A dizzy foreshadowing of Indian canoes laden with treasure, pushing through choked tropical waterways, shook the drummer. He drew a long breath.
"Is it a practical route? I mean, does anybody know the way? Do you think it can be done?"
"I would hardly say practical, seño'. It has been done."
The negro and the white man stood looking at each other.
"How do I ... er ... how does any one get to Rio Negro?" asked the drummer, nervously.
"You will need some person to pilot you, seño': some black man would make a good guide."
"Now, I just imagine he would," said Strawbridge, drawing in his lips and biting them. "Yes, sir, I imagine he would--" He broke off and suddenly became direct: "When do we start?"
"When you feel like it, seño'--now, if you are ready."
"I stay ready. How do we get there?" He asked the question with a vague feeling that the black man might climb up to the roof of the blue house and show him a flying-machine.
"I have a little motor around at the garage, seño'."
The negro went into a room for an old hat. He took a key from his pocket, opened the door, and courteously bowed the American into the _calle_. When he had locked the door behind them, he said, "Now you go in front, seño'," and indicated the direction down the street. Strawbridge did so, the negro following a little distance behind. They looked like master and servant set forth on some trifling errand.
They had not gone very far before Strawbridge observed that two or three blocks behind them came the guitarist. This fellow meandered along with elaborate inattention to either the white man or the negro.
Now that his rôle of ignoramus and lout had been played, the black man introduced himself as Guillermo Gumersindo and glided into the usual self-explanatory conversation. He was sure Señor Strawbridge would pardon his buffoonery, but one had to be careful when a police visitation was threatened. He was the editor of a newspaper in Canalejos, "El Correo del Rio Negro," a newspaper, if he did say it, more ardently devoted to Venezuelan history than any other publication in the republic. Gumersindo had been chosen by General Fombombo to make this purchasing expedition to Caracas just because he was black and could drop easily into a lowly rôle.