Part 10 (1/2)
”His Excellency is too much engaged to give audience, senor,” was the reply, and the man pa.s.sed on without waiting for more.
Suddenly remembrance came to Will.
”Isn't your aunt's uncle engaged in the administration?” he asked the station-master.
”My mother's cousin, senor. I was not aware that you knew it.”
”Then please will you send a message to your mother's cousin and see whether he cannot bring us to the Jefe,” said Will, stifling a temptation to shake the man.
”But he is a high official, senor; he may be displeased.”
”Good heavens! Don't you see it's the chance of your life! You are the man who sent the warning telegram from Santa Marta. Get your mother's cousin to take you to the Jefe: he may make you superintendent of the line.”
This vision of glory was sufficiently dazzling to overcome the station-master's reluctance to trouble his relative. Mentioning the official's name, he was led along a corridor and ushered into his presence. A few words explained his errand; then the a.s.sistant secretary said he would certainly introduce him to the Jefe as the man whose timely warning had been so valuable. Will accompanied them to the room in which the Jefe sat, among a throng of officers. The a.s.sistant secretary presented his relative, magnifying his prompt.i.tude and zeal for the State. The Jefe embraced him: then, recognizing Will, gave him a finger.
”The Republic thanks you, senor,” he said to the station-master; ”the President will reward you. Your warning gave us time to blow up the culvert, and if I can hold the rebel Colonel Orellana at bay, I may be able to vanquish General Carabano himself. By a malign stroke of fate, scarcely an hour before I received your message, three hundred of my best troops left by steamer for Caracas, sadly reducing my garrison.”
”Did you not receive a telegram from Caracas ordering the dispatch of these reinforcements, Excellency?” asked Will.
”That is true, senor,” replied the Jefe, with a look of surprise.
”The order was fabricated, Excellency,” said Will at once. ”It was part of General Carabano's plan, managed with the connivance of one of your telegraph staff. His name is--let me think: Perugia--no, Pereira.”
”Do you say so, senor?” cried the Jefe, springing up in agitation. ”How do you know it?”
”I overheard a conversation between General Carabano and my Company's telegraphist, who has joined the rebels.”
”Caramba! could anything be more unfortunate--or more atrocious! Captain Guzman, be so good as to have this Pereira instantly arrested. Would that I could recall the troops! But by this time they are twelve miles down-stream.”
An idea struck Will.
”I have my hydroplane at the quay, Excellency,” he said, ”and if the steamer left only an hour ago I can easily overtake it if you will give me an order recalling the troops. In less than three hours they will be at your Excellency's disposal.”
The Jefe grasped both his hands and shook them warmly.
”I cannot sufficiently thank you, senor. You will do the State a great service. If the troops return within that time they will be here almost as soon as General Carabano; it may be our salvation. Do not delay, I beg you.”
”I must have a written order, Excellency.”
”a.s.suredly. Senor Crespo” (addressing the a.s.sistant secretary), ”kindly make out the order for my signature at once.”
He turned to speak to his officers. The station-master, finding himself forgotten, stood looking very ill at ease. In a few moments the order was signed, and Will took his leave. Hurrying through the streets, he remembered that he was hungry and stopped at a shop to buy bread and cheese. But putting his hand into his pocket for the money, he discovered that he was without a single peseta.
”I came away in a hurry,” he said to the scowling shopkeeper. ”Look, here is an order signed by the Jefe; my mission is urgent, I will pay you when I get back, at the offices of the British Asphalt Company of Guayana.”
”Very well, senor,” said the man, to whom the name of the Company was well known: and Will hurried off, carrying enough food to provide himself and his two companions with a substantial meal.
Five minutes afterwards he sprang on board the hydroplane, cast off, and set her going at full speed. The current was with him, and the vessel whizzed along at forty knots, Azito standing with his pole a few feet from the wind screen, holding in his left hand a hunch of bread from which he took a bite occasionally. Will employed his left hand in the same way, steering with the right.
Caracas, he knew, was several hundreds of miles distant from Ciudad Bolivar by water. The steamer would run with the tide to the mouth of the river, or strike out by one of its arms to the sea, and then follow the coast-line. Will knew that he could overtake it long before it reached the mouth. Indeed, in less than half-an-hour Azito reported that he saw its smoke in the distance. Five minutes afterwards it was clearly visible as a spot on the river's broad expanse, and in yet another five minutes the hydroplane was alongside, Will shouting to the crowded deck that he had a message of recall from the Jefe. The steamer slowed down and stopped: Will clambered on board and handed the order to the officer in command. The vessel was instantly put about; the engines were forced to their utmost, and huge volumes of black smoke poured from the funnels, the hydroplane being made fast with a rope and towed.
The steamer was now moving against the current, and it seemed to Will to go at a snail's pace in comparison with the hydroplane. He became so bored with the slow progress and the officer's questions about his vessel that he made up his mind to quit the steamer and hasten back in advance, to inform the Jefe that the troops were on the way to his relief. He called to Jose to start the motor and drive the hydroplane alongside, slipped over by means of a rope, and was soon careering ahead of the steamer at three times its speed.