se, he had to go in disguise, but he was handicapped by havin' red
hair. Not so vivid as mine, the Senor assures me, but red enough so he
wouldn't be mistaken easy for a Spaniard. He'd have gotten away with the
act, too, if he hadn't capped it by takin' the wildest chances anybody
could have thought up.

While he's ramblin' around Havana, takin' in all the sights and rubbin'
elbows every minute with men who'd ask no better sport than giving him a
permanent chest puncture if they'd known who he was, what does he do but
get tangled up in a love affair. Even if his head hadn't been specially
priced for more pesos than you could put in a sugar barrel, this was a
hot time for any American to be lallygaggin' around the ladies in that
particular burg. For the Spanish knew all about where the reconcentrados
were getting their firearms from and they were good and sore on us. But
little details like that don't seem to bother El Capitan Yohness a bit.
When he gets in line with an oh boy! smile from behind a window grill he
smiles back and comes around for an encore. That's the careless kind of
a Yank he is.

What makes it worse, though, is the fact that this special window
happens to be in the Governor's Palace. And the lady herself! The
Honorable Pedro shudders as he relates it. She is none other than la
Senorita Mario, a niece of the Governor General.

She must have had misbehavin' eyes and a kittenish disposition, for she
seems to fall for this disguised New Yorker at first sight. Most likely
it was on account of his red hair. Anyway, after one or two long
distance exchanges she drops out a note arranging a twosome in the
palace gardens by moonlight. It's a way they have, I understand. And
this Yohness guy, he don't do a thing but keep the date. Course, he must
have known that as a war risk he'd have been quoted as payin' about a
thousand per cent. premium, but he takes the chance.

It ain't a case of bein' able to stroll in any time, either. In order to
make it he has to conceal himself in the shrubbery before sundown, when
the general public is chased out of the grounds and a guard set at the
gates. Perhaps it was worth it, though, for Don Pedro says the Senorita
Donna Mario is a lovely lady; at least, she was then.

Anyway, the two of 'em pulled it off successful, and they was snuggled
up on a marble bench gettin' real well acquainted--maybe callin' each
other by their first names and whisperin' mushy sentiments in the