But here was a case that baffled him. In the hour before going to this house he had after deep thought believed that after all Espinosa was a traitor, and he had avowedly intended to force him to confess his treason; but now in spite of these resolves, the captain was weakening. After all might not the Filipino be innocent? At all events he would listen to his defense.
Captain Blynn dropped his muscular hands, which had been creeping menacingly toward the thin yellow throat of the Presidente, and sat down suddenly in the chair which the native had previously offered him.
“Go on!” he ordered harshly. “I’ll suspend judgment, but remember, if you can’t prove your innocence, I’ll give you water. Do you understand, water! I’ve never given it, and I don’t believe in it, but if you can’t show me how these men were butchered, I’ll fill you up to the neck with it.”
Espinosa wetted his lips with his tongue and swallowed hard, but the captain by taking the proffered chair had removed the native from the terrifying influence of those powerful twitching fingers which he had seen ready to throttle him, and he, in proportion to the distance away of the cause of his fear, grew bolder.
“The señor capitan must know of my sincerity,” he pleaded in a weak voice. “Have I not taken the oath of allegiance to the United States? Do I not know the punishment for breaking that oath?”
Captain Blynn nodded his head. “Go ahead,” he commanded impatiently; “cut that out, give me the unvarnished story.”
“The information which I gave you and which was sworn to by three witnesses came from Juan Rodriguez,” Espinosa continued, dropping his voice to a whisper and approaching closer to the American. Then he stopped and glanced covertly at his listener’s startled face.
“Juan Rodriguez!” the judge-advocate general exclaimed half rising in his excitement. “Then you believe that he has deliberately furnished false information of the insurgents’ movements?”
While the two were talking a servant brought refreshments, which the army man waved impatiently aside. Espinosa helped himself and as he did so he followed his servant’s eye to a tightly rolled piece of paper inside the salva. He drew it out hastily, unrolling it in silence, feeling rather than seeing the captain’s eyes upon him, then he read the few lines written therein. Here was a chance to redeem his good name or at least save himself for this time from the fierce American. He asked a question in the native language and received a monosyllabic answer.
“This is very important,” he exclaimed suddenly turning to the American officer. His voice was now joyful, full of confidence. “Two hundred riflemen have landed at Dumaguete from Luzon. To-night they will be encamped on a hill near Banate. You can attack them there before they can join Diocno.”