The girl smiled. “I met him at an embassy ball, about a year ago, and we became very good friends. He was attached to El Torro and had charge of the prison guard. It was through him that I was able to visit the prison.” “He permitted you to enter the prison?” “Yes; he smuggled me in there. He was running a great risk, of course.” “So I should imagine,” said the Camera Chap. “He must be very fond of--President Felix,” he added dryly. Virginia blushed. “No; I’m sorry to say that isn’t the case. If it were so it would make things so much easier for us. It wasn’t out of any consideration for President Felix that Captain Reyes allowed me to visit his prison. It--there were other reasons. Captain Reyes is far from being a Felix sympathizer. On the contrary, he has a deadly grudge against him. I guess that is why Portiforo has put him in charge of El Torro prison; he knows that there is no chance of Felix being allowed to escape while he is in charge.” Hawley frowned. “Why is he so bitter toward Felix?” he inquired. “He has cause, I must admit,” the girl explained, her face clouding. “Captain Reyes’ father was a colonel in the Baracoan army when Mr. Felix first became president. He was caught conspiring against the government, and Felix ordered him to be shot. I don’t know anything about the merits of the case, but, right or wrong, I suppose it is only natural that the son should hate the man who signed his father’s death warrant.” Hawley nodded. “But if he feels that way about it, whatever could have possessed him to consent to your communicating with the prisoner?” he exclaimed. Virginia’s blue eyes twinkled. “He didn’t consent to any such thing,” she said demurely. “He didn’t have any idea that I desired to see President Felix, or that I had the slightest interest in him. He supposed that my anxiety to inspect the dungeons was prompted solely by morbid curiosity.” “Still, I can’t understand his being so rash as to let you in there,” said Hawley. The girl’s face dimpled. “He couldn’t help himself; I called his bluff,” she announced, laughing apologetically at her own frank use of American slang. “His bluff?” “Like most of his countrymen, Captain Reyes has the habit of indulging in very extravagant language when he is talking to women,” Miss Throgmorton explained naïvely. “One evening when he was at our house he was assuring me, with his hand on his heart, of his readiness to lay down his life for me, and I laughed at his protestations and told him that in my native land that brand of talk was known as ‘hot air.’ He urged me to put him to the test, and, after pretending to consider for a while, I told him that I wouldn’t ask him to risk his life, but that if he really wanted to show that he was willing to take chances for my sake, he could do so by taking me on a tour of inspection through El Torro prison.” Hawley chuckled. “Clever work! You knew, then, that President Felix was there?”