CHAPTER V
DON LUIS' BREAKFAST PARTY
One got up early at the Finca Buenavista, and when they had been given some black coffee and a small hard roll, Wyndham and Marston went to a bench in the patio. The house was built in a hollow square and its occupants used the patio when the rooms were hot. One wall was pierced by arches opening to the kitchen and stable; outside stairs, balconies, and windows with green shutters, broke the straight front of the others. In places, purple masses of Bougainvillea glowed against the ochre wash, and beyond the flat roof a steep hill, darkly green with foliage, rolled up against a background of distant mountains. In the middle of the square a pepper tree stretched its thin branches across a marble fountain, in which shining water splashed. The finca dated back to days when the country prospered under Spanish rule.
Wyndham lighted his pipe and looked thoughtful when he began to smoke.
"If Larrinaga is curious about us, he will come to breakfast," he said. "Since I think we can take this for granted, we had better choose our line."
"Why do you think he is curious?" Marston asked.
"To begin with, I doubt if he's persuaded our object for stopping at the lagoon is to carry on an ordinary, lawful trade. We have some grounds for imagining Peters has not told him the Bat is my relation; but I expect he knows we could not get much cargo without the Bat's consent. Then it's possible he has heard about our examining the boats, and now we are found watching the secret maneuvers of his troops. It's pretty obvious whom they are to be used against."
Marston nodded. "I've been pondering this. They could put three or four platoons of cazadores on board the old gunboat and land them where they are wanted in the cargo lighters. In fact, if it was fine weather, the Government's tug could tow them all the way. That's why Larrinaga brought the pilot over. The question is: what ought we to do about it? Do you mean to warn the Bat?"
"Not yet," said Wyndham, thoughtfully. "If he got warning soon enough, he would probably be able to make a good fight. Although I don't imagine he could win, a number of the soldiers would be killed. We don't want this."
Marston agreed. Their business was not to take a side. Indeed, it was unthinkable that they should help either party. All the same, he was puzzled, because since they could not allow the Bat to be captured and shot, something must be done. After a moment or two, Wyndham resumed:
"I have a half-formed plan. We must find out where the soldiers will land and when they'll start. Then we must get across before them and take the Bat the news while they are marching through the bush. It will not matter if his spies bring him word a few hours sooner. This will bear out our tale; but our arrival must be carefully timed."