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-The Project Gutenberg eBook of Under Blanco's eye, by Douglas Wells
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
-most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
-of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you
-will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before
-using this eBook.
-
-Title: Under Blanco's eye
-       Or, Hal Maynard among the Cuban insurgents
-
-Author: Douglas Wells
-
-Release Date: June 23, 2022 [eBook #68379]
-
-Language: English
-
-Produced by: Demian Katz, Craig Kirkwood, and the Online Distributed
-             Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (Images courtesy
-             of the Digital Library@Villanova University.)
-
-*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK UNDER BLANCO'S EYE ***
-
-
-Transcriber’s Notes:
-
-Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
-
-Additional Transcriber’s Notes are at the end.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-VOL. 1 NO. 1 NEW YORK, MAY 7, 1898 5 CENTS
-
-STREET & SMITH Publishers.
-
-STARRY FLAG WEEKLY
-
-THRILLING STORIES OF OUR VICTORIOUS ARMY
-
-[Illustration]
-
-UNDER BLANCO’S EYE OR HAL MAYNARD AMONG THE CUBAN INSURGENTS
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Starry Flag Weekly
-
-_Issued Weekly--By Subscription: $2.50 per year. Entered as Second
-Class Matter at the N. Y. Post Office._ STREET & SMITH, _81 Fulton St.,
-N. Y. Entered According to Act of Congress, in the Year 1898, in the
-Office of the Librarian of Congress, Washington, D. C._
-
-No. 1. NEW YORK, May 7, 1898 Price Five Cents.
-
-
-
-
-_Under Blanco’s Eye_;
-
-
-OR, _HAL MAYNARD AMONG THE CUBAN INSURGENTS_
-
-By DOUGLAS WELLS.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-First Part.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER I. “THE ONLY AMERICAN IN HAVANA.”
-
-
-“Stop!”
-
-A boy of some eighteen or nineteen years rushed frantically out upon a
-wharf bordering the harbor of Havana.
-
-“Hold on!”
-
-Elbowing his way through the dark-skinned crowd, he reached the
-string-piece, now waving his arms wildly.
-
-At the top of his voice came the fervent appeal:
-
-“Don’t leave me behind!”
-
-Unheedful of the Spanish crowd about him, the boy gazed anxiously at
-the fast receding stern of the United States steamer Fern.
-
-That crowd was bent on mischief. It had jeered itself nearly hoarse
-when the little steamer left her berth.
-
-Now it saw in this shouting, gesticulating youth a closer victim of
-their sport.
-
-“Swim!” jeered one low-browed, dirty Spaniard.
-
-To this came an echoing shout of:
-
-“Make him swim!”
-
-“Yes! Throw the Yankee dog into the harbor. He will find company in
-the sailors of the Maine!”
-
-A yell went up--a yell that was partly derisive and partly defiant.
-
-It had one effect that the victim was quick to notice--it utterly
-drowned out his appealing shouts to those on the deck of the Fern,
-causing him to gasp:
-
-“Am I the only American left behind in Havana?”
-
-It looked like it.
-
-Further from the pier, nearer every moment to the entrance of Havana
-harbor went the Fern, the last of the United States steamers to leave
-Cuba’s capital city on that memorable afternoon of the ninth of April,
-1898.
-
-Aboard the Fern was that sturdy American hero, General Fitzhugh Lee.
-
-Up to the last moment he had served the interests of the United States
-and her citizens as consul general at Havana.
-
-Now, when the state of affairs there had become intolerable, General
-Lee had sailed on the Fern.
-
-After indomitable efforts extending over several days, he had succeeded
-in shipping, as he believed, the last American in that danger-infested
-city.
-
-Then, and not until then, had General Lee stepped aboard the Fern.
-
-His coming had been the signal for the start. A moment later the little
-steamer’s prow was cutting the muddy, blood-stained waters of Havana
-harbor.
-
-Close to the wreck of the United States’ once proud battleship Maine
-passed the Fern.
-
-Standing on deck, General Lee and his immediate party had bared their
-heads in silent respect and grief for the two hundred and sixty-six
-sailors whom Spanish treachery had destroyed.
-
-General Lee believed that he had succeeded in bringing the last
-American away.
-
-He certainly had, so far as he knew. He had done his duty like an
-American.
-
-Yet, all unknown to him, one American remained behind--Hal Maynard, the
-boy who now stood watching the receding Fern with a look of mingled
-anxiety and wistfulness.
-
-Suddenly Hal uncovered. His glance had rested on the Stars and Stripes
-at the steamer’s stern.
-
-It was a courageous thing to do--to salute the hated Yankee flag in
-this stronghold of that flag’s bitterest enemies.
-
-But Hal did it, without bluster or hesitation.
-
-There was a choking sensation in the boy’s throat; tears glistened in
-his eyes.
-
-“My country’s flag,” he murmured brokenly. “May God always bless your
-folds, and protect them! May those Stars and Stripes soon come back
-here, and float a supreme warning that treachery and tyranny can never
-flourish in the New World!”
-
-It may be that some of the Spaniards grouped about him heard him. If
-so, they did not understand, or it would have been worse for this
-American boy.
-
-“The senor does not like our climate!”
-
-Jeeringly the words were uttered.
-
-Half turning, Maynard gazed unto the speaker’s eyes.
-
-The latter was a Spaniard, a peon or laborer. Ragged, barefooted,
-dirty, he had the appearance of a man half-starved.
-
-The fellow’s tattered sombrero rested at an angle on his head. His
-gleaming, glittering eyes, made brighter by that nondescript illness,
-slow starvation, had an ugly light in them.
-
-In whatever direction Maynard turned he saw others like this
-fellow--thousands of them.
-
-Every wharf and pier, every building near the water front, every
-available spot of view was crowded by Spaniards who had come out to
-watch the departure of America’s consul general, and, watching, to jeer.
-
-It was no use to gaze longer after the Fern, yet Hal Maynard found
-himself unable to stir.
-
-“If I never see the flag again, I must see it to the last to-day,” he
-murmured.
-
-“Senor does not like our climate?” again jeered the fellow at his elbow.
-
-Hal made no answer, not even turning this time.
-
-But his tormentor would not quit.
-
-“Perhaps it is our people that the senor does not like? I have heard
-that there were some Americans who do not love the Spanish!”
-
-Still Hal stood with his eyes fastened on the flag.
-
-“If the senor is a good friend of Spain,” continued the fellow, with
-mocking insinuation, “he will shout, ‘viva Espana!’”
-
-Long live Spain? Hal Maynard would have died a dozen deaths sooner than
-utter such a detestable wish!
-
-Those black, gleaming eyes were fastened on him pitilessly,
-until--until the tormentor found himself ignored.
-
-Then he swiftly turned to his fellow Spaniards.
-
-“Here is an American!” he cried.
-
-A laughing chorus greeted the announcement.
-
-“He wanted to go home!”
-
-More laughter greeted this stupid sally.
-
-“And now,” continued the announcer, “he is crying to find himself left
-here with us!”
-
-“There is yet time for him to swim after the vessel!” jibed another
-Spaniard.
-
-“Or let him cruise home on the Maine!”
-
-At this there was a cyclonic burst of laughter.
-
-Instantly the other Spaniards began to cast about for sayings which the
-crowd would regard as being witty.
-
-Hal Maynard’s eyes flashed.
-
-A fight would be helpless--hopeless, leaving him only the fate of death
-at the hands of this jibing, vicious mob.
-
-Yet no sooner was the word “Maine” uttered than he turned once more to
-where the wreck of the Maine lay and lifted his hat with a motion of
-reverence.
-
-It was grit--clear grit! That much even the Spaniards could appreciate.
-
-It was a defiance, too, and in a moment angry murmurs went up.
-
-“Let us see if a Yankee pig can swim!”
-
-“And if he steers toward that battered iron scow, we can shoot him from
-the wharf.”
-
-“As we will shoot all Yankees who dare to come here after this!”
-shouted another.
-
-Hal faced them, head erect and shoulders thrown back.
-
-He fully expected to be thrown into the muddy water, but he did not
-propose to flinch.
-
-For a moment the crowd hesitated, ready to follow any caprice, but
-waiting for a leader.
-
-After waiting a moment for the attack, Hal felt a sudden thrill of
-misgiving.
-
-His hand had touched, accidentally, on something under his coat.
-
-That recalled him to his duty, to the reason for his being in Havana,
-to the cause of his being left behind.
-
-Hidden away in his clothing was a bag. It contained two thousand
-dollars, the property of another, confided to his care.
-
-“This mob is made up of worthless fellows,” muttered the boy. “They
-don’t know any better than to do as they are doing. They are so
-ignorant that not one in a dozen of them would know his own name
-in print. They shall not make me forget my duty. Since there is no
-American ship here, I will try to find an English one.”
-
-Then, ignoring the crowd that surged about him, he turned again to scan
-the line of wharves.
-
-Less than a quarter of a mile away lay a brig from whose masthead
-floated the Union Jack of Great Britain.
-
-“I shall be safe there,” murmured Hal. “I can leave Havana on that
-craft. It may even be that the brig is bound for an American port.”
-
-His mind made up, he turned to leave the wharf, meaning to walk along
-the river front until he came to the brig’s wharf.
-
-But his original tormentor put himself fairly in the boy’s path.
-
-“Where is the Yankee pig going to root?” he demanded.
-
-Other murmurs went up.
-
-“Do not let him leave us!”
-
-“Not until he has cried ‘viva Espana!’”
-
-“Gentlemen,” said Hal, trying to speak calmly, “I find that I am not on
-the right wharf. Will you allow me to pass?”
-
-“Certainly, senor!”
-
-“Way for the gentleman!”
-
-“Let the Yankee pig find his wallow!”
-
-Click-clack! click-clack! Way on the outskirts of the crowd a man had
-picked up a cobblestone, on which he now began to whet his knife.
-
-It was a most suggestive sound. The crowd roared with merriment,
-craning their necks to see whether this Yankee blanched.
-
-But Hal, though he knew that a spark would be sufficient to touch off a
-mine of Spanish mob-treachery, retained his composure.
-
-“I am in a hurry, if you please,” he said, trying to edge his way
-through.
-
-The crowd pretended to make way, yet each Spaniard took pains to get
-only more in the way.
-
-They were playing with him, as a cat does with a mouse, enjoying their
-sport with true feline ferocity.
-
-One of the crowd suddenly divined our hero’s purpose.
-
-“He wants to reach that English ship. The gringo fancies he will be
-safer there than with us. Let us convince him that our hospitality is
-genuine.”
-
-Still laughing, the crowd made way for Hal to pass off the pier, but
-the instant that he tried to walk along the shore in the direction of
-the bridge, he found himself confronted by the dense ranks of a barring
-crowd.
-
-“No, no, senor! Straight back into Havana.”
-
-“I guess I might as well go to a hotel,” Hal acquiesced, inwardly.
-“From there, an hour later, I may be able to get a closed carriage to
-the brig.”
-
-There was a driver within call. To him Hal signaled.
-
-The jehu came up, but on hearing the name of the hotel, he shook his
-head and scowled.
-
-“No, no, senor,” he protested, “I cannot drive Yankees.”
-
-“I will walk, then,” rejoined Hal.
-
-But the crowd protested that he must ride.
-
-“If the senor will pay three fares,” declared the jehu, “I will take
-him.”
-
-“Very well,” muttered Hal, stepping into the carriage.
-
-“Ha! Senor Maynard, wait! I must see you!” cried a man, making his way
-through the crowd.
-
-“Vasquez!” thrilled the boy, recognizing his accoster.
-
-Then, for the first time that day, Hal Maynard turned pale.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER II. JUAN RAMIREZ INTRODUCES HIMSELF.
-
-
-Senor Vasquez, a middle-aged Spaniard with the air of a prosperous
-merchant, pushed his way through to the carriage.
-
-The crowd, scenting as if by instinct some new trouble for the boy,
-made way for the newcomer.
-
-Vasquez’s eyes glittered. He regarded the boy with a look of evil
-triumph, though his manner, as he stepped into the carriage, was
-faultlessly diplomatic.
-
-“You will excuse my intrusion?” he begged.
-
-“I shall have to,” was Hal’s cold rejoinder.
-
-“I was anxious to see you. This meeting has given me great pleasure.”
-
-Then, lowering his voice, he added:
-
-“Senor Maynard, your employer owes me, as you know, two thousand
-dollars. I must have that money at once.”
-
-“If Mr. Richardson owes you anything,” replied Hal, “he will pay it.”
-
-“Bah! Do you think I am so simple? Senor Richardson left yesterday for
-Key West.”
-
-“I repeat,” came firmly from Hal, “that, if he owes you anything he
-will pay it.”
-
-“And I, my dear young friend,” rejoined the Spaniard, “assure you that
-I mean to collect from you. You have the money. I know it.”
-
-Hal tried not to start at this cool piece of assurance.
-
-“I know,” continued Senor Vasquez, in the same low tone, “where you
-collected the money. I know just how much you collected, and can tell
-you, to a peseta, just how much you carry in a certain bag. Ha! my
-friend, you do not seem happy over my knowledge. But a trustworthy man
-of mine has followed you. You see that there is no use denying what my
-faithful agent told me.”
