quiries.

However, all was satisfactorily arranged and Senorita Estacardo was
thrown into transports of delight by the receipt of a letter saying
that by the time it reached the young woman, a Miss Rowland would be
out on the ocean in the charge of their old friend, Major Jack
Starland, and well on their way to the home of the Senorita, where
they intended to make a good long visit, before resuming their long
voyage around the southern point of the continent and then up the
western coast to San Francisco.

Ascending the mighty Amazon to the mouth of the Rio Rubio, known also
as the Forked River, the yacht reached the home of Senorita Estacardo,
who, it need not be said, gave the most joyous welcome to the girl
whom she loved more than any one else in the wide world.

Before reaching its present destination, the _Warrenia_ came to the
little republic of Zalapata, where a pause was made for two or three
days, during which the Major and the young ladies called upon General
Bambos, the President and Dictator, who treated them with the utmost
consideration. Later, he became the guest of Major Starland on the
yacht, upon which he spent most of his time while the Americans lay
off that quaint town. The susceptible heart of the bulky South
American crackled into flame on the first sight of the northern
beauty, though he smothered the secret so well that none except the
young woman herself suspected it and with her it was scarcely more
than a suspicion.

From Zalapata the yacht steamed to Atlamalco, the home of Manuela
Estacardo. There the party was received by the other impressionable
type of the tropics, General Pedro Yozarro, who left nothing undone to
make their visit pleasant in the highest degree. The novelty of her
experience was its chief enjoyment to Miss Rowland, who found a thrill
in the life, with its conditions the opposite of those to which she
had always been accustomed. She and her aunt were received into the
household of General Yozarro, who immediately became their humble
slave. Since the death of his wife and sister, the latter taking place
shortly after the return of his niece, Manuela, the latter had been
the head of the household and its retinue of servants.

The Senorita had been told the agreement between Major Starland and
Miss Rowland, which was that during their visit to this part of the
world, they were to be known as brother and sister. She was to be
addressed as Miss Warrenia Starland. Her hos