FRANCES ROBLES

 BETHESDA, Md. -- Sam Ciancio, Elian Gonzalez's silent savior, has stayed out of it.

 He didn't go on and on in front of TV cameras, flashing bulbs and scribbling writers
 about the day he dove in Florida waters to save Elian Gonzalez, a scrawny and dazed
 Cuban boy he found floating in an inner tube. Ciancio bowed out and watched others
 make all the speeches.

 Saturday was different. On Saturday, the 6-year-old's father was there.

 ''I need to see that man,'' Ciancio said Saturday in Bethesda, Md. ''I didn't come here
 to get turned away.''

 Ciancio, his cousin and fellow rescuer Donato Dalrymple, Elian's great-uncle Delfin
 Gonzalez and cousin Alfredo Martell showed up uninvited in Maryland this weekend.
 The foursome flew from South Florida to see Juan Miguel Gonzalez, the father of the
 little boy Ciancio and Dalrymple saved from certain death.

 The rescuers said they came to the home of Cuba's top diplomat to urge Gonzalez
 to meet with his son in Miami. Delfin said his desire to was to break bread with his
 nephew and resolve their custody dispute away from the Cuban diplomats, American
 politicians and reporters.

 The warm embrace and emotional expression of gratitude they envisioned was not
 to be. Juan Miguel Gonzalez had already dashed out about 20 minutes before
 their arrival, shaking photographers on his tail. He made no public appearances
 Saturday.

 The visitors say they were told by unnamed authorities that nobody wanted to see
 them.

 ''I'm not giving up,'' Ciancio said. ''He owed us to meet with us. He owes us that
 respect. Juan Miguel is going to meet with me, and my cousin. I want to shake
 that gentleman's hand.''

 Dalrymple was more direct: ''Even dogs found in the street get thank-yous.''

 Gonzalez's American attorney, Gregory Craig, said his client plans to meet with
 the men who saved his son's life.

 ''He does indeed feel a profound debt of gratitude to the two fishermen who saved
 Elian's life and he's prepared to meet with them,'' Craig said. ''He hopes it will be
 possible to work out a mutually agreeable time [today].''

 Cuban Interests Section spokesman Luis Fernandez dismissed Delfin Gonzalez's
 trip, saying it was just a stunt for the media.

 ''It's for a zoo,'' he said. ''[Juan Miguel] doesn't have any reason to meet with
 Delfin. He's very angry with the family right now. If he was going to meet him, he
 should come with the boy and say, 'Juan Miguel, here's the boy, and I'm sorry.' ''

 That, Delfin said, wasn't going to happen. His visit occurred a day after the United
 States Justice Department said Elian's Miami family would have to work out a
 smooth way to turn Elian over to his dad. The father arrived in Washington on
 Thursday to stay with his son while the custody case winds through the appeals
 courts.

 Delfin said the family will not violate any laws, and he blasted the U.S.
 government for focusing on the transfer of the boy and not his welfare.

 ''If the government wants him, they know where he lives,'' Delfin Gonzalez said.
 ''They can go get him.''

 The rescuers also were making their agenda clear: they want Elian to stay here.

 ''I'd get on my knees to that man,'' Dalrymple said. ''I love that boy.''

 Herald wire services supplemented this report.

                     Copyright 2000 Miami Herald