CHAPTER XIX.A FORCED PLAY.
The next morning, Hawley received a note at his hotel. It was from Virginia Throgmorton, and it said:
“I must see you at once. Something very alarming has happened. I am going out riding this afternoon, as usual. Will you meet me at the same place? If you can’t be there tell bearer.”
Hawley sent word by the bearer, one of the men-servants of Minister Throgmorton’s household, that he would surely be there. The steamshipPanamawas due to arrive and leave that afternoon, and if he kept this appointment he would be unable to sail on her; but he had already fully decided that he was not going back to the United States just yet. He hated to disappoint Señora Felix, but the latest developments had removed from his mind all doubts as to what course he should follow.
Virginia Throgmorton’s pretty face wore a very grave and perturbed expression when Hawley galloped up to the old trysting place on the steed he had hired for the occasion. “I don’t think I was followed,” she began, “but if I was it can’t be helped. I have some news so important and serious that I had to run the risk of meeting you once more.”
“Is it about our friend Gale?” the Camera Chap inquired, having a shrewd suspicion of the cause of the girl’s anxiety.
“Yes; how did you guess—or do you know about that dinner last night?”
“I know a little about it, I think,” Hawley answered. “I met Gale last evening on Avenida Juarez, as he was returning from the palace, and he told me that he had been President Portiforo’s guest at dinner.”
A shade flitted across the girl’s face. “Did he tell you what took place at that dinner?”
The Camera Chap nodded grimly.
“What is to be done?” exclaimed Virginia, in a tone of deep concern. “Poor Señora Felix! I fear that all her brave efforts to save her husband have been in vain. Now that Portiforo knows that the press of the United States is aware of his secret, he will take no chances. In order to avert discovery he will resort to desperate measures.”
“The situation is pretty bad,” Hawley admitted. “Still, it might be worse, I think. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking since I met Gale last night, and I believe I’ve hit upon a way of lulling Portiforo into a sense of false security.”
“What is it?” the girl demanded eagerly.
“I understand, from what Gale told me last evening,” the Camera Chap explained, “that Portiforo invited him to dinner for the double purpose of finding out how much he knew, and denying vehemently that there was any truth in the rumor. Now, my idea is that if Gale can be made to believe that Portiforo spoke the truth—that there is absolutely nothing in the rumor of President Felix’s confinement in El Torro, he will wire his paper to that effect, theNewswill publish the story, knocking the supposed lie on the head; the story will be cabled back to San Cristobal, and Portiforo will be satisfied that he has nothing to fear from the press of the United States.”
“But how are we going to make Mr. Gale believe Portiforo’s denial?” Virginia queried. “He doesn’t believe it now. He was arguing with father about it at the breakfast table this morning. He said that Portiforo was very crafty—that he couldn’t fool him, but that he intended to keep right on until he got the proof.”
“And what did Mr. Throgmorton say to that?” Hawley inquired, greatly interested.
“Dad got angry and said that he had given Mr. Gale credit for having more sense. He asserted that Portiforo was a most estimable gentleman, and the best president that had ever ruled over Baracoa, and that this preposterous rumor about Felix was a base slander concocted by the enemies of the present administration. Dad asked Mr. Gale about his visit to El Torro fortress. It seems that Mr. Gale went all through the prison the other day, on a pass from the minister of war. Dad wanted to know how he had been treated there. Mr. Gale said that he had been received very cordially, that Captain Reyes had taken him all over the prison, and that he had discovered nothing to confirm his suspicions.”
“Then he didn’t see the cell with the covered door?” Hawley remarked.
“Evidently not; at least, he didn’t mention it. Still, he is far from satisfied. He argued with father thatthe prison officials knew he was coming, and could easily have removed President Felix before he got there. So you see, Mr. Hawley,” Virginia pointed out, “we would have a hard time trying to make him believe that there is nothing in the story.”
The Camera Chap smiled. “I think I have found a way of convincing him,” he said quietly. “In order to carry out my plan, Miss Throgmorton, I shall need your assistance.”
He proceeded to outline his plan, and Virginia’s face lighted up as she listened. “Excellent!” she exclaimed. “You can certainly count on me to do my part.”
“And Señora Felix? Do you think you will be able to persuade her to let us have those letters?”
“I feel sure that she will consent,” the girl replied. “She doesn’t know yet of Mr. Gale’s interview with Portiforo. When she hears of it, she will be willing to do anything in her power to avert this new menace. And she is bound to be impressed with your ingenious plan. It was really very clever of you to think of it, Mr. Hawley, and I want to thank you for making my heart much lighter than it was when I came out here. I felt, then, that all was lost.”
Then, suddenly, her face clouded. “But, after all,” she said sadly, “even though we succeed in reassuring Portiforo, that isn’t getting poor President Felix out of prison.” She looked at the Camera Chap wistfully. “Don’t you think that you’ll soon be able to find a way of getting that picture, Mr. Hawley?”
The Camera Chap smiled. “I am going to whispera little secret,” he said; “I believe I have found a way already. I was out in the harbor in the motor boat this morning, taking another peep at El Torro, and, suddenly, an inspiration came to me as to how the thing might be done. It is a good plan, and I feel confident that it would succeed; but in order to carry it out, I shall have to find a partner—preferably a woman.”
“Preferably a woman!” Virginia caught him up eagerly. “Well, you won’t have to look very far, Mr. Hawley. What’s the matter with me?”
“You!” he exclaimed, as though the thought had never even remotely suggested itself to him. “Do you mean to say that you’re ready to volunteer, Miss Throgmorton, without even knowing what the job calls for?”
“I don’t care what it calls for,” she responded, her eyes flashing. “If there’s anything that I can do to help get poor President Felix free, I’m eager to do it. Won’t you let me help you, Mr. Hawley?”
“I’ll consider your application,” he replied gravely. “That’s the best I can promise now. But, first, we must attend to the business of getting rid of Gale. We can’t do anything until we’ve made him believe that President Felix isn’t in El Torro.”