CHAPTER XVI.
SETTING THE TRAP.
But all in a moment Bob saw, and his heart gave a great bound as if it would leave his breast. And then he but ran the harder. Until presently the running form behind young Juan closed up on the latter and drew abreast of him, and then two young fellows, breathing hard, paused and faced each other while from Bob’s lips burst the single exclamation:
“Frank.”
“Do I look like a ghost?” panted the latter, for in his comrade’s eyes was such a gaze of utter astonishment as to prompt the question.
“No,” said Bob slowly. “No-o.” And the color which had drained from his cheeks returned.
“But—” And he passed a hand across his eyes, as if to test whether what he saw was vision or reality. “But,” he added, “how in the world did you come here?”
“In a taxi,” said Frank. And now Bob noted a twinkle in his comrade’s eyes, and he sensed that the latter was enjoying the situation.
He looked aside, puzzled, and noted young Juan standing by, all impatience, bouncing first on one leg and then on another.
“But you, Juan,” he said in Spanish, “tell me. How did you happen to meet this man?”
“Oh, Senor, he and two others came racing in a taxicab along the Avenue of the Presidents. And I, thinking them your aviators, stepped out in the street and called to them to stop. Then they asked where you were, and I explained, and brought this one with me. And the others—they remain to keep watch on the place of which you know.”