When he reached the presidio he sat down on the balcony that overlooked the patio outside his room.  There was nobody about and he began to muse.  It was rash to take things for granted, but he thought he had been made the subject of three experiments.  Somebody had put a gold onza in the Indian jar; Olsen had tried to find out if he was ambitious; and the girl in the alameda meant to learn if he could be moved by beauty.  Well, they ought to know something about him now, but they were not very clever or they would have extended their experiments over a longer time.  It looked as if they thought him something of a fool, and this was, perhaps, an advantage.

Kit smiled as he remembered that when Janet Bell tried to flirt with him he had been rather humiliated and felt himself a prig.  He was older now and had not been much embarrassed in the alameda, although he nearly picked up the flower.  His curiosity was excited and he wanted to find out the girl’s object.  Indeed, it was hard to see why he had left the flower alone, but he had a vague feeling that it was unfair to use a charming girl in a dark intrigue.  Since he had known Grace Osborn, he had given women a higher place.  For her sake, he would not try to gain an advantage against his and the president’s antagonist by embarking on an adventure with the Spanish girl.

Then he began to wonder whether he would see Grace again, but presently got up with an impatient shrug.  Grace, in all probability, had forgotten their friendship and married Thorn.  Anyhow, she was not for him and it was futile to indulge a barren sentiment.

CHAPTER IV

THE PRESIDENT’S BALL

Breakfast was over and Alvarez, sitting at a table in the arcade, smiled as he indicated the transformed patio.  The broken pavement had been swept, the fountain scrubbed until the marble showed white veins, and the old brass rails of the balconies gleamed with yellow reflections where the sunshine fell.  Small palms and flowering plants in tubs stood among the pillars, flags hung from crumbling cornices, and barefooted peons were fastening up colored lamps.

“When the people are discontented they must be amused,” the president remarked.  “In Rome, they gave them circuses and I had thought of a bull-fight.  There is a Spanish quadrilla in Cuba but I found it would cost too much to bring the company across.  Besides, I do not know if strong excitement would be good for the citizens.”

“A ball is safer,” Adam agreed.  “While they have the function to talk about they’ll forget to plot.”

“For a week, perhaps!  Well, it ought to be some help, if your agents are prompt.”

“They’re hustlers and know they’ve got to get busy.  I expect the Rio Negro back in fourteen days, and then it will be your business to rush her cargo up.  Mule transport’s slow on your swamp tracks, and it’s perhaps unfortunate you didn’t give my friends the concession for the light railroad.  You might have found it useful now.”