The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-03-27
a boat, and, manned as he was, made

a boat, and, manned as he was, made
himself useful
To me it looks as if we should
drown" Carlos said at one point, very
/ quietly. I am sorry for you, JUAN
Castro had hauled the helpless form
of old Rangsley forward. caught him
muttering savagely:
7 could kill that old mani.
Further out in the bay we were
/ caught. in heavy squall. Sitting by
i the tiller, / got as much out of her as
/ knew how. We would go as far as
we could before the run was over.
Carlos bailed increasingly, and without
/ a word of complaint.
Castro, standing up unsteadiIy
growled, I'VE may do it yet! See,
! senor!''
The blue CLEAN was much larger-it
fared smokily right up toward the sky.
| made out ghostly parallelograms Of
a ships sails high above US, and at last
many faces peering unseeingly over the
rail in our direction. We all shouted
! together.
I may say that it was thanks to me
that we reached the ship. Our boat
went down under US whilst l was ty-
! Ing rope under Carlos arms. He was
,sstanding up, with the bailer still in his
hand. On board the women passen-
/ gers were screaming, and as I chung
| desperately to the rope that was
thrown me, it struck me oddly that /
| had never before heard SO many wom-
! ems voices at the same time. After
ward, when 1 stood on the deck, they
! began laughing at old Rangsley, who
held forth in thunderous voice, pune
tuated by hiccoughs:
They carried 1 aboord-a-cop-
| theer lugger and sinks I in the cold,
| cold sea-"
After 1 had made it clear that
wanted to go with Carlos, and could
pay for my passage, 1 was handed
down into the steerage, where a tanow
| candle burnt in a thick, blue atmos-
| phere. l was stripped and filled with
| some fiery liquid, and fell asleep. Old
| Rangsley was sent ashore with the
pilot.
It was new and strange life to me,
! opening there suddenly enough
Looking at my companions at times,
| I had vague misgivings. 1t was as if
these two had fascinated me to the
verge of some danger. Sometimes Cas-
tro, looking up, uttered vague ejacula-
lions. Carlos pushed his hat back and
sighed. They had preoccupations, cares,
interests in which they let me have no
part.
Castro struck me as absolutely ruff
fanly. His head was knotted in a red,
white-spotted handkerchief; his griz-
zled beard was tangled; he wore a
black and rusty cloak, ragged at the
edges, and his feet were often bare; at
his side would lie his wooden right
hand. AS a rule, the place of his fore
arm was taken by long, thin steel
blade, that he was forever sharpening.
Carlos had made Spain too hot to
hold him in those tortuous intrigues of
the Army of the Faith and Bourbon
troops and italian legions. From what
/ could understand, he must have play
ed fast and loose in an insolent man
ner. And there was some woman Of
Tended. There was gayness and gall
lantry in that part of it, He had
known the very spirit of romance, and
now he was sailing CALAMITY out to
take up his Inheritance from an uncle
who was a great noble, owning the
greater part of one of the Intendencies
of Cuba.
"He is a very old man. 1 hear" Car
los said, "a little doting, and having
need of me-
when his uncle had sent Tomas Castro
to bring him to Cuba, to the town of
Rio Medic.
"The town belongs to my uncle. He
is very rich; grand dESpagne
IL everything; but he is now
very old, and has left Havana to die in
his palace in his own town. He has
an only daughter, a Dona Seraphlna,
and suppose that if I find favor in his
eyes I shall marry her, and inherit my
uncle's great riches; am the only one
that is left of the family to inherit"
He waved his hand and smiled a little.
'eVaya, "a little of that great wealth
would be welcome. If l had had
few pence more there would have been
none of this worry, and l should not
have been on this dirty ship in these
rags" He looked down good-humoT-
edly at his clothes.
But" 1 said, "how do you come to
be in a scrape at all?"
He laughed little proudly.
In a scrape?" he said Il
I am in none. 1t is Tomas Castro
there He laughed affectionately. HE
is as faithful as he is ugly" he said;
"but fear he has been a villain, too.
= What do know? Over there
in my uncle's town, there are some
villains-you know what | mean, one
must not speak too loudly on this ship.
There is a man called O'Brien who
mismanages my uncle's affairs. What
do 1 know? The good Tomas has
been in some villainy that is no affair
of mine. He is a good friend and
faithful dependent of my fa1nilys. He
certainly had that mans watch-the
man we met by evil chance at Liver
pool, man who came from Jamaica.
He had bought it-of a bad man, per-
haps l do not ask. 1t was Castro
your police wished to take. But I,
bon Dieu, do you think 1 would take
watches?"
I certainly did not think he had