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“I know all your plans, friend,” he said, “and I congratulate you on them, for they were cleverly managed. I know also that you have a great treasure in gold hidden away——” and he named the sum. “That wife of yours, whom you were fool enough to trust, has told me everything, but she cannot tell me where the money is hidden, for this you withheld from her, which shows that you are not altogether mad.

“Now, friend, I make you a fair offer—hand over this treasure, and you shall go free—of course when the day of vengeance is past and your sheep have found themselves without a shepherd—nor shall you be molested afterwards. Refuse to do so, and you will be brought to trial and die as you deserve.”

“How can you promise for others?” I asked. “You are not the only white man who would have fallen.”

“I can promise for others, first, because I am their master, and, secondly, because nobody but myself knows anything of this matter, since, if I told them, I must also share your wealth with them, and that, friend, I mean to keep. Give it up to me and you may go and plot against my successors and the Government of Mexico as much as pleases you, and take your wife with you for aught I care; for, friend, having earned so comfortable a competence, I propose to leave a land where, as this business proves, people in authority are too apt to have their throats cut. Now choose, and be so good as to stand quite still while you are thinking the matter over, or I may be forced to shoot you.”