“And what did he work at?”
“Land schemes and loan companies. He once got me interested in a land scheme, and his rascality cost me many dollars, and I came pretty near to going to prison in the bargain.” Señor Romano paused a moment. “If your troops take San Isidro, you will have a good chance to catch both of the brothers.”
“What! do you mean to say they are at San Isidro?” exclaimed the young captain.
“They are, or, at least, they were two or three days ago. How long they will stay there, I cannot say. They were at the council of war held by Aguinaldo’s followers.”
“I see.” Ben mused for a moment. “Of course you do not know if they had the stolen money with them?”
“They appeared to have some money, for both were offered positions in the army, and that would not have happened had not they had funds to buy the offices with. They appeared to be very thick with a general named Porlar,—a tricky fellow of French-Malay blood. I believe the three had some scheme they wished to put through.”
“Well, I’d like to catch the pair. I wonder 264 if Aguinaldo would keep them around him, if he knew their real characters?”
At this Señor Romano laughed outright. “You do not know how bad are some of the men around the arch rebel, capitan. He has some bad advisers, I can tell you that. To some of the worst of the crowd, Aguinaldo is but a figurehead.”
The pair discussed the matter for half an hour; and during that time Ben became convinced that Señor Romano had small sympathy for the insurgents, and was certainly not of their number.