HUNCHES
“It’s got to look downright serious, Unk,” Hal said, after entering
their rooms in the hotel. “It’s not just a coincidence, my meeting him
like that, or he wouldn’t have pulled away when he saw his chance. Why
wasn’t he reported to the police?”
“The captain promised me he would attend to it, Hal. Apparently he
didn’t. I myself saw Pizella not fifteen minutes ago.”
“How—where?”
“Señor Goncalves has a room on the next floor,” Denis Keen explained. “I
had occasion to think that perhaps I could get him to give me that
letter to His Excellency, the interventor, this afternoon and I went up.
Just as I got to the Señor’s room, whom was he showing out the door but
Pizella.”
“_Unk!_ You....”
“Wait a minute before you come to conclusions. I did. Goncalves acted
annoyed more than surprised—I would even go so far as to say that he was
somewhat agitated.”
“With you coming unexpectedly?”
“He directed a flow of abuse at the departing Pizella’s head. Told him
not to show his nose around there again and words to that effect. Then,
with his usual cheeriness and perfect hospitality, he invited me in and
told me that Pizella had the brass to seek him out and ask him for a job
as guide on his expedition. So that explained it.”
“What do you think about it, Unk?”
“Everything,” Denis Keen chuckled, and rose to fleck some ashes from his
cigarette. “Perhaps that poor devil has really been seeking a job as
guide right along. Perhaps that is why he did all that sneaking around
the boat—one can’t get much out of him. He seems hopelessly ignorant and
yet there’s always that sullen look and shifty eye to consider.... Oh,
well, he’s either one thing or the other—an ignorant half-caste or an
exceedingly clever half-caste. I’d like to know which.”
A knock sounded at the door and at their summons a boy entered with a
note. Hal took it.
“From the Brazil-nut,” he said after the boy had gone. “Very informal.
He says: ‘Will the Señors excuse me from accompanying them to the field
at two o’clock this afternoon? Business will detain me, but I beg of the
Señors to not disappoint my very good friend, José Rodriguez, as he has
made arrangements and has set aside time to take you up for the
spin—yes? A car will come for you at two, Señors.... Regretfully....’
He’s signed his name with a flourish, Unk. Well, it’s up to us to put in
our appearance alone. I....”
“Then you’ll put in _your_ appearance alone, Hal. I have no intention of
going. I’ve got a more serious matter to attend to. Besides, I’m not
keen about airplaning in any country—much less this. I’d be just as
pleased if you didn’t go either.”
“Aw, Unk, you’d think I was some kid. Why, I can handle controls now
like nobody’s business. Besides, this Rodriguez is an Ace! Do you
suppose anything’s likely to happen just because we’re in Brazil?
Gosh....”
“Oh, I know, Hal. It’s absurd, I suppose, for me to object to your
going, but I guess you’re wishing some of that accursed hunch business
on me. Something’s making me feel this way.” He laughed uneasily.
“Perhaps I’m just a little upset about other matters. Still, promise me
you’ll be careful—I could never face your mother if anything happened to
you while you were with me.”
“Unk, you’re the limit! You’d think I had never set foot in a cockpit
before! Why, Mother’s been up in the air with me. She says I’m a world
beater and she’s going to let me try for my pilot’s license next year.
Why, she came up with me twice when Bellair was down on a visit to teach
me. Gosh....”
“All right, Hal,” said Denis Keen, pacing up and down the room. “You’re
old enough to know what you’re doing, I suppose. This Bellair—he’s one
of the famous brothers, eh? Oh, I know they’re considered expert airmen.
Glad to hear they’ve taught you what you know. Guess they could give you
some fair pointers as to what to do in a tight place, eh?”
“And how!” Hal exclaimed with a wry smile. “They don’t teach anything
else but. They’re stunters on a large scale, and if you can’t learn
about planes from them, you’ll never learn. But why all these questions
about what I learned from the Bellairs, huh? Are you really afraid I
might get into a tight place with an expert like this Rodriguez is
supposed to be?”
“Well, strangers, you know, Hal ... methods are varied among airmen,
aren’t they? Oh, I know you’re laughing up your sleeve. Now’s your
chance to poke fun at me about hunches, eh? Well, I won’t give in to it,
then. You go ahead. We’ll have luncheon, then I’ll ride with you in the
car that Señor Goncalves has so generously sent for. The mansion of His
Excellency, the interventor, is half-way toward the field, I’ve been
given to understand.”
“You going there this afternoon, Unk? Why, I thought Goncalves was going
to write that letter and fix it for you to go there tomorrow?”
“No, he changed all that when I saw him in his room just a while ago. He
told me he had already telephoned the interventor, explaining my want of
guides and an interpreter, and His Excellency, being terribly busy with
the affairs of State, requested Señor Goncalves to arrange those matters
himself.”
“In other words, the interventor doesn’t want to be bothered with you,
huh, Unk? He wants the Brazil-nut to do the work.”
“So the dapper Señor told me in his inimitable way. But the fly in the
ointment is this—Goncalves doesn’t know that it is the duty of the
interventor to see _me_, neither does he know that it is of paramount
importance for me to see His Excellency regarding Renan and Ceara before
I leave _Manaos_. His Excellency apparently didn’t understand who the
American Señor was whom Goncalves was trying to tell him about. They
assured me when I left Rio that the interventor here would be notified
of my coming. So I’m going this afternoon and no one is to be
enlightened as to my whereabouts—_no one_! Understand, Hal?”
“Cross my heart and hope to die,” Hal laughed. “Go to it, Unk.”
“Most assuredly I will. I’ve got to see His Excellency about getting
Federal aid. Do you know, Hal, I had the feeling when I was talking with
Goncalves in his room that he wasn’t any too anxious for me to see the
interventor! His attitude ... I don’t know ... perhaps, I imagined that
too. Come on, let’s wash up and get down to luncheon before I hatch up
some more hunches to worry about.”
“Unk,” Hal laughed, “you’re a chip off the young block and I don’t mean
maybe.”