The Red Cross Girl

ll the punches, from the little nickel-plated hand punch with which conductors squeezed holes in railroad tickets, to the big punch that could bite into an iron plate as easily as into a

e had no sense of humor, and partly because he had a great-great-grandfather. Among the salesmen on lower Broadway, to possess a great-great-grandfather is unusual, even a great-grandfather is a rarity, and either is considered superfluous. But to David the possession of a great-gre

-loving salesmen did not affect his record. To enter a society founded on heredity, the important thing is first to catch your ancestor, and having made sure of him, David entered the Society of the Sons of Washington with flying colors. He was not unlike the man who had been speaking prose for forty years without knowing it. He was not unlike the other man who woke to find himself famous. He had gone to bed a timid, near-sighted, underpaid salesman

men, said, "All grandfathers look alike to me, whether they're great, or great-great-great. Each one is as dead as the other

Revolution. He saved us from the shackles of monarchical England; he mad

protested Wyckoff, "because I know better. There wer

rned David; "I am only saying I am proud

and produced a leather photograph

k at those." Proudly he exhibited photographs of Mrs. Wyckoff with the baby

ed, and at the words he blushe

arried," said Wyckoff, "you'd be

randfather, but the fact that owing to that distinguished relative David was constantly receiving beautifully engraved invitations to attend the monthly meetings of the society; to subscribe to a fund to erect monuments on battle-fields to mark neglected graves; to join in joyous excur

cial, untainted, high, and noble. He did not quite know what an aristocrat was, but he believed being a compatriot made him an aristocrat. When customers were rude, when Mr. John or Mr. Robert was overbearing, this idea enab

it meant that David belonged to the Y. M. C. A. or was a teetotaler. David, wit

ettiest stenographers, and although David did not cut as dashing a figure as did some of the firm's travelling men, Miss Anthony had found something in him so greatly to admire that she had, out of office hours, accepted his devotion, his theatre tickets, and an engagement r

Miss Anthony was almost as pleased as was David himself, but while he was content to bask in an

ng person. She found she was dissatisfied. She found she was disappointed. The great-great-grandfather had opened up a new horizon-had, in a way, raised the standard. She was as fond of David as a

button," she urged. "If you're a Son of

worthy of you,

ied indignantly. "It has nothing to do with me! I wan

. "What chance has a twenty

ar, while the patriots of Cuba were fightin

olution," said Emily, "I'd

nd we'd never be able to marry. Besides, what's Cuba done for me? All

nded Emily. "Did he ask what have th

s," sighed David, "I wouldn't

yourself, 'Blood will tell,' and the first thing you know, it WILL tell! You might begin by going into politics in your ward. Or, you could j

t. But the sight gave David no pleasure

're going to be awfull

e mental picture. But when she opened them they

husband with a career, and one who'll tell me

shed you would

Run your ca

y it didn't seem pol

r," said Emily, "if you w

ed. Nor did it satisfy Emily. It was not money she wanted. Her ambition for David could not be silenced with a raise in wages. She did not say this, but David knew that in him she still found something lacking, and when they said good-by they both were ill at ease and completely unhappy. Form

uestions, but in ignorance of her present feelings set forth on his travels. Absence from Emily hurt just as much as he had feared it would. He missed her, needed her, longed for her. In numer

nce chiefly because it might please Emily. But he knew that in her eyes the great-great-grandson of Hiram Greene could not rest content with a telegram from Burdett and Sons. A year before she would have considered it a high honor, a cause for cele

him, and pelted and petted him, until finally she made him her favorite

hows that when Dame Fortune gets on the job she is omnipotent. She placed David on the train to Miami as the train he wanted drew out for Tampa, and an hour later, when the conductor looked at David's ticket, he pulled the bell-cord and dumped David over

w, and he never did know. He was too tired, too hot, and too disgusted to proceed, and dropping his suit case he sat down under the open roof of the shed prepared to wait either for the train or daylight. So far as he could see, on every side of him stretched a swamp, silent, dismal, interminable. From its black water rose dead trees, naked of bark and hung with streamers of funereal moss. There was not a sound or sign of human habitation.