-
-“But did he tell you,” smiled Hal, coolly, “where I took that bag?”
-
-Senor Vasquez changed color and hesitated.
-
-That was enough to show observant Hal that his “bluff” had a chance of
-winning.
-
-“If he did not tell you that,” resumed the American, “go back and cane
-your agent for a sleepy fellow. Senor Vasquez, if you meant to wrest
-the money from me by force, you should have employed a better agent.”
-
-Maynard’s manner was so cool and convincing that for a moment the
-Spaniard was staggered.
-
-“Ha!” he cried, suddenly. “Whatever you have done with the money, you
-have not had chance to send it out of Cuba, and your last chance to do
-that is gone. Perhaps you will conclude to tell me where the money is.”
-
-“Assuredly not,” rejoined Hal, stoutly.
-
-“Now, if I were to make a few remarks about you to the crowd which
-surges about this carriage, do you know what would happen to you?”
-
-“Certainly,” replied Hal. “I should be in danger of being killed.”
-
-“Do you feel like taking the risk?”
-
-“If you were scoundrel enough, senor, I should be compelled to take it.”
-
-Vasquez’s black eyes snapped dangerously.
-
-“I have only to say the word,” he suggested.
-
-Hal was playing a desperate game. The thought drove some of the color
-from his cheeks.
-
-“Will you tell me where the money is?” insisted the Spaniard.
-
-“Suppose that I did not know, how could I tell you?”
-
-Vasquez snorted impatiently, then beckoned to one of the leaders of the
-mob, who quickly approached.
-
-“Your last chance, Senor Maynard,” whispered the Spaniard.
-
-“I can tell you nothing.”
-
-As Hal uttered these words he expected to be handed over to the Spanish
-mob.
-
-To his surprise Vasquez’s manner swiftly changed.
-
-To the ring-leader Senor Vasquez said:
-
-“Pedro, I trust that your friends will not molest this young man. He is
-in a measure under my protection.”
-
-“Senor Vasquez’s words always carry weight,” was the quick, respectful
-answer.
-
-“My dear young friend,” went on the Spaniard, “I may see you again. If
-we do meet, I trust I shall find you more gracious.”
-
-With that the Spaniard slipped quickly from the carriage, and the
-driver, taking the cue, turned up one of the streets into the city.
-
-Jeers followed, but nothing else happened.
-
-“Vasquez is as slick as ever,” mused Hal, sinking back on the cushion.
-“At first, he thought he would frighten me. Now perhaps he means to
-call upon me at the hotel, try to convince me that he saved my life,
-and thus work upon my gratitude. If Senor Vasquez imagines that he can
-persuade me to betray my good old employer, he will wake up and find it
-all a dream!
-
-“But first of all he will send his agents out again, to see if he can
-get them on the track of the place where the money is. How my Spanish
-pirate would swear if he knew that he had been within a foot of the
-money all the while! Yet, because I have fooled the fellow this time, I
-must not underrate him. He is deadly!”
-
-Deadly, indeed! Vasquez, though a rich merchant, had seldom earned an
-honest dollar.
-
-He belonged to a Spanish type that has been common in Cuba. American
-merchants and planters, especially those who were new to the island,
-had been his especial game for years.
-
-He sought the acquaintance of such “new” Americans, tendered them his
-services and goods, and charged exorbitantly for both.
-
-Should an American planter protest, the crop in one of his sugar or
-tobacco fields was burned, nor was it long before the planter learned
-that “irrepressible friends of Senor Vasquez had rebuked a grasping
-foreigner.”
-
-Should an American merchant protest at Vasquez’s charges, something
-happened to the “impudent merchant’s” stores or warehouses.
-
-Yet Vasquez himself had always kept on the safe side of the law, while
-cheerfully ruining Americans.
-
-They were simply compelled to submit to his extortions. One American, a
-planter, who had resolutely resisted the Spaniard, had been found dead,
-but the crime could be fastened on no one.
-
-Just before the outbreak of the Cuban rebellion, Henry Richardson had
-started sugar plantations in the interior. He had fallen into Vasquez’s
-hands at the outset, and had been systematically plundered.
-
-Hal Maynard, who had come to Cuba a year before as Mr. Richardson’s
-private secretary, had detected the Spaniard in several doubtful
-dealings.
-
-Naturally Vasquez’s feeling for our hero was far from cordial.
-
-While Hal and his employer were still in the interior, Vasquez had
-tried to involve them in trouble with the Spanish authorities.
-
-This menace Mr. Richardson had dodged by paying a liberal bribe to the
-officer commanding the nearest garrison.
-
-Nevertheless, more dangers threatened these two Americans.
-
-Then Consul General Lee’s call had come for Americans to leave Cuba.
-Mr. Richardson had gone the day before. Hal had lingered long enough to
-collect two thousand dollars due his employer. This accomplished, he
-had traveled hastily to Havana, meaning to leave there on the historic
-ninth of April. We have seen how he had reached there too late.
-
-The money that Vasquez claimed as his due was the balance of an
-exorbitant bill. He had already been paid far more than he was entitled
-to.
-
-But he had hoped to overtake and intimidate the American boy.
-
-The carriage drew up before the hotel door, which appeared deserted
-as, indeed, it was, for with money and food both scarce in Havana, the
-hotels stand but a poor show of patronage.
-
-“Your three fares, peon,” said Hal, dropping a few coins in the
-driver’s hand.
-
-“Four pesetas more,” insisted the driver.
-
-Hal paid it, without protest, and disappeared inside. He was quickly
-shown to a room, and requested that his trunk be sent up.
-
-“Although I ordered that sent here from the interior,” he smiled, as he
-bent over the box, “I expected to leave it behind.”
-
-Unlocking the lid, he examined the articles in the trunk for some
-moments, until a warning “Ss-sst!” reached his ear.
-
-Rising quickly, Hal saw from whence the signal had come.
-
-In the aperture made by an open skylight overhead appeared the head of
-a dark-skinned young man.
-
-His bright, restless eyes took in everything in the room, our hero
-included.
-
-“You are an American?” he asked, as Hal stepped under the skylight.
-
-“Yes.”
-
-“Then I am your friend. But have you an enemy?”
-
-“I--I fear I have.”
-
-“Look out of the window toward the harbor. Then come back.”
-
-Hal quickly obeyed, returning with a perturbed face.
-
-“You saw Senor Vasquez approaching, with two officers and a squad of
-soldiers?”
-
-“Just that!” affirmed Hal.
-
-“The officers have a pretense, but Vasquez will really seek your money.
-If you have it not with you, or know a safe hiding place, you will fool
-him, but if the money is in your possession, it will surely be taken
-from you.”
-
-Hal hesitated, regarding the speaker with a look full of penetration.
-
-What he saw was the frank, pleasing face of a youth of eighteen.
-Somehow, Hal’s heart went out to the stranger.
-
-“If,” said the other, “you have the money, and wish to save it, you can
-trust it with me, senor.”
-
-“What could you do with it?” projected Hal.
-
-“Drop it into one of my pockets,” added the other, adding with a laugh:
-
-“No one would search such a thin, ragged Cuban as I for the possession
-of so much money. But think quickly, senor, for Vasquez will be here in
-another moment. Juan Ramirez is my name.”
-
-“A Cuban?” asked Hal.
-
-“See!” And Juan drew from a pocket what could easily become his
-death-warrant--a small Cuban flag.
-
-This he kissed with a simple, unaffected air of devotion.
-
-“By Jove, I’ll trust you,” murmured Hal. “I’ve yet to meet a Cuban
-thief!”
-
-R-rip! In a second he began to unbutton his clothing, bringing out to
-view from under his shirt a long, thin bag.
-
-“This contains two thousand dollars,” he whispered.
-
-“And if anything happens to you, to whom does the money belong?”
-
-“Henry Richardson, at Key West.”
-
-“He shall have it,” promised the Cuban. “Hush! There are steps on the
-stairs.”
-
-Like a flash, Ramirez vanished.
-
-“Have I been duped?” wondered Hal, with a quick thrill of apprehension.
-
-Ramirez had looked like a fellow to be trusted. Yet, if Hal had kept
-the money about him, it would soon pass into the hands of Vasquez, who
-would be able to persuade the Spanish judges that his claim was just.
-
-“If Ramirez has stolen it,” quivered Hal, “all I can say is that I’d
-sooner see him get it than Vasquez.”
-
-Tramp! tramp! tramp! Reaching the head of the stairs, the soldiers were
-now marching straight for his door.
-
-Whack! thump! The door was thrown unceremoniously open, and the
-uniforms of Spain filled the room.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER III. “SPANISH EVIDENCE.”
-
-
-“This is the young man?”
-
-One of the two officers who appeared at the head of a file of a dozen
-soldiers turned and put the question to Senor Vasquez.
-
-That consummate liar responded by a nod of the head.
-
-Though Hal Maynard had not studied his attitude, he stood at that
-moment a typical young American.
-
-With feet rather spread, his hands thrust into his trousers pockets,
-shoulders manfully back and head inclining slightly forward, he ignored
-Vasquez, but regarded the officers with a rather indolent look in which
-there was just a trace of curiosity.
-
-“A visitation, I presume?” he said, addressing one of the officers in
-Spanish.
-
-But the latter, barely looking at him, turned to the other officer to
-command:
-
-“Search the trunk.”
-
-“It is locked,” said Hal, stepping slowly forward. “Permit me to offer
-you the key.”
-
-The officer who received it merely grunted, and immediately knelt
-before the trunk.
-
-Hal stood by looking on, until one of the soldiers, after scowling at
-him an instant, darted forward and gave the boy a push.
-
-“If I am in your way,” retorted Maynard, recovering his equilibrium,
-“won’t you be kind enough to say so?”
-
-“Silence!” ordered the commanding officer.
-
-Hal responded by a polite nod.
-
-“These officers don’t belong to the mob, and they should be gentlemen,”
-he murmured. “If they’re not, it’s not for me to set them the example.”
-
-Flop! went a lot of Hal’s clothing, strewed promiscuously over the
-floor.
-
-Slap! followed his linen.
-
-Smash! went a small hand mirror, flung across the room so that it
-struck the wall and landed on the floor in atoms.
-
-“May I ask a question, sir?” queried Hal, turning to the officer in
-charge.
-
-“Silence!”
-
-“I beg your pardon,” went on Hal, imperturbably. “All I wanted to ask
-was whether my property is to be ruthlessly destroyed before a charge
-has been even made against me?”
-
-“Silence!”
-
-“If I had committed any breach of decorum in asking,” pursued Hal,
-calmly, “please consider that I didn’t ask.”
-
-“Silence!”
-
-Thump! The butt of a soldier’s musket landed forcibly in Hal’s stomach.
-
-“Ouch!” grunted the boy.
-
-“Silence!”
-
-“Not even allowed to express natural emotion,” murmured our hero. He
-couldn’t have talked much in his breathless condition, just then, even
-if he wanted to.
-
-He saw the soldier’s musket-butt aimed at him, and dodged as nimbly as
-he could.
-
-Click!
-
-Another soldier cocked his weapon, aiming fully at the American’s head.
-
-At this the commanding officer smiled. Some of the soldiers laughed
-softly. They wanted to see the Yankee flinch, and were sure that he
-would--for had not their Havana newspapers told them that all the
-Yankees were cowards?
-
-But Hal, who felt reasonably sure that nothing short of violence on his
-part would result in his death just then, did not feel inwardly alarmed.
-
-Instead, he slowly folded his arms, closed one eye, and with the other
-squinted down the steel barrel that stared him in the face.
-
-“Bah!” muttered he who had aimed, now raising the muzzle of his piece.
-“The Yankee pig doesn’t even know what a gun is.”
-
-“Silence!” came sharply from the commanding officer.
-
-“Well,” murmured Hal, under his voice, “I am gratified to learn that
-somebody else besides myself has to hold his tongue. I wouldn’t like to
-do all the shutting-up!”
-
-It was all a picnic, so he fancied, since he was not only sure that the
-officers would find nothing compromising, but also sure that, whoever
-got the money, Senor Vasquez would not.
-
-But the Spaniard, who had been narrowly watching the boy, now
-interposed:
-
-“Captain, may a civilian subject suggest that the accused has not yet
-been searched?”
-
-“Senor,” replied the captain, bowing slightly, “your loyal suggestion
-shall be at once acted upon. I myself will make the search.”
-
-Thereupon the captain waved the soldiers away, most of them withdrawing
-to the corridor and doorway.
-
-“Stand beside the accused,” ordered the captain, nodding at two of his
-men, who accordingly ranged themselves on either side of the American.
-
-“Senor,” said the captain, coldly, “you will understand that what I am
-about to do is a duty imposed upon me.”
-
-There was a trace of civility about this, which caused Hal to reply
-politely:
-
-“If it is your duty, captain, I would be the last one to urge you from
-it. But I can tell you what I have about me. I have a pocket knife and
-a sum of money.”
-
-“Money?” uttered Vasquez, becoming alert at once. “It is mine--mine by
-right!”
-
-“You are mistaken,” replied Hal, coldly; “but if you need it you may
-have it. I have only three pesetas.”
