"AFTER THE RASCAL!"
Seaman Rogers led the way briskly to the American consulate.
"The consul is engaged, sir, with the Jefe Politico," explained
a clerk at a desk in an outer office. "Will you wait, or have you
papers that can be left with me?"
"Thank you; I shall he obliged to wait," Dave decided, "since
I was instructed to hand the papers to the consul himself."
He took a chair at a vacant desk, picking up a late issue of a
New Orleans daily paper and scanning the front page.
Seaman Rogers strolled to the entrance, watching the passing crowds
of Mexicans.
"Is there any very late news from Tampico?" Darrin inquired, presently.
"Nothing later than the news received this morning," the clerk
replied.
"The bare details of the dispute there over the insult to the Flag?"
Darrin inquired.
"That is all, sir," the clerk replied.
So Dave turned again to the newspaper. Several things were happening
in the home country that interested him.
"It was half an hour before the _Jefe Politico_, a Mexican official,
corresponding somewhat to a mayor in an American city, passed
through on his way out.
"You will be able to see the consul, now," suggested the clerk,
so Dave rose at once, passing into the inner office, where he
was pleasantly greeted.
Dave laid a sealed packet of papers on the desk before the consul.
"If you have time to wait, pardon me while I glance at the enclosures,"
said the consul.
Ensign Darrin took a seat near a window, while the official went
rapidly through the papers submitted to him.
Some were merely communications to go forward to the United States
in the consular mailbag.
Still other papers required careful consideration.
"If you will excuse me," said the consul, rising, "I will go into
another room to dictate a letter that I wish to send to your captain."
Dave passed through another half hour of waiting.
"It will be some time before the papers are ready," reported the
consul, on his return. "In the meantime, Mr. Darrin, I am quite
at your service."
"I wonder if you have received any further news about the Tampico
incident," Dave smiled, questioningly.
"Nothing further, I fancy, than was sent by wireless to all the
American warships in these waters."
"Is that incident going to lead to war?" Darrin asked.
"It is hard to say," replied the consul, musingly. "But the people
at home are very much worked up over it."
"They are?" asked Dave, eagerly.
"Indeed, yes! In general, the American press predicts that now
nothing is so likely as United States intervention in this distracted
country. Some of our American editors even declare boldly that
the time has come to bring about the permanent occupation and
annexation of Mexico."
"I hope our country won't go that far," Dave exclaimed, with a
gesture of disgust. "I should hate to think of having to welcome
the Mexicans as fellow citizens of the great republic."
"I don't believe that we need worry about it," smiled the consul.
"It is only the jingo papers that are talking in that vein."
"How does Congress feel about the situation?" Dave asked.
"Why, I am glad to say that Congress appears to be in line for as
strong action as the government may wish to take."
"It really looks like war, then."
"It looks as though our troops might land on the Mexican coast
by way of reprisal," replied the consul. "That would bring stubborn
resistance from the Mexicans, and then, as a result, intervention
would surely follow. There may be men with minds bright enough
to see the difference between armed intervention and war."
"I'm stupid then," Ensign Dave smiled. "I can't see any difference
in the actual results. So you believe, sir, that the people of
the United States are practically a unit for taking a strong hand
in Mexican affairs?"
"The people of the United States have wanted just that action for
at least two years," the consul answered.
"That was the way it looked to me," Dave nodded. "By the way,
sir, did you hear anything about an armed encounter between a
naval party and Cosetta's bandits last night?"
"Why, yes," cried the consul, "and now I remember that the landing
party was sent from your ship. What can you tell me about that?"
Dave Darrin gave a brief account of the doings of the night before,
though he did not mention the fact that he, himself, was in command
of the landing party of rescuers.
"It was a plucky bit of work," commented the consul.
"Will that fight with Cosetta inflame the Mexican mind?" Dave
asked.