"on a railroad embankment, enti

found he w

of the moon he saw a bayou broadening into a river, and made fast to the decayed and rotting wharf an ocean-going tug. It was from her deck that the man, in lighting his pipe, had shown his face. At the thought of a warm engine-room and the company of his fellow creatures, David's heart leaped with pleasure. He advanced quickly. And then something in the appearance of the tug, something mysterious, secretive, threatening, caused him to halt. No lights showed from her engine-room, cabin, or pilot-house. Her decks were empty. But, as was evidenced by the black smoke that rose from her funnel

demanded the man from the

ed," sa

man snorted

put me off about a mile below here. I walked back to this fl

man laughed

, you can just walk away again!" With a sweep of

k!" he c

I please about

ance, the little man star

ke you walk!" he called. "You

ghts of all men were equal, and if he were in for a fight he judged it best to choose his own battle-ground. He recrossed the tracks and sat d

rs. They're certainly up to some mischief, or why should th

artly with nervousn

r to his wish, from only a short distance down the track he heard the rumble

e need only stand on the track exposed to the glare of the headlight and wave his arms. David sprang between the rails and gesticulated wildly. But in amazement his arms fell to his sides. For the train, now only a hundred yards distant and creeping toward him at a snail's pace, carried no head-light, and though in the moonlight David was

haunted!" ex

stantly from every side men fell from it to the ground, and the silence of the night was

can He wore no coat and his shirt-sleeves were drawn away from his hands by garters of pink elastic, his derby hat was balanced behind his ears, upon his right hand flashed an enormous diamond. He looked as though but at that moment he had stopped sliding glasses across a B

" demanded the man wit

egan David, "to

ellowed with i

e sort of place any one would

atcher's glove. "Don't you lie to ME!" he bullied. "Do y

er person i

," he said. "We know th

ppealingly to

ere on purpose?" he protes

seen what you came to see, and all you want now is to get to a Weste

eglected, the little man in riding

a tree!" h

eper, "and send him back by the pilot. Whe

t to hurt you?" demanded Da

e a blanketty-blank spy! You're a government spy or a Spani

meant, but he knew his self-respect was bei

d, "and whether you like it or not, I AM leavi

. He had a strong desire to sleep, but was conscious that a bed on a railroad track, on account of trains wanting to pass, was unsafe. This doubt did not long disturb him.

olf cap who was smiling sympathetically. David rose on his elbow and gazed wildly about him. He was in the bow of the ocean-going tug, and he saw that from where he lay in the bow to her stern her decks were pa

the golf cap, "but we drop the pilot in

and was conscious of a bump as large

ned to me?"

a raw deal, but they couldn't take any chances. The pilot will land yo

tly. "Why was I kidnapped? What ha

rp jangle of bells to the engine-roo

. Here's your grip, here's your hat. The ladder's on the port side. L

witch, as blindingly as a train leaps from the tunnel into the glaring sun, the darkn

ringing orders of one man. Above the tumult this one voice rose like the warning strokes of a fire-gong, and looking up to the pilot-house from whence the voice came, David saw the barke

quivered, and like a hound freed from a leash she raced for the open sea. But swiftly as she fled, as a thief is held in the circle of a policeman's bull's-eye, the shaft of light followed and exposed her and hel

ying for us for three weeks, and now," he shrieked exul

rom alarm, David's nerves wer

emanded, "how d

don

ops the pil

ed the youth. "The pilot's got to

man and swung him so that

David. "Who are these men? Wh

Wrenching himself free, the youth pointed at the pilot-house. Above it on a blue board in letters of gold-leaf a foot high was the name