-
-“Three pesetas?” faltered the Spanish merchant. He looked as angry as a
-man who is being robbed, for three pesetas is but about sixty cents.
-
-“You may have it,” rejoined Hal, with mock generosity, “if the officer
-permits me to present it to you.”
-
-Then he threw his hands up while the captain went through his pockets.
-
-That officer looked a trifle ashamed of his task, for an army officer
-is a gentleman, at least by education.
-
-But Hal’s pockets, under the most rigid search, showed no more than he
-had mentioned.
-
-“Off with your clothes, senor,” came the next command.
-
-Hal looked and felt a trifle surprised, but saw that the order was a
-serious one.
-
-“Shall I er--er--withdraw to the closet before disrobing?” he suggested.
-
-“Naturally not,” was the dry answer.
-
-There was no help for it. Hal had to obey, which he did with the
-poorest grace in the world.
-
-But he passed through this ordeal like the others without mishap, and
-was curtly informed that he could put on his clothing again.
-
-This Hal did, next standing at ease between the two soldiers.
-
-“Do you find anything?” asked the captain, turning to his subordinate.
-
-“Nothing,” replied the lieutenant.
-
-“A mare’s nest, eh?” smiled the captain, grimly.
-
-Hal duplicated the smile, but in a more genial manner, then turned to
-look at Vasquez.
-
-But that Spaniard suddenly darted over to the trunk, knelt beside the
-lieutenant, and began to help rummage among the few remaining articles
-there.
-
-“Ha! Here is something,” announced Vasquez, holding up a slip of paper.
-
-Hal looked on, wide-eyed, for he knew well that no such paper had been
-among his possessions when he packed them.
-
-Then he gave a gasp, for he realized the Spaniard’s game at last.
-That scoundrel, by some clever legerdemain, had slipped a paper among
-Maynard’s effects.
-
-“Ho!” grunted the Spaniard, running his eyes over the page. “This is a
-note, apparently, from one of the comrades of that bandit chief, Gomez.”
-
-He finished reading, while the captain stood looking calmly on.
-
-“An American plotter!” screamed Vasquez. “This is proof conclusive
-enough to merit for him a dozen deaths if that were possible!”
-
-He held the page in one hand, pointing a denouncing finger at our
-startled hero.
-
-“Let me see it,” commanded the captain. “A letter relating to a
-filibustering expedition, eh? This is, indeed, evidence. So!” turning
-to Maynard. “You are one of the Yankees who help his majesty’s subjects
-to rebel.”
-
-“Upon my honor,” protested Hal, “I know nothing about that letter.”
-
-“Your honor?” cried the captain. “Bah, you Yankee pig! Lieutenant,
-bring him along under guard. To the Prefatura.”
-
-To the Prefatura! To Havana’s police headquarters? Over the door of
-that grim building might well be written, “All hope abandon, ye who
-enter here!”
-
-It was at the door of this building that all trace had been lost of
-countless Cuban insurgents, the members of their families, and of
-others who had in any way been suspected of sympathy with the cause of
-the rebels.
-
-From here, in the late hours of night, countless doomed ones had
-been led away, ostensibly to imprisonment in Morro Castle or Cabanas
-Fortress--with this horrible peculiarity, that they had never reached
-their destinations or been heard from again!
-
-To the Prefatura! For an instant, contemplating the letter which the
-captain now held in his hand, Hal felt his heart sinking utterly.
-
-“I was sure I could not be mistaken,” murmured Senor Vasquez, softly.
-
-That voice aroused the American as the bite of a snake would have done.
-
-“Senor Vasquez,” he cried, throwing his head back proudly, “we have not
-seen the end of this matter!”
-
-Then, bowing to the captain, Hal stepped between the two files of
-soldiers as they formed.
-
-Down the stairs they started. Vasquez brought up the rear, gnashing his
-teeth.
-
-He had found no trace of the money.
-
-But perhaps he yet hoped to!
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IV. AT THE PREFATURA.
-
-
-Hal marched through the main entrance to the Prefatura.
-
-His bearing was as proud as ever.
-
-He could not have shown more fortitude had he felt that the whole honor
-of Old Glory was resting on his youthful shoulders.
-
-He had marched for more than two miles through the streets, his
-military escort taking a roundabout course, as if they enjoyed
-displaying this dangerous captive to the excited populace.
-
-He had been jeered at, jibed at, made the butt of hundreds of coarse
-jokes.
-
-At last he had reached the Prefatura. Senor Vasquez still brought
-up the rear. He carried himself with the air of one who wishes it
-understood that he has done his duty by his country.
-
-In the corridor of the Prefatura Hal’s escort halted until it could be
-learned before which official the prisoner was to be taken.
-
-In the same corridor were other prisoners, each under guard.
-
-There was only this difference: Hal Maynard was erect, rosy,
-healthy-looking. The other poor wretches, most of whom were women, were
-plainly Cubans.
-
-Their invariably starved appearance showed them to be
-reconcentrados--people from the interior who had been driven in by
-General Weyler’s infamous order, and then left to starve.
-
-There was little, if any, acute terror in their fates. They had
-suffered so much, had witnessed so many atrocities, that they were
-indifferent to what was yet to come.
-
-Paris, during the Reign of Terror, was not such a city of horrors as
-Havana has lately been!
-
-Captain Tamiva, Hal’s chief captor, still bearing the letter “found” in
-the boy’s trunk, disappeared into one of the numerous offices opening
-upon the corridor.
-
-He soon came back, ordering the soldiers to take their prisoner in.
-
-Hal found himself arraigned before a stern-looking, elderly Spaniard.
-Before the latter, on his desk, lay the accusing letter.
-
-He looked up quickly, this official, shot a penetrating look into the
-boy’s face, and snarled out:
-
-“So you are another of the Yankee pigs who root with our Cuban
-sucklings!”
-
-“I am an American citizen, certainly,” replied Hal.
-
-“And a sympathizer, as I said.”
-
-“I have never held communication with the insurgents.”
-
-“But this letter?”
-
-“I know nothing about it.”
-
-“It was found in your trunk.”
-
-“Though never placed there by me.”
-
-“Bah! Of what avail is lying? Do you think you are talking to some of
-your own stupid Yankees? Confess!”
-
-“How can I,” retorted Hal, “when there is nothing to confess?”
-
-The official scowled, snorting impatiently:
-
-“Time is valuable. We have too many cases like yours to attend to. The
-island is full of treason. Instantly tell me all you know about this
-letter, and the plans at which it hints, or take the consequences.”
-
-“There is nothing that I can tell you,” rejoined Hal, earnestly.
-
-“Then take the consequences!”
-
-“I shall have to, since I can’t run away from them.”
-
-“Very well. Then this is the disposition of your case: At ten to-night
-you shall be rowed across the harbor to Morro Castle. Once in a dungeon
-there you will be out of my jurisdiction, and thenceforth under the eye
-of General Blanco.”
-
-All the while Senor Vasquez had stood by looking silently on with his
-eager, burning eyes.
-
-“One moment,” he now interposed. “May I have a word with the prisoner.”
-
-“To one of such known loyalty as Senor Vasquez,” replied the police
-official, politely, “no favor can be refused.”
-
-Vasquez led our hero to the other end of the room.
-
-“You are to go to Morro Castle,” whispered the Spaniard, warningly. “Do
-you know what that means?”
-
-“Yes,” retorted Hal. “Solitary confinement until----”
-
-“Until----” followed Vasquez, eagerly.
-
-“Until American sailors and soldiers purify that loathsome place by
-planting the American flag over it.”
-
-“Fool!” hissed Vasquez. “Do you imagine you will ever reach Morro?”
-
-“I know only what that official said.”
-
-“Well, then, let me tell you,” snarled the Spaniard, “that you will
-only embark in a boat that will start across the harbor. By and by that
-boat will return without you, but you will never have reached Morro!
-You will never be heard from again!”
-
-“And it is for this you have plotted?” cried Hal, paling, but otherwise
-keeping his composure.
-
-“If I have plotted,” murmured Vasquez, rapidly, “it was for my own
-good. You would not expect me to serve another than myself, would you?”
-
-“No!” came the answer, with withering sarcasm.
-
-“Now, my young friend,” went on the plotter, dropping into a cooing
-voice, “if I am a dangerous enemy, let us forget that. I am also a good
-friend. Your employer owed me the money which you collected. Put me in
-the way of finding that, and I have influence enough here to secure
-your freedom.”
-
-“Now, listen to me,” retorted Hal, spiritedly. “Whether my employer
-owes you the money or not is nothing for me to decide. But I will tell
-you this honestly: I don’t know where the money is, at this moment. If
-I wanted to play into your hands, I simply couldn’t.”
-
-“You are lying!” gnashed Vasquez, but a searching look into the boy’s
-face soon convinced that shrewd judge of human nature that Maynard
-spoke the truth.
-
-“I am not going to waste more time on you,” went on the Spaniard,
-passionately. “If you send for me before it is too late, I will come.
-As you value even a few more days of life, don’t tempt fate by taking
-the trip across the harbor to-night!”
-
-Murmuring these words in the boy’s ears, the scoundrel turned to dart
-way.
-
-As he did so, another man moved forward, saying quietly:
-
-“I will speak with the prisoner now.”
-
-Hal did not know the speaker until Vasquez stammered:
-
-“The British consul general!”
-
-“Yes,” replied the visitor, Mr. Gollan, “I was informed that a British
-subject named Maynard had been arrested. I hurried here only to learn
-that Maynard is an American citizen. Is that the case?”
-
-“It is, sir,” affirmed Hal.
-
-“Still,” smiled Mr. Gollan, “perhaps I can do something. At the request
-of my government, Consul General Lee turned over to me this afternoon
-the papers and duties of his office. Mr. Maynard, can you suggest any
-service that I can do you?”
-
-“Now, I should say so!” vented overjoyed Hal. “I have been arrested on
-false charges and a trumped-up paper. Can you not demand to see that
-document?”
-
-“Certainly,” replied Mr. Gollan. “Come with me.”
-
-Together they stepped before the official who had just condemned Hal to
-Morro Castle.
-
-“Do you mind my looking at the letter on which this young man’s arrest
-was ordered?” asked Mr. Gollan.
-
-“Certainly not,” answered the official, at the same time raising the
-paper from his desk and handing it over.
-
-“Thank you.”
-
-As Gollan ran his eyes over the paper, Hal stood looking on at the
-spectacle that meant the turning point for his life or death.
-
-Suddenly our hero started, uttered an exclamation of astonishment, and
-snatched the paper from Mr. Gollan’s hands.
-
-“I beg your pardon, sir,” came impetuously from the boy, “but do you
-see this other side of the sheet? It is one of Vasquez’s own business
-letter heads! He has blundered by not looking at the other side of the
-sheet on which he wrote! It bears out my charge that he trumped up this
-letter, for, bear in mind, sir, it was he who pretended to find it in
-my trunk!”
-
-“Car-r-r-r-ramba!” exploded Vasquez, first turning white, next purpling
-with wrath.
-
-Back went the paper into the police official’s hands.
-
-Senor Vasquez tried to explain; the police official asked a half a
-dozen questions in a breath, while Captain Tamiva had much to say.
-
-But over all the hubbub arose Consul Gollan’s voice:
-
-“As representative both of the interests of Great Britain and the
-United States, I ask for the instant release of this prisoner.”
-
-Too disconcerted to speak, the police official could only nod his
-consent.
-
-Hal felt an arm thrust through his. In a maze he was led down the
-corridor and into the square.
-
-Then a hearty voice said:
-
-“My young friend, I am very glad to have served you. I would advise you
-to leave Cuba at once.”
-
-“I intend to,” responded Hal. “I saw an English brig loading at one of
-the wharves. I think I will try to get passage on her.”
-
-“The Emeline Atwood--a good vessel,” replied Mr. Gollan. “She is bound,
-too, for Norfolk.”
-
-Then, after much hand-shaking and many protestations of thanks from
-Hal, he turned down one of the side streets to the water front.
-
-The narrow thoroughfares appeared deserted. He walked quickly.
-
-“Now, that was stupid of me,” muttered the boy, after going a quarter
-of a mile. “Why didn’t I think to ask who it was that took word to Mr.
-Gollan? Could it have been Ramirez?”
-
-“Senor! senor!” whispered a voice through the shutters of a window.
-“Walk faster, and remember that you are being followed!”
-
-Like a shot Hal halted, trying to catch sight of his informant.
-
-“No, don’t stop! Don’t look this way, or you’ll betray me,” came the
-whisper. “But hurry! The deadliest danger hovers over you in the next
-five minutes!”
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Second Part.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER V. “A SPANIARD OF HONOR!”
-
-
-“Thanks!”
-
-The acknowledgment, softly uttered as the warning, floated back over
-Hal Maynard’s shoulder as he struck out on the double-quick for the
-water front.
-
-Once he turned. Over his shoulder he saw three indistinct figures
-following him down the street.
-
-Fast as he was traveling, the pursuers increased their speed until they
-seemed likely to overtake him.
-
-“Is this more of Vasquez’s deadly work?” groaned Hal. “Will he never
-stop until he has destroyed me?”
-
-Cold perspiration oozed out on the boy’s forehead.
