nd _manana_ it had to be. And even when at length, late on
the following day, the vessel was safely docked and the steam pumps
started by which the water was to be pumped out of the enclosure and the
vessel left dry and accessible to the workmen, it proved so exceedingly
difficult to prevail upon these workmen to get to work that at length
Jack and Milsom, driven to despair, and with their patience absolutely
exhausted, were obliged to set their own people on to the job of
removing from the ship's bottom the thick growth of barnacles and sea
grass with which it was encrusted, and afterwards to cover the steel
plating with a fresh coating of anti-fouling composition. It was thus a
full week from the date of the yacht's arrival in Havana harbour ere she
was once more afloat and ready for sea, and Jack at length felt himself
free to fulfil his promise to rejoin the Montijo family at their
hacienda.

CHAPTER TWELVE.

BAD NEWS.

It was a glorious morning when Jack, after an early breakfast, made his
way to the railway station and, having written two days before to
apprise his friends of his coming, demanded a first-class ticket for
Pinar del Rio. He was gratified to find that not only were there no
troops going by his train, but also that very few people were travelling
by it, and that he was therefore likely to be able to secure a
compartment to himself; for he found himself in a most unaccountable
state of excitement at the prospect of meeting his friends once more,
and was also acutely conscious of a desire to be absolutely alone in
order that he might be free to picture to himself the precise manner in
which "she" would be likely to receive him. There was also another
reason why the young man was anxious to be alone during his journey,
which was that, mingling curiously with the feeling of exhilaration
resulting from pleasurable anticipation, there was a certain vague
uneasiness, traceable to the fact that no word, either by telegram or
letter, had come to him from any member of the Montijo family since he
had said _au revoir_ to them on that platform nine days ago. He had not
had much time to dwell upon this fact while the yacht was in dock;
indeed, he had been so exceedingly busy, and so dog-tired at the end of
each day's work, that it had scarcely obtruded itself upon his
attention: but now he began to worry himself as to why it was that
someone--by which he really meant Dona Isolda--had not been able to f