that she goes tomorrow morning early?" Consuelo was not in the kitchen, and

my interview, therefore, was with old Juaua--fur which I was not sorry. Who' km.us how the s \ r ] would have taken I he new*'! The aunt was in a boiling rage. She called down (he wrath of Cod and all the saints upon uie; how

lnul I the lieart so to discharge and send away a good girl, who lrad always behaved herself properlyV The old woman was hard to pacify, and finally waxed so abusive that I took strong measures with her; after which she quieted down, and said that Consuelo would leave early next morning. We saw nothing more of the girl, and old Juana was always ominously quiet and busy. Meanwhile, work was boom- [ mg along nicely, and we expected to get to our terminus within four days, when our chief was suddenly taken, one day, with a sort of sunstroke, and had to be carried home to the tents, ravin" and lacking like mad. U'e called it "sunstroke," but 1, at any rate, knew better, i had never seen a sunstroke patient weep an,l curse alternately, and I was both scared and dumbfounded. He had been working busily all the morning, when, all of a sudden, he burst out into insane weeping. Then followed ills of wild laughter, then silly, maudlin ravings, then more weeping. I put him to bed and gave him an opiate. It had no. earthly effect; so, frightened and puzzled out of my wits, I sat in the lent all that evening and night, listening to the raving and pitiful crying of what was evidently a crazed man. Well, if you will believe me, that same thing was repealed every day for a week. Fortunately, 1 was able to finish up the remaining few days' work, and we entered Pueblo do Maria on time, thereby completing our contract. Kirby was still in the same mysterious condition, save that now he'would sit motionless for hours brooding, overtaken by Ills of awful melancholy, and oftentimes crying in a pitiful, wailing fashion that nearly drove me mad. There was a Mexican doctor in Pueblo de Maria, and I had him come over and examine Kirby, who wept and moaned during the examination. I could see that the Mexican was frightened, but he merely shrugged his shoulders, and, having pocketed his fee and said a brief and heartfelt -'Quicn sabe," the investigation ended. So far as he could sec, the Senor Ingeniero "was suffering from a bad attack of the sun; with care and perfect quiet he should be over the illness within a few days." A day or two later I left the poor fellow in Juana's care, and rode over to the pueblo to get some opiate; I wanted , him to have one night's rest, anyway, tor next day X intended to take him, as l best I might be able, back to civilisa- ' tion and doctors. j

The trail which I was following led along the slopes of the hills and Sierras, all covered at this time of the year with dank, dense shrubbery and tropical vegetation. There was no sign of life anywhere about, and I was thinking sadly about poor Kirby, when suddenly I saw a woman slip noiselessly into one of the dark glades just ahead of me on the trail. It was, if not Consuelo, very much like her, and, I wondered what was up. She was supposed to be many days' travel away from our camp; what, therefore, could she be doing here sneaking about in the mountain glades? I began to suspect mischief; she had not seen me, and 1 would proceed to find out what she was after.

I tied my horse, loaded my revolver (for I was taking no chances with a savage of Cousuelo's sort), and crept noiselessly on her track. Soon I caught a glimpse of her, kneeling with her back to me. Her occupation seemed innocent enough, for she was merely plucking the brilliant red blooms that grew densely around on the mountain side, and talking to herself as she did so. Wondering what she could be saying, 1 stealthily slipped closer and closer, hidden by the shrubbery. Nearing her, I saw that her face looked years older, lined, wicked, and hideous—the face of a crazen woman or a devil! Over and over again she was murmuring, as she tossed the little red Jlowcrs into her rebozo: "Flor de los locos! Floreeitos do los loeos!" Then I understood. She had been giving the deadly, crazing (lower (made into some sort of tea, no doubt, through old Juana's nid) to poor Kirby. With the wish to torture him beyond belief, she was gradually crazing himj it would have been too merciful to kill him outright. I drew my pistol and called to her. With the spring of a wounded tiger, she was at me, and, before she caught sight of the pistol, had buried her sharp teeth in my arm. Then, seeing the revolver, and before I had time to make 'up my mind to murder a woman, she was oif like a Hash, the red "(lowers of the crazed" strewing the ground. I followed on a dead run; mounted my horse and galloped back to camp, hoping to be in time to circumvent her further evil work. But she had evidently hidden herself somewhere on the mountains, and though a search party worked diligently to find her, we never saw her again. You may rest assured that 1 did not again leave Kirby's side until the Mexican police from the Pueblo de .Maria had arrested and locked up old Juana, after 1 had forced tier to con- j fess.

As I had thought, Consuelo had never gone home, but had hidden herself in some mountan cave, whence she had come to our camp at night, bearing at each visit a fresh supply of the "(lowers of the crazed." 'These our cook had faithfully made into tea, which was given daily to Kirby. "The lirst dose," the old wretch calmly stated, "had been a little too strong," for which reason it had so seriously affected the "poor

We carefully conveyed Kirby first to the city of Mexico, where oety imaginable scheme was tried to restore his sanity. Nothing did any good. He still remained in the same melancholy, morose, weeping condition, refusing food, and fighting furiously when we endeavored to give him nourishment. The physicians were unanimous in saying, that nothing could he done for him; the! maddening (lower had eaten too deeply into his brain and blood to be eradicated, and they declared he would never again be a sane man. I took him to New York, and placed him in a private asylum. After which 1 called upon Miss Dorothy Kent, and told her the whole truth of the case. That was a long time ago. Often when I am in New York I go to St. Mark's Hospital to see Kirby. He is still there, and in the same hopeless condition. lie does not know me, and it is difficult to recognise the stooped, grey-haired, melancholy man as my friend of bygone days. He receives all the care and attention that money can buy, and the great pure love which no wealth can win, for Dorothy Kent devotes her entire life to him. All to no avail, however, for the "flower of the crazed" did its work well—and there is no antidote. —John Adams in Argonaut.