"Ah! Si, señor. If you will be so good as to step this way."
Whereupon he led the strangers to the cabin, where he knew Gard to be at work, and, remembering that the supposed clerk spoke many languages, he turned the visitors over to him.
"Mr. Egeloff?" asked the American, evidently misinterpreting the action of the mate.
The special agent was taken entirely by surprise. The possibilities of such a situation had never presented themselves to him.
"What if I am?" he asked cautiously.
"I am McKay," said the American.
"You have credentials, I suppose," said Gard.
"Yes," answered that individual. "I am authorized to provide for the reshipment of the cargo."
Whereupon he presented letters from the Mexican government showing him to be its agent in London. His companion he introduced as Mr. Sanchez, Mexican consul at Hamburg, whereupon the three dropped into Spanish and continued the conversation. Gard presented letters he had found in the ship's office and addressed to these gentlemen. He took it that these letters were from the Mexican consul at Odessa. They evidently asked the men to whom they were addressed to do what they could toward expediting the transshipment of the cargo.
"We have all arrangements made," McKay volunteered. "The Esmiranga will take our stuff aboard immediately and is sailing for Vera Cruz in six days."