They were as much like sailors as I was like the cross of St. Paul’s, and walked with the stiff upright carriage of well-drilled soldiers.
It was clear that I was not the only person in Lisbon that night with a fancy for disguise, and this discovery confirmed my opinion that Vasco was making for the landing-stage.
Were Burroughs’ suspicions of that yacht, the Rampallo, about to be confirmed?
It looked uncommonly like it.
CHAPTER XX
A NIGHT ADVENTURE ON THE RIVER
THE fact that Vasco’s companions—presumably his fellow-officers—were playing at being sailors, increased the need for extreme caution. I dropped back and followed at a distance, contented to keep the three men just in sight.
They made straight for the landing-stage, got aboard a small launch in which another man was waiting, and cast off at once and headed out into the estuary. They were going to the Rampallo, of course; and equally of course I must manage to get on board after them.
I could not follow immediately, however, as the noise of my launch would be heard and a dozen suspicions started. I guessed that a conference was to be held on the yacht about the information which Vasco had brought; but why such a place was chosen for it baffled me. The reason could not be merely the desire for absolute privacy which had induced me to take Dagara to the Stella. These men must have a dozen places in the city where they could meet without a remote chance of being overheard.
Still I had to deal with facts, and the controlling fact now was that the papers were on Vasco and he was going to the yacht. I must therefore follow him or throw up the sponge.
While I was waiting Burroughs arrived. “I lost you in the Rua Sao Benito, Ralph,” he explained, “so I thought it best to come on to the launch. Why are you here?”