surely had said that to me, but how could she have known, or was hers
only a random guess? And if she had guessed correctly what would she
wish me to do now? Would she wish me to turn back, or, if my own
motives were good, would she tell me to go on? She had called me her
knight-errant, and I owed it to her to do nothing of which she would
disapprove. As I thought of her I felt a great loneliness and a
longing to see her once again. I thought of how greatly she would have
delighted in those days at sea, and how wonderful it would have been
if I could have seen this hot, feverish country with her at my side. I
pictured her at the inn at Sagua smiling on the priest and the fat
little landlord; and their admiration of her. I imagined us riding
together in the brilliant sunshine with the crimson flowers meeting
overhead, and the palms bowing to her and paying her homage. I lifted
the locket she had wound around my wrist, and kissed it. As I did so,
my doubts and questionings seemed to fall away. I stood up confident
and determined. It was not my business to worry over the motives of
other men, but to look to my own. I would go ahead and fight Alvarez,
who Aiken himself declared was a thief and a tyrant. If anyone asked
me my politics I would tell him I was for the side that would obtain
the money the Isthmian Line had stolen, and give it to the people;
that I was for Garcia and Liberty, Laguerre and the Foreign Legion.
This platform of principles seemed to me so satisfactory that I
stretched my feet to the fire and went to sleep.

I was awakened by the most delicious odor of coffee, and when I rolled
out of my blanket I found Jose standing over me with a cup of it in
his hand, and Aiken buckling the straps of my saddle-girth. We took a
plunge in the stream, and after a breakfast of coffee and cold
tortillas climbed into the saddle and again picked up the trail.