“Looks to me as if Carlos de Castro is going to be late. He said that he might, so we may as well make a landing and take on fuel,” Jim agreed cheerfully. They proceeded toward the section where a number of tables were set up in stalls beside rows of tropical plants growing in tubs, but it appeared that Bob was not the only person who was anxious to get something to eat, for everyplace they saw was occupied.
“A table, Senors?” inquired a deferential waiter, who bowed with great politeness, then led the way to the further end of the serving space. He dragged a pair of kegs into the shelter of the foliage, swung a wide board over the top of them, produced a cloth from under his coat and with a great flourish smoothed it out. Two chairs appeared from behind a pile of boxes. “Presto,” he smiled widely.
“Pronto,” Bob replied. Placing one hand over his belt buckle, he bowed deeply. “Before me, esteemed brother.”
“If I were behind you there is no telling what I’d do to you,” Jim answered. “Why this reversion to days when knighthood was budding?” He took one of the seats and Caldwell the other.
“I’m letting Spanish manners get under my skin—”
“Looks more like wood-ticks—” Austin interrupted. “They make a horse skid around just that way.”
“And I want to impress Mom when we get home, old man. Have you forgotten that we take the air at crack of dawn to-morrow and our bird is to set us down on the K-A ranch before the sun’s evening rays can reach the peak of Cap Rock?”
“Sure I know.” Jim’s eyes glistened. “It’ll be great to sail through space like that and so high that no one will see us, but just the same, me Flying Buddy, if you go acting like that around your mother, she’ll think that something is the matter with you, and it will be a dose of oil for yours.” At that the two laughed heartily, but their merriment was cut short by the appearance of the waiter with huge platters of mighty good-looking food, so they proceeded to do it justice.
“The meals in Peru are almost as good as in Texas,” Bob remarked after he had helped himself and made his first attack.
“Right-O, but it will be grand to get home,” Jim declared. They did not talk any more but gave their undivided attention to the meal, and while it was in process, they noted indifferently that two men had been ushered to the table the other side of the artificial hedge and a bit forward of their own. That place too had been put up roughly to accommodate the extra crowd and was a bit apart from the others. Jim, who was facing the festival, had the better view of the occupants and through the branches he could see the rather stout, stooped shoulders of one’s back, and occasionally caught a glimpse of the other’s face. He was a slender, dark man whose bearing was quite military, and about his lips played a smile that was more like a sneer than an indication of a cheerful disposition.