“Hurrah! At last we have struck the Porto Rican cousin of the Bowery newsboy!” cried Frank. “I declare, it makes a fellow feel quite at home. Let’s buy some papers.” And they did, paying what was equal to fifteen cents each for the sheets. They were New York papers and nearly a week old, but all were satisfied later on to sit down and read them thoroughly.
CHAPTER XXII
HOCKLEY IN TROUBLE
On the following morning all the boys, with the exception of Hockley, were up bright and early. They wanted to see as much as possible of Ponce, for the professor assured them that the public buildings, the ancient churches, and the parks and public drives were all well worth visiting.
“I don’t want to go out,” said Hockley, when called. “The horseback riding made me stiff. I’d rather rest to-day,” and so, while the others spent a day visiting a score of places, he was left behind to do as he pleased.
The money he had received from his indulgent father had been “burning a hole in his pocket,” to use a common expression. He wanted a chance to have a good time, and as soon as Professor Strong and the others had departed he set out for that purpose.
“I’m going to do as I please after this,” he told himself. “And no Captain Sudlip shall get the best of me either.”
Having finished his breakfast Hockley purchased a package of cigarettes and then went to the café for a “bracer.” He thought it quite manly to drink a “bracer,” although he was in no need of the liquor. To show off he paid for the drink out of a twenty dollar bill he possessed and at the same time took good care to show the roll of money he carried.
The foolish boy did not realize that Ponce was at this time filled with fortune hunters of all sorts, men who had drifted in from the States and from other places, all anxious to see if American rule of the island would not give them some chance of bettering their condition. Many of the fortune hunters were hard working and honest, but there was another sort, gamblers and those who lived by their wits. These were the fellows to be met with at the cafés and other drinking resorts.
Not far from where Hockley was standing stood a man of about forty, stout, and dressed in a checked suit of loud pattern. The man boasted of a profusion of heavy jewelry, and from his shirt bosom sparkled an immense “diamond”—of the sort which can be purchased in any large city for ten or twenty-five cents. The man wore patent leather boots, and his general appearance showed him to be the sport that he was.
In an easy way he lounged up to Hockley. His eye had noted the youth’s roll of bills and he made up his mind that here was a possible victim. He put his hand in his pocket and drew forth a large dead bug.