"You do not care about taking the responsibility of my endeavours, I suppose?" I said.
"Exactly, señor," he answered. "You have guessed correctly. To be quite frank with you, I am afraid of being shot. I have seen the gentleman we are discussing deal with his enemies on various occasions, and his behaviour impressed me with a desire to keep my head out of the lion's mouth."
"May I ask in what capacity you intend introducing me to your friend?" I went on. "Is it quite wise, do you think, to import a third party into the transaction?"
"There will be no third party," he answered. "There will only be my friend and yourself. As I understand the situation, you are a rich Englishman, travelling in our country. You have given me an order for some wine for your yacht, and as the leading wine merchant of the city, and having the reputation of our country at stake, I am anxious to do my best for you. I also desire, for the same reason, that you should enjoy your stay. What could be more natural than that I should introduce you to a friend who is also one of our most prominent citizens? You need not fear, señor, that I shall be foolish enough to compromise either you or myself."
From what I had so far seen of him I could quite believe the latter portion of his remark. If all Silvestre's supporters were of the same calibre, it struck me that he would experience some little difficulty in regaining his lost position. Hermaños was certainly as rank a coward as I had met for many a long day.
"In that case, I will make my way to the palace now, and write my name in the visitors' book. But how, and when, shall I hear from you?"
"I will communicate with you to-night," he said. "I shall be sending you some wine and cigars on board, which I hope you will accept, and I will word the note that accompanies them, so that you will be able to read between the lines. It would be as well, I imagine, that we should not meet again."
From the way he said this I could see he was as anxious to get rid of me as he was to preserve his incognito. I accordingly thanked him for his assistance, and bade him farewell.
Recrossing the little patio, I passed into the street once more, and retraced my steps to the Great Square. Having reached it, I made my way through the garden to the President's palace. The sentries still slouched beside the gate as I had first seen them. So far as I could tell, their only object in life was to see how near sleep they could go without actually dozing off. Then I entered the palace grounds, and walked up the drive to the marble portico, where I entered my name in the book placed there for that purpose. I had already practised the new Trevelyan signature, and was by this time able to write it with something of a flourish. This momentous act accomplished, I left the palace and returned to the yacht, feeling that, although I had not so far made any very important headway in the conduct of my enterprise, I had at least set the machinery in motion.
Summoning Ferguson to the smoking-room, I gave him an account of all that had transpired, furnishing him at the same time with my opinion of Don José de Hermaños.