-
-He broke into a swift run.
-
-At this gait, he calculated that less than three minutes would bring
-him to the English brig’s wharf.
-
-As he ran, he took a flying look over his shoulder.
-
-Hardly more than two hundred feet to the rear were the pursuers, their
-sandaled feet moving without noise.
-
-“I can beat them,” thrilled Hal, putting on an even better spurt of
-speed.
-
-Just ahead was the water-front street.
-
-Here, a swift turn to the right, and a speedy dash would carry him to
-the wharf he sought.
-
-Trip! Hal’s feet became entangled in something stretched across the
-sidewalk.
-
-He plunged, then fell to the sidewalk, measuring his full length there.
-
-More quickly than he could rise, a figure darted out of the doorway.
-
-Across the boy’s body a man hurled himself.
-
-“You’ll fight for it--sure!” vented Hal, gripping the stranger by the
-throat.
-
-They grappled, struggled, breath coming quick and short.
-
-Hal fought like a tiger. He quickly placed himself on top of his
-assailant, but could not wrench himself loose.
-
-Pit-patter-pat! Soft sandals struck the sidewalk as the three shadows
-rushed upon the scene.
-
-Not pausing an instant, they hurled themselves into the melee.
-
-Many hands grappled the boy at once.
-
-Maynard fought with renewed fury, but what could he do against so many?
-
-One seized him by either arm and shoulder, another grasped his kicking
-feet.
-
-“Help! help! help! Thieves!” roared the victim, but his captor-carriers
-did not even attempt to stifle his cries--the surest way of proving
-that they had no reason to fear interference.
-
-Hal’s first assailant now darted back into the doorway, unlocking a
-door, and making way for the squad to enter.
-
-Still kicking and squirming, Hal Maynard was carried through the house
-and out into a courtyard at the rear.
-
-Here he renewed his shouts, with no other effect than to make his
-captors smile maliciously.
-
-At the rear of the yard a gate was unlocked.
-
-Hal Maynard involuntarily crossed a second yard, after which those who
-carried him entered another house.
-
-Here he was carried into one of the rooms, and unceremoniously dumped
-upon the floor.
-
-“You stay there,” muttered he who appeared to be the spokesman, “unless
-you are foolish enough to try to escape.”
-
-“What would be the use?” grated Hal, inwardly. “They wouldn’t be so
-sure of me if there was a dog’s chance to crawl out.”
-
-The spokesman went out, but the other three remained.
-
-Ting-a-ling-ling-ling! tinkled a bell in another room.
-
-“A telephone,” conjectured Hal. “Will Senor Enrique Vasquez be at the
-other end of the wire?”
-
-Though he listened intently, he could not hear the words spoken into
-the receiver.
-
-Presently the fourth man came back.
-
-As Hal had not made any effort to get up, his jailers now squatted upon
-the floor, lighting paper cigarettes and puffing incessantly.
-
-Minute after minute dragged by.
-
-Hal did not address a word to his captors. Neither did he shout for
-help, for he felt sure that he would not have been left ungagged had
-they feared that his voice would reach friendly ears.
-
-Nor did his captors speak, beyond an occasional word addressed to one
-another.
-
-“Whatever is to be done, they are merely the agents of some one else,”
-cogitated Hal, his mind as busy as his tongue was idle. “Vasquez
-bragged about his agents. Are these some of them? If so, they are not a
-lot to boast about!”
-
-His reflections were cut short by the sound of the wheels of an
-arriving carriage.
-
-Then steps sounded in a hallway, next at the door.
-
-The door opened, to give entrance to Senor Vasquez, as Hal had expected.
-
-As the Spaniard’s burning gaze fell upon the boy, his face darkened,
-though his lips smiled.
-
-“Good-evening, Senor Maynard,” was his greeting. “Did you think that
-you had seen the last of me?”
-
-“Hardly,” gritted Hal. “I have always heard that the devil is more busy
-than successful.”
-
-“Take a seat, senor,” urged Vasquez, pushing forward one of the few
-chairs in the room. “As to you, my good fellows,” turning to the four
-thugs who had vanquished Hal, “you may step just outside the door.”
-
-As almost anything was more comfortable than the floor, Hal availed
-himself of the chair.
-
-Next he turned a look of cool scrutiny upon the Spaniard.
-
-Yet, if Hal looked cool, his appearance was far from expressing his
-feelings.
-
-He fully realized that never before had he been in such a critical
-situation.
-
-In fact, with such a foe as Vasquez, who, under the circumstances could
-not be placated, there was little hope that the American could escape
-with his life.
-
-Senor Vasquez drew out a cigar, lighted it, and puffed slowly for some
-time before he began to speak.
-
-Yet, while thinking, his brow grew blacker.
-
-“Senor Maynard,” he finally blurted out, “are you not ashamed to be an
-American?”
-
-Hal turned eyes that were wide open with surprise upon the man pacing
-the floor before him.
-
-“Ashamed of being an American?” he repeated. “Senor Vasquez, are you
-training for a humorist? How can any American live without finding life
-one long thrill of pride that he is part and parcel of the Stars and
-Stripes?”
-
-“Bah!” retorted Vasquez, impatiently. “Shall I tell you what your
-greatest fault is?”
-
-“If you care to.”
-
-“You Americans are not honest,” went on the Spaniard. “You lie, cheat
-and steal, always pouring the pesetas or dollars into your pockets,
-and laughing at the more simple more honest people of other nations
-from whom you derive your dishonest profits. Nowhere do you find easier
-victims than the old-fashioned, simple, trusting, generous, honest
-Spaniards.”
-
-“Of whom I suppose you are one?”
-
-“Of whom,” repeated Vasquez, sadly, “I am one.”
-
-Hal could not keep back the burst of laughter that sprang to his lips.
-
-“Why do you laugh?” demanded Vasquez, angrily. “Because you have duped
-me so easily?”
-
-“Because you have duped yourself so easily,” retorted Hal, with spirit.
-“You vaunt your honesty, you who have never earned an honest dollar
-in your whole career. You, a simple, trusting man, when you cannot
-look back upon a single month in twenty years when you have not used
-the fear of fire or the assassin’s knife to inforce the payment of
-exorbitant claims against Americans who were new to the island! When
-you look into your own heart, Vasquez, can you blame me for laughing at
-your pretenses?”
-
-But Hal did not laugh now. His voice rang with a scorn and contempt
-that were too deep for merriment.
-
-“Your employer owed me money,” went on Vasquez, plaintively.
-
-“He has paid you far more than he ever owed you. That I know from the
-dealings I have had between you. As near as I could place it, you have
-robbed him, in three years, of at least twenty thousand dollars more
-than you were entitled to. Yet you prate about honesty!”
-
-“He owes me two thousand dollars,” insisted the Spaniard, doggedly.
-“Senor Richardson escaped from Cuba yesterday, and left me sighing in
-vain for my money. I find that you have collected, within the last
-twenty-four hours, money of his enough to pay me. Yet you refuse to
-turn it over to me.”
-
-“Of course I refused,” voiced Hal. “I should have been false to my
-trust if I had paid over my employer’s money without authority from
-him.”
-
-“And that is why I call you dishonest,” cried Vasquez. “You have
-conspired, you two, to defraud me of my money.”
-
-“You didn’t conspire to have me sent to Morro Castle, did you?” sneered
-Maynard.
-
-“Now,” resume the Spaniard, ignoring all the inconvenient points in
-Hal’s reply, “I have stated fully my grievance against you. Do not
-think, you Yankee pig, that you can hope to dupe me any longer. You are
-now dealing with a Spaniard of honor!”
-
-Vasquez drew himself erect and puffed his chest out as if he believed
-his vainglorious boast.
-
-Halting suddenly before the boy, he glared at Hal with burning eyes,
-and demanded, with a pause after each word:
-
-“Where--is--that--money?”
-
-“I don’t know.”
-
-“Yet you had it.”
-
-“Certainly?”
-
-“Then what did you do with it?”
-
-“I shall never tell you,” retorted Hal, with spirit.
-
-Now Vasquez’s passion escaped all bounds.
-
-“Oh, you Yankees! Oh, you thieves!” he declared, violently, pacing the
-room like a caged hyena. “You hope to dupe us, even when you are in our
-power.”
-
-Then his voice became sarcastic, as he went on:
-
-“Senor, do you know how we Spaniards love you Yankees? Do you realize
-what happiness it would give us to caress you? To caress each and every
-one of your people--to caress them so?”
-
-Pausing in his agitated walk, Vasquez drew a knife, making a
-significant gesture of cutting a throat.
-
-“That is the way we would like to treat all you Yankees,” went on the
-Spaniard. “No! I mistake. That would be much too quick a punishment. We
-must be more ingenious in our punishment of the impudent Yankees--even
-as I propose to deal with you now.”
-
-Under that fierce, malicious gaze, Hal Maynard felt himself growing
-“creepy.”
-
-It did not afford him much satisfaction, even, to see Vasquez put away
-his knife, for the Spaniard’s word and manner left little doubt that
-the knife would be put aside only in favor of a more fearful method of
-revenge.
-
-“Senor, I ask you, for the last time, what did you do with the money?”
-
-“And I refuse to tell you a word.”
-
-“Did you understand that I was asking for the last time?”
-
-“Yes!”
-
-Hal fairly hurled the short, defiant retort.
-
-As Senor Vasquez realized that it was too late for parley, he raised
-his voice, shouting:
-
-“Pedro! Jose!”
-
-Instantly the door opened. Vasquez’s four agents filed into the room.
-
-“Bind the pig! Gag him!” directed the Spaniard, tremulously.
-
-These orders were swiftly carried out, for, though Hal Maynard
-struggled manfully, he was like clay in the hands of so many desperate
-fellows. Weights were tied to his feet.
-
-“He is ready,” voiced Vasquez, glaring at last at his helpless foe.
-“Pedro, open the shutters over there.”
-
-Out he was thrust, face down, his startled eyes gazing down at the
-muddy water of Havana harbor but a few feet below him.
-
-“Ready, my good fellows?” quivered Vasquez.
-
-“Ready, senor!”
-
-“Then drop him!”
-
-Through the darkness of the night shot a human form.
-
-Plash!
-
-Hal Maynard’s bound and weighted form sank below the foul waters.
-
-He had gone to share, in a different way, the fate of the Maine heroes!
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VI. CUBA’S NEW RECRUIT.
-
-
-Rub! rub! rub!
-
-Chafe! chafe! chafe!
-
-Under the shed over a wharf one human figure bent over another.
-
-Rub! rub! rub!
-
-With the quiet but energetic heroism of common humanity, the rescuer
-strove to bring back the spark of life to a young man only just
-snatched from the engulfing waters.
-
-“It is odd, strange!” muttered the rubber, pausing for an instant
-to look at the lifeless figure. “Can it be possible that I was too
-late--or that I am too clumsy?”
-
-He bent anxiously over the still figure.
-
-“It would be a great thing to fool Senor Vasquez,” murmured the Cuban,
-for such he was. “Moreover, I would like greatly to save this American,
-who trusted me even as I trusted him.”
-
-For some minutes more he continued to chafe the wrists and body of Hal
-Maynard.
-
-“A sip or two of brandy might save him--but how shall one get brandy,
-which costs twenty-five pesetas a bottle? Perhaps----”
-
-But Juan Ramirez suddenly and resolutely checked the thought that
-perhaps he might be justified in using some of the money intrusted to
-him by our hero.
-
-“He said that belonged to another. Therefore he would not thank me to
-use some of it to save his life.”
-
-Such was the simple creed of honor of this Cuban.
-
-He was soon rewarded, however, by a flutter of the eyelids, a sigh from
-the unconscious one.
-
-“Santa Maria! He still lives!” cried the Cuban, now overjoyed, and
-working as if his own life depended upon the result.
-
-A minute later Hal Maynard opened his eyes.
-
-Juan bent so low over him that, despite the darkness, our hero
-recognized his rescuer.
-
-“Ramirez?” he murmured.
-
-“At your service, Senor Americano.”
-
-“But I was dropped into the harbor--weighted.”
-
-“And I, senor, was fortunate enough to be near by.”
-
-Hal blinked stupidly, having by no means recovered his wits as yet.
-
-“Rest easily, and breathe freely,” counseled the Cuban. “Do not try to
-move yet. Do not even try to think.”
-
-Hal obeyed, lying there for two or three minutes before he tried again
-to speak.
-
-“Where are we now?” he asked, finally.
-
-“Senor, I would caution you not to speak above a whisper. We are both
-in danger, if some unfriendly prowler should overhear us. Let me raise
-you--so. Now, do you see the building over yonder that rests upon the
-water’s edge?”
-
-“Yes.”
-
-“It was from one of those windows that you were dropped.”
-
-“And you----”
-
-“I was prowling near, senor. No sooner did the scoundrels hear the
-splash than they closed the window. It was then that I dove into the
-harbor, swam to you, and found you some ten feet below the surface. It
-was a simple matter to cut the ropes that bound the weights to you.
-Then I brought you here. That is all, senor.”
-
-“All?” echoed Hal, now sitting up. “It seems to me, my friend, that you
-make a very modest statement of your noble action.”
