o
history.

So, for a time, must Smith pass behind the scenes of the play. He
comes no more to Coralio nor to Doctor Gregg, who sits in vain,
wagging his redundant beard, waiting to enrich his derelict audience
with his moving tale of trepanning and jealousy.

But prosperously to the lucidity of these loose pages, Smith shall
flutter among them again. In the nick of time he shall come to tell
us why he strewed so many anxious cigar stumps around the cocoanut
palm that night. This he must do; for, when he sailed away before
the dawn in his yacht _Rambler_, he carried with him the answer to a
riddle so big and preposterous that few in Anchuria had ventured even
to propound it.

IV

CAUGHT

The plans for the detention of the flying President Miraflores
and his companion at the coast line seemed hardly likely to fail.
Dr. Zavalla himself had gone to the port of Alazan to establish a
guard at that point. At Solitas the Liberal patriot Varras could be
depended upon to keep close watch. Goodwin held himself responsible
for the district about Coralio.

The news of the president's flight had been disclosed to no one in
the coast towns save trusted members of the ambitious political party
that was desirous of succeeding to power. The telegraph wire running
from San Mateo to the coast had been cut far up on the mountain trail
by an emissary of Zavalla's. Long before this could be repaired and
word received along it from the capital the fugitives would have
reached the coast and the question of escape or capture been solved.

Goodwin had stationed armed sentinels at frequent intervals along the
shore for a mile in each direction from Coralio. They were instructed
to keep a vigilant lookout during the night to prevent Miraflores
from attempting to embark stealthily by means of some boat or sloop
found by chance at the water's edge. A dozen patrols walked the
streets of Coralio unsuspected, ready to intercept the truant
official should he show himself there.

Goodwin was very well convinced that no precautions had been
overlooked. He strolled about the streets that bore such
high-sounding names and were but narrow, grass-covered lanes, lending
his own aid to the vigil that had been intrusted to him by Bob
Englehart.

The town had begun the tepid round of its nightly diversions. A few
leisurely dandies, clad in white duck, with flowing neckties, and
swinging slim bamboo canes, threaded the grassy by-ways toward t