The Kidnapped President

I was determined that my coolness should equal hers. Nothing was to be gained by acting the part of the stern gaoler. We accordingly passed along the deck to the saloon. The electric bell summoned the attentive chief steward, to whom I gave orders that a meal should be prepared for us immediately.

I cannot attempt to make you understand how beautiful the Señorita looked as she divested herself of her cloak and seated herself on the luxurious divan that ran round the saloon. It must be remembered that she had driven out from the city dressed just as she had been at the ball, and as this thought crossed my mind I was struck with wonderment as to what she would do for wearing apparel on board. She could not spend the day in a low-necked dress, and with no stronger footgear than a pair of white satin dancing-shoes. However, I postponed consideration of the subject for the moment. Presently the steward reappeared, the cloth was laid, and a meal placed upon the table. My message from the cartel had given them time to prepare it, I suppose; at any rate, it was as delightful a little supper as any one could wish to partake of. We sat down to it, as strange a trio as you would discover in a very long day's sail.

Fernandez still wore his ribbon and orders; the Señorita, as I have already observed, was in evening dress with a collet of diamonds round her neck. I also was attired just as I had been at the ball, though my raiment was somewhat dishevelled by my encounter with the Presidential Forces on the wharf. We had scarcely sat down at the table before the throbbing of the propellor announced the fact that we were under way. Almost involuntarily I looked at the President.

"Our voyage has commenced," he said. "I drink to your health, Señor Trevelyan!"

I drew a long deep breath of relief. It was something to know that we were leaving Equinata at last, and that I had got the President aboard. Since his treatment of me that evening, I felt no remorse for having captured him. He had admitted that he would have shot me without compunction had I remained in his power. He could scarcely blame me, therefore, if I experienced a feeling of delight in having turned the tables upon him.

"I must say your employer is by no means niggardly to you," remarked Fernandez, when the servants had withdrawn. "As you do not provide it, I suppose it is not a breach of good manners to observe that this wine is excellent, while the cooking is all that can be desired." Then, with a little sigh, whether real or assumed, he continued: "My own chef will now, I suppose, be obliged to seek another situation. And in some respects he was unrivalled. Well, well, it's the fortune of war!"

"Señor Trevelyan, is there no way of arranging for our return to Equinata?" asked the Señorita, leaning a little forward and placing one dainty hand upon my coat-sleeve, while she looked pleadingly into my face.

"I am afraid not," I replied. "Don Fernandez and I have already discussed that matter together, and have come to the conclusion that it is impossible."

She rose from her chair. I thought she was going to break down, but she managed to retain her composure.

"If you will allow me, I think I will retire to my cabin," she said.

I rang the bell for the steward and inquired what state-room had been set aside for the lady. He informed me, and I immediately begged permission to conduct her thither. She bade her uncle good-night and we set off together. When she reached the door she turned to me.

"I feel sure you will be sorry some day for the part you have played to-night," she remarked. "Why should you wish to take us away from the country in which we were so happy, and for which we have done so much?"

"For the simple reason that I am not my own master," I replied. "I am a paid servant, and must do as I am ordered."

She heaved a heavy sigh, and then, without another word, turned and entered the cabin. I thereupon returned to the saloon to find that Fernandez had left it and had gone on deck. I discovered him upon the bulwarks opposite the smoking-room entrance. He had just lit a cigar, and was doubtless meditating on his position. The yacht was cleaving her way through the water, and already the lights of La Gloria lay far behind us.

"What are you thinking of, General?" I inquired as I took my position alongside him.

"I was thinking how I could manage to outwit you," he replied.

CHAPTER X

It was with a feeling of profound thankfulness that I turned into my bunk that morning. The clattering of feet on deck, and the slapping of the water against the sides, greeted my ears like the sweetest music. Only a few hours before I had deemed myself as good as a dead man. I had been the prisoner of a man without the bowels of compassion, and, what was worse, I knew that I had proved myself a traitor, and had not the ghost of a chance of effecting my escape. Now, however, I was free once more, and in a few days my mission to Equinata would be accomplished; after which I should be at liberty to return to England, to marry Molly, and to settle down to a very different life to that which I had been leading for the past few weeks. When I fell asleep, it was to dream that I was back at Falstead once more. I was smoking a pipe in the front garden, and Molly, seated in the shade of our favourite tree, was reading me an account of a terrible revolution that had taken place in the Republic of Equinata.

"The President, José de Hermaños is his name," she said, "has been assassinated. It appears that he married the niece of his predecessor, General Fernandez!"

That would have been strange enough in all conscience!

Owing, I suppose, to the lateness of my retiring, I was not very early astir, and when I reached the deck I made my way up to the bridge. It was the second mate's watch, but I had not been there very long before Captain Ferguson left his cabin and joined us. Thereupon the mate, with a knowledge of what was correct under such circumstances, crossed to the other side of the bridge, leaving us free to talk together concerning the events of the previous night.

"You don't know what a fright I had, Mr. Trevelyan," said the captain. "I sent a boat ashore as directed, and after waiting an hour and a half it returned to report that you had not put in an appearance. I had quite made up my mind that you had been captured."

