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Rh everything they can to get the money away from the sugar and plantation workers. It's really a sad state of affairs."

On they went, until San Juan was left behind and they struck the military road previously mentioned. The walking was all uphill, but the ascent was so gradual that they scarcely noticed it. On both sides of the road grew tropical trees of all sorts—palms, mangoes, guavas, cedar, mahogany, and that wood which can be found almost anywhere—hemlock. There were also plantains and great cacti, and over all trailed immense tropical vines. Close to the deep, black soil grew magnificent ferns, and such mosses as the boys had never before seen.

"Almost a paradise, isn't it?" remarked Don. "And how clear the air is—not half as hot as I imagined it would be."

"Jest you wait until noon afore ye speak o' the heat," returned old Jacob. "Old Sol don't git to work in earnest till about twelve or one o'clock."

They soon crossed a clear running brook, and leaving the bridge, Dick ran down to the water's edge to get a drink.

"Drink through your handkerchief!" called out Robert Menden.

"Through my handkerchief?"