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"I have no trunk"
"So? I took you to be a great traveler"
"I aoods, eh?"
"No"
"Indeed? Then you are a pleasure traveler? You see the sights, is that it? Well, Cuba is beautiful"
"Most beautiful, judging froer at his guest "Tut! Tut! You know Cuba You speak the language better than a native You can't fool me, sly one!" He wrinkled his face and winked both eyes It was an invitation to further confidence, and he was disappointed when it passed unnoticed "Well, you Americans are a brave people," he continued, with an obvious effort to keep the conversation going "You like to be where the fighting is"
"Not I I'm a timid man"
"Ho! Ha! Ha!" the proprietor cackled Then he beca here at Neuvitas to interest a tourist--except the war"
"I'" Mr Carbajal seated hie of the bed, where he could look into O'Reilly's traveling-bag "Not a tourist, not a traveling- you to Cuba?"
O'Reilly eyed his inquisitor gravely; a subtle reeable countenance "I travel for an to heave; his bulging abdomen oscillated as if shaken by some hidden hand "Good! Ha! There's another joke for you"
"I'm a sick man," O'Reilly insisted, hollowly
"From what malady do you suffer?" inquired the hotel-keeper
"Rheumatism"
"Rheumatism? That is no more than a pain in the joints, a stiffness--"
"There! I knew it!" O'Reilly exclai, he seized his host's e! You ony; they'd like to bury him They'd never recommend this climate No! 'Pain in the joints,' you say, 'stiffness' That proves the abominable affliction is practically unknown here I thank you, sir"
"You don't look sick," mumbled Carbajal "Not like the other American"
"What other American?"
"A peculiar fellow He went on to Puerto Principe What a cough! And he was as thin as a wire He bled at theo there, provided he hasn't co I believe he writes for newspapers Well, it is my pleasure to serve you Command me at any hour" Mr Carbajal rose reluctantly and heezing down-stairs to his grimy tables and the flies
O'Reilly was not in the least deceived; it was plain to him that the hotel man was in close touch with the Spanish authorities, and he began to feel the need of so here, such as would allay suspicion once for all But he could think of nothing better than his rheu