"Then how -"
"How did I get mixed in it?" interposed Nayre. "Very easily. I was the man
who organized the presidential guards under the old regime, when Centralba
really was a republic. I mean when Francisco Peridor was president."
"So you stayed when Castenago took over?"
"Yes. Peridor suggested it. He said that Castenago's election was legal,
which it happened to be, the way they run elections down there. The first man
who gets to the polls has the privilege of counting the votes, and Castenago
had his men first, everywhere.
"Castenago wanted me to keep my job as captain of the guard, and when
Peridor advised it, I did. I hated it the longer it continued, and was ready to
quit when the Durez faction bobbed up. When everything smacked of revolution,
they suddenly showed up at the presidential palace, bringing Peridor with them.
A really fine gentleman, Francisco Peridor."
Nayre was staring into space, so ardently that Margo felt sure she could
reach the door without him noticing her departure. The opportunity tempted her,
but she didn't take it. Nayre had spoken frankly, and said enough to convince
her that he was quite as decent a chap as she supposed.
Therefore, she wasn't worried, and by remaining, she might learn some real
inside facts that Lamont Cranston would like to know.
Facts for The Shadow!
"Peridor was grand," declared Nayre, in a tone of recollection. "He told
Castenago that he sided with the Durez faction because they wanted reform in
Centralba. It amazed me, the way Castenago listened and the compromise he
offered. He said he would institute every reform that Peridor wanted, if Jose
Durez would leave the country and take his friends with him.
"Of course, they hedged, until Castenago became generous. He insisted on
that one point: they would have to leave, as a token of good faith. So they
began talking terms regarding their concessions.
"He granted everything they asked, provided that they get out. So they
did, and I had to come with them; because, by then, Castenago classed me as a
member of their group.
"Funny, isn't it?" Nayre shook his head. "All during the Clipper trip,
Durez and his crowd were congratulating themselves on how they had outsmarted
Castenago. They were talking about using a chunk of that ten million dollars to
smuggle arms into Centralba and start a real revolution.
"They wanted me in on the deal, and I had to listen, though I didn't like
it. Then, when they arrived here, they were knocked off by a bunch of American
crooks."
Nayre tamped his cigarette in an ash tray and rose from his perch on the
desk. Looking at Margo again, he saw sympathy in her gaze.
"Frankly, Miss Lane," he said, "I can't say that I'm sorry. Durez and his
friends got just what Castenago would have given them had it not been for
Peridor, the only honest man in Centralba. I can only state that I had no hand
in it."
Margo nodded, indicating that she believed everything that Nayre had said.
He was still watching her, intently, when an interruption came. The door opened
and a stolid man with a weather-beaten face stepped into the dilapidated
office, extending a hand to Nayre.
