Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1899-02-23

SSlA All TENN i4AF iANAA - -
aboard? l reckon you an that dago
amt goin' Ter stop me"
That's where YOU make another mis-
take. Senior Legaspe sent for the COB
ernador an hour ago, and he'll be here
with the officers OF Lis staff very short
". In the meantime, if you or your
men Law a finger On those bags, I'll
shoot Won without Il seconds warning"
Iwas PLAYING for millions, and meant
what / said.) "More than that, rs you
have grossly insulted the senorita, I'll
kill YOU if YOU STAY another five min
utes on shore"
I thought the man would have 4 ut
of apoplexy: even his vast store of deep
sea profanity failed him for the mo-
ment. His crew were Germans, but
enough of them understood English 10
keep the run of what was going on, and
l could see they were rather enjoying
the situation; evidently the skipper was
a thorough brute at sea. 9e was
rpeechless with rage; but, rs hat >-he
advantage of him, there was nothing
to do but pull off to his schooner and
sail away. She was just standing out
past Orote when the carromata jolted
up with the colonel and his two lieu
tenants. Dorotea saw that Legaspe
was likely 70 get a wigging for allowing
the visitors 10 leave before her father
saw them and shrewdly put an entire
ly different light upon the affair by say
ing-in English. for my benefit
Padre mio, you the Senor Enrique
OF ha
risk of his life. In brute capitano did
land from Ia goleta ana did order his
men to take away the copra, telling
the Senior Lepaspe that he would pay
but mere nothing; and when l did
say that he could not have 1t, he in
suited me. Then the Senior Enrique
did give him five minutes to go away
before he killed him, though the bruto
did have seven men from his goleta."
Well, that settled the stranger, and
made me the biggest man on the is
land. The gobernador's right arm
went over my shoulder, and his left
under my right, in twinkling; then,
after three pats on the small of my
back and moment or two of ecstatic
silence, he reversed the arms, left over
nv right shoulder, etc, three more
pats, more silence, kisses on both my
cheeks, then an endless string of ex-
travagant protestations concerning his
lifelong obligation to me. had seen
the thing done many times before
among people of the Latin races, but
being kissed by man was, to say the
least, a novelty. Even Legaspe eX-
pressed himself in exaggerated terms
concerning the way in which l had
called the captains hand; and, as no
mention was made of his supposed
mistake, he was our very humble serv-
ant. Lest other dangers of similar
nature should threaten it, however,
Dorotea mentioned to her father Hal
stead's assumed intention of buying
the copra at high figure, on specula
ton, and suggested the advisability of
placing a guard over it at night. The
colonel's cupidity was aroused, and the
guard was set; but, owing to Br'er
Miguel's ghostly influence, the most
he could make his men do was to pa
troll the shore each night in a proa.
As it was likely to be three-months'
lOD, tIC SOlulGTS Ulul ItllSu lulSs DuI
they had to obey orders.
1t was the 9th of May when we came
so near losing the copra. On the third
morning after Halstead was to appear,
if everything had gone right with him;
and as the time approached [ became
strangely apprehensive-s2 much so
that found it difficult to maintain an
air of careless ease. In fact, had it not
been for Dorotea, l might have be-
trayed my real interest in Guajan q
dozen times. But with each day that
passed it became more evident that
had no rival in her heart. Sometimes
she would speak with dread of Hal
stead's return, and hreathlessly ask
me to promise that I would surely visit
them in Granada the following spring.
Still, July was yet so far away that
my departure seemed only dim pos
sibility TO her-a something which she
must not even think about l won
dered little what she would say when
she knew, and how the colonel was 60
ing to feel.
Sebastiano had fully recovered by
this time, and had resumed his investi-
cations. Bearing the old fellow really
no i'll will, one day suggested to him
the possibility that Santa Rosa might
be eight or ten miles to the eastward
of the charted position; and on the
evening of May he burst into the
patio, where we were at dinner, with
his oily countenance fairly shining. He
had been out in his big proa all day,
and at last had been successful. There
were eXultation, greed, many things,
in the look he cast upon me; but the
man had suffered disappointment and
illness, and the Lord knows l didn't
feel like begrudging him this bit of
good luck. | listened TO him, con-
graduated him heartily upon his great
discovery, and prophesied great
things for his book until midnight-a
child could have seen that l had no
personal interest in the reef-then l
said goodnight and went upstairs.
Stepping quietly along to the door
of Dorotea's room, l gave few faint
taps upon it, and in moment her. voice
asked:
'Quien llama?"
soy -I.uTllullO. open lne OOCE
for a moment" In a second she stood
before me in loose wrapper that
made her look wonderfully pretty.
"Dorotea, querida, I'm going for a
long sail before daylight. VIII you
come with me, about half-past three?"
The request would have been a severe
test of any woman's love, but, with her
arms upon my shoulders, she whis-
pered:
"I will go anywhere at any time,
with you, Enriquito mio."
So, while the stiffness was unbroken
save for the rustling banana leaves, we
stole away to the beach and put to sea
in the proa; it was to be for the last
time. l wanted to remove my friend
Br'er Miguel in time to prevent COM
plications next day; so, gliding along
in the wake of the guard-boat until
it almost reached the head of the bay,
1 landed and hastily dug the figure
from its conceaIment among the bags.
Wrapping a piece of mating about
the thing, SO as not TO frighten Doro-
tea, l lugged it along to where she sat
waiting for me. She had heard all
about Br'er Miguel as we came along,
and, though frightened at my temeri-
ty-to call it by no stronger name
her sense of humor afterward got the
better of her fears. Having decided
,,,,. ~-a,, .,r,,norin,, could Il nd