Page:Arthur Stringer - Gun Runner.djvu/118

 "He holds a document which practically brands you as a Locombian revolutionist. We are being carried to a country where things move strangely and quickly. If Duran has the upper hand when we reach Puerto Locombia, you dare not make one move against this man Ganley."

"I dare not, you say?"

"If you do, he will have you handed over to Duran's officers as an enemy of the government—and he will have his document to prove it. If Duran has been deposed, then Ganley is the open and undisputed master, and what he orders you will have to carry out." "But I'm not going down there to be that government's catspaw!"

"How will you escape it?"

"Well, one way would be to call Ganley up here and get that paper back."

Alicia Boynton laughed quickly and quietly, with an upthrust of her shoulders.

"Can't you see that it's too late? The price has been paid; the bargain's been struck."

"Not necessarily!"

"But a man like Ganley never trades back. The mistake was in the signing of the paper. It was a manifesto, a confession. It was the last will and testament of your good name."

McKinnon, who had been pacing the cabin,