The herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1893-1900, 1898-07-10

hand drawn, in black, with an irregu'
lar red line across the upper part. A,
the top this message was penciled
along the margin:
Commit the details of this map te
memory, If possible. If not make
copy. In either case destroy the orig
inal without fail. Follow the red line
1T is the cause" he muttered, my
country's cause. Fortune favors it,"
The red line began in a loop encir-
cling several squares in the heart of the
city and then ran diagonally straight
across square after square to the Plaza
de Toros. Delaigne inferred from this
that the actual start might be made
anywhere with the Plaza de Toros as
the first objective point, for from the
latter place the line was extremely
crooked and drawn with patient ac.
curacy to keep 1t within the boundaries
of known streets. 1t led eventual,
across what he knew to be vacant
ground to the San Lazaro rivulet at 9
point near the Espede cemetery
Thence it followed, apparently. the reg.
ular paths of the cemetery to a spot
well within, that was marked by g
small circle and a cross.
It seemed clear enough that the fugi.
tive was directed to go to this spot, blu,
Delaigne was puzzled for a moment as
to the subsequent course, for the line
continued then by a series of dots to q
point beyond the Notifications where
the dots ceased and the line became
continuous again. 1t extended gener-
ally southwestward, avoiding Marianao
Cano, Hoyo, Colorado. and other vii
lagos. and keeping between them and
the sea coast until near Guanajay
where it divided into three spurs, each
one Of which terminated at the coast
One of them touched Mariel.
Delaigne understood that when he
had traversed the route to a point in
the vicinity Of Guanajay he was to
take such course as seemed best tC
reach the coast That was very well
but how get to Guanajay? How inter-
pref the section marked by dots?
CHANGING doubtfully over the map he
observed a cross on the margin at the
bottom. 1t was placed at the begin
ming of another penciled note, and he
understood, therefore, that the cross III
the cemetery was reference mark to
guide his eyes to the note. 1t read;
Here is the tomb of Ramon di Mon
IT, Wait there a short time. If you
are not acoosted within fifteen minutes
you must proceed as best you can along
the route of the broken line to the
point where the line becomes uninter-
rupted. You do not need to be tol6
that at this stage of the journey yor
must exercise the utmost caution. II
you are accosted at the tomb, answer
nothing but 'Mendez.' No matter wha,
is said, speak no other word than that
Trust him who addresses you in every.
thing save speech. May God be with
you'll"
Delaignes heart swelled with emo
ton. Never had he seen Louisa's writ
ing, but he knew that this must have
been written by her, and in the prayer
with which it concluded he felt that
there was message of love to himself
All! that love! For a moment his pur.
pose wavered. Over his senses there
flooded the conviction that love was the
one adequate recompense for life
Could he cast it aside?
The answer was not long in coming
With stern will he subdued the tide OF
emotion and set himself to memoriz-
ing the map. Eventually he abandoned
this effort and made copy. AS he
worked he came to the realization that
even should he sacrifice the opportuni-
ty to serve his country, there could be
no hope of satisfying his love. He
could not remain in Havana without
deliberately endangering the household
of de Cardenas, and for that reason she
herself had bade him escape. Even
under better circumstances how could
he hope to look her in the eyes and
admit that he had abused her conf
dence in him to the extent of stealing
these documents?
1t was noon before Delaigne finished
with the map, the original of which he
faithfully destroyed. There remained
many hours to pass before he could sci
out for the Plaza de Toros. At any
moment now his room might be invad-
ed by soldiers in search of the stoler
papers. 1t would not do to remain
there. On the other hand an attempt
to hide by daylight in the city would
likely be so transparent that suspicion
would be directed toward him, and he
would be so watched that when night
came escape would be impossible ever
so far as the cemetery.
On the day previous, which was Sun.
day, May %, there had been consider.
able excitement in the city by reason
of the number of American warships
visible beyond the harbor. Nineteen
of these had been counted on Saturday
evening, and although only about hall
that number had been seen during
Sunday, it was supposed that the others
We're near, and there was a general
feeling that bombardment of the forts
was impending. 1t struck Delaigne
that the projected landing party, about
which the government had learned, was
part of a general plan of attack
Maybe if he should remain hidden
somewhere in the city for one more day
a big battle would be fought, the city
capitulate, and necessity for flight van
ish. 1t was not a probable event, but
MS@Y@s.Ss@I.as. .