that it was a lie, and then deliver you to these five
gentlemen, former friends of yours, who would tear you in pieces."

Braxton Wyatt shivered again, and the Spaniard, seeing the shiver, laughed
and was convinced.

"Why should I betray you?" said the renegade. "I have no motive to do so
and every possible motive to keep faith."

"I know it," replied Alvarez, "and that is why I speak. It is to your
interest to be faithful to me and when my enterprise succeeds, as it
certainly will, you shall have your proper share of the reward. Bernardo
Galvez, as you know, is the Governor General of Louisiana, and his father
is the Viceroy of Mexico. They are powerful, very powerful, and I am only
a commander of troops under the son, but I, too, am powerful. My family is
one of the first in Spain. It sits upon the very steps of the throne and
more than once royal blood has entered our veins. I was a favorite at the
court and I have many friends there. The King might be persuaded that
Bernardo Galvez is not a fit representative of the royal interests in
Louisiana."

Francisco Alvarez leaned a little forward and his blue eyes, usually so
chill, sparkled now with fire. He was speaking of what lay next to his
heart. Braxton Wyatt, full of shrewdness and perception, understood at
once.

"Bernardo Galvez might give way as Governor General of Louisiana," said
the renegade, "to be succeeded by a better man, one who had the real
interests of Spain at heart, one who would refuse to give the slightest
aid to rebels, rebels who would strike against a throne!"

The Spaniard looked pleased.

"I see that you are a man of penetration, Senor Wyatt," he said, "and I am
fortunate in having you as a lieutenant. You have divined my thought. I
work, not for the interests of a man whose name has been mentioned by
neither of us, but for the true interests of Spain and the divine right of
kings. What is this miserable Kaintock which is springing up? We will
crush it out as you would have crushed the rattlesnake! The people of New
Orleans and Louisiana hate rebels! Why should they not? It is the rebels
who in time will take Louisiana from us if they can, not England."

Braxton Wyatt smiled. He was delighted to the very center of his cunning
heart. His plans and those of Alvarez marched well together. Each
strengthened the other.

"I am with you to the end," he said.

"The end will be a glorious triumph," said the Spaniard in emphatic tones.

Mean