With this the interview closed, and Mr. Pinkerton announced his intention of going back to Punta Gorda. Crawford had practically told him to do his worst, and he had not concealed his intention of doing it. Nevertheless their relations continued outwardly pleasant, and Mr. Pinkerton was treated with the hospitality that is usual in tropical countries. He saw no sign of any disposition on the part of either of the Crawfords to do him harm, but he kept his revolvers always ready, and gave them no chance to catch him napping.
Toward evening of the second day Crawford and his brother got the launch ready, and took Mr. Pinkerton down the river back to Punta Gorda, where they said good-by. At parting Crawford made a brave show of treating the whole matter lightly. "I may see you in New York in a couple of months," he said to the detective as they shook hands.
"If you see me in New York," said Mr. Pinkerton, "you will see yourself under arrest."
On landing, Mr. Pinkerton proceeded, with all the obviousness possible, to call at the house of the British magistrate, which was so situated that Crawford from the launch could not fail to see him enter. This seems to have confirmed the impression he had been striving to create, that British Honduras, though in truth a perfect refuge for a criminal like Crawford, was none. Crawford, apparently thoroughly frightened, and thinking he had not an hour to lose, steamed back in all haste to his plantation, gathered together, as subsequently appeared, his money and other valuables, and then, under cover of night, dropped down the river again, put out to sea forthwith, and crossed the Bay of Honduras to Puerto Cortés, in Spanish Honduras, the country of all Central America in which Mr. Pinkerton preferred to have him. In short, Mr. Pinkerton's stratagem had worked perfectly.
Mr. Pinkerton's reason for wishing to get Crawford into Spanish Honduras was not because the treaty arrangements were more favorable there than in British Honduras, but because the Pinkerton Agency enjoyed unusual personal relations with the Honduras government. Several years before, when President Bogram had in contemplation the federation of Central American States under one government, he had applied to the Pinkerton Agency for reliable detectives for secret-service work. In consequence of this the present head of the Honduras secret force was no other than a former Pinkerton employee who had been recommended by the New York office to the Honduras government, and upon whom Mr. Pinkerton knew he could rely absolutely. Another man equally disposed to favor him was Mr. Bert Cecil, a member of the cabinet, and at the head of the telegraph service, and thus in a position to render most valuable service in the apprehension of Crawford.