Mr. Slack resented emotion, he abominated haste; he had cultivated what he considered to be a thorough commercial deliberation.
"My dear man," he said, "I'd advise you—"
"I don't want advice; I want money," snapped the other. "I've quit, resigned, skipped, fled."
"Indeed? When does your resignation take effect?"
"Immediately, and if you don't move like lightning it will take effect upon your person."
"Mr. Carter would never—"
"Bother Mr. Carter! Now stiffen your spine long enough to write my check. If you don't—" O'Reilly compressed his lips and breathed ominously through his nostrils. He laid a heavy and persuasive hand upon the secretary's shoulder. "Hump yourself, old jellyfish!"
There was a queer, wild light in O'Reilly's eye and for once Mr. Slack took orders from an underling. He humped himself.
Johnnie's other preparations were conducted with equal vigor and promptitude; within two hours his belongings were packed. But for all his haste his mind was working clearly. Rosa's warning not to come to Matanzas was no doubt warranted, and his own unpleasant experiences with the customs men at Havana were still fresh enough to be vivid. The Spaniards were intensely suspicious of all Americans, especially incoming ones, as he had reason to know, and since he was nearly as well acquainted in the one place as in the other it seemed to be the part of wisdom to slip into the country through a side door. The seat of war was in the east. The rebels held that part of the island. Once there and in touch with them it would surely be no difficult task to evade the local authorities and join Colonel Lopez.
O'Reilly pondered these thoughts briefly, then seized his hat and hastened down-town to the office of the Cuban Junta.