“He’s given orders that if a man named Hawley should happen to come aboard, he’s to be taken to his cabin at once,” the naval officer confided in a whisper.
“Great!” exclaimed the Camera Chap. “That’s the best news I’ve heard in a long while.”
Thanks to his acquaintance with Lieutenant Ridder, the visitor had no trouble in establishing his identity to the satisfaction of the battleship’s commander.
“I am glad to meet you, Mr. Hawley,” the latter said. Then, abruptly: “I believe you were to bring a photograph. Have you got it?”
“Not yet, captain,” the Camera Chap replied, “but I expect to get it soon, and——”
The commander of the battleship cut him short with an impatient gesture. It may have been his imagination, but Hawley fancied that the expression on his weather-beaten face was one of keen disappointment. “My orders say nothing about expectations, sir,” he said gruffly. “Whenever you get that snapshot, Mr. Hawley,” he added, “I shall be glad to see you again.”
The Camera Chap did not attempt to ask any questions. He could tell from the taciturn old sea dog’s manner that they would not be answered. Besides, he had found out what he wished to know. From the reference the captain had made to his orders, he felt absolutely sure, now, that the arrival of the warship was more than a coincidence—that the huge mass of steel, manned by as sturdy a crew as ever trod a deck, and bristling with guns powerful enough to smash El Torro fortress to smithereens, and reduce Puerto Cabero to ruins, was there to help in some way to right a great wrong.
It was then that he had made up his mind to carry out that same night the daring plan which he had afterward described to Virginia Throgmorton. But he did not tell his fair ally of his visit to the battleship. There were reasons why he deemed it wise to keep that incident a secret even from her.
As his visitor walked out of his cabin, Captain Cortrell took from a drawer of his desk a bulky envelope, and regarded it with speculative interest.
This envelope was sealed, and Captain Cortrell himself had never seen its contents. His verbal instructions were to anchor in Puerto Cabero harbor, and to remain there until further orders. The sealed envelope was not to be opened unless he should receive a visit from a man who could identify himself as a New York newspaper man named Frank Hawley. In the event of such an identification being established, the commander was to demand of his visitor whether he had brought a certain photograph. If the reply was in the affirmative, and the photograph forthcoming, Captain Cortrell was then to open the sealed envelope immediately, and compare the photograph it contained with the snapshot which his visitor had brought. If he was satisfied that the original of both pictures was the same, he was to proceed to carry out forthwith the written instructions which accompanied the picture.