CHAPTER XXII.HIS PLAN.
“I have decided to make the attempt to-night,” the Camera Chap repeated, looking earnestly at the daughter of the American minister to Baracoa. “The more I think about my scheme, the more convinced I am of its practicability.”
“And you will take me as your assistant?” Virginia inquired eagerly.
Hawley hesitated. “Well, I don’t know about that. There would be some danger, and I don’t feel like letting you run any risk. Of course,” he added wistfully, “the danger wouldn’t be so very great. No matter how the venture should turn out, I don’t think they would dare to harm you. The fact that you are a woman, and the daughter of the United States minister, ought to be——”
“Never mind the danger,” the plucky girl broke in impatiently. “As I told you yesterday, nothing could please me more than to have a chance to help my unhappy friends, Señora Felix and her husband. I’d gladly make any sacrifice for them. I shall hold you to your promise, Mr. Hawley. As a man of your word, you’ve got to take me with you.”
Hawley laughed. “I don’t think I quite promised; I merely said that I would consider your application, Miss Throgmorton. However, I guess I’ve got to take advantage of your kind offer. I’ve got to havean assistant, and, while a man might do, a woman partner would add greatly to the chances of success—especially when she is beautiful enough to——”
Virginia stopped him with a gesture of disapproval. “This is no time for frivolous compliments, Mr. Hawley,” she said severely, a faint tinge of pink making itself evident beneath her fair skin. “There is too much at stake for that.”
“I assure you that I had no intention of being frivolous, Miss Throgmorton—or of paying you compliments, either,” the Camera Chap explained hastily. “It is a fact that I am counting a great deal on your good looks as an asset in this venture.”
Virginia appeared somewhat mollified by this explanation. “Tell me your plan, Mr. Hawley,” she requested. “Now that it is settled that I am to have a part in it, isn’t it only fair that you should take me into your confidence as to what you’re going to do?”
“It surely is,” Hawley agreed. “I was going to tell you all about it, anyway, only I deemed it advisable to keep the details to myself until I was ready to carry it out.
“It is very simple,” he continued, his face lighting up. “In fact, I can’t understand why the idea didn’t hit me long ago. The inspiration came to me like a flash, the other day, as I was cruising in the motor boat in the vicinity of El Torro, watching the sentry pacing up and down outside the window of Felix’s cell, and tying bowknots in my brain trying to conceive of a way of getting rid of him. That’s been the big problem all along, of course—how to get past thesentry. If I could devise a way of luring him from his post for a few minutes, it would be a simple matter to get my snapshot of Felix in his cell.”
“And you have found a way of doing that?” the girl asked eagerly.
“I believe I have. All that we’ve got to do is to take a tip from the New York underworld.”
Virginia looked at him in bewilderment, but when she heard the plan he unfolded, she uttered an exclamation of delight. “It does sound good!” she declared. “You are absolutely the most ingenious man I have ever met.”
Hawley regarded her quizzically. “This is no time for frivolous compliments, Miss Throgmorton,” he said, with mock indignation. “There is too much at stake for that.”
The girl laughed at the way he had turned the tables on her. Then, suddenly, her smooth brow puckered into a puzzled frown. “But there is one thing about your plan which I don’t quite understand,” she told him. “How do you expect to make your escape from the fortress after you get the snapshot? You cannot, of course, use the same boat I’m going to use, and it seems to me that a second boat would be out of the question.”
“Of course it would,” her companion agreed. “There’s only one way that I can see of solving that difficulty: Since I can’t travel on the water, I shall have to travel in it.”
Virginia looked at him in horrified amazement.“Surely you’re not thinking of trying to swim back?” she gasped.
“I guess that’s what I’ll have to do,” was the cheerful reply. “However, there won’t be any trouble about that. I’m a pretty good swimmer.”
Virginia shook her head. “You must give up that idea,” she said firmly. “It would be madness. You couldn’t live ten minutes in those waters, Mr. Hawley. Don’t you know that Puerto Cabero harbor is full of sharks?”
In spite of himself, the Camera Chap grew serious at this announcement. The presence of sharks in the bay was a detail which had escaped his attention when he had formulated his plans. The prospect was decidedly disturbing. Then, suddenly, his face lighted up. “Oh, well,” he said, with a characteristic shrug, “I’ve read somewhere that it’s all a fake about sharks being man-eaters. Anyway, Miss Throgmorton, you’ve got an exaggerated idea of the situation. I’m not thinking of swimming the whole width of the bay. All I’ll have to do is to strike out for the battleship.”
“The battleship?” the girl echoed, her eyebrows arching.
Hawley laughed. “By Jove! If I haven’t forgotten to mention the most important detail of all. Evidently you do not know that the United States battleshipKearsargesteamed into the harbor this afternoon, and is now anchored a quarter of a mile off El Torro. That’s another reason why I feel confident that our little venture is going to be a success.”