The envelope bore only the name Rodman Forrester. The letter began abruptly and was not signed. It read:
“Willemstad is a small place. Every one in it knows every one else. Therefore, the most conspicuous person in it is the last person to arrive. You are the last person to arrive, and, accordingly, everything you do is noted. That this morning you twice passed the Casa Blanca has been already reported both by those who guard it and by those who spy upon it. If you would bring disaster to those you say you wish to serve, keep on as idiotically as you have begun.”
The rebuke, although anonymous, turned Roddy’s cheeks a rosy red, but he had sufficient self-control to toss the letter to his companion, and to say carelessly: “He wants us to dine with him.”
The waiter, who had been openly listening, moved off in the direction of the kitchen. A moment later Roddy saw him bear a dish to the Venezuelan at the head of the long table, and as he proffered it, the two men whispered eagerly.
When Peter had read the warning he threw it, face down, upon the table, and with a disturbed countenance pretended to devote his attention to the salad dressing. Roddy was now grinning with pleasure, and made no effort to conceal that fact.
“I wouldn’t have missed this,” he whispered, “for a week in God’s country. Apparently everybody’s business is everybody else’s business, and every one spies on every one. It’s like the island where they were too proud to do their own washing, so everybody took in somebody else’s washing.”
“Who is it from,” interrupted Peter irritably, “the Consul?”
Roddy nodded and laughed.
“You may laugh,” protested Peter, “but you don’t know. You’ve been in Venezuela only four months, and Captain Codman’s been here eighteen years. These people don’t look at things the way we do. We think it’s all comic opera, but——”
“They’re children,” declared Roddy tolerantly, “children trying to frighten you with a mask on. And old man Codman—he’s caught it, too. The fact that he’s been down here eighteen years is the only thing against him. He’s lost his sense of humor. The idea,” he exclaimed, “of spying on us and sending us anonymous warnings. Why doesn’t he come to the hotel and say what he has to say? Where does he think he is—in Siberia?”