ission, and a week later reached Havana,
where he found a cablegram waiting. He got a shock when he opened it, and
stood for a time with the message crumpled in his hand, for it told him
that Peter Askew was dying at Ashness. Then he sat down on the long,
arcaded veranda of the hotel, with a poignant sense of loss, for the last
blow was heavier than the first. It would be too late when he got home;
Andrew, his English relative, would not have sent the message had there
been any hope.

After a time, Kit began to pull himself together. He felt dull and half
stunned, but saw that he must brace up. Although one duty was denied him,
another was left. He could not bid his father good-by, but he could keep
his promise to Adam, and there was much to be done. Getting up with a
resolute movement, he went to the telegraph office.

Although Peter had not hinted that he was ill, Kit felt he ought to have
gone home before, and now blamed Alvarez for keeping him. He knew this
was not logical, but he hated the country, with its turmoils and plots.
It was not worth helping, and in very truth he did not know if by
supporting the president he were helping it or not. After all, however,
this was not important; Alvarez needed a last supply of munitions that
Adam had agreed to send. Kit doubted if they would be paid for, but the
doubt did not count for much. Adam knew the risk when he agreed and his
engagements bound his nephew. The goods must be delivered and then Kit
would let the business go. When he reached the office he wrote a
cablegram to Andrew at Ashness and another to Mayne, who had left Havana
before Kit arrived.

CHAPTER XII

THE LAST CARGO

Dusk was falling and Kit urged his tired mule up the winding road. His
skin was grimed with dust, for he had ridden hard in scorching heat, and
was anxious and impatient to get on. The _Rio Negro_ was in the lagoon
and some cargo had been landed, but Kit stopped the work when nobody came
to take the goods. It looked as if the message he had sent through a
secret channel had not reached the president, and this was ominous.

He had heard rumors of fighting when he was in Cuba and the United
States, but the newspapers gave him little information and he had driven
the _Rio Negro_ across at full speed in order to finish the contract
before the revolution spread, which was all he wanted. Adam's staunch
loyalty had cost him his life, but the president had no claim on Kit.
Besides, his