“So you have come back!” said Virginia, her face radiant, a thrill of
admiration in her voice.
“Of course,” the Camera Chap said simply. “Did you think that I
wouldn’t? Surely you didn’t think me capable of being such a wretched
quitter?”
The girl’s face showed her remorse. “Forgive me,” she said. “Of course,
I ought to have known that even so great a risk couldn’t keep you
away. But you really should not have done it,” she protested, with a
contrariness which amused Ridder. “You are taking your life in your
hands. If any of Portiforo’s spies should recognize you----”
“I am in hopes that the eyes of Portiforo’s spies won’t be as sharp
as yours,” said the president’s photographic envoy, shrugging his
shoulders. “It seems to me that this disguise is pretty good.”
“It is splendid!” Virginia declared. “And your mannerisms, too. I had
no idea that you were such an accomplished actor. I can’t explain how
I knew it was you--certainly there was nothing about you to give you
away. I guess it must have been my instinct which told me,” she added,
with a blush.
“I must admit you had me completely fooled, old man,” declared Ridder,
with a grin. “It’s a wonderful make-up.” He looked his friend over from
head to foot and laughed. “Ye gods, you certainly are some spectacle!”
Hawley’s face reflected his grin. “Talking about spectacles,” he said,
“how’s our friend, Captain Reyes? Can either of you tell me whether
he’s still wearing those blue goggles?”
“He was wearing them as late as this morning,” Virginia informed
him, with a gleam of comprehension of the Camera Chap’s apparently
irrelevant interest in the eyesight of the custodian of President
Felix. “I met him to-day on the Avenida Juarez, and he told me that his
eyes were giving him a lot of trouble, but are greatly improved since
he has worn the glasses. The specialist has ordered him to wear them
both night and day.”
“Night and day!” the snapshot adventurer echoed joyously. “That’s
better than I dared hope for. Of course, I ought to be ashamed of
myself for gloating over another man’s misfortune, but I can’t help
regarding this as a gift from the gods. But tell me,” he added, a shade
of anxiety flitting across his face, “is Reyes still at the fortress,
or have they put him on the sick list?”
“He is still on duty,” Virginia announced. “I asked him, this morning,
why he didn’t lay off until his eyes were better, and he told me that
his superiors had urged him to do so, but that he had insisted that he
was capable of attending to his duties, and that they had let him have
his way in the matter.”
Hawley exhaled a deep breath of relief. “Now I know that we’re going to
win out,” he chuckled. “Fortune wouldn’t have put so many things our
way if she weren’t on our side.”
“But what do you expect to gain by those blue spectacles?” Lieutenant
Ridder demanded. “I can’t see how they’re going to help us free Felix.”
The Camera Chap gave a start of surprise, and turned, with an inquiring
glance, to Virginia.
“I--I felt that I had to tell him,” the latter stammered contritely. “I
thought--I didn’t know that you were coming back, and it was necessary
to have somebody to help me.”
“That’s all right, Miss Throgmorton,” Hawley assured her. “I’m glad
Ridder’s been initiated into the order. If you hadn’t told him, I
should have done so myself. For in order to put through the little
scheme I have in mind, old man,” he announced, addressing the
lieutenant, “I shall need your help.”
“I shall be glad to do whatever I can,” Ridder replied. “The story
which Miss Throgmorton has told me about Felix has got me so agitated
that I’m ready to go the limit in order to help free him.”
“What I want you to do,” said Hawley, “is to make arrangements for a
dinner to be held on board the _Kearsarge_.”
“A dinner?”
“A banquet to be given by the officers of the visiting battleship to
the officers of the fortress,” the snapshot adventurer explained. “I
believe such affairs are not unusual?”
“Generally it is the other way around--the other fellows wine and
dine us first, and then we return the compliment,” the navy man said.
“However, I guess I won’t have any difficulty in persuading the
captain to reverse the usual order of things in this case. But what’s
the idea? Is this dinner part of your scheme for rescuing Felix?”
“A very important part of it,” the Camera Chap informed him. “If you
can bring it about and manage to have our friend of the blue glasses
among those present, I have every hope of success. I’ll outline the
idea to you. I am confident that you’ll both be as enthusiastic over it
as I am.”
But, greatly to his surprise, when he told them what he had in mind,
they failed to display the amount of enthusiasm which he had expected.
“It would be sheer madness for you to attempt such a desperate thing,”
was Virginia’s verdict. “You would surely be caught. Anxious as I am to
see President Felix set free, I must beg you to give up all thought of
carrying out this plan, Mr. Hawley.”
“It’s a clever scheme,” declared Ridder. “I take off my hat to you, old
man, for your ingenuity in having thought of it, and your grit in being
willing to put it through; but I agree with Miss Throgmorton that it is
much too risky a proposition. You might stand a slim chance of getting
the picture, but you’d stand a much greater chance of being backed
up against an adobe wall with a firing squad using you for target
practice. Besides, it isn’t fair that you should do the whole thing
all by yourself. Now that you’ve taken me into the secret, we ought to
divide up the work and the danger.”
The Camera Chap smiled. “There’ll be work and danger enough for you,
too,” he promised. “If I’m caught and it comes out that you were mixed
up in the plot--and I’m afraid that’s bound to come out--I can see a
peck of trouble coming your way. Portiforo will probably demand your
surrender as accessory, and even if your skipper refuses to give you
up, there’ll probably be a court-martial in Washington in store for
you, and possibly dismissal from the service. All this, of course,
is to be dreaded only in the event of failure. But I’m not going to
fail. I disagree with you both about my scheme not being practical. Of
course, if we had to go up against a well-organized, highly disciplined
garrison, I’d have to admit that our chances of success were scant. But
Portiforo’s army is a joke. Those soldiers at the fortress remind me of
a lot of supes in a comic-opera chorus. With a crowd like that to deal
with, it would be possible to get away with almost anything. If Felix
is still in the same cell--if they haven’t moved him--it’s going to be
mere child’s play to get the snapshot and make my escape--much easier
than our other attempt, Miss Throgmorton.”
“But if they have moved him?” Virginia suggested fearfully. “And it is
very likely that they have. It is only reasonable to suppose that after
our last attempt, those scoundrels would have taken that precaution. If
they have him locked up in another dungeon--one that cannot be reached
from the outside--what are you going to do then?”
He shrugged his shoulders. “In that event,” he replied carelessly, “my
job is going to be a little more difficult, of course. I shall have to
go inside the fortress and hunt around until I find him. But let’s be
optimistic.”
Although they still demurred at the project, they failed to dampen his
ardor or persuade him to give it up.