England protects her subjects, Mr. Anthony, and these people know
it. If they don't come to time I'll have a gunboat in the harbor
in twenty-four hours. Color doesn't amount to a damn with us, sir;
it's the flag."

"I guess Uncle Sam is strong enough to command respect," said
Anthony.

"Well, I know the circumstances now, and I'll go straight to
Weeks. He can arrange your release without trouble. If you were an
Englishman, I'd have you out in no time, and you'd collect
handsome damages, too. This boy will."

True to the consul's prediction, a little later the Jamaican was
led out of the cell, and from the fact that he was not brought
back Kirk judged that the British intervention had been effectual.
But it was not until the next morning, the second of his
imprisonment, that the cell door opened once more, this time to
admit the portly figure of John Weeks and the spruce person of
Senor Ramon Alfarez.

"What's all this trouble about?" inquired the former in none too
amiable a tone.

Kirk told his story as briefly and convincingly as he could. But
when he had finished, the consul shook his head.

"I don't see what I can do for you," he said. "According to your
own declaration you resisted a police officer. You'll have to take
your medicine."