“Still,” said Harper reflectively, “I don’t quite see why we should worry about that. Since you can’t sell Harding—and that’s quite plain—all we have to do is to light out quietly.”
Appleby smiled. “I scarcely think we could manage it; and while I take Harding’s money there’s an obligation on me to do what I can for him. That is why I’m going to commit him definitely to standing in with the insurgents.”
Harper stared at him in astonishment, and then brought his fist down with a bang on the table. “You are going to bluff the Spaniards, and play Sugar Harding’s hand?” he said with wondering respect. “You have ’most nerve enough to make a railroad king—but if it doesn’t come off, and they patch up peace again?”
“Then,” said Appleby very quietly, “what I am going to do will cost Harding every dollar he has in Cuba, though that doesn’t count for so much since Morales means to ruin him, anyway. I can only make a guess, and stake everything on it. Your countrymen will ask too much, the Spaniards will offer very little. Still, it’s an almost overwhelming decision.”
Again Harper looked at him with a faint flush in his face, for the boldness of the venture stirred the blood in him. “It’s the biggest thing I’ve ever had a hand in,” he said. “Still, wherever it leads to, I’m going through with you!”
“It is quite likely that it will lead us in front of a firing party,” said Appleby. “I have reasons for believing that Maccario is not far away, and I have asked him to occupy the hacienda. It commands the carretera to Santa Marta, and I fancy a handful of determined men could hold it against a battalion, while with it in their possession the Sin Verguenza would dominate this part of the country, in spite of Morales. He has, as you know, been sending troops away. The one thing that troubles me is the uncertainty whether Maccario can get here to-night.”
“Well,” said Harper, “it’s quite an important question, and I don’t understand why we’re staying here. I’d far sooner light out at once and meet him. If Morales turns up in the meanwhile we’re going to have trouble.”
Appleby smiled dryly. “I’m afraid we would not get very far,” he said. “Still, if it’s only to find out whether my notion is correct, we can try it.”
Harper picked up what was left of the bread, and with characteristic caution slipped it into his pocket. “It may come in handy. I’ve been out with the Sin Verguenza before,” he said.
They went down the stairway, along the tram-line, and out upon the Santa Marta road, but they had scarcely made half a mile when they came upon a sergeant and several files of cazadores sitting in the shadow by the roadside. Harper stopped abruptly and Appleby smiled.