he way and leave the coast clear to them--see? Others
of them will know pretty well that where I am on watch and ward, I am
the right man in the right place, and that it isn't of much use their
trying on any of their little assassination dodges here--don't you see?'

Dolores was profoundly touched by the simple vanity and the sterling
heroism of this Christian soldier--for she could not account him any
less. She believed in him with the fullest faith.

'Does his Excellency know of this?' she asked.

'Know of what, my dear girl?'

'About these plots?' she asked impatiently.

'I don't suppose he thinks about them.'

'All the more reason why we should,' Dolores said emphatically.

'Of course. There are lots of foreign fellows always staying here,'
Sarrasin said, more in the tone of one who asks a question than in that
of one who makes an assertion.

'Yes--yes--of course,' Dolores answered.

'I wonder, now, if you would be able to pick out a South American
foreigner from the ordinary Spanish or Italian foreigner?'

'Oh, yes--I _think_ so,' Dolores answered after a second or two of
consideration. 'Moustache more curled--nose more thick--general air of
swagger.'

'Yes--you haven't hit it off badly at all. Well, keep a look-out for any
such, and give me the straight tip as soon as you can--and keep your
eyes and your senses well about you.'

'You may trust me to do _that_,' the girl said cheerily.

'Yes, I know we can. Now, how about your father?'

'I think it will be better not to bring father into this at all,'
Dolores answered very promptly.

'No, dear girl? Now, why not?'

'Well, perhaps it would seem to him wrong not to let out the whole thing
at once to the authorities, or not to refuse to receive any suspicious
persons into the house at all, and that isn't, by any means, what you
and I are wanting just now, Captain Sarrasin!'

'Why, certainly not,' the old soldier said, with a beaming smile. 'What
a clever girl you are! Of course, it isn't what we want; we want the
very reverse; we want to get them in here and find out all about them!
Oh, I can see that we shall be right good pals, you and I, dear girl,
and you must come and see my wife. She will appreciate you, and she is
the most wonderful woman in the world.'

CHAPTER XIV

A SICILIAN KNIFE

The day had come when the Dictator was to dine with that 'happy
warrior,' the Soldier of Fortune.

Captain Sarrasin and his wife lived in an old