Evening star., 1918-01-27

the best Of all possible good osnDaAss
ions. Johnnie. who was becoming o0n~
stanty more fond sannl,,, Of him, s;is ,is sis
Improvement in mood; Il seemed 20
him that Branch was on the very verge
OF collapse.
At last there came . mesage which
brought them great Joy. EnrfQueS d.
rected them to be in readiness to leave
Jersey City at 7 o'clock the following
morning. Neither man slept much that
night.
As they waited in the huge. barn.
like station Enriquez appeared with
Norine Evans upon his arm. The girls
color was high: she was tremulous with
excitement. Leslie Branch, who saw
her for the first time, emitted Q low
whistle Of surprise.
Glory be! That goddessi" he cried.
!, And called her a poor old soufr'
When Norine took his bony. bloodlsss
hand in her warm grasp and flashed
him her frank. friendly smile, he capit-
ulated instantly. In hyperbolical terms
he strove to voice his pleasure at the
meeting: but he lost the thread Of his
thought and fioundered SO hopelessly
among his words that Norine said.
laughingly:
'.Now. Mr.. Branch. bold buccaneers
don't make pretty speeches. Hitch mp
your belt and say. Hello. Noriner til
call you Leslie"
Don't call mo Leslie,'" he begged.
Call me often"
Then he beamed upon the others. ~ u
this medieval pun were both startling
and original. 1t was plain that he
wholly and namely approved OF NoF1ne
Evans.
Enriquez was introducing . nsv.
conner now. one Maj. Ramos, q square
jawed. forceful Cuban. who. It seemed,
was to be in command OF the expedition.
My duties end here" EnriQueS ex-
plained. Maj. Ramos will take charge
Of you. and you must do exactly a. be
dtrertS Aal M for q RAUtk
follow instructionsT'
Certainly not I sha'n't even tzysS
Norine told him. I'm fairly bursting
Remember. Ramos. not a word
IT PROMISE" smiled the major.
Good-by and good luck" EnraQue1
shook hands all around: then he bowed
shall pray that you escape all danger,
senorita, and shall see that Cuba 70.
members her debt to you"
When he had gone the three Amse4-
the iron gates.
Maj. Ramos proved that he knew how
to obey orders. even though the other
members Of his party did not. He re-
mained utterly deaf to Miss Evans en-.
treaties that he let her know something
about the plans Of the expedition: he
would not even tell her where ho was
taking her, where the other dlibustsrs
ship would sail. He did go 10 Tar. how
ever, as to explain that an inkling Of
the Junta's plans had leaked out. and
that determined efforts to upset them
tated the greatest care on his part This,
of course. whetted the girls curiositys
but to her most artful queries he op-
posed bahling silence. When Phila-
delphia. then Baltimore. Washington,
and finally Richmond were left behind.
Miss Evans was. in truth. ready to ax-
plode, and her two companions ware IN
similar frame of mind.
Maj. Ramos was not naturally . o..
lent man; he had all the loquacaty oz
the Latin, and all the Latin's appre-
citation of pretty woman; he made NO
secret of the fact that his orders irked
him. Despite his oncial reserve he
proved himself a pleasant travelling
companion. and he talked freely
on all but one subject He play
sa se asyessa Ssss game sn esrS as .S0 sas
courtesy to Norine's comfort. It vas not
until the train was approaching Charles
ton that he finally announced:
NOW, then, my drBt command. Yh1D
is the end Of our Journey: the oehsr
members Of the expedition are here. But
must ask you not to talk with them o.
. being watched by detectives in the em-
ploy of the Spanish minister at Washiug-
ton and by United States deputy n,ar-
shals One little indiscretion might ruin
Spies! Oh. goody!'. cried Mas Evans.
THE local authorities intend to ssiso
any vessel we try to sail on. We must
be careful
The hotel to which Maj. Ramos led his
guests appeared to be wen filled; there
were many Cubans in the lobby, and tho
air was heavy with the aroma OF their
strong. black cigarettes. A the mator
entered they turned interested and ex-
pectant faces toward him and they eyed
his companions with frank curiosity. Miss
Evans became the target for more than
one warmly admiring glance.
AS for O'Reilly, the familiar odor Of
those Cuban cigarettes. the snatches Of
Spanish conversation which he overheard.
awoke in him q great excitement; he
realized with an odd thrill that these
eager. dark -visaged men were now his
friends and comrades. and that those
Americans Amer lettering watchfully among
whom Ramos had spoken. There were
at least a score Of the latter. and IN
were plainly stamped with the disfinc-
tive marks Of their calling. That they.
too, were interested in the latest arrivals
was soon made evident by their efforts to
get acquainted. =
(To Be Continued Next sundayl