r horses' heads and slowly
took their way back toward the house; and by the time that they reached
it Jack found himself upon terms of almost as complete intimacy with
Senorita Isolda as those he was on with her brother. For, despite the
intense pride which seems to be so strongly marked a characteristic of
all who have Spanish blood in their veins, Senorita Isolda was a most
charmingly ingenuous, unsophisticated girl, frank and open as the day;
furthermore, she had been so long accustomed to hear Jack spoken of
admiringly by Carlos that she had insensibly acquired a strong
predisposition in his favour; and, finally, and quite contrary to rule,
when at length she met him in the flesh she instantly decided that this
stalwart, handsome young Englishman was all that Carlos had represented
him to be--and very much more.

Upon reaching the house they found, to their disgust, that Captain
Alvaros had again turned up, ostensibly for the purpose of bidding Don
Hermoso and Carlos welcome back to Cuba and hearing from them an account
of their holiday wanderings in Europe. Jack found the Spanish soldier
to be a man of about thirty-two years of age, tall, swarthy, and by no
means ill-looking: but such physical advantages as he possessed were
heavily discounted by a pair of piercing, black, sinister-looking eyes,
and a distinctly arrogant, overbearing manner; the man evidently thought
well of himself, and took no trouble to conceal the fact. He greeted
Jack's appearance in Senorita Isolda's company with something very
nearly approaching a scowl, and coldly acknowledged Senora Montijo's
formal introduction of the young man with an air of careless hauteur
that was eloquent of his disapproval of the young man's presence in the
house, which he further emphasised by thereafter contemptuously ignoring
Jack--for a time. Carlos flushed with angry annoyance as he beheld this
treatment of his friend, for which he apologised as soon as the pair
were alone together; but Jack's sunny temperament was not so easily
ruffled, and he simply laughed, saying:

"Don't you let that worry you, old chap; it doesn't hurt me in the
least. I don't care a brass button whether the man likes or dislikes
me; I care neither for his friendship nor his enmity. I am not of a
quarrelsome disposition, as you know, but should he attempt to be
actively disagreeable, or to force a quarrel upon me, I have no doubt
that I shall know how to take care of myself."

Wh