er the ridge of earth that he had noticed to one
side, and then, with an involuntary sigh of relief, he instinctively
huddled with the balance of the party in an expectant attitude, waiting
for the explosion on the other side of the rampart.

CHAPTER XXIV.

THE CUBAN COURIER.

But the explosion never came.

The party waited breathlessly, expecting to hear a deafening sound from
the shell, and to see the earth thrown up in showers about them. From a
safe place of vantage they felt it was a sight worth seeing and felt
personally aggrieved when, after waiting an unconscionable time, all was
quiet on the other side of the natural rampart of earth.

Clif had been surprised and puzzled in the first place to see the ship
firing away from its antagonist instead of toward it, and was now more
than ever perplexed. To add to the mystery, the ship did not fire
another shot, either at its pursuer or in the opposite direction.

Its only purpose now seemed to be to get away from the American ship. It
seemed to stand a good chance of doing it, too; for it was evidently a
very swift boat, and the pursuing vessel was still far away.

"That's the queerest thing that ever happened," exclaimed Clif, when a
sufficient time had elapsed to enable the shell to explode if it was
ever going to. "What possessed them to fire over here, and what's the
matter with the shell? I'll investigate the latter, at any rate; it's
within easy reach."

Though it seemed as though more than enough time had passed to give the
shell a good opportunity, still Clif, for reasons of prudence, concluded
not to be too exacting on the thing, but to give it a fair chance. He
didn't want to crowd it too close.

So he waited a while longer, and then cautiously climbed up the side of
the embankment and peered over.

There in the moonlight he could see the shell lying quietly upon the
ground. There was no smoke now rising from it, and the fuse had
evidently burned itself out. It seemed a harmless enough piece of steel
now.

He waited but an instant, and then vaulted over on the other side. His
curiosity had been aroused regarding the matter and he for the time
being lost all interest in the chase at sea, as well as the appointed
meeting under those trees on shore.

When he picked up the shell he was more surprised and mystified than
ever.

"What does this mean?" he exclaimed aloud. "A round shell of the
old-fashioned type instead of the conical ones us