"Don't you think we had better be walking aft?" I said. "Your uncle is probably wondering where we are!"
CHAPTER XV
Between ten and eleven o'clock on one never-to-be-forgotten evening, the La Belle Josephine sailed into the harbour of La Gloria, and dropped her anchor a short distance from the old coal hulk. Who that witnessed the arrival of that tiny craft imagined the important part she had played in the destiny of that small but exceedingly excitable Republic? For my part I know that as I stood on deck and watched Monsieur Maxime take her in between the heads, and scientifically bring her to her anchorage, I found myself experiencing a series of emotions, the like of which I have never before known. The President stood on my right, the Señorita on my left, and as we watched the twinkling lights ashore, I fancy all three of us recalled the eventful morning when we had said good-bye to the town under such very different circumstances. Our arrival had evidently been signalled from the forts, for we had scarcely dropped our anchor before a hail from the bows announced the fact that the harbour-master's boat was approaching.
Most men, I suppose, have at some time of their lives a touch of the theatrical. For myself at that moment I was distinctly desirous of giving a dramatic turn to the situation. The plot of my drama is an exciting one. The President of the Republic is missing; the supposed villain is believed to have abducted him. Time goes by. A mysterious vessel enters the harbour at the dead of night, when, to the amazement of every one, the missing President is found to be on board, and the man who has saved him, and has brought him back to the nation he loves so well, turns out to be the very individual who is supposed to have wrought his ruin. What situation could have been more thrilling? I had already walked a short distance along the deck, but as soon as I recognized in the boat coming alongside the pompous little official who had boarded the yacht with so much ceremony on the occasion of my first appearance in the country, I changed my mind, and hastened back to the President!
"What does your Excellency desire?" I inquired. "Would you prefer the news of your return to reach the city at once, or would you rather that it should be announced in the morning?"
"It is immaterial to me," he replied. Then he added quickly, "No! No! On the contrary, it is most material. There is a considerable amount of business to be transacted first!"
I could guess what was passing in his mind.
"Yes, to-morrow morning would certainly be better," he continued reflectively.