-
-“Senor, to-day you trusted me. In return I could not do less.”
-
-“And it was you, I am sure, who went to the British consulate----”
-
-“I was there, senor.”
-
-“And it was you who lodged the information that resulted in my release
-at the Prefatura.”
-
-“It was I, senor, as you have guessed,” Ramirez quietly replied.
-
-“You have been my good angel to-day,” cried Maynard, gratefully.
-
-“I could not do less, senor, after a stranger had trusted me.”
-
-“And it was you who warned me to-night that I was being followed.”
-
-“Wrong this time, senor. It was a friend of mine.”
-
-“Yet he worked at your instigation?”
-
-“True.”
-
-“And, finally, you have saved me from certain death.”
-
-“All of which, Senor Americano, gives me occasion to rejoice,” answered
-the Cuban, simply.
-
-Hal now managed to get upon his feet. No sooner did he find himself
-facing the Cuban than he warmly grasped the latter’s hand.
-
-“I owe you my life and the safety of my money,” cried Maynard,
-impulsively. “Yet I never saw you before to-day. Pardon me if such
-great friendliness bewilders me.”
-
-“I have done only what any Cuban would do for an American,” was the
-quiet reply. “I offer you one more service before leaving you. You were
-bound to some ship?”
-
-“The British brig, Emeline Atwood.”
-
-“I know her berth. I will lead you there. Once on board, you should be
-safe. Come; I will show you the way, senor.”
-
-“Wait just one instant,” implored Hal. “Ramirez, such friendship as
-you have shown to-day is seldom met with. Pardon me if I seek to learn
-something about you.”
-
-“There is little to tell,” responded the Cuban. “I love this people
-and their island, for I am one of them. I have done, as perhaps you
-have guessed, all in my power to serve Cuba. You see, senor, I do not
-hesitate to trust you. You will wonder why one of my sentiments is not
-in the Cuban army. I will answer that question before you ask it. It
-is forbidden to a Cuban to join our patriot army unless he can bring
-with him a gun and some ammunition. When I can do that, I shall leave
-Havana and take to the long grass where the insurgents, if not as thick
-as locusts, are fighting as bravely as lions. Beyond that I can tell
-you little, except that I have no living relatives. All have died of
-starvation, and my greatest dread is that I shall starve before I am
-ready to strike out for the long grass.”
-
-Simple and brief as Ramirez’s statement was, it was the eloquent
-account of a patriot who would die for his cause and country, and who
-would die with equal cheerfulness, either of starvation in Havana, or
-under arms in the field.
-
-There were tears in Hal’s eyes as he heard the simple story.
-
-But Ramirez cut short his reflections by saying:
-
-“Senor, not all of our danger is behind us. If you are going to the
-English ship, let me advise you that we should start at once.”
-
-“Just one more question before we go,” interposed Hal. “You spoke of a
-gun and ammunition. Can they be obtained here in Havana?”
-
-“When one has the price, senor.”
-
-“And what is that price?”
-
-“Well, if I had twenty-five dollars I could buy a rifle and a pocketful
-of cartridges. But, why speculate? Twenty-five dollars is not to be
-found.”
-
-“You are right,” responded Hal. “Let us find the brig.”
-
-Ramirez guided him from the wharf and led him down a dark street,
-halting every few steps to make sure that they were not being followed.
-
-Of a sudden, the Cuban, every instant alert, dragged our hero into a
-doorway.
-
-“Here comes the patrol,” whispered Juan.
-
-Hal listened, yet it was some moments before he could hear the tramp of
-soldiers.
-
-“Your hearing is wonderful,” he whispered.
-
-“It is said,” replied Ramirez, “that starvation quickens all the
-senses.”
-
-“And you are starving?” uttered Hal, feeling as if he were choking.
-
-“Far from it,” was the answer. “I ate a quarter of a loaf of bread the
-day before yesterday.”
-
-“And since----”
-
-“I have had several drinks of water, but it was warm and therefore not
-palatable.”
-
-Terrible as this statement was, it was made quietly, without the least
-trace of a desire to parade misery.
-
-Tears glistened in Hal Maynard’s eyes. He was about to speak when
-Ramirez cut him short by whispering:
-
-“I find that this door behind us opens. That is fortunate, for
-otherwise we would perhaps be captured.”
-
-Silently both moved into the hallway. Trying not even to breathe, they
-listened as a score of Spanish regulars or volunteers marched by.
-
-Only a few yards further on they heard the command halt. Then followed
-a dialogue between an officer and a belated pedestrian.
-
-It was soon evident that the latter could not give a satisfactory
-account of himself, for they heard the officer break in sharply:
-
-“Enough! Step in between the files. You shall tell the rest of your
-story at the Prefatura.”
-
-Tramp, tramp! sounded the squad, marching on again. Ramirez listened
-until long after Hal had heard the last footfall.
-
-Then the door was opened once more, and the pair stole out to the
-sidewalk.
-
-“We are safe,” breathed Ramirez. “Walk quickly for a minute, and you
-will be aboard your ship.”
-
-A prediction that was realized, for, without further mishap, they
-reached the wharf and walked its length.
-
-“Who comes here?” growled a gruff voice.
-
-Hal’s heart gave a jump at sound of the old, dear, familiar English
-tongue.
-
-“We are friends. I am an American,” he replied, stepping in advance. “I
-wish to speak with the captain.”
-
-“You’ll find him on board, sir,” replied the sailor, more respectfully.
-
-“I must leave you, senor,” whispered Ramirez, adding, when he saw Hal’s
-look of surprise: “The money that you intrusted to me I left with
-friends. Do not be uneasy. In twenty minutes you should see me back.”
-
-Before Hal could grasp his hand to wring it, Ramirez had glided off in
-the shadows.
-
-“Of all the true hearts in the world,” gasped Maynard, admiringly.
-“Will he come back? I wish I were as sure of heaven!”
-
-Without a doubt regarding Ramirez, our hero turned and went aboard the
-brig.
-
-Only three words of introduction were needed to secure a warm grasp
-from Captain Blodgett’s hand:
-
-“I’m an American.”
-
-“And left behind, eh?” demanded the captain. “We sail at midnight;
-Norfolk; there’s plenty of room aboard.”
-
-“May I speak confidentially with you, sir?” asked Hal.
-
-“Of course.”
-
-They conversed in low tones by the rail for ten minutes. After that
-they turned, looking shoreward.
-
-At length, Ramirez appeared. No sooner did he reach the wharf than he
-struck into a trot that did not slacken until the Cuban reached the
-Atwood’s deck.
-
-“Your money, senor,” announced the breathless messenger.
-
-Diving under his jacket, he produced a bag.
-
-“To my belief it has not been opened. Nevertheless, senor, you will
-do me a great favor to count the money, and thus acquit me of all
-suspicion.”
-
-“At your request only I do so,” answered Hal. “Captain, may we use the
-table in your cabin?”
-
-“In more ways than one,” was the hearty answer. “Follow me below,
-gentlemen.”
-
-There, upon the table the bag was opened, the money poured forth.
-
-Not much time was required in the counting. Two thousand dollars was
-restored to the bag. The balance, sixty dollars, Hal stowed away in his
-own pockets.
-
-“My own money,” he announced. “Ramirez, how can I ever thank you for
-all your honesty and goodness?”
-
-“Since your people have been our friends for three years,” came the
-reply, “it is enough for me to know that I have served an American.
-And now I must take my leave of this vessel.”
-
-“I also,” replied Hal, rising.
-
-“You?” echoed Ramirez, amazed, while Captain Blodgett looked gravely on.
-
-“Certainly,” rejoined Hal; “I am going with you.”
-
-“With me, senor? Where, may I ask?”
-
-“To the long grass, if you will take me.”
-
-“You? Santa Maria! Do you mean, senor, that----”
-
-He paused, utterly bewildered, but Hal Maynard finished, quickly:
-
-“Ramirez, I saw a man when I met you. I am anxious to prove my own
-manhood. I offer myself as a recruit to fight Spain!”
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VII. THE TEMPTATION OF PEDRO.
-
-
-Had a bombshell exploded near the Cuban, he could not have been more
-excited.
-
-“You a recruit?” he gasped.
-
-“Why not?” laughed Hal. “Am I not healthy enough, or do you fear that I
-would run at the first fire?”
-
-“Senor, you would be a valuable recruit, but you are not a Cuban.”
-
-“Is that a disqualification?”
-
-“But this rebellion is not your affair, senor. You belong to a free
-people, and have no need to fight for Cuba.”
-
-“There are already many Americans who take a different view. With
-Maximo Gomez and Calixta Garcia there are scores, if not hundreds,
-of American citizens. I have not heard that they make poor soldiers.
-Ramirez, I owe my life to you. You are a Cuban. Therefore, I owe
-my life to Cuba. I have no family ties; no obligation except to my
-employer. Captain Blodgett has undertaken to deliver the money to him.
-There is nothing to hold me back. You have remained in Havana because
-you did not have the twenty-five dollars with which to buy a gun. I
-have enough to buy two. Will you take me to the insurgents, or will you
-go alone?”
-
-Ramirez still hesitated for a moment; next he darted forward seizing
-Hal’s hand.
-
-“Senor, if you are in earnest, I will show you the way.”
-
-“It is settled, then,” was all Hal Maynard said.
-
-“Oh, this is glorious!” cried Ramirez, his eyes becoming misty. “At
-last I am to be able to join the Cuban army. More than that, I shall
-take a comrade with me.”
-
-“Here is all the money I have in the world,” added Hal, turning his
-funds over to Juan. “Henceforth, it belongs to Cuba.”
-
-“Let us lose not a moment’s time,” urged Ramirez, his eyes dancing with
-delight. “Senor, I am afraid to move, for fear I shall wake up and find
-it all a dream. I cannot delay for a second.”
-
-“Nevertheless,” broke in Captain Blodgett, “I hope you will dally here
-for a little while. Young men, you are starting into an island where
-starvation reigns. Let me offer you a square meal--the last, perhaps,
-that you will get for weeks to come.”
-
-“I do not need food,” declared Juan, trying to puff out his thin
-cheeks. “Happiness will sustain me.”
-
-“I’m hungry, and not ashamed to say so,” interposed Hal, with a laugh.
-“If Captain Blodgett will do something to relieve that, I beg you, my
-dear fellow, to wait here a few moments.”
-
-Juan reluctantly consented. A bustling steward soon had the table
-spread with hearty food.
-
-Hal ate a hearty meal. Ramirez fed like one famished.
-
-“Bah!” uttered the Cuban, rising in disgust at last. “I have made such
-a wolf of myself that I am not fit to walk. But to you, captain, I
-offer a thousand thanks for your hospitality, and a thousand apologies
-for the spectacle I have made of myself.”
-
-“I shall hold together until to-morrow,” murmured Hal, rising with a
-satisfied air. “Captain, my most earnest thanks.”
-
-Now the bustling steward came back with two parcels of food which he
-helped the young men to stow away under their jackets.
-
-Captain Blodgett, hearty, if somewhat taciturn, followed them to the
-deck, slipping into Hal’s hand a receipt for the money, which he
-undertook to forward to its destination.
-
-“The best of good luck, lads,” came in an earnest whisper from the
-English captain, as he offered each a hand at the same time.
-
-They stepped ashore, Ramirez acting as guide.
-
-Of all that followed, during the next two hours, Hal had, at the end of
-that time, only the vague recollection that follows a dream.
-
-But they reached the southern outskirts of Havana without mishap; they
-trudged along a dusty country road, dodging behind trees or into the
-brush whenever Ramirez’s acute hearing warned them of the presence or
-approach of military.
-
-“Do you see those lights ahead?” queried Juan, at last.
-
-“Yes.”
-
-“Those lights come from the Inn of the Red Cavalier. It is the inn
-where Spanish officers dine when they return from the interior well
-provided with plunder taken from those who had yet something left to
-lose. Judging by the sounds, there are officers dining there now.”
-
-“A good place to keep away from, eh?” queried Hal.
-
-“By no means, senor. Keep close to me, and I hope to show you that
-such places as the inn are useful to the insurgents.”
-
-Ramirez left the road, plunging into the depths of a grove.
-
-The nearer he came to the inn the more slowly he moved.
-
-Frequent bursts of laughter were now audible from the inn.
-
-“They are happy, the Spanish fiends,” muttered Juan, grating his teeth.
-“Yet, senor, they are feeding on the very blood of Cuba!”
-
-Rattle of dishes and clink of glasses came to the ears of the
-listeners. Outside the inn were tethered some two score of horses,
-while soldiers lolled about over the ground, some eating bread, while
-others puffed at cigarettes.
-
-“Twenty of our own brave Cuban fellows could stop that gayety forever,”
-growled Ramirez, savagely.
-
-“But there are at least forty of the enemy,” observed Hal.
-
-“It is no matter. Twenty of our men would do. But hush! There is the
-gleam of a soldier’s musket--a sentinel. Senor, do not make a sound
-that will betray us.”
-
-Forward, a foot at a time, moved the pair, while not even a blade of
-grass rustled under their feet.
-
-So quietly did they move, in fact, that, aided by the darkness and
-shadow of the grove, they gained a spot within less than thirty feet of
-the pacing sentinel.
