Ned related the story anew, and he dwelt upon the fact that
Santa Anna had spared him at the mention of Roylston's name. But when
the story was finished, the merchant was silent for quite a while. Ned
knew by the contraction of the lines upon the great brow that he was
thinking. At last, he broke the silence.

"No doubt you have wondered that my name had so much influence with
Santa Anna," he said. "I have hinted at it before, but I will explain
more fully now. I am, as you know, a merchant. I trade throughout the
whole southwest, and I have ships in the Gulf and the Caribbean. One of
them, the 'Star of the South,' on which we now are, can show her heels
to anything in these seas.

"Earlier in my life I came in contact with Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna.
Like many others I fell for a while under his spell. I believed that he
was a great and liberal man, that he would even be able to pull Mexico
out of her slough of misrule and ignorance. I helped him in some of his
young efforts. The splendid hacienda that he has near Vera Cruz was
bought partly with money that I furnished.

"But our friendship could not last. Vain, ruthless, cruel, but with
genius, Santa Anna can have no friends except those whom he may use.
Unless you submit, unless you do everything that he wishes, you are, in
his opinion, a traitor to him, a malefactor and an enemy, to be crushed
by trickery or force, by fair means or foul. How could I have continued
dealings with such a man?

"I soon saw that instead of being Mexico's best friend he was her worst
enemy. I drew away in time, but barely. I was in Mexico when the break
came, and he would have seized and imprisoned me or had me shot, but I
escaped in disguise.

"I retained, too, a hold upon Santa Anna that he has sought in vain to
break. Such a man as he always needs money, not a few thousands, but
great sums. He has been thrifty. The treasury of Mexico has been
practically at his mercy, but he does not trust the banks of his own
land. He has money not only in the foreign banks of Mexico, but also
large amounts of it in two of the great banks of London. The English
deposits stand as security for the heavy sums that he owes me. His arm
is long, but it does not reach to London.

"He cannot pay at present without putting himself in great difficulties,
and, for the time being, I wish the debt to stand. It gives me a certain
power over him, although we are on opposite sides in a fierce war. When
you g