"
"What work?" O'Reilly's eyes were still upon him. "You can tell
ME."
"I think I can," the other agreed. "Well, then, I know everybody
in Matanzas; I go everywhere, and the Spanish officers talk
plainly before me. Somebody must be the eyes and the ears for
Colonel Lopez."
"Colonel Lopez!" exclaimed O'Reilly.
Esteban nodded.
Rosa's face, as she looked. at the two men, was white and worried.
For a time the three of them sat silent; then the American said,
slowly, "You'll be shot if you're caught."
Rosa whispered: "Yes! Think of it!"
"Some one must run chances," Esteban averred. "We're fighting
tyranny; all Cuba is ablaze. I must do my part."
"But sooner or later you'll be discovered--then what?" persisted
O'Reilly.
Esteban shrugged. "Who knows? There'll be time enough when--"
"What of Rosa?"
At this question the brother stirred uneasily and dropped his
eyes. O'Reilly laid a hand upon his arm. "You have no right to
jeopardize her safety. Without you, to whom could she turn?" The
girl flashed her admirer a grateful glance.
"Senor, you for one would see that she--"
"But--I'm going away." O'Reilly felt rather than saw Rosa start,
for his face was averted. Purposely he kept his gaze upon Esteban,
for he didn't wish to see the slow pallor that rose in the girl's
cheeks, the look of pain that crept into her eyes.
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