An application of Evangelina's
stain to darken her face, a few tatters and a liberal application
of dirt to the suit, and he declared that Rosa would pass anywhere
as a boy.
There came a night when the three of them bade good-by to their
black companions and slipped away across the city to that section
known as Pueblo Nuevo, then followed the road along the water-
front until they found shelter within the shadows of a rickety
structure which had once served as a bath-house. The building
stood partially upon piles and under it they crept, knee-deep in
the lapping waves. To their left was the illumination of Matanzas;
to their right, the lights of the Penas Alias fort; ahead of them,
empty and dark save for the riding-lights of a few small coasting-
vessels, lay the harbor.
The refugees waited a long time; they were beginning 'to fear that
old Morin's nerve had weakened at the eleventh hour, when they
beheld a skiff approaching the shore. It glided closer, entered
the shade of the bathhouse, then a voice cried:
"Pset! You are there?" It was Morin himself.
Hastily the three piled aboard. Morin bent to his oars and the
skiff shot out. "You were not observed?" he inquired.
"No."
Morin rowed in silence for a time, then confessed: "This business
is not to my liking. There is too much risk. Think of me putting
my neck in peril--"
"Ho!" Jacket chuckled.
Pages:
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423
424