The president grinned and shook his head. “Señor Hawley is such a great camera enthusiast that we should have cause to fear that he might be tempted to forget such a promise,” he said dryly. “No; greatly as I regret having to be so inhospitable, we must insist upon your leaving Baracoa.” The Camera Chap bowed. “Very well, sir; I shall sail on to-morrow’s boat,” he said. His air was so much like that of one who feels that he is driving a hard bargain, that Minister Throgmorton commented upon it angrily. “Anybody would think that you weren’t satisfied!” he exclaimed. “You are without exception the most impertinent and ungrateful fellow I have ever met.” “I am sorry if I appear that way,” Hawley responded simply. “I assure you, sir, that I am not ungrateful to you and Señor Portiforo for this unexpected clemency.” The president chuckled. “There is one other person to whom you are indebted for your good fortune,” he announced dryly. “Who is that?” “Your brother journalist, Señor Gale. He was here yesterday to see me concerning you.” “To intercede for me?” Hawley exclaimed, scarcely able to conceal his astonishment. Portiforo smiled. “He gave me some information concerning you which had a great influence upon me,” he said vaguely. “In fact, if it had not been for the arguments he advanced, I don’t think I should have decided to grant you freedom, even to oblige my dear friend Señor Throgmorton.” CHAPTER XXXIV. BLUE SPECTACLES. When Gale told Virginia Throgmorton that he had a cablegram from his office asking him to return to New York and report for duty immediately, the girl received the tidings with an equanimity which was not at all flattering to his pride. “Won’t you be sorry to see me go?” he queried. Although his host’s pretty daughter had taken no pains to conceal her dislike for him, his egotism was so strong that he found it difficult to believe that he really was not in her good graces. “I think I shall be able to survive the blow,” Virginia answered lightly. The reporter frowned. “You didn’t feel that way about me when I first came here, Virginia,” he said reproachfully. “You and I got along together famously at first. It was only when that scamp Hawley first showed his face in San Cristobal that I began to lose my pull with you.” Virginia gave him a scornful glance. “Mr. Hawley isn’t a scamp,” she replied indignantly. “And he didn’t have anything to do with your losing your pull with me, as you term it. I had already found you out before he arrived.” “Well, it’s a mystery to me why you seem to be so strong for that fellow,” Gale protested, ignoring the last part of her remark. “I should think, after the trick he played you with those Felix letters, you wouldn’t have any use for him.” The girl stared at him wonderingly. “Have you the effrontery to keep on claiming that Mr. Hawley stole those letters from my desk, when they appeared in your own paper!” she exclaimed.