“Ah, Señor Hagan!” exclaimed Porfias, at once turning and grasping the hand of the stout man. “It’s pleased I am to see you here. I received your letter telling me how the good work is progressing, and it interested me exceedingly. You are doing well.”
“There are some things I didn’t care to write about, Del Norte,” said the man addressed as Hagan. “That’s why I told you I would find you down this way somewhere and have a little chat with you. I traced the Sachem to this place, arriving here last night. Not wishing to arouse suspicions of a certain party on board the Sachem, I decided to wait and watch for an opportunity to see you. Had the Sachem departed before I could obtain such an opportunity, I should have followed it to its next port.”
“You were exceedingly cautious, señor.”
Observing that the smooth-faced, youthful attendant at the news stand was regarding them with some curiosity, Hagan at once proposed to his companion that they should step outside.
“Never knew they had such devilish hot weather up here at this time of year,” he growled, mopping his perspiring face with his handkerchief as they reached the sidewalk. “Let’s walk up the street beneath the shade of those tall elms. We can chat as we walk without danger of being overheard. That youngster has a sharp nose, a keen pair of eyes, and ears altogether too good to suit me.”
“These confounded gringos seem to hear and see everything,” said Del Norte.
“That’s all right,” nodded Hagan; “but they can’t get ahead of the Irish, Del Norte, old man.”
“It’s the truth you speak, señor,” nodded the Mexican. “I have observed its truthfulness, and that was why I sought one to assist me in my plans who had in his veins good Irish blood.”
“You made no mistake on that point when you dropped on me,” said Hagan. “I am Irish to the core. But let me tell you, my friend, we’re going to be kept mighty busy if we get ahead of this Yankee, Merriwell. He is a hustler. He has a faculty of setting things in motion so that they keep on moving while he seems to forget them. Apparently just now he is enjoying an outing on a yacht, yet before he stepped foot on the Sachem he had started a movement that is progressing with astonishing rapidity. I refer to the scheme for opening Eastern Sonora with a railroad. The syndicate is being organized, the capital pledged, and everything is making ready to push the project. Del Norte, I want you to answer me one question frankly and squarely.”
“You shall have the answer, Señor Hagan. What is the question?”