"You need have no fear of either of us, Estrella. If you have friends in this wide world, you are with two of them at this moment." At these earnest words, the expression of the girl's face changed somewhat and she replied to the implied interrogatory of the Priest: "I, also, believe that I am an American, although I do not know anything of my own parentage beyond what my foster parents have told me. I do not even know," she blushed while she made the statement, "whether my father and mother had been married before my birth.... I have no means of finding out anything more of myself than that I am an honest girl and that I am deeply grateful to both you and Miss Ruth for your great kindness to me in my great sorrow. As far as my fealty to America is concerned," she ended, proudly, "I am as true to that great country as anyone who knows himself to be a citizen of it. I would, gladly, lay my feeble life upon the altar of what I believe to be my native land ... the United States of America." She pronounced the words with reverence and bowed her head as if in prayer, so that Father Felix no longer hesitated, but proceeded, at once: "At this moment, an American squadron is in Asiatic waters, ready to move, at the moment its Commander receives the cablegram from the President of our own country, against the Spaniard, almost on his own territory. By this move it is hoped to so cripple him that we, here, in Cuba, may, with the help of our soldiers and sailors, conquer and drive from the Island those who have so long usurped the places of great power among us." When the good Priest had pronounced these fateful words, he found his two auditors sitting erect, as if at attention, with hands folded in their laps, and eyes fixed upon his face in breathless eagerness. Ruth was the first to break the silence. "I pray the good God," she said, softly and reverently, "I pray God to strengthen the hands of those who are to do this great, good work! I trust that those who will be engaged in battle may be prepared to meet their Maker with clean hearts, if with bloody hands. War," she cried, suddenly, losing her attitude of prayer in the violence of her emotions, "war is a terrible calamity but it seems that, only through war can a nation be purged of such foul crimes as have been committed right here in Cuba." Estrella watched her with flashing eyes and sympathetic expression and the good Priest crossed himself and clenched his fists at the same time, for, had occasion required such action at his hands, it was evident that Father Felix could have changed from the spiritual guide to the fiery enthusiast willing to take his place among the fighting men who would defend what he believed to be a sacred cause.