The Kidnapped President

at ten o'clock and to enjoy a good night's rest, after being used to leaving it at midnight in order to go up and pace a cold and cheerless bridge for four long hours at a time. I had a vague premo

it said. "What on earth bri

ding to Barbadoes on private business, and that I profoundly hoped I had abandoned the sea as a profession. From him I learnt the names of the various officers of the boat. For more reasons than one I was glad to hear that they were unknown to me,

t to portray. To be a rich young Englishman, with a passion for yachting, would not at first thought seem a difficult part to play. It was not as easy, however, as it would appear. In order that it might come the more naturally to me, I determined to cultivate a m

me back to sea, my lad, or you'll be developing into a masher of the worst type. It's very evident that ly

ng to last me a lifetime. Wait until you come into a bit of money,

me a cottage somewhere in the country, with a bit of garden, and some fowls

y-way to the barber's shop. As soon as the passenger whose hair he had been cutting departed, I seated myself

is off,"

tache was a heavy one, and it was plain that

ou want me to take it off," he rema

do mean," I replied. "I

arted fashion. When he had finished I sat up and looked at myself in the glass. You m

ld pass you by," I said to myself. Then to the barbe

barber replied. "There's not many gentlemen wo

cap and a leather case, containing various articles I had purchased in London. One of these was an eye-glass, which, after s

n," I muttered. "I'm very plea

wered in my assumed voice. "I hope, bah Jove, we shall be very

ed. "After that, Mr. George Trevelyan, you can clear out as soon as you p

e trunk, and relocked the latter. After that I went on deck to recei

owing that her captain had been furnished with my address, and feeling sure that he would communicate with me as soon as he arrived. On landing I drove to the Imperial Hotel and engaged rooms in my own name. I had intended adopting my assumed cognomen on quitting the ship, but to my dismay I learnt that some of the passengers had also come ashore and were due to lunch at my hotel. To have entered my name as Trevelyan upon the books, and have be

ired for the proprietor, who pres

aid, "a Mr. Trevelyan. I am given to unders

name," he replied. "There was a Mr. Trevelyan here last

e. "By the way, should any one happen to call, and inquire for him, I

replied. "At the same time perhaps I had

is no knowing when he will be here. It is j

out having discovered her. In the afternoon I went for a short stroll, leaving word at the hotel that, should any one call to see me, he or she had better wait, for I should be back in an hour. When I returned I questioned the head waiter, but he assured me that no one had called to see either Mr. Trevelyan or myself. Once more darkness fell, and once more after dinner I sat in the verandah smoking. The evening was far advanced, and once more I was beginning to contemplate tur

see Mr. Trevelyan. I told him that we had no one of that name

I said. "I presume you

when the servant had disappeared, he con

eated. "A certain gentleman of the name of Silvestre, however, thinks I had better be know

drawing his chair a little closer to mine as he did so, and

t the same time that I had seen his face

nd in his turn produced a small s

ght there enabled me to see that it was stamped with the name of Equinata. I thereupo

s the yacht?

, and she is coaling now as fast as we can get t

he sooner we are out of this place t

to-morrow morning be

mirably. How am I to

e hotel folk will naturally suppose that you have gone aboard her. Of course you understand, Mr. Helms-Mr. Trevelyan, I mean, that in this matter I am a

and what is requir

ed. "My instructions h

do you thi

haps it would be better for us to say no more upon the matter, at least at present. We can talk it over if we want to, with greater safety

have a boat ready for me at nine o'clock ne

h had I seen him before? For the life of me I could not remember. Lighting another cigar, I seated myself, and once more pondered over the matter. When the cigar was finished I retired to my room to fall as

oats about her, and a dozen cables or so distant from her a handsome white yacht, which, I gathered, was to be my home for the next few weeks. I had just rewarded the porters, who had brought my luggage down, and had sent them about their business, when a neat gig, pulled by four men and steered by a fifth, came i

stern of the mail-boat?" I said to the co

n you get a bit closer, sir, you'll say she's as

tons. (As a matter of fact that was her tonnage.) To my thinking, however, she was somewhat heavily

luted me as if I were really owner of the vess

ed for you," he said. "If you wi

uilt and intended for the owner. It was a gorgeous affair. Indeed, the luxury of the vessel, what I had seen of it, astonished me. I had overha

ng slowly out of the harbour. In an hour the island lay like a black dot upon the horizon behind us, and a few minutes later had vanished altogether. I was seated in the cabin with Captain Fer

ng. On the evening of my arrival in Hong Kong I went ashore to dine with some friends, and didn't start to come off to the mail-boat until pretty late. When I did I hired a sampan and told one of the crew where my ship was. Thinking that he understood, I took my place under the covered arrangement that those boats have, and away we went. Perhaps I may have been a bit drow

patience. As I have already remarked, it had struck me on the p

of men in her sprang aboard the sampan. I was one of those men. We bowled over the owner of the craft, and pulled you out from under the cover, just as you were

d a moustache then, but I should know you now again. I don't think, Mr. Trevelyan, you wi

e a small world," I said. "Fancy our meet

n him concerning the office

comes to a pinch. The second is a young fellow of the name of Brownlow. He took part in the last Cuban expedition, and had a bit of fighting afterwards in the Philippines. The crew number thirty all told, and have

her length was not far short of two hundred and fifty feet. Her engine-room was amidships, and was as perfectly fitted as everything else. The drawing-room was a model of beauty, while the saloon was capable of seating at least fifty persons. The quarters of the officers and crew left nothing to be desired on the score

n discovered, however, that there was more in it than I supposed. For instance, when I was told that evening that dinner was upon the table, I made my way to my cabin, prepared m

ne of the men when I had waited some two or

fficers' mess, sir

had never met with anything like the meal that was served to me that evening. If Silvestre had given orders that my comfort was to be studied, he had certainly been carefully obeyed. When I rose from the table I went to my cabin, changed my coat, filled a pipe, and mounted

until he is invited to do so," he said, with a laugh. "However,

esick I will not deny. At ten o'clock Ferguson invited me to his cabin, and for about an hour we sat there discussing the business that lay before us. He had never visited Equinata before, but he was conversant with the character of the country. Hav

f Fernandez himself?" I inquired, when he had r

in South America, not excluding our friend Silvestre. It is quite certain that if he has the least suspicion of what we are

as prepared to take them. There was one question, however, that I had been desirous of putting to him ever since

n de Silvestre," I said,

rprise he was qui

y present position to him. Of one thing, however, I am aware,

hat he had said it appeared to me that the task I had undertaken was an almost hopeless one. One little mistake and my life would pay the forfeit. Failure seemed certain, and in that case what would happen to Molly and my mother? They would hope against hope, waiting for the man who would never return. I told myself that I was a fool ever to have had anything to do with the business. What was Don Guzman de Silvestr

n the skipper announced that we were only a matter of ten hours' steaming from the Republic of Equinata. Next morning a faint smudge was discernible on the horizon straight ahead of us; by breakfast-time this had taken to itself the appearance of land, and