one before daybreak. I'm very glad we have met."

They shook hands heartily. Rita somehow did not find words so readily as
usual. "I too am glad," she said. "It is something--I have always
wished to meet the 'Star of Horsemen!'"

"Oh, _please_ don't!" cried Jack, in distress. "That was just a joke of
those idiots of mine. Good gracious! if you go to calling names, Miss
Montfort, I shall not dare to come back again. Good night!"

It was long before Rita could sleep. She lay with wide-open eyes,
conjuring up one scene after another, in all of which Captain Delmonte
played the hero's part, and she the heroine's. He was rescuing her
single-handed from a regiment of Spaniards; they were galloping together
at the head of a troop, driving the Gringos like sheep before them. Or,
he was wounded on the field of battle, and she was kneeling beside him,
holding water to his lips, and blessing the good Cuban surgeon who had
taught her bandaging in the camp among the hills. At length, hero and
heroine, Cuban and Spaniard, faded away, and she slept peacefully.

"What is it? what is the matter?" Rita sprang up in her bed and
listened. The sound that had awakened her was repeated: a knock at the
door; a voice, low but imperative; the voice of Jack Delmonte.

"Miss Montfort! are you awake?"

"Yes; what has happened?"

"The Gringos! Dress yourself quickly, and come out. You can dress in the
dark?"

"Yes; oh, yes! I will come. Manuela! wake! wake! don't speak, but dress
yourself; the Spaniards are here."

Hastily, with trembling hands, the two girls put on their clothes. No
thought now of how or what; anything to cover them, and that quickly.
They hurried out into the passage; Delmonte stood there, carbine in
hand. He spoke almost in a whisper, yet every word fell clearly on their
strained ears.

"It's not Moreno; it's Velaya's _guerrilla_: we must get away before
they fire the house. Give me your hand, Miss Montfort; you will be
quiet, I know. Your maid?"

"Manuela, you will not speak!"

"No, senorita!" said poor Manuela, with a stifled sob.

"My horse is ready saddled," Delmonte went on. "If I can get you away
before they see us--"

"Me! but what will become of the others?" cried Rita, under her breath.
"I cannot desert Manuela and Marm Prudence--Donna Prudencia."

"I am going to save you," said Jack Delmonte, quietly. "If for no other
reason, I have just given my word to Donna Prudencia. The rest--I'll get
back as soo