"It is likely to have something of that effect upon the Mexicans,"
the consul replied, "though Mexico can hardly make any legal
objection to the affair, for Cosetta is a notorious bandit, and
bandits have no rights. The Mexican government appears to have
been unable to rescue the prisoners, so the United States forces
had an undoubted right to do so. Do you know anything about this
fellow, Cosetta, Mr. Darrin?"
"I never heard of him before yesterday," Dave confessed.
"He is a troublesome fellow, and rather dangerous. More than
once he has extorted large sums of ransom money for prisoners.
He has a large following, even here in Vera Cruz, where he maintains
his little force of spies and assassins. Whenever a wealthy Mexican
hereabouts has had an enemy that he wanted 'removed,' he has always
been able to accomplish his wish with the aid of this same fellow,
Cosetta."
"Cosetta is in town to-day," Dave remarked.
"Are you sure of that?"
"I saw him here," Darrin replied, quietly.
"Then you must have been the officer in command of last night's
landing party."
"I was." replied Dave Darrin, shortly.
"Then, Mr. Darrin," said the Consul, earnestly, "I am going to
give you a bit of advice that I hope you won't disregard. Cosetta
may feel deep resentment against you, for you thwarted his plans.
Probably, too, you were the cause of laying several of his men
low last night. Cosetta won't forget or forgive you. Whenever
you are in time streets of Vera Cruz I would advise you to keep
your eyes wide open. Cosetta might detail a couple of his worthless
desperadoes to bury their knives in your back. This bandit has
done such things before, nor is it at all easy to punish him,
for the scoundrel has many surprisingly loyal friends in Vera
Cruz. In a more strictly-governed country he would be arrested
in the city streets as soon as pointed out, but in Mexico the
bandit is likely to be a popular hero, and certainly Cosetta is
that in Vera Cruz. If he were wanted here for a crime, there
are hundreds of citizens who would gladly hide him in their homes.
On any day in the week Cosetta could easily recruit a hundred
men for his band. Perhaps he is now in town on that errand."
"I have an idea that the fellow is dangerous," Darrin nodded.
"Still, here in Vera Cruz, with scores of American sailors usually
in sight on the streets, it seems to me hardly likely that Cosetta
would instruct his men to attack me. The sailors would interfere.
Certainly they would lay hold of the assassin."
"Ah, but the sailors do not come ashore armed," the consul warned
his visitor. "On the other hand, most of the Mexicans go about
to-day with arms concealed about them. A fight between a sailor
and a Mexican might, just now, be enough to start a riot."
Dave listened attentively. He was not in the least alarmed by
the possibility of an attack being made upon his person, but he
had the natural distaste of a naval officer for being the innocent
cause of strained relations between his country and another nation.
When the stenographer brought in the papers that had been dictated
to him, the consul looked them through, then signed them.
"Here is a packet of communications for your captain," said the
consul, handing a bulky envelope to Darrin. "One of the communications
enclosed, Mr. Darrin, is of so important a nature that you will
have an added reason for keeping your weather eye open against
any form of trouble that Senor Cosetta might start for you in
the streets."
"At any time and in any place," Dave smiled, earnestly, "I would
take the best possible care of official papers entrusted to me."
"I am aware of that, Mr. Darrin," replied the consul smiling.
"But the paper in question is one that it would greatly embarrass
the United States to have fall into improper hands. That is my
only excuse for having cautioned you so particularly."
Seaman Rogers was waiting at the door. He saluted when Ensign
Darrin appeared, then fell in a few paces behind his officer.
A short distance away a carriage stood before the door of a private
banker. A woman of perhaps thirty came out through the doorway,
carrying a small handbag.
Seeming almost to rise from the ground, so suddenly did he appear,
a ragged Mexican bumped violently against the woman.
There was a scream, and in a twinkling the ragged Mexican was
in full flight, carrying the handbag as he ran.
"After that rascal, Rogers!" cried Dave Darrin, aghast at the
boldness of this daylight robbery.
"Aye, aye, sir, and with a hearty good will!" called back Rogers,
as both sailors started in full chase.