"Villain, unhand her!" thundered Howard, as he leaped to Estella's side. As he spoke, a well-aimed blow knocked the Spanish officer off his feet, and sent him staggering up against the building. "Help! Guard!" bawled the man who, Howard now saw, wore the uniform of a captain in the royal army. "Arrest that man! He is an American spy! And hold the woman! She has papers of great importance for General Campos!" CHAPTER IV. "OH, WAS EVER THERE A GIRL SO WRETCHED AS I?" The cry of the Spanish officer, ringing through the quiet side street of Santiago, would ordinarily have attracted but little attention. But now the place was filled with soldiery, and in a trice four of the captain's own men appeared, and rushed upon fair Estella and Howard. "Secure the two!" bawled the captain, who had not yet recovered from the well-deserved blow the young war correspondent had administered. "The man is a spy, and the woman is here to give him information!" "You are mistaken; I am an American citizen, and will resist any indignity to the last," exclaimed Howard. "This brute deserves what he got, for he was treating the lady as no gentleman would." At this the Spanish captain muttered a long oath. Then he gave rapid directions to his men in their native tongue, and the four made toward Estella and Howard. "Fly, Estella!" whispered the young war correspondent. "Don't waste a moment. I will keep them at bay!" "But you--the letters!" panted Estella, her breast heaving violently. She recognized only too well the grave peril which confronted the noble young man. "Keep the letters, or throw them where they may be found!" he rejoined. "Now fly, for the sake of Heaven--for my sake!" At those last words, even in the intense excitement, her cheeks flushed, and her eyes took on a light he had never before seen in them. Like a beautiful vision she turned and sped along an alley leading to a deserted dancing-garden. She had hardly taken a dozen steps, when her maid, who had accompanied her to the plaza, joined her. The maid was stopping at Santiago, having been sent thither by General Corona to meet Estella on the arrival of the steamer, and conduct her safely home. "Oh, Miss Estella!" she cried, in her Cuban patois. "The soldiers--that young man----" "Come, Cara; this is no place in which to talk," responded the frightened young mistress. "You say you know the streets about here. Lead me back to your friend's house. I will not dare to return to the hotel." The maid said no more, but took the lead and plunged through the dancing garden, now silent and empty, and into a labyrinth of back streets until they reached a small and plain house at the upper end of the town. The maid knocked on the door, and they were admitted, and for the time being at least Estella was safe. But she still carried the letters, the very things for which she had risked so much.