"As a matter of fact, I was," I replied, and proceeded to give him an outline of my adventures during the evening.

"This will be the last of this sort of business for me," he said, when he heard me out. "The game is far from being worth the candle. I wonder what the end of it all will be? From what I gathered when ashore, and also from what you have told me, I have come to the conclusion that whatever Don Silvestre's ambition may be, he has lost his hold upon Equinata. If he is fool enough to return, I fancy he will find that the other's party is still too strong for him. The part of a President of a South American Republic is not an easy one to play."

"The wonder to me is that they ever get any one to play it at all," I answered. "Thank goodness, however, we have fulfilled our portion of the contract; we have got Fernandez, and that's all that can be expected of us."

"I think I understood you to say that the lady who accompanies him is a relative?"

"She is his niece, and a very beautiful woman."

"If you were to ask me, I should say that I was more afraid of her than of him. Stand by and keep your eye open for squalls, would be my motto if I had to deal with her."

"You may be very sure that I will do that," I replied. "I think I know the length of her ladyship's foot."

I thought of the time we had spent together in the balcony of the Opera House, and how strangely her seriousness had affected me. It was difficult to believe that it had all been a mere piece of acting.

Half-an-hour or so later, when I had left the bridge and had walked aft, Fernandez made his appearance on deck.

"Good-morning, señor," I said, with a bow to him. "In compliment to you we are favoured with a delightful morning."

"Delightful indeed," he replied, throwing a glance over the stern. "We are well on our way, I suppose, and steering due north, I observe. Let me see, if I am not mistaken, that should be in the direction of – " Here he looked at me interrogatively, as if he expected me to answer his question.

"In the direction of New York, shall we say?" I answered. "If we continue as we are going long enough, I have no doubt we shall see the Goddess of Liberty holding her torch aloft."

"The illustration is scarcely a pleasing one," he returned, "since I am a prisoner. The Goddess of Liberty has not done very much for me. But there, nothing is to be gained by repining! I have been in worse positions than this before to-day, and have always managed to get out of them with some sort of credit to myself."

"I hope you may do so in this instance," I answered, "but not while I have the charge of you."

He looked at me steadily for a few seconds.

"Do you know, Señor Trevelyan," he said at last, "I have come to the conclusion that I like you. I did not do so at first, but my opinion of you has changed."

"I am very glad to hear you say so," I replied; "but I confess I can scarcely see why you should have changed your mind regarding myself. If there is one man in the world whom I despise, it is myself."

"And I fancy I can understand why," he continued, still with the same grave look upon his face. "You must not, however, think badly of yourself, for I can assure you, you have managed this business remarkably well. The plot was excellently arranged. There is one thing, however, that puzzles me; that is, how Hermaños managed to overcome the Guards at the cartel? I quite imagined that the men were to be relied on."

"I cannot give you any information on that point," I replied, knowing that it was useless to endeavour to conceal the fact that Hermaños was present on that occasion. "I had no knowledge of the affair until the door was opened and I discovered that I was free."

"Some day I shall hope to be even with our friend Hermaños," Fernandez replied, more to himself than to me. "I have always had my suspicions about the man, but I never dreamt that he would rise to such a height as he has done in this affair. I deemed him a coward throughout."

"And a coward he is," I answered. "He is scheming now to save his own neck."

"The most dangerous conspirator you can have to deal with," Fernandez remarked. "Such a man lacks the saving grace of Ambition. He who risks his life for fame and fortune must have something good in him, but the individual who embarks upon a conspiracy, and who would throw over and denounce his friends on finding that his own participation in the plot is about to be discovered, is neither fish, flesh, nor fowl. There was a time when I could have had Hermaños for the holding up of a finger, but I wanted men of firmer metal, men like yourself, for instance."

"You pay me a great compliment," I answered. "Unfortunately, however, we met too late in the day. My services were already bespoken."

At that moment a steward approached him with a cup of chocolate and a roll.

"This is luxury in bondage," he remarked as he took it. Then, with a smile, he added: "If you had been breakfasting in the cartel this moment, I should probably have only allowed you bread and water."

"With a dozen bullets in my body to help me digest it," I thought to myself.

It was considerably past ten o'clock before the Señorita made her appearance on deck. The question of her attire had occurred to me earlier, and, in consequence, I had procured for her a cloth pilot-coat from the third mate, who, as fortune had it, was only a little fellow, and had placed it at her door. This she now wore, and though the garment was somewhat incongruous, when the rest of her attire was taken into consideration, the effect was by no means unbecoming. On leaving the companion she looked about her, and then ran her eye along the sky-line, as if in the hope of being able to discover her whereabouts. The yacht was pitching a little at the time, but I noticed that she balanced herself as cleverly as any old sailor could have done. She bade us good-morning, but did not take the chair I offered her.

"I wonder what they are doing at the palace," she said, more to her uncle than to myself. "I hope they will not forget to feed my poor little birds. I wonder if I shall ever see them again?"