The Washington herald., 1919-12-25
CHAPTER ,4-coNTnluED.

S1A4E 4Ah At-SONllNG Ell.
Rosa met o'ReilH Just inside the
door. and at sight Of her he uttered
an exclamation Of surprise, for dur
ing his absence she had removed the
stain from her face and discarded
that Disagreement which Evangelina
had fitted to her back prior TO their
departure from the Pan de Mstanzas.
She stood before him now. straight
and slizn and graceful-the Rosa of
his dreams, only very thin. very
fragile. Her poor tatters only en-
HANGED her prettiness. 20 he thought
Rosa, dear! Do you think this 10
quite safe7" he ventured. doubtfully.
Evangslina. who was bending over
her husband. straightened herself and
came forward with q smile upon her
black face.
she 10 beautiful. Ell? Too beauti-
full to look at? What did tell your
Rosa was in delightful confusion
at o'Reiliy's evident surprise and ad-
miration- Then I'm not 50 alto
gether changed?" she asked.
why you haven't changed at all.
except to grow more beautiful. Evan
gelina Is right; you are too beautiful
to look at But watt" He drew her
aside and whispered. I've been down
In the well" Some tremor In his
voice, some CLINT In his eyes. caused
the girl to seize him eagerly, fercely.
Il may be wrong" he said. hurriedly;
there may be nothing in it-and YET
I saw something"
''What?"
ssWondap ha,r,. .g,,k~- - 49,.
sort. behind the stone curbing." II
was plain Rosa did not comprehend.
SO he hurried on AT nrst ] noticed
nothing unusual. except that the bot
tom Of the well Is nearly dry-flled
up. you know. with debris and stun
that has fallen In from the curbing
above. then I saw that although the
well is dug through rock. nevertheless
II Is entirely curbed up with stones
laid in mortar. That struck me as
queer"
"Yes?"
Il noticed. too. IN one place that
! there was wood behind-as II timbers
had been placed there to cover the
entrance TO a cave. You know this
Cuban rock IL full Of caverns"
J Rosa clasped her hands, she be-
gan to trembIe. You have found it.
/ O'Reilly. You have"' she whispered
NO. no. I've found nothing yet. But
I've sent Jacket for a pick or a bar
and tonight I'm going to pull down
those stones and see what is behind
them"
Tonight? You must let me go.
too. / want TO help"
Very well. But meanwhile you
mustn't let your hopes rise too high,
for there Is every chance that YOU
will be disappointed. And don't men
ton IL 70 Evangelina. Now then, I've
a few pennies left and I'm going to
buy some candles"
Rosa embraced her lover irnpul-
sively. Something tells me Il IL true!
Something tells me you are going to
save US ALL
Evangelina in the far corner Of the
hut muttered TO her husband: Such
love-birds! They are like parrakeets
, forever kissing and cooing!'
Jacket returned at dusk and with
him he brought a rusty three-foot iron
bar. evidently part Of a window graf.
ing. The boy was tired, disgusted.
and in a vile temper. "A pick-ax! A
crowbar!" He cursed eloquently. ''one
might as well try to steal a cannon
out Of San Severino. I'm ready TO do
anything within reason. but"
Why, this will do nicely; IL is just
what ! want" O'Reilly told him.
"Humph! I'm glad to hear IL. for
that rod was nearly the death of me.
/ broke my back wrenching at II and
the william who owned the house