CHAPTER LI
BANKER DOES SOME IMPORTANT BUSINESS
When Banker went back to the prison cell, he was still firmly convincedthat he had been overreached by his former captain, Raminez; and,although he knew it not, there were good reasons for his convictions.Often had he noticed, in the Rackbirds' camp, a peculiar form of theeyebrows which surmounted the slender, slightly aquiline nose of hischief. Whenever Raminez was anxious, or beginning to be angered, hisbrow would slightly knit, and the ends of his eyebrows would approacheach other, curling upward and outward as they did so. This was anaction of the eyebrows which was peculiar to the Darcias of Granada,from which family the professor's father had taken a wife, and hadbrought her to Paris. A sister of this wife had afterwards married aSpanish gentleman named Blanquote, whose second son, having fallen intodisgrace in Spain, had gone to America, where he changed his name toRaminez, and performed a number of discreditable deeds, among which wasthe deception of several of his discreditable comrades in regard to hisfamily. They could not help knowing that he came from Spain, and he madethem all believe that his real name was Raminez. There had been threeof them, besides Banker, who had made it the object of their lives towait for the opportunity to obtain blackmail from his family, bythreatened declarations of his deeds.
This most eminent scoundrel, whose bones now lay at the bottom of thePacific Ocean, had inherited from his grandfather that same trick of theeyebrows above his thin and slightly aquiline nose which Banker hadobserved upon the countenance of the professor in the police station, andwho had inherited it from the same Spanish gentleman.
The next day Banker received a visitor. It was Professor Barre. As thisgentleman entered the cell, followed by two guards, who remained near thedoor, Banker looked up in amazement. He had expected a message, but hadnot dreamed that he should see the man himself.
"Captain," he exclaimed, as he sprang to his feet, "this is truly goodof you. I see you are the same old trump as ever, and do not bearmalice." He spoke in Spanish, for such had been the language in commonuse in camp.
The professor paid no attention to these words. "I came here," he said,"to demand of you why you made that absurd and malicious charge againstme the other day. Such charges are not passed over in France, but I willgive you a chance to explain yourself."
Banker looked at him admiringly. "He plays the part well," he said tohimself. "He is a great gun. There is no use of my charging against him.I will not try it, but I shall let him see where I stand."
"Captain," said he, "I have nothing to explain, except that I wasstirred up a good deal and lost my temper. I oughtn't to have made thatcharge against you. Of course, it could not be of any good to me, and Iam perfectly ready to meet you on level ground. I will take backeverything I have already said, and, if necessary, I will prove that Imade a mistake and never saw you before, and I only ask in return thatyou get me out of this and give me enough to make me comfortable. Thatwon't take much, you know, and you seem to be in first-class conditionthese days. There! I have put it to you fair and square, and saved youthe trouble of making me any offers. You stand by me, and I'll stand byyou. I am ready to swear until I am black in the face that you never werein Peru, and that I never saw you until the other day, when I made thatmistake about you on account of the queer fashion of your eyebrows, whichlooked just like those of a man who really had been my captain, and thatI now see you are two entirely different men. I will make a good tale ofit, captain, and I will stick to it--you can rely on that. By all thesaints, I hope those two fellows at the door don't understand Spanish!"
The professor had made himself sure that the guards who accompanied himspoke nothing but French. Without referring to Banker's proposed bargain,he said to him, "Was the captain of the bandits under whom you served aSpaniard?"
"Yes, you were a Spaniard," said Banker.
"From what part of Spain did he come?"
"You let out several times that you once lived in Granada."
"What was that captain's real name?" asked the professor.
"Your name was Raminez--unless, indeed," and here his face clouded alittle, "unless, indeed, you tricked us. But I have pumped you well onthat point, and, drunk or sober, it was always Raminez."
"Raminez, then, a Spaniard of my appearance," said the professor, "wasyour captain when you were in a band called the Rackbirds, which had itsrendezvous on the coast of Peru?"
"Yes, you were all that," said Banker.
"Very well, then," said Barre. "I have nothing more to say to you atpresent," and he turned and left the cell. The guards followed, and thedoor was closed.
Banker remained dumb with amazement. When he had regained his power ofthought and speech, he fell into a state of savage fury, which could beequalled by nothing living, except, perhaps, by a trapped wildcat, andamong his objurgations, as he strode up and down his cell, the mostprominent referred to the new and incomprehensible trick which thisprince of human devils had just played upon him. That he had been talkingto his old captain he did not doubt for a moment, and that that captainhad again got the better of him he doubted no less.
It may be stated here that, the evening before, the professor had had along talk with Ralph regarding the Rackbirds and their camp. ProfessorBarre had heard something of the matter before, but many of the detailswere new to him.
When Ralph left him, the professor gave himself up to reflections uponwhat he had heard, and he gradually came to believe that there mightbe some reason for his identification as the bandit captain by theman Banker.
For five or six years there had been inquiries on foot concerning thesecond son of Senor Blanquote of Granada, whose elder brother had diedwithout heirs, and who, if now living, would inherit Blanquote's estates.It was known that this man had led a wild and disgraceful career, and itwas also ascertained that he had gone to America, and had been known onthe Isthmus of Panama and elsewhere by the name of Raminez. Furthermore,Professor Barre had been frequently told by his mother that when he was aboy she had noticed, while on a visit to Spain, that he and this cousinvery much resembled each other.
It is not necessary to follow out the legal steps and inquiries, basedupon the information which he had had from Ralph and from Banker, whichwere now made by the professor. It is sufficient to state that he wasultimately able to prove that the Rackbird chief known as Raminez was, inreality, Tomaso Blanquote, that he had perished on the coast of Peru, andthat he, the professor, was legal heir to the Blanquote estates.
Barre had not been able to lead his pupil to as high a place in thetemple of knowledge as he had hoped, but, through his acquaintance withthat pupil, he himself had become possessed of a castle in Spain.
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