"Who purchased the Juan Lopez?" asked Alfaro. "I saw her loading at Balboa to-day, and Captain Brincker was on board."
"The new owner is General Quesada. I wish the fat rascal no good luck with her."
"The owner is General Quesada?" loudly exclaimed Alfaro. "I am startled. And what does Captain Brincker do on board?"
"He is in the service of General Quesada, so I am told. You may put two and two together, if you like. I have learned to mind my own affairs in the shipping business of Panama. Perhaps General Quesada imagines himself to be the next president of San Salvador. He does not buy a steamer and hire a man like Captain Brincker for a pleasure excursion. Is it not so?"
Alfaro had lost his appetite. The process of putting two and two together filled him with alarm. His young friend Goodwin was entangling himself unawares in the concerns of General Quesada, who bore him a violent grudge. Alas, that he could not have been warned to steer clear of Captain Brincker and the Juan Lopez! Alfaro was a poor dinner companion for the dapper Antonio. He asked other questions and the answers were not reassuring. Quesada was said to have been gambling heavily in the disreputable resorts of Panama. Where had he found funds to finance a Central American revolution? He had stolen his provisions and the Juan Lopez had been sold him for a song. But guns and munitions cost a pot of money, and there were wages to pay. Probably some shady concession hunter had backed the enterprise.
All this Alfaro moodily considered until he could no longer curb his impatience.
"You will be so good as to excuse me, Antonio," said he. "I have something to attend to. The address of General Quesada's house in Panama? I wish to write it down. And you say that Captain Brincker has been living with him?"
"Something diplomatic in the wind?" smiled the shipping merchant. "You fear the Juan Lopez may again annoy the politics of your fair country of Colombia?"
"No, Antonio. It has to do with a friend. He saved my life. It is better to be too anxious for such a one than too little."