But for once O'Reilly's ready tongue was silent. The laughter was
gone from his blue eyes when he turned to the girl at his side.

"You say you are going away?" Rosa inquired, breathlessly. "But
why?"

"I'm going partly because of this war, and partly because of--
something else. I tried to tell you yesterday, but I couldn't.
When the revolution started everybody thought it was merely a
local uprising, and I wrote my company to that effect; but, bless
you, it has spread like fire, and now the whole eastern end of the
island is ablaze."

"Esteban says it will be more terrible than the Ten Years' War."

"God forbid! And yet all the old fighters are back again. Nobody
believed that Maximo Gomez had returned, but it's true. And the
Maceos are here, too, from Costa Rica. Antonio has already gained
control of most of Santiago Province, and he's sweeping westward.
Of course the Spaniards minimize the reports of his success, and
we, here, don't understand what's really going on. Anyhow,
business has stopped, and my employers have ordered me home to
find out what's happened to their profits. They seem to hold me
personally responsible for this insurrection."

"I see. And when you have told them the truth you will come back.
Is that it?"

"I--Perhaps."