-
-Halting, Ramirez looked long and anxiously at this uniformed son of
-Spain.
-
-When the Cuban placed his mouth close against our hero’s ear, it was to
-whisper:
-
-“Senor, that soldier is one whom I know, for I have long had my eyes
-upon him. If all goes well, we shall soon have two guns. If I am
-deceived, our lives are not worth a peseta. If you hesitate, go back,
-and I will take the chance alone.”
-
-“Go back?” whispered Hal. “Not when you go forward!”
-
-Ramirez’s black eyes danced as he nodded.
-
-Then, craning his neck forward, he whispered, sharply:
-
-“Pedro! Pedro Escarillaz!”
-
-In an instant, the sentinel halted, turning his head.
-
-“If money will do you any good, Pedro Escarillaz, come here.”
-
-Quick as a flash, the soldier’s rifle flew to his shoulder.
-
-Then, reconsidering, he walked slowly toward the grove.
-
-“Who called?” he asked.
-
-“Men who have money,” answered Juan. “If you happen to be hungry, you
-will be glad that we have called you.”
-
-Hal felt thunderstruck.
-
-“Is this Cuban crazy?” he wondered, hardly knowing whether to run or
-stand his ground.
-
-But the next second brought better counsel.
-
-Up to the present, Juan had proven himself very far removed from a
-lunatic.
-
-Nevertheless, Maynard felt cold shivers running up and down his spine
-as he realized that slight warning from this sentinel would bring the
-whole Spanish force down upon them.
-
-“Who are you?” whispered the sentinel, stopping squarely in front of
-them.
-
-He held the muzzle aimed at them, ready to fire at the slightest sign
-of need.
-
-Yet that muzzle wavered slightly, as if the Spaniard’s fingers, tightly
-gripping stock and lock, were twitching.
-
-“The Spaniard is more afraid than I am,” muttered Hal, inwardly. “I
-guess it’s the wrong time for me to get rattled.”
-
-Though the talismanic word “money” had brought the soldier a little
-off his beat, it was plain that he feared some surprise, for he not
-only gazed keenly at his two accosters, but tried to peer over their
-shoulders into the darkness beyond.
-
-“You called me?” he demanded, in a voice that could not have been heard
-twenty feet off.
-
-“Yes,” answered Juan, coolly. “We need your services. We can pay for
-them. Could you use money if you had it?”
-
-“Carramba!” muttered the fellow, his eyes gleaming. “Could I not?”
-
-“Very well, Pedro Escarillaz; we do not want much--only two rifles and
-a hundred cartridges.”
-
-“Carr-r-r-r-rajo!” swore Pedro, under his breath. “It is death to talk
-that way.”
-
-“Then you cannot serve us?” demanded Juan, in a voice that sounded all
-but indifferent.
-
-“How much do you offer?” asked the soldier, suddenly.
-
-“Fifty dollars.”
-
-“Fifty dollars for a gun and cartridges?” repeated Private Escarillaz.
-“It is too little.”
-
-“That would be altogether too much,” retorted Ramirez, imperturbably.
-“The price that I have offered must be for two Mauser rifles and a
-hundred cartridges.”
-
-“Say seventy-five dollars,” proposed the soldier, “and I may be able to
-help you. But for less it cannot be done.”
-
-“Then, Pedro Escarillaz, I wish you good-night,” answered Juan,
-performing a half wheel.
-
-“Not so quick,” uttered the soldier, warningly. “Suppose I were to call
-the guard? You would lose your money and your lives.”
-
-“True,” admitted Juan, composedly; “but then your officers would get
-the money, and you would get nothing. If you make a trade with us--why,
-just think what you could do with so much money.”
-
-“If I only knew how to accomplish it,” murmured Pedro, his dark eyes
-snapping at thought of the good times he could have in Havana with so
-much wealth.
-
-“Oh, very well,” said Juan, calmly, “if you cannot do it, we have made
-a serious mistake, and you have been a great loser.”
-
-“Wait,” whispered Pedro. “In five minutes the guard will be changed.”
-
-“And then----”
-
-“I will do my best.”
-
-Hal and Juan ensconced themselves behind some bushes. In ten minutes
-Pedro Escarillaz returned, trembling and pallid.
-
-Almost in silence, the trade was made, the traitor not daring to look
-into the eyes of the purchasers.
-
-Silently as shadows, the two latest recruits for Cuba stole off in the
-night.
-
-But Juan Ramirez seemed to have grown a half a foot as he turned to his
-American comrade, murmuring hoarsely:
-
-“Now, mi amigo, for the long grass! Henceforth our only cry shall be
-‘Viva Cuba Libre!’”
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Third Part.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VIII. “AS GOMEZ WOULD SPEAK.”
-
-
-“It is your turn, mi amigo!”
-
-“Ready!” responded Hal, rubbing his eyes and then springing to his feet.
-
-As he did so, he caught up the Mauser rifle which had lain at his side
-as he slept.
-
-It was past sunrise. When he had lain down, the earth was still wrapped
-in darkness.
-
-There had been a bargain that he should sleep an hour, then rise and
-stand guard while Juan snatched an hour of refreshing sleep.
-
-Was it all a dream? Hal wondered, as he surveyed the scene with alert
-eyes while Juan had already commenced to snore.
-
-A dream it certainly was not. The rifle with which each was provided
-was a reality. So was the small Cuban flag which Juan now wore proudly
-pinned to his tattered jacket.
-
-Havana was now many miles behind. They were well up in the hills.
-Around them all was verdure and bloom.
-
-This bit of wild forest beauty had escaped the devastating hand of the
-Spaniard.
-
-It was Easter morning, Hal remembered, with a thrill. Surely, in this
-spot, nature was doing floral honor to the day.
-
-Not a sound was heard save the calling of the birds, the buzzing of
-insects. Perched on a rise of ground, screened by thick bushes, a foe
-might have stood within a hundred feet and not discovered them.
-
-“The only danger,” smiled Hal, “would come from Juan’s snoring.”
-
-Amid all this solitude of nature, however, Juan’s nasal notes did not
-seem a source of danger.
-
-“Jupiter! What’s that?” muttered Hal, suddenly.
-
-From his perch he had an excellent view up a long, winding ravine.
-
-“The glint of the sun on steel, as sure as I’m a sinner,” muttered the
-boy.
-
-Turning, he gave Juan’s nearer shoulder a quick shake.
-
-“Ready, senor,” murmured the Cuban, waking at once. “My hour is up,
-then?”
-
-“No, but something else is up,” whispered excited Hal, pointing up the
-ravine. “Look there!”
-
-Juan looked, and became instantly awake.
-
-“The enemy!” he muttered, his eyes flashing ominously. “Heaven be
-thanked that at last we have guns. We can fight!”
-
-“Fight that force?” demanded Hal, aghast. “My friend, have you counted
-their number?”
-
-“No.”
-
-“I have.”
-
-“Well?”
-
-“They number at least sixty.”
-
-“No matter!” grated Juan. “We can worry them. We shall be killed, of
-course, but perhaps we can settle three or four of their men first.”
-
-“See here,” remonstrated Hal. “I’m ready for fighting, but not for
-suicide.”
-
-“It is the way we Cubans fight,” rejoined Juan, proudly. “We care not
-what the number of the enemy. We always fire when we see one.”
-
-“We’ll fire, then, if you say so,” agreed Hal. “If you asked my
-opinion, though, I should say that we had better wait until we have had
-a chance to offer ourselves at the nearest Cuban camp.”
-
-Juan fixed his wide open eyes on our hero for an instant.
-
-“I have no doubt you are right, mi amigo,” he said, an instant
-later. “Our Cuban blood is too hot. We lack the cool judgment of you
-Americanos. Senor, will you take command?”
-
-“Until we reach camp, if you wish it.”
-
-“I beg you to do so.”
-
-“Very well; though I warn you,” smiled Hal, “that I shall not give the
-order to attack thirty times our number.”
-
-Juan sighed, but remained silent.
-
-“They are going to march by within a hundred feet of us,” whispered
-Hal, following the course of the ravine.
-
-Juan grasped his rifle tightly to still the trembling of his fingers.
-
-By this time, the head of the column was within five hundred feet.
-
-At the head rode a half a dozen mounted Spanish officers.
-
-Behind them marched a captain and two lieutenants in command of the
-infantrymen.
-
-Tattered and dusty-looking were these soldiers. Many of them limped, as
-if used up by a long forced march. Just at the foot of the hill from
-which Hal and Juan glared from covert, the captain, at a sign from one
-of the mounted officers, cried:
-
-“Halt!”
-
-It was a popular order, as the relieved faces of the men instantly
-showed.
-
-“Break ranks.”
-
-Arms were stacked, four sentinels mounted, and the horses tethered.
-
-Just at that moment, two dust-covered troopers rode up the ravine from
-the direction of Havana.
-
-They dismounted before the captain, talking with him in quick murmurs.
-
-“My colonel,” called the captain, saluting one of the mounted officers,
-“the scouts tell me that there are none of the enemy within forty
-miles.”
-
-“I do not believe there are any rebels nearer, captain,” laughed the
-colonel. “So let your poor fellows get some of the rest they need so
-badly. True, we have no breakfast to offer them, but I have caught
-sight of a stream through the trees. Let those who would like to take a
-swim.”
-
-No proposition could have met with greater favor. As with one accord,
-the soldiers began to move off between the trees, while the scouts
-cantered away.
-
-“You four,” cried the captain, selecting a quartette of his men, “will
-hurry up with your swim, and return here to relieve the sentinels, that
-they, too, may have a plunge.”
-
-With the men went their officers, nine in number. The heat of the day
-made cold water a luxury that could not be resisted.
-
-Down in the camp, with the horses and stacked arms, remained only the
-four sentinels.
-
-Even these looked wistfully through the trees as the shouts and
-plashing of water came to their ears.
-
-“Jupiter!” whispered Hal, his eyes beginning to sparkle. “I’m beginning
-to feel some of the Cuban hot blood myself.”
-
-“If we could only capture that camp!” murmured Juan, eagerly.
-
-To his intense delight, Hal made this whispered reply:
-
-“By thunder, we’ll try it, if we go under for it!”
-
-“Oh, my brave friend,” quivered Juan Ramirez, “you have spoken as our
-brave Gomez would speak!”
-
-For a few moments the heads of the two youths bobbed together in
-earnest, whispered conversation.
-
-When they had finished, Juan crept off through the bushes with the
-stealth of an Indian.
-
-He reached a spot twenty feet away from our hero before he halted and
-signaled back.
-
-Through the bushes the muzzle of Hal’s rifle protruded.
-
-As he aimed at one of the sentinels, a curious thrill swept over the
-American.
-
-He was about to take a life, and unfairly, it seemed, since he must
-fire from ambush upon an unsuspecting foe.
-
-Yet, even as he hesitated, the remembrance came back to him of the
-evening before, when a Spanish officer had proposed to send him over
-the fatal ferry to Morro Castle.
-
-The enemy would not hesitate; he must not. Besides, war consists of
-killing; war is gauged only by its successes.
-
-With these thoughts surging through his mind, Hal Maynard steadied both
-hands and vision.
-
-Crack!
-
-His rifle spoke, and the sentinel at whom he had aimed dropped and lay
-still.
-
-Crack!
-
-Juan had waited only for this signal. Before the first sentinel had
-struck the ground, the second had received his death-wound.
-
-Crack! crack!
-
-Right on the heels of the first two shots came the next pair.
-
-Before the last two sentries had time to turn, run or fire, they had
-met their fates.
-
-In a twinkling Hal was on his feet. The fire of battle was in his
-blood; the spirit of freedom possessed his soul as his voice rang out
-full and clear!
-
-“By platoon, battalion charge!”
-
-An answering yell came from Ramirez as that youth too leaped to his
-feet.
-
-Together they rushed down the hill-side, shouting commands to an
-imaginary battalion.
-
-Crack! crack! crack! crack! crack!
-
-Without stopping to aim, they fired their repeating rifles through the
-trees as fast as they could.
-
-“Viva Cuba Libre!” they shouted in unison.
-
-Through the woods came the startled yells of the bathing Spanish
-soldiers, just out of range of vision.
-
-Reaching the ravine, Hal made for one stack of rifles, Juan for another.
-
-Seizing each a rifle in either hand, they commenced discharging them
-two at a time in the direction of the creek.
-
-“Al machete! al machete!” (To the sword!) roared Juan, keeping up a
-thunderous rattle of musketry.
-
-“Surround the enemy!” thundered Hal. “Give no quarter to Spaniards!
-Every foe killed to-day is a foe the less to meet to-morrow.”
-
-All the while the incessant banging of guns rang out.
-
-To the startled bathers by the creek it seemed as if they had fallen,
-naked and unarmed, into fierce, one-sided battle.
-
-“Keep a-banging and a-shouting,” muttered Hal, as he sped by Juan.
-
-Ramirez obeyed with a will, while Hal, though he still continued to
-yell, busied his hands by gathering up the rifles an armful at a time.
-
-There was rope around in plenty among the camp baggage.
-
-Working like a Trojan, Hal quickly had thirty of the rifles lashed
-upon two of the horses.
