Page:Under three flags; a story of mystery (IA underthreeflagss00tayliala).pdf/174

 is Barker to get to Cuba? He must have shot off to Key West without reading the morning paper, and he probably was not aware that there are no steamers running from Key West any more than from New York or other ports. When he does learn that fact his remarks will not be fit for publication. Well, I suppose, he will get there somehow, even if he has to swim. But in all probability I shall reach the island before him.

"The trail is plain. It leads to Cuba, and somewhere in the gem of the Antilles the threads of the Raymond murder mystery will touch and cross and interweave."

CHAPTER XXXI.

THE FLAG OF CUBA.

"We shall have a race, Don Manada—a battle royal. The new United States cruiser America has just steamed out of the bay ahead of us and we shall soon be abreast of her."

"A race, Senor Van Zandt? Santissimo! We shall have racing enough before we get to Cuba without challenging unsuspicious warships and courting investigation."

Van Zandt laughs at the Cuban gentleman's anxious tones. "I told you, my friend, that once on the high seas nothing short of a cannon ball can overhaul the Semiramis. Come on deck in an hour, senor, and I will prove to you what may now seem an idle boast."

For excellent reasons Manada is keeping in the background as much as possible. But he finds the luxurious cabin of the Semiramis much to his liking, and he smokes and dreams of "Cuba Libre" while the Semiramis steams down the bay and out upon the bosom of the Atlantic, and when he goes on deck, wrapped in the long semi-military cloak which effectually conceals his person, the