The girl shrugged her shoulders. “How should I know what he was after?” she said indignantly. “What I meant was, that I scarcely thought it possible that he would have gone there for that reason. Mr. Hawley isn’t a spy; he is a newspaper man. It is much more logical to suppose that if he took any picture at all, it was a photograph of the fortress for publication in his paper.” A shade flitted across her face. “What does he say?” she demanded, striving desperately to keep all trace of anxiety out of her voice. “What explanation does he give?” “That’s the queer part of it,” the reporter replied. “He won’t give any explanation at all. They tell me that he’s as tight-mouthed as a Wall Street magnate before a congressional investigation committee. To all questions they put to him last night he replied that he refused to answer, by advice of counsel. The idiot seems to take his arrest as a joke.” An expression of admiration came to Virginia’s pretty face. She felt sure that she understood the reason for the Camera Chap’s uncommunicative attitude. It was not with an idea of making things easier for himself, she knew, that he had refused to answer their questions. It was because he was determined to make no statement which might lead Portiforo to suspect the truth, with disastrous results for the unfortunate captive of El Torro. “But, take it from me, he’ll soon find that it’s no joke,” Gale went on, a malicious glint in his eyes. “He’ll be lucky if he gets off with a prison sentence. The chances are that they’ll back him up against a stone wall, with a handkerchief over his eyes and a firing squad in front of him. That’s the treatment they generally hand out to spies.” Virginia turned pale. “They wouldn’t dare do that!” she gasped. “Even Portiforo would be afraid to go so far with a citizen of the United States.” “I don’t know about that,” Gale rejoined. “It’s been done before, you know. When a man’s convicted of being a spy, they can do as they please with him, and his government is powerless to interfere. That’s international law. Surely you, the daughter of a diplomat, ought to know that.” Virginia did know that, and an expression of horror came to her eyes. Then, suddenly, her face lighted up. “You are exaggerating the situation, Mr. Gale,” she said, with a scornful laugh. “They don’t shoot spies in times of peace. If you are such an authority on international law, you ought to know that. It is only when there is war that they adopt such stern measures.” “Very true,” the reporter returned, with a grin. “But evidently, my dear Virginia, you are not aware that the Republic of Baracoa happens to be in a state of war at the present moment. I heard, this morning, that Rodriguez, who broke out of jail the other day, reached the hills yesterday, and raised the standard of revolt. And they accuse Hawley of being mixed up with the revolutionary party. So you see, I am not exaggerating the seriousness of his plight.”