off around Cuba, or the Philippines,
perhaps. And time went by, while the situation grew more and more
alarming.

Martinez, _sinor Martines_, in two months ... Tona cannot pretend any
longer! People are noticing. What will the boys say when they find that
they have a young brother? But Martinez got cross. It wasn't his fault,
if the documents didn't come. She could see how many letters he kept
writing.

Finally the patrolman announced one morning that there was no other way
out of it. He would have to go and get those cursed papers himself, and
he had secured leave of absence from his captain. Fine! _Sina_ Tona
thought that was a good idea. She gave him all the money she had,
sleeked his hair one last time, wept a little, and ... "Good-by! And
don't be long!"

A patrolman going by one day was kind enough to tell her the real truth.
All that talk about going to Huelva was a lie. Martinez had been writing
for papers all right, but to Madrid, asking to be transferred to another
district at the opposite end of Spain, since the climate at Valencia was
not good for him. And he had won his point. He had been assigned to the
department of La Coruna.

That was a bad moment for _sina_ Tona. The thief! The bandit! You just
trust these smooth talkers! So that was to be her pay for giving him her
last cent--and combing his hair, the towhead, out there under the shed
in the afternoon, as kind and soft-like as a mother.

But for all of Tona's desperation, in a few weeks she was handing out
drinks across the counter while she nursed a white sickly girl baby, a
tiny little thing with blue eyes and an over-sized yellow head that
looked like a ball of gold.

CHAPTER II

_SINA_ TONA'S FAMILY

And the years rolled on with nothing further to disturb the monotonous
course of life for the family sheltered in the tavern-boat. The Rector
had grown up to be a lusty sailor, stingy of words, fearless in danger.
From _gato de barca_ he had graduated to the rank of able-bodied seaman
and was the man of the crew on whom _tio_ Borrasca most relied. Every
month Pascualet handed four or five _duros_ over to his mother to keep
for him.

Tonet was not settling down to any trade. A stubborn fight was going on
between him and his mother. Tona would run her legs off finding him jobs
which he would proceed to lose. For about a week he was apprentice to a
cobbler. Then he went for a couple of months as "cat" on _tio_
Borrasca's boat; and n