She had become so nervous that, unable to stand still, she walked up and down with her fingers locking both hands together.
Heavens! what punishment for a man who had wrestled for two years to forget this queenly creature, and now to meet her thus!
Finally she said:
“I hoped to find safety at the home of the consul.”
“But he has gone out of town and will not be back short of a week; perhaps he may be killed on that wretched little railway.”
“Then an American or English vessel might give me a refuge,” she continued.
“Robbins, is the steamer you came on still in port?” I asked.
“I am sorry to say that it is not. The captain found a letter awaiting him to start for Guayamas without delay and load bananas there.”
“Then there is not an American or British vessel in the harbor?”
“I saw only one—a little steam yacht that flew the Stars and Stripes,” he answered, quickly.