David. "She's a filibuster! Sh

Cu

owl of anguish, r

r?" he s

an regarded

bananas,"

aid to sell machinery. I demand to be put ashore. I'll lose m

d put him ashore, in gratitude he would have crawled on his knees. What followed was of no interest to David, nor to many of the filibusters, nor to any of the Cuban patriots. Their groans of self-pity, their prayers and curses in eloquent Spanish, rose high above the crash of broken crockery and the pounding of the waves. Even when the search-light gave way to a brilliant sunlight the ci

ered David; "perha

d and smothered him, David fell into broken slumber. Sometimes he woke to a dull consciousness of his position. At such moments he added to his misery by speculating upon the other misfortunes that might have befallen him on shore. Emily, he decided, had given him up for lost and married-probably a navy officer in command of a ba

ion threw it in the lee scupper and fell upon it. From time to time the youth in the golf cap had b

red it a doub

How did a fellow like you come

aughed good

"and I'm not mixed up with them. My name is Henry

with the derby

rt of mouse-helping-the-lion idea. Just through dumb luck I found out about this expedition. The government agents in New York found out I'd found out and sent for me to tell. But I didn't, and I didn't

a reporter?

always guying me about it. But, haven't you noticed, it's the ones who dream who find their dreams come true. Now this isn't real war, but it's a near war, and

KE this?" g

oat." He stooped and lowered his voice. "Now, here are two fake filibusters," he whispered

had knocked David out, and the little

ver got. The other one is a dare-devil calling himself Colonel Beamish. He says he's an English officer, and a soldier of fortune, and that he's been in eighteen battles. Jimmy says he's never been near enough to a battle to see the red-cross flags o

ox. They dropped it not two yards from where David lay, and

st of Cuba on which she had arranged to land her expedition, and that in case she w

id Carr, "and they're going to assemble it. You'

ok his he

ested. "I wouldn't move

crew a heavy tripod to the deck and balance above it a quick-firing one-pounder. They worked very

n his life," he whispered to Carr. "I never did, either, but I've put

ng with it?

rgy to answer, the attention of all on b

those deep in bridge, or shrieked from the tops of a sinking ship it never q

" he h

elves and swung their hats; thei

bre!" th

d inlets. Above it towered green hills, the peak of each topped by a squat blockh

reated David, "it's just

have to look,"

ans waited to receive the filibusters. The goal was in sight. The dreadful voyage was done. Joy and excitement thrilled the ship's company. Cuban patriots appeared in uniforms with Cuban flags pinned in the b

y, "we ought to get all of this on shore. And then, all I ask,"

a mile from The Three Friends she sprang from the cover of a narrow inlet. She did not signal questions or extend courtesies. For her the name of the ocean-going tug was sufficient

t waiting to aim it, he tugged at the trigger. Nothing happened! He threw open the breech and gazed impotently at the

s a shell screamed and within a h

d groaned miserably. He was far remo

tested. "They can't d

r. He fell upon David. He half-lif

th that gun, you fix it! Fix

s, soothed his racked body, his jangled nerves. The Three Friends had made the harbor, and was gliding through water flat as a pond. But David did not know why the change had

ling from the gun. With swift, practised fingers he fell upon its m

out him saw that he understoo

tructure, smashed the glass in the air ports, like angry wasps sang in a continuous whining chorus. Intent only on the gun, David wor

ed with

t working,"

rry was doubled behind a water butt. A shell splashed to port, a shell splashed to starboard. For an instant David stood staring wide-eyed at the greyhound of a boat

ung Carr kneeling at the box of ammunition, and holding a shell toward him. He heard the click as the breech shut, felt the rubber tire of the brace give against the weight of his shoulder, down a long shining tube saw the pursuing gun-boat, saw her again and

hell with Spain!" and he foun

othing in the wa

is," he exclaimed jo

single gun served by one man, and that man an American. It was the first sea-fight of the war. Over night a Cuban navy had b

ely dumped upon the coast of Cuba, and The Three Friends was gliding swiftly and, having caught the Florida s

u came to volunteer for this expedition. Before you could explain your wish you were mistaken for a secret-service man, and hustled on board. Th

"You certainty did, Dave," protested the

ns kept David there over one steamer, to dress his wounds, his

sieged their office. At the Merchants Down-Town Club the

for Cuba! Or we wouldn't have let him go, would we?" Then again they would wink heavily. "I suppose you know," they would say, "that he's a direct descendant of General Hiram

Tampa cigar factories was at the dock. There were thousands of them a

t before they could reach their hero the courteous Junta forced them back, and cleared a pathway for a young girl. She was travel-worn and pale, her shirt-waist w

der, and clung to him. "David!" she sobbed,