Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-03-22

his friend onto the musty seat, and followed.
ITO the De la Pax he cried, "as fast as
you can gol'
But what the devils the need of hurrying
nowo' demanded Paddock.
"All the need in the.world, replied NIinot
joyously. I'm going to have a talk with
Cynthia Meyrick, little talk-alone!'
"Ah!' said Paddock softly. "Love's
young dream!'
CHAPTER XVII. The Shortest Way Home
THE moon was shining in that city of the
picturesque past. Its light fell silvery
on the narrow streets, the old adobe houses,
the hstless palms. In every shadow seemed
to Turk the memory of a love long dead,
love of the old passionate Spanish days. A
soft breeze came whispering from the very
sea Ponce de Leon had sailed. 1t was as if
at signal-a bugle call, rose thrown from
a window, the boom of a cannon at the
waters edge-the forgotten past of hot
hearts, of arms equally ready for cutlass or
slender waist, could live again.
And Minot was as one who had heard
such a signal. He loved. The obstacle that
had confronted him, wrung his heart, left
him helpless, was swept away. He was like
a man who, released from prison, sees the
sky, the green trees, the hills again. He
loved! The moon was SHINING!
He stood amid the colorful blooms of the
hotel courtyard and looked up at her win
dow, with its white curtain waving gently
in the breeze. He called softly. And then
he saw her face, peering out as some senorita
of the old days from her lattice.
1--WE news-very important news" he
said. MAY | see you moment!"
Far better this than the telephone or the
bellboy! Far more in keeping with the
magic of the night
She came dressed in the white that set
off so well her hair of cleaning copper.
Minot met her on the veranda. She smiled
into his eyes inquiringly.
do you mind-a little Walk he asked.
where top
"Say to the fort-the longest way"
She glanced back toward the hotel. am
not sure that l ought"
But that will only make it the more ex-
citing. Please! And I've news-real news!"
She nodded her head, and they crossed the
courtyard to the avenue. From this bright
thoroughfare they turned in moment into
dark and unkempt street.
"Seei" said NIinot suddenly. @The old
Spanish churchyard! They built cities
around churches in the old days. The
now.
They stood peering through the gloom at
small chapel dim amid the trees, and aged
stones leaning tipsily among the weeds.
AT the altar of that chapel Minot said,
"a priest fell, shot in the back by an Indians
arrow. Sounds unreal, doesn't it? And
when you think that under these musty
stones lies the dust of folks who walked this
very ground, and loved, and hated, like you
and
"Yes-but isn't it all rather gloomy?"
Cynthia Meyrick shuddered.
They went on, to pass shortly through the
crumbling remains of the city gates. There
at the waters edge the great gray fort
doomed in the moonlight like historical
novelist's dream. Its huge, iron-bound
doors were locked for the night; its GUS
todian home in the bosom of his family.
Only its lower ramparts were left for the
feet of romantic youth to tread.
Along these ramparts, close to the SHIN
mering sea, Miss Meyrick and Minot
wicked. Truth to tell, it was not so very
difficult to keep ones footing; but once the
girl was forced to hold out an appealing
hand.
French heels are treacherous,7 she ex-
planned.
AFINOT took her hand, and for the first