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The significant intonation and smile which accompanied these words puzzled the American, who would have given much to have had them explained. But it was useless to question the Captain and the only comfort was in the thought that he was an honorable foe. "Now for Zalapata!" he added. "I assume, Captain, that you are familiar with all the windings and dangers of the river."
"What is his reason for the command?" It was essentially a feminine question, but the soldier did not hesitate with the reply: "War impends between Zalapata and Atlamalco; we are expecting at almost any hour an attack upon Castillo Descanso; the Señorita observes the armed force that has been placed here by General Yozarro; he cannot allow the Señoritas the danger of falling into the hands of the perfidious General Bambos and his barbarians."
From Zalapata the yacht steamed to Atlamalco, the home of Manuela Estacardo. There the party was received by the other impressionable type of the tropics, General Pedro Yozarro, who left nothing undone to make their visit pleasant in the highest degree.
He looked invitingly at Captain Guzman, who silently puffed for a minute or so before speaking: "A month ago, the single boat which constitutes the navy of President Yozarro was engaged in target practice; one of the shots passed over the boundary and struck the dwelling of a citizen of Zalapata, smashing in a side-wall and scaring the family to that extent that they are still a-tremble.
Although she was always in the company of others, it was not on account of any misgiving or fear on her part. Very rarely or never was a wheeled vehicle seen either in Zalapata or Atlamalco, and the connecting roads were naturally no more than simple trails; but all of these were so clearly marked that there was no cause for even a stranger losing his way.
The drowsy firemen cared little for what was going on over their heads and slouchily threw wood into the furnace. "It is my wish to go to Zalapata," Major Starland explained to the Captain of the tug; "General Yozarro set out to take my sister there last night, but seems to have changed his mind, for he brought her only part way. We will now complete the journey." "At the highest speed, Señor?"
"Not so well as Captain Ortega, for it was that thundergust flank movement which drove us headlong out of the mountains, with some of the men never halting till they reached Zalapata. Captain Ortega and no one else won that battle." "General Yozarro knows his worth," said Martella; "he would have made him a general long ago if it was not that he is jealous of him.
Before reaching its present destination, the Warrenia came to the little republic of Zalapata, where a pause was made for two or three days, during which the Major and the young ladies called upon General Bambos, the President and Dictator, who treated them with the utmost consideration.
"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.
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