Burke whispered to Riley, who nodded and disappeared with alacrity.
I thought of the cordiality I had often observed between Mexicans and Japanese. Was that the case in this instance? Could it be that Paquita knew something about the attack on me? Was Mito the mysterious attacker?
It was scarcely a moment later that Johnson Walcott appeared around the corner, evidently seeking his sister.
Just then Riley returned, dragging the reluctant Mito.
“Where have you been?” bellowed Burke.
The little Jap’s face was impassive.
“I was sitting just outside the servants’ quarters, sir, most of the evening,” he returned, in bland surprise.
“Think a moment,” shouted Burke, advancing close to him and peering into his face. “Who have you been talking to? Tell me, and mind you tell the truth—or it’ll go hard with you.”
“With no one, sir,” asserted Mito, positively.
Burke was by this time red in the face with rage as all that he had ever learned in his third-degree days came to the surface.