The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1900-03-09

CT thank yo noble AmericaD.D
sariat stun tnat occppied our after
deck. From : posi,iun which was of
course a considerably elevated one, |
had Il pretty wide field OF vision by
simply turning my head in any de-
sired direction.
SAY, Laudiss" called our skipper
from the shaky old deck chair ON
which he was reclining, what DO you
make out OF that bright red Tim
down near the edge OF the water,
a"out three points on our quarter
Looks as If it might he q woman,
sir, | said at n venture. Those Gu
Ian girls are fond Of bright colors
when they can get them, and perhaps
1t is her dress ! IL take Il look through
the glass
The binoculars were good ones Had
10 be for our business. | suppose
must have gazcd steadily through
them for five minutes y the very
least. At-any late the skipper got i'm
patient ana came Up alongside Of me.
You're taking long enough 10 see
right through tie island and ha,t way
arrCSs the Iucatan,' he says, joking
~. May l inquire the reason of this
intcntness?"
You may, sir" | replied, han ling
him the glasses rs spoke; but the
best answer ! can give IS to let yu
look for yourself. II that sight does
not glue your own eyes for a dozen
doctor's watches, I'm no judge of pet
ticonI folk.
It was this way. As pretty \ Giri "e
ever want to look at-big eyes black
tair. ANA race just like IN Angels ia
Ken bodily out Of some great aiming
was standing there upon the sand
beach gazing dire tly at us, and, al
the same time, waving slowly to and
fro a big red thing which turned out
to he q blanket. Even at that distance
I faucied that l could detect sort Of
wild longing in the expression of her
face. The skipper must have seen as
much. if not more than | did. Anyway
he took the glasses down from his
eyes only long enough TO order our
course changed so as to head directly
for the spot where she was standing,
and then recommended his inspection
through the lenses until we We're near
enough TO use the naked eye to better
advantage.
"landiSS. Won and | will go ashore
in the small boat and see what this
scarlet signal means" said the skip
per; the rest of You boys, keep your
eyes peeled for traachery; and if any
Spanish soldiers try to rush us, Just
drop q shot from our main battery
where it viii do the most, good
Z he mon cheercd him, and even be
fore ! got we'll to. work sculling the
boar in | heard the snap Of the breech
block on the little one-pounder, which
said in the plaineSt kind of language
under the sun: Now am ali loaded
and ready for business
The akipper sat up in the bow Of
the skin, which was just little dingy
Such as harbOr tUgboats usually car
~, and told me how to head her.
Luckily, there was no sea on, to
amount to anything, and we made the
landing without getting very wet
If that Cuban girl looked a real pic
turc through the glasses point blank
sight at her merely improved the eff
feet, if such a thing could be possible
Not but what She had Il sort Of pitt
fully haggard look, and besides, her
skimp dress was torn to rags But
somehow, even such disadvantages
could not queer her style OF beauty
She might have come out 4 shade
prettier when all logged up in ball fol-
derols, although | doubt it. But III
stop describing her to you, for |
couldn't do the subject Justice if l
tried.
1t was a mighty sad story she told
the ensign, half in broken English
and the rest to her own lingo. picked
out enough of it to size the whole
thing up. Her people had been well off
and she was partly educated in the
states. but the rebellion came alone
and her brothers joined the insur-
gents, and the Spnniards burnt down
their plantation and looted every thing
The same old story so far. But this
girl Her name was a longish one
and hard to pronounce. The Skipper
got 1t down fine, but we always just
called her the SenoTita" She certain
~ was as plucky rs they make them.
Her father and mother and half
dozen aunts or servants of one kind
or another were all old and pretty
nigh helpless; go when the reconcen,
tration edicts went into effect they
simply could not obey So what does
she do but pitch in and rig up a lit,
tie hut in among the trees. and lugged
them I'll there, ana rr1ed to provide
for them. 1t must have been tussle
to keep out of reach Of the Dons, let
alone finding food for half a dozen
mouths beside her own, in a country
that was well nigh devastated. But
she did it. somehow or other Then
came sickness to vary the routine, and
her father and neither were pretty
nigh dying for want of medicine.
That was how she came to run the
risk of signalling us.
OF course | sculled out to the 4 81 p
again and brought back our medir
chest and som cars Of SOD s.9l
things to so with t. NJ an ''hi
skipper had gone along W M la e
the hut she had buMt, aild 50 H.. !
the things nm thare mveelf ia o.