“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 have an
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 the sentry. 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 battleship _Kearsarge_ steamed 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.”