loseness of the dining saloon, with such
absorption that he did not rise to investigate even when, with a
protracted shrieking of whistles, there came sudden cessation from the
jarring throb of screw-shaft and engines. Then, the _City of Rio_ came
to a full stop. He vaguely presumed that another important port had
been reached, and did not suspect that the vessel lay out of sight of
land, and that a second steamer, southbound, had halted on signal, and
lay likewise motionless, her lights glittering just off the starboard
bow.

When, almost two hours later, he had folded the last of many pages,
and gone on deck for a breath before turning in, the engines were
once more noisily throbbing, and he saw only the bulk and lights of
another vessel pointed down-world under steam.

But, as usual, Rodman, gentleman of multifarious devices, was not
letting facts escape him. Indeed, it was at Rodman's instance that two
mail ships, the _City of Rio_ and the _Amazon_, had marked time for an
hour and a half. In the brewing of affairs, Rodman was just now an
important personage, and the commanders of these lines were under
instructions from their offices to regard his requests as orders, and
to obey them with due respect and profound secrecy. The shifting of
administrations at Puerto Frio meant certain advantages in the way of
concessions to gentlemen in Wall Street whose word, with these
steamers, was something more than influential.

Mr. Rodman had been rowed across from the _Rio_ to the _Amazon_, and
he had taken with him the hand-luggage that made his only impedimenta.
In Mr. Rodman's business, it was important to travel light. If he
found Senor Miraflores among the passengers of the _Amazon_, it was
his intention to right-about-face, and return south again.

Senor Miraflores had been in the States as the secret and efficient
head of that _junta_ which Rodman served. He had very capably directed
the shipping of rifles and many _sub-rosa_ details that must be
handled beyond the frontier, when it is intended to change governments
without the knowledge or consent of armed and intrenched incumbents.
The home-coming of Senor Miraflores must of necessity be
unostentatious, since his arrival would be the signal for the
conversion of the quiet steeps of San Francisco into craters.

Rodman knew that, if the senor were on board the _Amazon_, his name
would not be on the sailing-list, and his august personality would be
cloaked in disgui