“Then you must have deserved it,” cried Mr Parkley.
“You think so,” said the Cuban, growing unnaturally calm again. “Then I say I must have satisfaction somehow. Your partner makes me his enemy, and you must suffer. I shall not fulfil my contract. I will not take you where the galleons lie. You have made your preparations. Good. You must suffer for it, even as I suffer. I give up one of the dreams of my life. I will not go.”
A pang shot through Dutch Pugh’s breast, for in this refusal to depart he saw an excuse to remain in England, and once more the hot blood rose to his face.
“You absolutely refuse, then, to show Captain Studwick and me where the objects we seek are hid?” said Mr Parkley, turning up his cuffs as if he meant to fight; and the Cuban’s hand went into his breast.
“I absolutely refuse,” said the Cuban, disdainfully.
“You know, I suppose, that you forfeit half the result,” said Mr Parkley.
“Yes,” said the Cuban, moving towards the gangway, “I know I lose half the result.”
“You know I have spent five thousand pounds in preparations,” said Mr Parkley, calmly.
“Yes,” sneered the Cuban, “and you have your law. Go to it for revenge; it may please you.”
“No,” said Mr Parkley, looking round at the frowning faces of his friends; “that means spending another thousand to gain the day, and nothing to be obtained of a beggarly Cuban adventurer, who has neither money nor honour.”