“It is an intrusion,” he said quietly. “I do not understand why the sentries admitted you.”
The tobacco merchant made a little deprecatory gesture, and Appleby felt his hands tremble as he watched the man move a step nearer the officer’s chair.
“It was not their fault. I slipped by when the guard was changed,” he said. “One would make excuses for such boldness, but you understand the necessities of business. Now, I have here examples of a most excellent tobacco.”
Morales turned, apparently to summon one of the guards. “Still, the man who let you pass will be sorry!”
Then there was a little click-clack that sounded horribly distinct, and as he swung round again a pistol glinted in the tobacco merchant’s hand.
“Señor,” said the latter, “it would be advisable to sit very still.”
Morales became suddenly rigid, but his eyes were very steady as he glanced at the stranger. “One begins to understand,” he said. “Are you not, however, a little indiscreet, señor? There is a guard scarcely thirty feet away. A sound also travels far in this building.”
The tobacco merchant laughed. “Will you open the door, Señor Harper, that Colonel Morales may see his guard?”
Harper rose, and when he flung the door open the sentry was revealed. He stood in the corridor gazing into the lighted room, but though the situation must have been evident to him, his face was expressionless, and his erect figure showed motionless against the shadow behind him. Then for just a moment a flush of darker color swept into Morales’ olive cheek, and Appleby fancied that he winced.
“That man is taking a heavy risk,” he said. “There is a half-company of his comrades in the cuartel.”