d
signs of fatigue--which were not surprising since he had wakened at
every stop that the train had made during the night to see that the boy
did not get off--prepared to alight.

"You're not going on to Havana?" queried Stuart.

"I shall step off the train here after it has started," replied Vellano.
"There will be no opportunity for you to do the same until the train
stops at the capital. Senor Cecil said only that I was to see that you
did not get lost on the way. He said nothing about what you should do in
Havana. Possibly he has plans of his own."

The train began to move.

"Adios, Young Senor," quoth the supposed fisherman, and dropped off the
train.

During the long train trip, and especially when lying awake in his
berth, Stuart had plenty of time to recall the events of the four days
since he first met Manuel on the streets of Cap Haitien and had offered
himself as a guide to the Citadel of the Black Emperor. Much had passed
since then, and this period of inaction gave the boy time to view the
events in their proper perspective.

The more he thought of them, the more serious they appeared and the more
Stuart became convinced that the plot was directed against United States
authority in Haiti. Perhaps, also, it would attack American commercial
interests in Cuba. As the train approached Havana, Stuart worked himself
up into a fever of anxiety, and, the instant the train stopped, he
dashed out of the carriage and into the streets feeling that he, and he
alone, could save the United States from an international tragedy.

CHAPTER VII

A NOSE FOR NEWS

Through the maze of the older streets of Havana, with their two-story
houses plastered and colored in gay tints, Stuart rushed, regardlessly.
He knew Havana, but, even if he had not known it, the boy's whole soul
was set on getting the ear of the United States Consul. It was not until
he was almost at the door of the consulate that his promise to Cecil
recurred to him as a reminder that he must be watchful how he spoke.

At the door of the consulate, however, he found difficulty of admission.
This was to be expected. His appearance was unprepossessing. He was
still attired in the ragged clothes tied up with string, and the aged
boots he had got Leon to procure for him, to complete his disguise as a
Haitian boy. Moreover, while the soap-weed wash at the fisherman's hut
had whitened his skin, his face and hands still retained a smoky pallor
which wou