"I am very sorry, General Fernandez," I said, "but I am afraid you have made some little mistake in your estimation of my character. I will be perfectly candid with you, and will admit that, if I could live the past few weeks over again, I should not be treating you as I am doing to-night. However, I have accepted Don Guzman's offer, and I have taken his money. For that reason I cannot take yours, nor can I let you go, glad as I should be to do so. I wonder what you would have done with me, had I not had the good fortune to escape from the cartel to-night?"
"I can tell you exactly," he answered. "You would have shared your quarters with some of your fellow-conspirators, and I should have shot you in the morning. Experience has taught me that there is nothing like dispatch in these matters. Strike home, and strike hard, is my motto."
"So I have been given to understand," I replied dryly. "And now let us return to the boat."
"You are still determined not to let me go?" he said. "What do you say to an offer of twenty thousand pounds, in English money?"
"I could not do it for fifty thousand," I replied. "Come along, sir, the dawn will soon be here, and I am anxious to be out of Equinata before it comes."
He gave a little shrug of the shoulders as I spoke, and then moved towards the boat.
"One more question," he said before we joined the others. "Where are you going to take me?"
"I shall hope to be able to show you that in a very short time," I answered. "For the present, however, it must remain a secret. Now, sir, into the boat, if you please."
Before he got in he turned to Don José de Hermaños, who was standing with his friends by the water's edge.
"Farewell, Don José," he said, as genially as if he were addressing a valued acquaintance. "I wonder whether you and I are destined to meet again? As you are aware, I have a good memory for both friends and enemies! I once imagined that you and I would have been able to work together. I believe we should have done so, had not you committed yourself too deeply to my rival before I was able to bring my influence to bear upon you. I should put that mask in my pocket if I were you. You forget that you have a mole upon your chin."