Evening journal., 1900-02-28

Sarlat STulI tndt occupied our uilel
deck. From my position, which was OF
course a considerably elevated one, l
had n pretty wide field Of vision by
simply turning my head in any de-
sired direction.
SAY Landiss,p called our skipper
from the shaky old deck chair on
which he was reclining, what 60 you
make out Of that bright red thing
down near the edge of the water,
about three points ON our quarterr
Looks as II it might be a woman.
sir" / said at a venture. Those Gu
ban girls are fond of bright colOrs
when they can get them, and perhaps
II is her dress. Ill take look through
the glass"
The binoculars were good ones. Had
TO be for our business. l suppose
must have gazed steadily through
them for five minutes at the very
least. At any rate the skipper got i'm
patient and came up alongside of me.
You're taking long enough to see
right through the island and half way
across the Yucatan." he says. joking
ly. MAY / inquire the reason Of this
intentness?'
You may. sir" 1 replied. handing
him the glasses as l spoke; "but the
best answer / can give is to let you
look for yourself. "If that sight does
not glue your own eyes for a dozen
DOCTORS watches. I'm no judge Of pet
ticOat folk"
1t was this way. AS pretty n girl as
l ever want TO look at-big eyes, black
hair, and face Just like an angels ta-
ken bodily out Of some great painting
was standing there upon the sand
ola n1fu In NJ M
the same time. waving slowly to and
fro big red thing which turned out
TO be a blanket. Even at that distance
/ fancied that 1 could detect a sort Of
wild longing in the expression Of her
face The skipper must have seen rs
much, If not more than l 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 wScre she was standing,
and then recommended his inspection
through the lenses until we were neal
enough 10 use the naked eye to better
advantage.
s'Landiss. you and l will go ashore
I'm the small boat and see what this
scarlet signal means said the skip
per; "the rest OF you boys. keep youl
eyes peeled for treachery; and If any
Spanish soldiers try to rush us, just
drop a shot from our main battery
where it win do the most good
The men cheered him. and even be
fore / got well to work sculling the
boat in heard the snap of the breecl
block on the little one-pounder, which
said in the plainest kind of language
under the sun: NOW / am all Loaded
and ready for business"
rtt.. n a
the skiff. which was just little ding,
such as harbor tugboats usually car
~. and told me how to head her
Luckily, there was no sea on, t
amount TO anything. and we made thu
landing without getting very wet.
If that Cuban girl looked real pic
ture through the glasses a point blanl
sight at her merely improved the eff
feet, if such n thing could be possible
Not but what she had a sort Of pitt
fully haggard look and besides, he
skimp dress was torn to rags. Blu
somehow, even such disadvantage
could not queer her style Of beauty
She might have come out shad
prettier when all logged up in ball fo
derols, although / doubt t. But II
stop describing her to you. for
couldn't do the subject justice If
tried.
1t was a mighty sad story she toll
the ensign, half In broken Englis
and the rest to her own lingo. pickle
out enough % if to size the Who'll
thing up Her people had been well ol
and she was partly educated in tn
states. but ale rebellion came alon
aud her brothers Joined the insu
gents, and the Spaniards burnt dow
their plantation and looted everything
The same old story so far. But TIL
girl Her name was a longish on
and hard to pronounce. The skipps
got il down fine. but we always ju
called her "the Senorita." She certai
lv was as plucky as they make then
Her father and mother and half
dozen aunts or servants Of one kin
or another were all old and prett
nigh helpless; so when the reconcei
tration edicts went into effect the
simply could not obey. So what do,
she do but pitch il and rig up a Ii
tie hut in among ~" trees. and luggc