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Updated: June 5, 2025
Then, whipping out his revolver, Starland backed from the cabin, ran down the steps to the bow of the boat, and before any one suspected his purpose, shouted to his own executive officer: "Captain Winton, I am betrayed! Open fire, and sink this tug!" Then he wheeled about and with leveled weapon, added: "I will kill the first man who attempts to lay a finger on me!"
Because of this remote relationship, so triturated indeed that it had really vanished into nothingness, Jack Starland and Warrenia Rowland called themselves cousins. It was just like the headstrong, impulsive, mischievous youth to go still further.
Major Jack Starland carried out his thoughtlessly formed plan. I fear it must be conceded that his motive was not a wholly chivalrous one. He saw the chance for humiliating the man for whom he felt only unmitigated contempt. He had not a whit of respect for the pompous Bambos, but the ponderous nuisance had not insulted him and his unpardonably.
The young woman could not touch upon these themes, lest he accept it as encouragement; so she contented herself with parrying them. She began to long for the time when she should turn her back upon Atlamalco forever. On a certain balmy forenoon, General Yozarro, his niece and Miss Starland rode out from the town and over the trail leading into the Rubio Mountains.
For a minute or two Major Starland could not believe what he heard, but the movements on board the tug left no doubt of the frightful purpose of the raging creature on the larger boat. Holding the tiller steady and keeping the head of the small craft straight toward shore, the Major said to his sister: "If they hit us, it will be by accident; you would better stoop your head."
He declared further that the real name of Warrenia was the same as his own, that is Starland. He often addressed her as Miss Starland, and she, with her fun-loving disposition, pretended to agree with him. When together, they almost invariably spoke to or of each other as brother and sister, and there were not lacking those who believed they were actually thus related.
In fact, to emphasize the wonderful, summer-like calmness of those usually turbulent waters, which are the dread of veteran navigators, Miss Starland held the spokes of the wheel for several hours. Such good fortune is not likely to come to a navigator once in a score of times.
It looked like a deliberate attempt to assassinate the unsuspecting officer before anyone could interfere. Jack Starland did not observe the act, but the cry of a man alongside of him caused him to turn his head. Taking advantage of the confusion, one of General Yozarro's officers had slipped behind the American unnoticed by him, and was stealing upon him with drawn knife.
Warrenia Rowland at the same time became a student in the famous young ladies' seminary, to which further reference will be made later, and the two were graduated within a few weeks of each other. It would be supposed that the military career upon which Major Jack Starland entered would have extinguished his love of boating and the water, but it did not.
This was the question Major Starland asked himself, while tramping directly behind his sister. Such a thing would be so daring an outrage that it seemed improbable. What excuse could he offer when coming into the presence of the two American visitors for so high-handed an interference with their rights?
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