Coming as though in response to his unspoken thought, the words startled Hawley. He wheeled swiftly, and found himself gazing into the swarthy countenance of Señor José Lopez.
“What do you mean by that remark?” he demanded sharply. Then, suddenly on his guard, he added more mildly: “What makes you think that I am particularly interested in El Torro?”
The other bared his large teeth in a wolflike grin. “I judged that such was the case from the manner in which the señor was staring at it,” he replied quietly.
The Camera Chap laughed. “It is a picturesque pile,” he declared. “From an artistic standpoint it appeals to me greatly. I certainly will have to make a picture of it before I return to the United States. That is, of course, if it isn’t against the rules.”
Lopez shrugged his shoulders. “I dare say there will be no objection to Señor Hawley making as many pictures as he desires—of the outside of El Torro,” he remarked.
“Now, I wonder what the deuce he meant by that!” Hawley reflected, as the other walked away. “I’d give a lot to know whether that confounded spy suspects anything.”
Until that moment he had felt confident that he had his inquisitive fellow passenger guessing as to the object of his visit to Baracoa, but the significant remark which the latter had just let drop made him exceedingly uneasy. There being no doubt in his mind that Lopez was a secret agent of the Portiforo government, he feared that he was going to have a hard time losing him when they got ashore; in fact, he was now even prepared to be challenged by the immigration authorities, and told that his presence in Baracoa was not desired. But, greatly to his relief, both these fears proved unfounded. When the vessel docked, the pier authorities manifested no more interest in him than in any of the other passengers; on the contrary, the customs officers were so careless in their examination of his baggage that they did not even discover the big camera in his trunk. And when he went ashore, Lopez made no attempt to shadow him; in fact, he saw the latter board a train without even a glance in his direction.
Another circumstance which surprised him somewhat was that Señora Felix was also permitted to land without undue attention from the authorities. In view of what had happened at Puerto Guerra, and her obvious interest therein, he had been wondering ever since whether she would not be placed under arrest as soon as she attempted to land, on a charge of being in some way connected with the affair, and he was very glad to find that such was not the case.
Hawley watched the landing of the señora with great interest. He observed that as she and her maid stepped from the pier, many people stared at her, recognizing her as the wife of their missing president; but nobody spoke to her, with the exception of a blond-haired, blue-eyed girl in a pink dress, who stepped up and greeted her effusively.
This young woman aroused the Camera Chap’s curiosity. It was quite evident that she was not a native of Baracoa; at first sight he would have been willing to bet all the money he had in his pocket that she was of his own people. She appeared to be still in her “teens,” and was of such an attractive personality that almost any one would have bestowed more than one glance upon her, even if his interest had not been intensified by the fact that she was there to welcome Señora Felix.