ain, Major,
you intended to pay it yourself to President Bambos, as if it came
from General Yozarro."

"You would be called a mind reader, Captain, in my country, for you
are right in everything you say. It will spoil his game, however, if
General Bambos is as keen as you."

"If he is, he will not let you discover it; he is determined to go to
war against General Yozarro, and no matter what you do, you cannot
prevent it, unless----"

"Unless what?"

"You take away the cause of his making war."

"The cause! You speak in riddles."

Instead of directly replying, the Captain asked the startling
question:

"You inquired of General Yozarro about the Senorita, your sister: what
answer did he make to you?"

"You have not forgotten the tugboat we saw pass down the river last
night; I heard it returning to Atlamalco."

"So also did I."

"On its first voyage, it carried my sister as one of the passengers,
she not knowing I had left Zalapata, and she is there awaiting my
coming."

Captain Guzman, sitting at the elbow of the American, gazed off toward
the wooded plain as if in reverie. His words did not seem to be
addressed to any one, but were as if he communed with himself:

"Five hours after the gunboat went up the river, it passed where we
were resting on its way back to Atlamalco. The distance from where we
were to Zalapata is eighty miles and to make the trip the boat would
need eight or ten hours."

"What the mischief are you driving at? General Yozarro told me he took
the lady thither."

Captain Guzman withdrew his gaze from the shore, and looking calmly in
the face of Major Starland, said:

"General Yozarro lied."

"How can you know that?"

"Do you not see that the gunboat could not do what he said it did? But
Martella here was on the boat and knows all."

"Call him, that I may question him."

"No need of that; I have questioned him; I know that your real
business with General Yozarro was to meet the Senorita, your sister,
and I know all that Martella knows."

"And what is that?"

"Senoritas Starland and Estacardo were passengers on the boat, but ten
miles down the river they went ashore, and, under the escort of two
soldiers, set out for the summer home of General Yozarro."

"Where is that?"

"A mile from the river among the mountains; the air there is cooler
than at Atlamalco, and General Yozarro spends much of the hot season
at _Castillo Descanso_, or 'Castle of Rest.' Senorita Estacardo