"It would be wise, Señor," observed the amiable Colombian ex-diplomat. "They have agents here; and I happen to know that one is even now on the wharf, observing. Possibly he seeks to communicate with some spy who chances to be a member of your crew. So you see, it must pay you to be always on your guard, and prepared!"
CHAPTER X.
NIPPED IN THE BUD.
"There comes Manuel!" remarked Andy, after they had been nearly an hour talking on the deck of the little power boat.
"Yes," remarked his cousin, who was also on the watch, "and trailing behind him I can see several native carts containing fruits and new supplies. Manuel surely means that we shall not go hungry while on the river."
"Then I shall be going, my friends," said Señor José. "I have told you all I know. I have warned you to beware of the revolutionists along the river bank. I have even given you a hint that to delay longer in Barranquila might endanger your enterprise; since the government is just now very anxious to acquire such wonderful modern agents of warfare, as your aeroplane. It only remains to shake your hands, both, amigos, and wish you every good fortune your valor deserves."
They squeezed the hand of the fine old Colombian gentleman with vigor. Never would Andy forget how he had spoken concerning his interest in the sacred duty that had brought the son of the missing aeronaut to his country.
Frank had given strict orders that none of the crew should go ashore, and also that no strangers be permitted to board the craft while they lay there at the old wooden wharf.
"But," said Andy, when they were speaking about this matter, as preparations began to leave the port, "that hasn't prevented the crew from holding an animated confab with those ashore. There has been a constant jabbering and laughing between our fellows and those others."
"Yes," admitted Frank, "and I've seen several of the crew talking mysteriously with some of those chaps. I wish now the señor had thought to indicate which was the secret agent of the revolutionists he saw on the dock. But all the same I've marked the two fellows I suspect, and I'm going to keep a close eye on Enrique, and the little fellow with the quick motions we call 'Cospita,' because he's forever ejaculating like that."