"There may be."
"But there isn't!" cried Hagan. "It's all right. Now, Merriwell, me boy, perhaps you'll not disdain to do a bit of business with Bantry Hagan."
Frank refolded the paper and returned it to the Irishman.
"What are you after?" he asked.
"Money, me lad—money. Of course Felipe Jalisco might raise a fuss and make you no end of trouble; but I have talked the matter over with him, and he is willing to surrender his claim to the concession made to his great grandfather in case he is well paid. You are rich, Merriwell; you have been making a fat thing out of your mines, and you can afford to pay. We have settled on a price, and we'll take not a dollar less. Either you'll come to our terms, or we'll cut the ground from under yer and leave you nothing but empty air to stand on."
"What is your price?"
"Five hundred thousand dollars!"
"Quite modest!" said Merry sarcastically.
"Will you pay it?"
"Not a dollar of it!"