BY ANDRES VIGLUCCI AND TERE FIGUERAS

 After two days of questioning by federal anti-smuggling investigators, Cuban
 baseball standout Andy Morales was set free by immigration authorities to pursue
 his dream of playing in the major leagues.

 Morales and his eight traveling companions, who were dropped off by smugglers
 Tuesday on the Marquesas islands off Key West, were bused out of the Krome
 immigration detention center in the late afternoon Thursday to an exuberant
 reunion amid hugs and high-fives with friends and relatives in Little Havana.

 Accounts that Morales and the others gave investigators of their arrival,
 meanwhile, suggest that smugglers who allegedly charged them $5,000 each for
 the trip left the group in a precarious spot.

 The Border Patrol said the nine apparently spent more than 30 hours on an
 uninhabited island in the Marquesas with only a gallon of water and virtually no
 food.

 In a sign of the interest that Morales' arrival has drawn in baseball circles, the
 athlete's agent fielded calls from three major league teams during the half-hour
 drive from Krome to a round of health screenings and routine processing in Little
 Havana.

 ``They wanted to know if it was true he was out, and they expressed an interest,''
 agent Gus Dominguez said.

 He declined to identify the teams.

 When the 25-year-old Morales emerged from the white Immigration and
 Naturalization Service van outside a state clinic, he made the sign of the cross,
 kissed his fingers and pointed to the sky. He then bent down and pressed his
 hands against the asphalt of the parking lot.

 Six weeks ago, Morales' first attempt to defect ended in repatriation by the Coast
 Guard.

 Until they got their first glimpse of Morales as a free man, friends and relatives
 had feared the government would try again to send him back, in spite of
 assurances from the INS that he would be processed and released because he
 had reached dry land on the second try.

 ``It wasn't until that moment that I realized he was safe -- that it was all over,'' said
 Morales' childhood friend Justo Pozo.

 Morales, looking tired but happy, made only a brief statement upon leaving the
 clinic an hour and a half later.

 ``I'm very happy to have arrived in the United States,'' he said. ``You'll have to
 forgive me. This is the most tense and nervous I've been in my entire life.''

 Morales, who was accompanied in the voyage by his brother-in-law, will live with
 his father-in-law, Carlos Castillo, in west Miami-Dade County.

 ``I'm so very proud. I finally have my sons here -- my two sons,'' Castillo said.

 A hard-hitting former member of Cuba's powerful national team, the 25-year-old
 Morales starred in the squad's 12-6 defeat of the Orioles in Baltimore last year.
 But he was dropped from the team after he was spotted speaking to Dominguez
 in Baltimore.

 QUIT LOCAL TEAM

 Although Cuban authorities allowed Morales to rejoin his old local team, he soon
 quit. His father in Cuba said Morales was depressed, in part because he was
 followed constantly by state security agents.

 It's unknown how he eluded them. But the Border Patrol is certain that Morales
 and his companions were smuggled into Florida and has launched an
 investigation. Joseph Mellia, an assistant Border Patrol chief, said several
 passengers admitted paying smugglers $5,000 each to bring them from Cuba on
 a speedboat.

 ``We have the people talking, they're giving some information. We got some
 leads, and we're following up on them,'' Mellia said.

 According to the Cubans, Mellia said, the group left from the coast west of
 Havana around midnight Sunday and arrived in the Marquesas, which are U.S.
 soil, around dawn Monday.

 ``They were told, `When you see a passing boat, just wave.' That is what they told
 us. Sometimes they're truthful, sometimes not,'' Mellia said.

 LANDING REPORTED

 The nine Cubans, all adult men except for one minor female, were picked up by
 the Coast Guard on Tuesday after someone -- it's unclear who -- called to report
 migrants on the island.

 One member of the group, however, disputed the Border Patrol's account.

 Alberto Gutiérrez, 26, said they left from Varadero, Cuba, around 6 p.m. Sunday,
 arriving at the Marquesas three hours later.

 He also insisted: ``We didn't pay any money to anybody.''

 The Border Patrol interrogation, which a government source characterized as
 extensive, accounted for the unusually long delay in Morales' release.

 Agents are also conducting an investigation into Morales' previous attempt to
 reach Florida, and two Hialeah men remain in INS custody as the suspected
 smugglers. Mellia said the passengers are not the target and will not be criminally
 charged.

 Dominguez, the sports agent, said he regards Morales as a surefire major-league
 prospect. But he said he had not discussed plans with his client, who has several
 options. If he establishes residency in the United States, Morales would be
 subject under major-league rules to an amateur draft in 2001, which means he
 could negotiate only with the team that selects him.

 RESIDENCY OPTION

 He could also, as other defectors have done, establish residency in a foreign
 country. In that case, he would be free to negotiate with any interested teams and
 eventually sign a more lucrative contract.

 Dominguez declined to discuss the Cuban government's treatment of Morales,
 noting that his wife and infant son -- who have received U.S. immigrant visas and
 are awaiting Cuban authorization to leave -- remained behind.