you thought it a matter of no great importance, an amusing thing--
"

"Don Mario!" Rosa interrupted. "I don't know what you are talking
about."

"You don't, eh?" The caller's wet cheeks grew redder; he blew like
a porpoise. "Then call Esteban quickly! There is not a moment to
lose." When the brother appeared De Castano blurted out at him
accusingly: "Well, sir! A fine fix you've put yourself in. I came
here to warn you, but Rosa pretends ignorance. Perhaps you will be
interested to learn that Colonel Fernandez has issued orders to
arrest you and your sister as agents of the Insurrectos."

"What?" Esteban drew back. Rosa turned white as a lily and laid a
fluttering hand upon her throat.

"You two will sleep to-night in San Severino," grimly announced
the rotund visitor. "You know what that means. Cubans who enter
the Castillo seldom come out. Have you noticed the big sharks that
swim about under the walls of it? Do you know what bait keeps them
there? Well, I'll tell you! It's the bodies of rebel sympathizers-
-foolish people like you who call themselves patriots."

Rosa uttered a smothered cry.

"Colonel Fernandez," Don Mario proceeded, impressively, "did me
this favor, knowing me to be a suitor for Rosa's hand. In spite of
his duty and the evidence he--"