-
-Juan turned and saw with blazing eyes what his comrade had accomplished.
-
-“The Spaniards are running,” he quivered. “If it were not so, we would
-have them on our hands by this time.”
-
-And he worked like a beaver to help Hal lash the remaining arms upon
-other horses.
-
-There were many cartridge belts strewn around. These, too, were lashed
-across the saddles, as well as a few cases of ammunition.
-
-“Here are four less of the enemy for our men to deal with,” cried Juan,
-spurning with his foot the body of one of the four slain sentinels.
-
-“It was a tremendous piece of cheek,” blurted Hal, vaulting into one of
-the saddles, and seizing the halters of two led pack horses.
-
-“The Spaniards must still be running,” chuckled Juan.
-
-“I imagine few of them stopped for their clothes,” laughed Hal. “But
-mount, my friend, mount! When the enemy halt----”
-
-“It will be a half an hour before they do,” derided Ramirez. “Oh, mi
-amigo, you were born a master of strategy. It was magnificent--that
-charge of a battalion of trees--that fusilade fired by four hands!”
-
-“Into saddle! forward!” urged Hal. “It is our turn to laugh, now, but
-in sixty seconds it may not be. When the enemy discover the trick,
-rivers of blood would not satisfy them!”
-
-Smiling grimly, with a full realization of the peril, Hal Maynard urged
-his mount into a trot.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IX. BATTLE IN EARNEST.
-
-
-“Viva Cuba Libre!”
-
-Ramirez shouted that stirring battle-cry with the full strength of his
-lungs.
-
-“Oh, it’s just glorious!” declared Hal, turning his sparkling eyes upon
-his comrade. “Two recruits, with six horses and sixty rifles!”
-
-“Our comrades--that is, our comrades-to-be--will embrace us!” uttered
-Juan.
-
-Click-clack! Hoofs rang out sharply on the stony bed of the ravine.
-
-“Even if they turn to follow, we are leaving the Spaniards behind,”
-cried Juan.
-
-“Very likely; but what if we were to encounter a second body of the
-enemy here in this ravine? Our turn to laugh would be over.”
-
-That thought urged them to greater speed. When the ravine narrowed,
-Hal, with two of the led horses in tow, took the lead, Ramirez
-following closely.
-
-“Juan, my comrade!”
-
-“Si, mi amigo!”
-
-“We are coming out of the ravine. There is a plain ahead.”
-
-Three minutes more of hard trotting brought them out into open country,
-dotted here and there with small groves of palms.
-
-“Better halt,” advised Hal, reining up.
-
-Ramirez did the same, without questioning.
-
-“Rope the horses abreast,” directed Maynard. “You can ride on one side
-of the line, I on the other. In that way we can keep the brutes at a
-gallop, if needed.”
-
-Dismounting, they quickly accomplished this task. Within two minutes
-they were once more in saddle.
-
-“You must be our guide,” suggested Maynard, as he settled down in
-saddle. “Where shall we find the nearest Cuban camp?”
-
-“I do not know,” replied the Cuban. “I know where Major Alvaredo was
-the day before yesterday, but--diablo!--the Cubans are not likely to
-camp for two hours in the same spot. All I can say, mi amigo, is that
-we had better ride eastward, trusting that we shall meet some pacifico
-who can tell us the way more particularly.”
-
-“Forward, then!”
-
-From a trot they broke into a gallop, urging the pack horses on by
-liberal lashing with ropes.
-
-In two minutes more our friends had covered over half a mile.
-
-“I heard yells,” muttered Hal, looking backward over his shoulder.
-
-Ramirez looked, too, then broke into a hearty laugh.
-
-Back on a hill, near the mouth of the ravine, they saw a sight
-calculated to inspire mirth.
-
-Spanish soldiers, some of them nude and many half-dressed, dotted the
-hill.
-
-In the first fright of surprise, these men had fled. Then, finding that
-none of their number were killed, and that no foe pursued, they had
-halted, turned about.
-
-They had probably found their four dead comrades, and must have
-divined, from the absence of such footmarks as a battalion would have
-made, that they had been tricked.
-
-So they had pursued until now they had reached a spot whence they were
-able to see the exact strength of the attacking force.
-
-Frantic shouts now rent the air, reaching our young friends even at
-that distance.
-
-In the lead of all the Spaniards, Hal could make out the uniform of the
-Spanish colonel.
-
-“He seems mad,” observed Hal, quizzically. “If those soldiers were
-close at hand, unarmed though they are, they would make things hot for
-us.”
-
-Ramirez nodded, his face darkening.
-
-“Mi amigo,” he suggested, tremulously, “suppose we stop and give them
-fight.”
-
-“With these horses and all these guns destined for the insurgents?”
-demanded Hal. “My friend--nit! We have no right to risk losing such
-splendid supplies.”
-
-“At least,” begged Ramirez, “let us halt and fire a half a dozen shots
-into them.”
-
-“Fire at unarmed men?” retorted Hal. “Not while I’m here to stop it.”
-
-“Mi amigo, you are right,” replied Juan, with an air of self-reproach.
-“But do not blame me. We have so much reason to hate that uniform of
-Spain that we cannot resist the temptation to fire upon it wherever we
-see it.”
-
-“I don’t blame you,” nodded Hal. “But my grievances against Spain are
-of such recent date that I can wait for fair fight.”
-
-No attempt was made by the Spaniards to pursue the pair across the
-plain. Such a chase would have been futile, anyway, for jaded men are
-no match for galloping horses.
-
-In another half hour the foe were left five miles to the rear.
-
-Our young friends, too, had come to the end of the plain. Before them
-stretched a gradual slope leading up into the hills.
-
-“I think we can halt to breathe our horses,” proposed Hal. “What do you
-say?”
-
-Ramirez nodding, both threw themselves out of saddle to stretch their
-legs.
-
-“It’s odd that we haven’t met a single passer-by,” commented Hal.
-
-“What else would you expect?” demanded the Cuban, shrugging his
-shoulders. “Spain has burned down all the country homes, and driven the
-people into the cities. Even if pacificos had the courage to remain out
-here in the country, on what could they subsist? There is not enough
-food out here to feed a rat.”
-
-“They would have almost as much to eat here as in the cities,” remarked
-Maynard, growing misty-eyed over the remembrance of the thousands of
-starving Cuban reconcentrados he had seen in Havana. “But we must go
-on, Juan. The more I think, the hotter my blood becomes. I shall not be
-happy until I stand under the Cuban flag.”
-
-Ramirez stretched out his hand, grasping our hero’s warmly.
-
-“I can never forget, mi amigo,” he murmured, huskily, “that it was you
-who gave me the happiness of being able to take to the long grass.”
-
-Mounting again, Hal gave the signal to go forward. Up the slope they
-moved at a jogging gait, being compelled once more to lead their pack
-horses.
-
-Hal reached the highest land just in advance of his comrade.
-
-Like a flash Maynard wheeled about.
-
-“Halt! Dismount! Don’t come to the top,” he cried. “Tether your
-horses--so. Follow me.”
-
-Rifle in hand, Hal led the way, Ramirez following without a word.
-
-“Look down there,” cried Hal.
-
-In a valley to the northward rested a squad of Spanish cavalry men,
-some twenty in number, and commanded by an officer.
-
-Ramirez looked, his eyes flashing with hate.
-
-The enemy were dismounted, with horses tethered.
-
-“We can fire now!” breathed the Cuban. “Those men are armed.”
-
-“Wait!” warned Hal. “Come here. Now look down there.”
-
-Down the southward slope of the hill, less than half the distance away
-of the dismounted cavalry was a sight that made the Cuban’s blood boil
-still hotter.
-
-Four pacificos, their hands bound and roped together, were slowly
-ascending the grade.
-
-Ahead of them rode three Spanish cavalrymen; behind the prisoners a
-like number of guards.
-
-“What do you say now?” quivered Hal.
-
-“The pacificos must be saved. They are to be taken to Havana or shot.
-The latter would be the most merciful fate.”
-
-Ramirez spoke jerkily, at the same time swinging his rifle into
-position.
-
-“Not yet,” commanded Hal. “Those fellows are coming this way. We can
-fire straighter when they are nearer. If they keep to their course,
-they will go by within fifty feet of here.”
-
-“You command,” grumbled Ramirez, “but it is hard to wait.”
-
-“It’s common sense,” declared the American. “If we were to fire now,
-and miss, the cavalry in the valley on the other side of the hill could
-reach here before the fight was over. We should be killed, and all to
-no purpose.”
-
-“You have a plan?” questioned Ramirez.
-
-“Thunder, yes!”
-
-“If it works as well as the other did my patience will be rewarded.”
-
-“Slip back to the horses. Get four more rifles--loaded ones.”
-
-Ramirez vanished, though it hardly seemed as if he had gone, before he
-was back again.
-
-“Here they are, senor, and loaded.”
-
-“Good. Now crouch down, after placing two of the rifles at my side and
-two by your own side. Whatever you do, don’t fire until I give the
-word.”
-
-Ramirez obeyed, though the suspense made him tremble.
-
-His eyes flashed like jewels as he saw the four Cubans and their guard
-come nearer.
-
-“Surely they are near enough now to open fire,” he whispered hoarsely.
-
-But Hal shook his head emphatically. “No, no, my comrade! When we fire,
-we must take no chance of missing. Now, not another word, but you will
-hear me whisper ‘fire’ when they are within a hundred feet. You take
-the fellow in the front rank on the extreme left.”
-
-Juan protruded the muzzle of one of his weapons through the bushes that
-screened them from sight.
-
-He shook so with impatience as to make the bushes rattle.
-
-“Steady,” whispered Hal.
-
-Ramirez, by a tremendous effort at patience, got a better grip on
-himself.
-
-Nearer, still nearer, came the six troopers and their captives.
-
-Hal himself found it hard to restrain the temptation to fire, though he
-held himself in check to the last.
-
-But at last the whispered word came: “Fire!”
-
-Two jets of flame shot out from the bushes; two troopers reeled from
-saddle and fell.
-
-Crack! crack! Two more were down.
-
-Crack! crack! A fifth trooper fell, all within the space of five
-seconds.
-
-Ramirez, firing with the deadly aim of hatred, had brought down all
-three of his men, but Hal missed at the third shot.
-
-“Car-r-r-r-r-rajo!” vented the solitary remaining trooper, wheeling
-and putting spurs to his horse.
-
-Crack! Ramirez fired again, bringing this fellow down, too.
-
-Hal darted to his feet and started down the slope, Ramirez posting
-after him.
-
-At the first sound of fire, the four pacificos had thrown themselves
-to the earth. Now they raised themselves, peering eagerly at their
-rescuers.
-
-“You are friends of Cuba?” panted Hal.
-
-A hot chorus in the affirmative answered him.
-
-“You will fight with us? There are more foes near.”
-
-“Si, si, si,” (yes, yes, yes) cried one of the pacificos, while the
-other three raised a tumultuous shout of:
-
-“Viva Cuba libre!”
-
-Hal and Juan instantly busied themselves with freeing the quartette.
-
-“Follow us to the top of the hill at your best speed,” yelled Maynard.
-
-He reached there ahead of the rescued ones, faced them, and shoved into
-the hands of each a rifle.
-
-As these were repeating weapons, each still contained several shots.
-
-Below, on the other side of the hill, an animated scene was going on.
-
-The squad, a few moments before lolling on the grass, had now sprung
-into saddle.
-
-Their officer was bawling himself hoarse with his rapidly delivered
-orders.
-
-For a few seconds the squad seemed uncertain whether to flee or fight.
-
-Hal kept his little force out of sight by making them crouch behind the
-bushes.
-
-“I have waited a year and more for such a chance as this,” sobbed one
-of the pacificos, kissing the barrel of his rifle, and Hal, looking the
-emaciated wretches over, had no doubt that they would fight to the last
-breath.
-
-Juan slipped back to where the horses were tethered, returning with
-more cartridges.
-
-Hal, in the meantime, had restrained the others from firing.
-
-“It would do little good at this range,” he explained, “and from what
-I have heard the Cubans are not so rich in ammunition that they can
-afford to waste any.”
-
-All the time he kept his eyes on the squad below.
-
-Their officer had decided upon an attack, for at a quick command from
-him the troopers spread out in skirmish line and advanced.
-
-Instantly the pacificos began to take eager aim.
-
-“Don’t fire yet,” ordered Hal.
-
-“But senor,” pleaded one of the quartette, “it is so hard to see the
-Spaniards, and yet not fire!”
-
-“The best fighters,” rejoined Hal, promptly, “are those who can keep
-cool and obey orders.”
-
-“The senor is right, mi amigos,” ejaculated Ramirez. “Twice he has
-restrained my impatience, and in consequence we won both times.”
-
-Bang! A line of fire ran along the skirmish line below, the reports
-sounding as one.
-
-Whish! whish! A tornado of whistling bullets tore through the leaves of
-the bushes that sheltered the little Cuban force.
-
-“Oh, mi amigo!” suddenly groaned Ramirez, turning white.
-
-For one of the bullets had struck Hal Maynard.
-
-Up flew his hand to his forehead.
-
-In the next second he keeled back--stretched out.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER X. UNDER CUBA’S FLAG.
