“What in thunder is all the raow about, Frank?” asked Ephraim, who did not understand what was being said.
“That fellow is in a bad scrape,” Merriwell swiftly answered. “He is a revolutionist who is well known in Madrid, and he was here in disguise. From what has passed, I should say he is none other than the lover of Señorita Zuera.”
“Great gosh! And he has come back here to see her?”
“It is most likely.”
“Wal, he has put his foot in it!”
“It looks like it. He betrayed himself by daring to speak in favor of Americans, and now he is in a bad scrape.”
Forgetting that they were in the least peril, the boys watched with the greatest interest all that was passing.
By this time every man in the saloon knew that Esparto, the Valencian, had come there in disguise, and that he had been unmasked. This knowledge created unbounded excitement.
Not all the men in that place were the enemies of the revolutionist. Some of them were inclined to be revolutionists themselves, but they did not dare express themselves openly. For this reason Esparto’s enemies could be heard, while his friends kept silent, and it seemed that he had no friends.
Esparto’s eyes told that he held Gonzalez in the greatest contempt, but his tongue spoke even plainer.