Page:Bat Wing 1921.djvu/268

 “And do you know anything of the previous attempts which had been made upon his life, Pedro?”

“Nothing, sir. Nothing at all.”

“But the bat wing, Pedro?”

He looked at me in a startled way.

“Yes, sir,” he replied. “I found it pinned to the door here.”

“And what did you think it meant?”

“I thought it was a joke, sir—not a nice joke—by someone who knew Cuba.”

“You know the meaning of Bat Wing, then?”

“It is Obeah. I have never seen it before, but I have heard of it.”

“And what did you think?” said I, proceeding with my breakfast.

“I thought it was meant to frighten.”

“But who did you think had done it?”

“I had heard Señor Don Juan say that Mr. Camber hated him, so I thought perhaps he had sent someone to do it.”

“But why should Mr. Camber have hated the Colonel?”

“I cannot say, sir. I wish I could tell.”

“Was your master popular in the West Indies?” I asked.

“Well, sir—” Pedro hesitated—“perhaps not so well liked.”

“No,” I said. “I had gathered as much.”

The man withdrew, and I continued my solitary meal, listening to the song of the skylarks, and thinking how complex was human existence, compared with any other form of life beneath the sun.

How to employ my time until Harley should return I knew not. Common delicacy dictated an avoidance of