With his heart beating fast and the muscles in his throat tightening, Phil saw Espinosa sauntering toward them. He was dressed in the uniform of a Filipino general, made in the Spanish fashion, of a mouse-colored duck with a rolling collar, on which a silver star glistened. He came slowly forward, a wicked smile on his face. “Señor Perry! So! I have you now in my power?” he said in a low, hard voice. “I knew that my time would come. Your cleverness caused me some inconvenience. Colonel Martinez is still to be accounted for. But”--and he shrugged his shoulders--“that is but a matter of days. You can see that I am now master of the situation. I shall annihilate your untried, inefficient volunteers with as much ease as I can kill flies on the wall of a butcher shop. Your general dare not call in his men from the garrisons in the north. After I have worn out and killed those sent against me, then I shall attack Palilo itself. Then when I have the city in my hands and your general has withdrawn or surrenders, I shall wire to Manila my willingness to accept civil government. I shall go through the form of surrendering to the vanquished Americans, and shall be made the governor of Kapay. I shall then carry on my authority under your own flag. Is it not a very clever plan? Ah, there is one point that I have forgotten, a governor of an island as rich as Kapay must have a suitable dwelling. Very well. Señor Rodriguez is no more; his house is vacant and adequate for the worthy purpose; and the señorita--how well the title of wife to the governor of Kapay would become her! “So you see, señor, after all, Espinosa has lost nothing,” he ended with mock politeness. Phil glared angrily at this vain, boastful Malay half-breed. How dare he even think of marrying a girl like Maria Rodriguez? Phil knew that she would rather die first. “Every man in the American army will fight you to the last fence,” Phil exclaimed savagely. “Your villainy and treachery are too well known among even your own people, who serve you only through fear. You will never be made a governor under the civil government. That won’t aid you to carry out your vengeful purposes upon those whom you might choose to call your enemies.” Espinosa’s face paled slightly, and his eyes kindled in anger. “I am sorry that I cannot allow you to remain alive to see my prophecy come true,” he replied with a cruel shrug. “And before I am found out, as you Americans say, and displaced, I shall have enough money put aside in banks outside of the Philippines to live in ease and luxury for the remainder of my life. “These thoughts,” he added, “may cheer your last hours. It should be a pleasure to you to know that you haven’t done me as much harm as you supposed.”