The girl laughed, and her color deepened. “I think we’d better be getting back,” she suggested. “The parade must be over, for people are beginning to come into the park.”
As they stepped outside the Botanical Gardens they encountered Gale. That young man frowned at the sight of them. “Why, here you are!” he exclaimed reproachfully. “I’ve been looking all over for you. I thought you promised to wait for me outside the Hotel Nacional.”
“We got tired of watching the parade, so we thought we’d walk around a bit,” Hawley replied. “Did you get the information you wanted about the attempted assassination of Portiforo?” he inquired quizzically.
Gale nodded. “I found out the fellow’s name and business,” he replied. “That’s all I needed. It’s a peach of a story. I’m going to put it on the wire in a little while. Would you like to send it to your paper, too, old man?”
Hawley smiled. He knew from past experiences that when Gale offered to share a story with a rival newspaper, it was never out of motives of altruism, but because the story was so much the product of his imagination that it gave him a greater sense of security to have his statements backed up by another sheet. “No, thanks,” he said dryly. “I guess I won’t touch it. I’m a snapshotter, and sending stories is somewhat out of my line. Besides, I’m on my vacation, so why should I work?”
Gale looked at him searchingly. “Of course, you wouldn’t think of working on your vacation, would you?” he rejoined, with an ironical smile.
When, a few minutes later, the Camera Chap took his leave, the News man turned eagerly to Virginia. “Did he happen to drop you any hint of what he’s doing in Baracoa, Miss Throgmorton?” he inquired.
The girl’s blue eyes opened wide in childlike wonder. “A hint?” she said innocently. “Why didn’t he tell us outright that he’s spending his vacation here?”
Gale smiled sapiently. “Vacation or no vacation, that fellow didn’t come here to study the scenery!” he declared. “He is here for a purpose, and before I’m many days older I’m going to find out what it is.”