y swiftly through the tall
grass. Manuela clutched her mistress's arm, trembling; Rita, rather
pale, but composed, looking steadily in the direction of the noise. It
came nearer--the grass rustled and shook close beside them; and out from
the tufted tangle came--three large land-crabs, scuttling along on their
ungainly claws, and evidently in a hurry. Manuela uttered a shriek, but
Rita laughed aloud.

"Good luck!" she said. "They are good Cubans, the land-crabs. Many a
good meal has Carlos made on them, poor fellow. If we followed them,
Manuela? They may be going--somewhere. Let us see!"

The crabs were soon out of sight, but the two girls, taking up their
burdens, followed in the direction they had taken, along the hillside,
going they knew not whither.

There seemed to be some faint suggestion of a path. The grasses were
bent aside, and broken here and there; something had trodden here,
whether feet of men or of animals one could not tell. But glad to have
any guide, however insufficient, the girls amused themselves by trying
to discover fresh marks on tree or shrub or grass-clump. It was a wild
tangle, palms and mangoes, coarse grass and savage-looking aloes, with
wild vines running riot everywhere. So far, they had seen no sign of
human life, and the sun was now well up, his rays beating down bright
and hot. Suddenly, coming to a turn on the hillside, they heard voices;
a moment later, and they were standing by a human dwelling.

[Illustration: "THE FAMISHED CHILD LOOKED FROM THE BISCUIT TO THE
GLOWING FACE."]

At first sight it looked more like the burrow of some wild animal. It
was little more than a hole dug in the side of the clay bank. Some
boughs and palm-leaves were wattled together to form a rustic porch, and
under this porch three people were sitting, on the bare ground,--two
women, one young, the other old, and a little child, evidently belonging
to the young woman. They were clothed in a few rags; their cheeks were
hollow with famine, their eyes burning with fever. The old woman was
stirring a handful of meal into a pot of water; the others looked on
with painful eagerness. Rita recoiled with a low cry of terror. She had
heard of this; these were some of the unhappy peasants who had been
driven from their farms. She had never seen anything like it before.
This--this was not the play she had come to see.

The women looked up, and saw the two girls standing near. Instantly they
began to cry out, in w