Page:Ralph Paine--The Steam-Shovel Man.djvu/159

 compliments, that I greatly admire the behavior of his son?"

Turning to Devlin he added, crisply, decisively:

"I have no reason to doubt your story. You have a fine record. I shall act first and investigate later. Goodwin was kidnapped from the Zone, from American soil, as I understand it. He was living with one of the surgeons at Ancon?"

"Yes, colonel. You can find out by telephone easy enough."

"How many men were there on the Juan Lopez? And how fast is she?"

Alfaro answered:

"There were fifty or sixty men on board when I saw her at Balboa yesterday. Perhaps more were taken on in the bay last night. I know something about filibustering expeditions. She would carry not less than a hundred men. And of course there are plenty of guns in her. Her speed is slow. She will go eight or nine knots, I think."

"Will General Quesada fight?" The colonel asked the question with distinctly cheerful