“What are you doing!” Reyes cried angrily, aghast at this maneuver. “I am Captain Reyes, of the army of Baracoa. If you don’t obey my orders, my man, you will get into trouble.”
“You’d better do as he says!” exclaimed Gale, addressing the sailor threateningly. “He is a guest of your ship, and an intimate friend of Captain Cortrell.”
“And I am Miss Throgmorton, the daughter of the United States minister,” Virginia said, observing that the man at the wheel seemed to hesitate. “If you do as I tell you, I will answer for it that everything will be all right. Pay no attention to these men.”
The jack-tar grinned, and the launch kept to her new course—away from El Torro. Virginia laughed happily as she viewed the discomfiture of the pair.
“You will not be so merry, to-morrow, señorita,” the Baracoan said to her savagely. “You will get into great trouble for this service you have rendered to the enemies of our government—and, this time, neither your sex nor your father’s influence will save you.”
The girl shrugged her shoulders. “To-morrow is a long way off,” she informed him serenely. “Lots of things can happen before then.”
A little later an exclamation of dismay came from Gale. His eyes were turned anxiously toward the fortress. It was a clear moonlight night, and, although they were some distance off, he could discern what was taking place on the beach. The other launch had landed, and a tall figure had gone ashore. “He’s getting away with it!” the News man growled, as he saw the flash of light go up from behind the clump of bushes, and, immediately afterward, caught sight of the dim outline of a man running toward the water’s edge.
A laugh, half hysterical, came from Virginia, but it changed suddenly to an involuntary cry of despair. A shadowy group had rushed out from the fortress and seized the fugitive.
In striking contrast to her distress was the delight of Reyes and Gale. “Hurrah! They’ve got him!” the reporter cried. “Congratulations, Ernesto, old sport! We may have missed the first part of the performance, but at all events we shall be in time for the finale.”
Reyes turned with a mocking smile to Virginia. “Now that your charming little conspiracy has failed, perhaps you won’t mind permitting us to go ashore, señorita,” he suggested. “You must realize that it can no longer do you any good to hold us here.”