Page:Arthur Stringer - Gun Runner.djvu/119

 suddenly swung about and faced the young woman in the steamer-chair.

"Why are you saying all this to me?" he demanded.

Her troubled eyes once more rested on him, almost in pity.

"Because we are facing a common danger," she answered at last. "Because we may yet have to work together to escape from that danger."

"But you haven't told me anything. You haven't explained how or why you are in this danger.

Again her studious eyes seemed to be weighing and judging him. He knew by the anxiety that crept slowly into her face as she watched him that her decision was not altogether a flattering one.

"I am here because there was no one to take my place," she answered, simply enough. "I can't explain everything now, but I knew they were plotting against Guariqui and against my brother. I knew, at the last moment, that Ganley was hurrying to Locombia, and I knew that the authorities at Washington were sending a cruiser to the Caribbean, to be near in case of trouble."

"You mean the Princeton?" McKinnon asked.

The woman nodded.