-
-
-“Ten lives shall not pay for that one!” exclaimed Juan.
-
-But hardly were his words out when Hal sat up, wiping away the blood
-from his forehead.
-
-“I’m a long ways from dead yet,” he gritted, wiping away the blood.
-
-Ramirez ran to his side.
-
-His nervous fingers glided swiftly over the American’s forehead, making
-quick examination of the wound.
-
-“Santa Maria be praised!” cheered the Cuban. “The wound is not a deep
-one.”
-
-“Glancing bullet, likely,” muttered Hal, rising to his knees, and
-picking up his rifle once more. “The shock knocked me over, I suppose.
-Perhaps fright had something to do with it.”
-
-“Fright?” echoed Juan, indignantly. “Nothing of the sort.”
-
-“Well, I’m certainly feeling some fright,” smiled Hal, his face more
-than a trifle pallid as he took another look down below at the squad
-trotting upward.
-
-They were just aiming for another volley, those Spaniards, who were now
-hardly more than an eighth of a mile away.
-
-“Down!” warned Maynard, himself setting the example.
-
-He had no more than ducked when the volley came.
-
-“Up!” quivered Hal. “Give ’em some of their own medicine!”
-
-Six shots rang out, almost simultaneously. Two saddles were emptied.
-
-“Keep a-pumping,” ordered Hal, breathlessly, as he discharged his own
-piece as fast as he could work the mechanism.
-
-His own wound had been caused undoubtedly by a glancing bullet, but
-this is the most painful kind of injury. It maddened him, made him
-utterly reckless.
-
-Five more saddles were quickly emptied By this time the firing was
-general.
-
-Clack! clack! clack! rang the hoofs. The cavalry, firing at will like
-their opponents, were now within a few yards of the top of the hill.
-
-The Cubans were overmatched. Hal felt that the last few moments of his
-life had come.
-
-Yet only one thought actuated him. Before he closed his eyes he would
-send as many Spaniards as possible to their last account.
-
-Crack! crack! crack! Half of the Spaniards were out of the fight by the
-time the two forces came face to face at little more than arm’s length.
-
-Bang! A ball from Juan Ramirez’s rifle passed clean through the head of
-the lieutenant in command, killing him instantly.
-
-“No quarter!” yelled Juan as the six leaped to their feet for
-hand-to-hand combat.
-
-“On the contrary!” thundered Hal. “Any enemy who throws down his gun
-must not be harmed!”
-
-A ball from a cavalryman’s revolver sent one of the pacificos
-staggering back--dead.
-
-Hal immediately avenged by killing the trooper.
-
-Now one of the enemy threw down his sabre and revolver, crying for
-quarter.
-
-“Spare his life, then,” shouted Hal, running forward.
-
-That command acted like magic. Not another shot was fired, for not one
-of the eight surviving Spaniards lost a second in surrendering.
-
-This they followed up by dismounting and submitting to being tied.
-
-Ramirez, with blood running from a wound in his left shoulder,
-superintended the work of tying.
-
-There were eight of the prisoners. As soon as bound, they were ordered
-to remount, and were next lashed to their saddles.
-
-“The dogs!” vented Juan, gnashing his teeth as he looked the troopers
-over. “Of course they surrender, for the Cubans treat their prisoners
-of war kindly, and it is easier to surrender than to be shot. Besides,
-these fellows know that the Cubans cannot be bothered long with
-prisoners and that they will be set free.”
-
-“This is horse fair day for us,” laughed Hal. “Besides the horses
-which the Spaniards ride, there are four more below which appear to be
-uninjured.”
-
-This was the fact. Hal’s little command now had eighteen horses in all.
-
-As soon as these had been corralled, the field was gone over for every
-weapon and cartridge that could be found.
-
-Fifteen minutes were thus consumed.
-
-At last Hal had time to think of the pacifico who had been killed.
-
-He was dead beyond a doubt.
-
-“My brother,” huskily murmured another of the pacificos.
-
-“He died nobly, in a good cause,” said Hal, soothingly.
-
-“He died for Cuba!” cried the dead man’s brother, throwing back his
-head proudly. “I shall pray to the Almighty that I may die in the same
-splendid way.”
-
-Hal was ready to proceed, now, yet before the start could be made there
-was one sad duty to perform--the saddest that belongs to war.
-
-A shallow trench was dug, and in this the man who had been slain was
-laid.
-
-Then, while the rest stood by with uncovered heads, murmuring silent
-prayers, two of the pacificos covered the still form over.
-
-There was no time to bury the Spanish slain.
-
-Indeed, the Cubans, embittered by more than three years of suffering
-under the infamous war methods of Spain, were in little mood to do
-anything decent by the remains of the slain foe.
-
-“The buzzards shall get them,” cried Juan, disdainfully. “The buzzards
-alone, in Cuba, do not go hungry!”
-
-As Hal’s little command and considerable train moved forward, our hero
-heard the story of the pacificos.
-
-Some fourteen months before they had broken away from Havana. Since
-then they had lived in hiding in the woods, subsisting mainly on roots
-and fruit.
-
-Once in a while they had received morsels of meat from passing bodies
-of Cuban soldiers.
-
-But the law of the Republic of Cuba forbade them to join the army
-without weapons and ammunition, which was the only reason they had
-remained pacificos.
-
-That very morning they had been surprised and surrounded while sleeping.
-
-Incapable of resistance for lack of arms, they had been forced to
-surrender.
-
-They were on their way to Havana when rescued. Had their journey been
-finished they would undoubtedly have been shot in the prison yard of
-either Morro Castle or the Cabanas Fortress.
-
-From these men Hal learned that the Cuban commander, Major Alvaredo,
-was supposed to be somewhere in the neighborhood, though that officer’s
-exact location could be only a matter of conjecture, for the Cubans
-moved from point to point with the speed of human lightning.
-
-“I shall volunteer to the first Cuban commander I meet--no matter who
-he is,” declared Hal.
-
-“Volunteer?” echoed Juan, smiling. “It is too late for that, mi
-amigo! Judging by the trail we have left behind, you are already
-a full-fledged Cuban commander. Never has so small a command done
-handsomer work.”
-
-At noon they halted, in the midst of one of nature’s blooming
-wildernesses. Here there had been no plantations, no homes, hence the
-blighting hand of Spanish devastation had not left its mark.
-
-For the first time our hero remembered the food with which Captain
-Blodgett had provided Juan and himself the night before.
-
-It was brought to light now, and given entirely to the three late
-pacificos. They devoured it like famished creatures.
-
-“It seems as if I lived again,” declared one of the poor, thin fellows,
-when he had finished.
-
-“It is like a touch of Heaven,” said the second.
-
-“The first real food I have touched in weeks,” sighed the third. “With
-this in my stomach I can fight for a week without feeding.”
-
-It was still dangerous to delay. Hal gave the word to start.
-
-It took an hour to cover the next five miles, for the road was now all
-the way up grade.
-
-It was near the top of a hill that Hal was startled by a sudden sharp
-command of:
-
-“Halt!”
-
-In the same instant our hero found himself looking into the muzzles of
-a dozen rifles.
-
-Yet the men behind those rifles were invisible behind a dense tangle of
-green foliage.
-
-“What do you want here?” came the quick question.
-
-It was Juan Ramirez who answered:
-
-“We seek Major Alvaredo.”
-
-“And if he is not here?”
-
-“Then any Cuban officer will do, for I know you to be Cubans. Send word
-to your commander, please, that five recruits wait to offer themselves.”
-
-“Major Alvaredo is here,” replied a grave voice.
-
-Through a screen of leaves came a short, wiry-looking man of middle
-age, a bronzed, scarred veteran who, despite his ragged attire, looked
-every inch the trooper.
-
-One hand rested on the naked machete that he wore dangling at his side;
-the other hand touched lightly against a revolver.
-
-“You are recruits?” he asked, keenly surveying the five, then gazing
-with intense pleasure upon the horses, weapons and prisoners they
-brought him. “Judging from appearances, you will be valuable recruits.
-Where do you come from?”
-
-Major Alvaredo listened with an interest that soon changed to amazement
-as he heard of the doings of the morning.
-
-By the time that the narration was over, he grasped our hero cordially
-by the hand.
-
-“You are ten times welcome, senor,” he cried. “You want to see service
-against Spain? Carramba! you shall see it. And if I mistake not, senor
-Americano, my general, Calixta Garcia, will receive you as something
-more than a private soldier. You have won a commission, if ever man did
-in our armies.”
-
-“If there is a commission going a-begging,” smiled Hal, “it belongs to
-my guide and mentor, Juan Ramirez.”
-
-“Oh, as to that,” smiled the major, “there may be commissions enough
-for two.”
-
-With that they were conducted into the camp, where the major had about
-him eighty of the most daring riders in Cuba.
-
-Thus our hero had gained the Cuban ranks. He was destined to become
-one of the most famous fighters of them all.
-
-That night Hal Maynard slept under the flag of Free Cuba.
-
-But he dreamed of the coming of the Stars and Stripes!
-
-[THE END.]
-
-Cuba is the scene of splendid deeds! The struggle of her people
-for the Heaven-born boon of independence has commanded the whole
-world’s admiration, just as the Starry Flag Weekly’s series of Cuban
-war stories will win the hearty applause of all American readers.
-Hal Maynard and Juan Ramirez played manly, dashing parts in that
-hot-blooded struggle. What was perhaps their greatest exploit of all
-will be thrillingly told by Douglas Wells in “Gomez’s Yankee Scout; or,
-The Blow that Told for Cuba,” which will be published complete in next
-week’s Starry Flag Weekly, No. 2. This series will embrace by far the
-best Cuban war stories that will be Published!
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT.
-
-It is the unchanging object of the publishers of the STARRY FLAG WEEKLY
-to have the best stories of adventure that can be procured, regardless
-of expense or trouble. Following this policy, the publishers decided
-some weeks ago to send Mr. Douglas Wells to Cuba. Mr. Wells, being an
-old campaigner, is accustomed to moving on short notice. Within two
-hours of the receipt of his orders he was speeding southward “under
-light equipment.”
-
-Mr. Wells has spent many years of his eventful life in the armed camps
-of the world. He has spent many more years of his life in describing
-what he has seen, in works ranging all the way from history to romance.
-His long and varied experience, powers of observation, and knowledge of
-human nature have all greatly aided him in knowing just what subjects
-to depict, therefore, on reaching Havana he lost no time in getting
-to work. In the face of many difficulties he succeeded in obtaining
-permission to proceed into the interior, and he was soon among the
-insurgents. Then followed days of hard, rough riding, scant sleep and
-poor and little food. He was received by General Gomez, of the Cuban
-Army, and, after witnessing much of the Cuban drilling and some of the
-fighting made his way from the island to Key West.
-
-Should war take place between the United States and Spain all his
-stories will be written from the front. Readers of the STARRY FLAG
-WEEKLY will have the most accurate and truthful pictures of the war,
-and those who are familiar with this author’s thrilling style will
-understand that, while there may be other Cuban stories published, none
-will be equal to those which will appear in the STARRY FLAG WEEKLY.
-
-Hal Maynard will be the hero, a bright, typical, dashing American boy.
-As Napoleon once said that every soldier of France carried in his
-knapsack a marshal’s baton, so every American boy has implanted in him
-the seeds of heroism, awaiting only the sunshine of opportunity for
-development.
-
-Thus Hal Maynard will be the representative of all American boys, and
-our readers, in following his adventures, will see done exactly what
-they would do themselves were they in the hero’s place.
-
-Young Americans will do well to keep their eyes on the STARRY FLAG
-WEEKLY. It will be in these columns they will find the best and most
-graphic stories of the war--stories that will be written by an author
-who enjoys the somewhat rare distinction of knowing what he is writing
-about. Mr. Wells will not quit the front so long as the fighting goes
-on. Who can describe so well as he the march of great events this
-summer?
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-STORIES BY A WAR CORRESPONDENT _IN CUBA_
-
-MR. DOUGLAS WELLS TO WRITE A NEW SERIES FROM THE FRONT
-
-[Illustration: MR. DOUGLAS WELLS]
-
-  A WELL-KNOWN AND POPULAR AUTHOR ENGAGED BY THE
-  Starry Flag Weekly
-  TO DESCRIBE THE ADVENTURES OF AN AMERICAN BOY IN CUBA.
-
-Young Americans will do well to keep their eyes on this publication.
-It will be in these columns they will find the best and most graphic
-stories of the war. The following stories will appear in the order
-given:
-
-TITLES.
-
-  No. 1. Under Blanco’s Eye; or, Hal Maynard Among the Cuban Insurgents.
-
-  No. 2. Gomez’s Yankee Scout; or, The Blow That Told for Cuba.
-
-  No. 3. The First Gun; or, Lieut. Hal Maynard’s Secret Mission in Cuba.
-
-  No. 4. Into Death’s Jaws; or, Defending the Stars and Stripes.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Transcriber’s Notes:
-
-Punctuation has been made consistent.
-
-Variations in spelling and hyphenation were retained as they appear in
-the original publication, except that obvious typographical errors have
-been corrected.
-
-The following change was made:
-
-p. 14: are inserted (they are not)
-
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