He then bowed, and prepared to leave the room.
"One moment," the old merchant said, quite appalled by the approach of death; "are there no means of settling this business, General?"
"I only know one—paying."
"I am well aware of that," he said with a sigh; "but, alas! we are ruined."
"What can I do? You know, and yourselves allowed, that I am quite unconnected with this unhappy affair."
"Alas," the poor merchants exclaimed in chorus, "you will not kill us, surely, General; we are fathers of families, what will become of our wives and children?"
"I pity you, but, unfortunately, can do no more than that."
"General," they cried, falling at his knees, "in the name of what you hold dearest, have pity on us, we implore you."
"I am really in despair at what has occurred, and should like to come to your aid; unhappily I do not see my way, and then, again, you do nothing to help me."
"Alas!" they repeated, sobbing and clasping their hands desperately.
"I am well aware that you have not the money, and there is the insurmountable difficulty, believe me. However, let us see," he added, apparently reflecting.
The poor devils, who felt themselves so near death, looked at him with eyes sparkling with hope. There was a rather lengthened silence, during which you might have heard the heart throbs of these men, who knew that life and death depended on the man who held them panting under his eye.
"Listen," he continued, "this is all I can do for you, and believe me, that, in acting thus, I assume an enormous responsibility; there are thirty of you, I think?"
"Yes, Excellency," they exclaimed unanimously.
"Well, only ten of you shall be shot. You shall select them yourselves, and those you designate will be immediately led into the patio and executed. But now ask me for nothing further, as I shall be constrained to refuse you; and that you may have time to make your selection carefully, I grant you ten minutes."
This was a proof of incontestable cleverness on the part of the General. By breaking, through this decision, the agreement that had hitherto prevailed among the merchants, by opposing them to one another, he was certain of obtaining the result which, without, he would probably not have secured. For we prefer to suppose, for the honour of the General, whose career up to this day had been so free from excesses, and acts of this nature, that the threat of death was only a mode employed to cause these men, whom he knew to be opposed to the government he represented, into undoing their purse strings, and that he would not have been so cruel as to carry matters to extremities, and shoot in cold blood thirty of the most respectable townsmen.
Whatever General Rubio's intentions might have been, however, the Americans believed him, and acted accordingly. After two or three minutes' hesitation, the merchants came one after the other, to give their consent to the loan. But their tergiversation had cost them a thousand dollars a-piece. It was dear, hence we must allow that they consented with very ill grace. But the soldiers were there ready to obey the slightest sign from their chief; the muskets were loaded, and the patio two paces off. There was no chance of getting out of it.
Still, the General did not let them off so cheaply. The Americans were led home one after the other by four soldiers and an officer, whose instructions were to shoot the prisoner at the slightest attempted escape, and it was not till the General had the two thousand piastres in his hands that a second prisoner was sent home in the same fashion. This went on until the whole sum was collected, and the only persons remaining in the saloon were the General and old Lionel.
"Oh, Excellency!" he said, reproachfully, "How is it possible that you, who have hitherto been so kind to us, could have had the thought of committing such an act of cruelty?"
The General burst out laughing.
"Do you imagine I would have done it?" he said, with a shrug of his shoulder.
The merchant struck his forehead with a gesture of despair.
"Ah!" he exclaimed, "We were idiots."
"Hang it, did you have such a bad opinion of me? Caramba, Señor, I do not commit such acts as that."
"Ah," the merchant said, with a laugh, "I have not paid yet."
"Which means?"
"That now I know what I have to expect. I shall not pay."
"Really, I believed you cleverer than that."
"Why so?"
"What? You do not understand that a man may hesitate to execute thirty persons, but when it comes to only one man, who, like yourself, has a great number of misdeeds on his conscience, his execution is considered an act of justice, and carried out without hesitation?"
"Then, you would shoot me?"
"Without the slightest remorse."
"Come, come, General, you are decidedly stronger than I am."
"You flatter me, Señor Lionel."
"No, I tell you what I think; it was cleverly played."
"You are a judge."
"Thanks," he answered, with a modest smile. "To spare you the trouble of having me executed, I will execute myself," he added, good temperedly, as he felt his coat pocket.
He drew out a pocketbook crammed with Bank of England notes, and made up the sum of two thousand piastres, which he laid on the table.
"I have now only to thank you," the General said, as he picked up the notes.
"And I you, Excellency," he answered.
"Why so?"
"Because you have given me a lesson by which I shall profit when the occasion offers."
"Take care, Señor Lionel," the General said, meaningly; "you will not, perhaps, come across a man so good-natured as myself."
The merchant restored the portfolio to his pocket, bowed to the General, and went out. It was three o'clock; all had been finished in less than an hour; it was quick work.
"Poor scamps, after all, those gringos," the General said, when he was alone; "oh, if we had not to deal with mountaineers and campesinos we should soon settle this population."
"General," said an aide-de-camp, as he opened the door, "Colonel Melendez asks whether you will deign to receive him, in spite of the late hour?"
"Is Colonel Melendez here?" the General asked in surprise.
"He has this instant arrived, General; can he come in?"
"Of course; show him in at once."
In a few minutes the Colonel appeared.
"Here you are at last," the General cried, as he went to meet him; "I fancied you were either dead or a prisoner."
"It was a tossup that one of the two events did not happen."
"Oh, oh! Then you have something serious to tell me."
"Most serious, General."
"Hang it, my friend, take a chair and let us talk."
"Before all, General," the Colonel remarked, "do you know our position?"
"What do you mean?"
"Only, General, that you may possibly be ignorant of certain events that have happened."
"I think I have heard grave events rumoured, though I do not exactly know what has happened."
"Listen, then! The Libertad corvette is in the hands of the insurgents."
"Impossible!" the General exclaimed, bounding in his chair.
"General,"