It seemed hardly the moment to run full upon the Captain of the
_Tampico_, who had just thrown his cigar away with the intention of
returning to the dining-hall.
Dan realized this instinctively. He smiled at the two in an abstracted
manner, as though his mind were occupied with thoughts which he did not
care to interrupt, and turned toward the window, when Virginia, who had
greeted him simultaneously with a smile obviously designed to convey a
similar impression, and, piqued to perversity by the fact that Dan had
so readily interpreted her wishes, paused in the middle of a sentence
and looked back over her shoulder.
"Captain," she said, "is it possible you prefer speeches in Spanish to
our company?"
Dan paused. Oddington was smiling in an exceedingly perfunctory
manner, and the young Captain was about to make some laughing
acknowledgment when the girl, still looking at him, said:
"Mr. Oddington and I were just arguing about the night air of San
Blanco. He says it is filled with malaria. Is it?"
Dan walked slowly toward them.
"Not any more than the day air," he replied, declining Oddington's
proffered cigarette case and drawing his pipe and pouch from his
pocket. "I should say that San Blancan air is filled with malaria at
all times--and with other bad things.
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