Evidently here was a girl who did very much as
she chose.
"You don't realize what you are saying," he told her, gravely.
"You'd have to go as a filibuster, on some decrepit, unseaworthy
freighter loaded to the guards and crowded with men of all sorts.
It's dangerous business, running the Spanish blockade. If captured
you would be treated just like the rest of us."
"Lovely! We'd land in small boats some dark night. Maybe we'd have
a fight!"
"And if you got through, what then? Life in a bark hut, with
nothing to eat. Bugs! Snakes! Hardships!"
"That decides me. I eat too much--Doctor Alvarado tells me I do. I
adore huts, and I don't seriously object to insects."
The physician stirred uneasily. "It's utterly absurd," he
expostulated. "Some women might do it, but you're not the sort.
You are--pardon me--a most attractive young person. You'd be
thrown among rough men."
"Mr. O'Reilly will look out for me. But for that matter I can take
care of myself. Oh, it's of no use trying to discourage me. I
always have my own way; I'm completely spoiled."
"Your family will never consent," O'Reilly ventured; whereupon
Miss Evans laughed.
"I haven't such a thing. I'm alone and unencumbered. No girl was
ever so fortunate. But wait--I'll settle this whole thing in a
minute." She quitted the table, ran to Alvarado's telephone, and
called a number.
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