did not want the fellow to imagine he was afraid, since it would indicate
that he knew the importance of his refusal. Yet he was afraid, and it
cost him something of an effort to plunge into the gloom.

CHAPTER VI

THE PRESIDENT'S WATCHERS

When Kit was half way across the alameda he stopped and looked about.
Dark trees rose against the sky; he could smell the eucalyptus and their
thin shadows covered the ground with a quivering, open pattern. There was
a pool of moonlight, and farther on the solid, fan-shaped reflections of
palms. Nobody was near him, although he heard voices across the alameda,
and he stood for a few moments, thinking, while his heart beat.

Since he had refused Olsen's offer, caution was advisable, because Kit
felt sure the fellow had expected him to agree, and it was obvious that
he knew enough to make him dangerous. He distrusted Olsen, who was not a
native American, and probably not a Norwegian, as he pretended. There was
a mystery about his employers, but Kit suspected that they were Germans,
and as a rule the latters' commercial intrigues were marked by an
unscrupulous cunning of which few of their rivals seemed capable. This
was admitting much, since the foreign adventurers did not claim high
principles.

On the surface, it was obviously prudent to take the shortest line to the
presidio, but Kit reflected that Olsen would expect him to do so. It
might be better to put him off the track by going another way and Kit was
anxious to know if he had left the cafe. Stepping back into the shadow,
he made for another path and a few minutes afterwards returned to the
street. He glanced at the cafe as he walked past and saw that Olsen was
not there. He thought this ominous, since it indicated that the fellow
had gone to consult his revolutionary friends and Kit imagined they would
try to prevent his reaching the presidio. He seldom carried a pistol,
which was difficult to hide when one wore thin white clothes. On the
whole, he had found a suspicious bulge in one's pocket rather apt to
provoke than to save one from attack; but he was sorry he had not a
pistol now.

Kit went back across the alameda, hoping he had put Olsen's friends off
the track. If so, he would be safe until he got near the presidio, when
he must be cautious. He passed two or three groups of people, and now and
then heard steps behind, but the steps were followed by voices that
relieved his anxiety. For all that, he was glad