“Vasquez is as slick as ever,” mused Hal, sinking back on the cushion. “At first, he thought he would frighten me. Now perhaps he means to call upon me at the hotel, try to convince me that he saved my life, and thus work upon my gratitude. If Senor Vasquez imagines that he can persuade me to betray my good old employer, he will wake up and find it all a dream! “But first of all he will send his agents out again, to see if he can get them on the track of the place where the money is. How my Spanish pirate would swear if he knew that he had been within a foot of the money all the while! Yet, because I have fooled the fellow this time, I must not underrate him. He is deadly!” Deadly, indeed! Vasquez, though a rich merchant, had seldom earned an honest dollar. He belonged to a Spanish type that has been common in Cuba. American merchants and planters, especially those who were new to the island, had been his especial game for years. He sought the acquaintance of such “new” Americans, tendered them his services and goods, and charged exorbitantly for both. Should an American planter protest, the crop in one of his sugar or tobacco fields was burned, nor was it long before the planter learned that “irrepressible friends of Senor Vasquez had rebuked a grasping foreigner.” Should an American merchant protest at Vasquez’s charges, something happened to the “impudent merchant’s” stores or warehouses. Yet Vasquez himself had always kept on the safe side of the law, while cheerfully ruining Americans. They were simply compelled to submit to his extortions. One American, a planter, who had resolutely resisted the Spaniard, had been found dead, but the crime could be fastened on no one. Just before the outbreak of the Cuban rebellion, Henry Richardson had started sugar plantations in the interior. He had fallen into Vasquez’s hands at the outset, and had been systematically plundered. Hal Maynard, who had come to Cuba a year before as Mr. Richardson’s private secretary, had detected the Spaniard in several doubtful dealings. Naturally Vasquez’s feeling for our hero was far from cordial. While Hal and his employer were still in the interior, Vasquez had tried to involve them in trouble with the Spanish authorities. This menace Mr. Richardson had dodged by paying a liberal bribe to the officer commanding the nearest garrison. Nevertheless, more dangers threatened these two Americans. Then Consul General Lee’s call had come for Americans to leave Cuba. Mr. Richardson had gone the day before. Hal had lingered long enough to collect two thousand dollars due his employer. This accomplished, he had traveled hastily to Havana, meaning to leave there on the historic ninth of April. We have seen how he had reached there too late. The money that Vasquez claimed as his due was the balance of an exorbitant bill. He had already been paid far more than he was entitled to. But he had hoped to overtake and intimidate the American boy.