Evening star., 1918-01-13
VIII.
THE SPANISH DoUBLooN.

On the whole. Pancho Cueto's plans
had worked smoothly. After denounc.
ing the varona twins as traitors he had
managed to have himself appointed
trustee for the crown, for all their
properties, consummation for which he
had worked from the moment he read
that letter of Estebans on the morning
after Dona Isabels death. To be sure.
the overseer had acquired title. of a
sort, to the plantation by paying the
taxes over a period of years, but it was
the quinta itself which he desired, the
Quinto de Esteban with its hidden gold.
That there was a treasure Cueto had
never doubted, and, once the place was
his to do with as he chose, he began
his search.
Cueto was a tire1ess, thorough going
man. therefore he did not set about his
explorations in the haphazard manner
lower edge of the grounds. he ripped
them up with a series of deep trenches
and crosscuts. 1t was a task that re-
quired the labor of many men for sew
eral weeks. and when it was finished
there was scarcely a growing thing left
upon the place. Only A few of the
larger trees remained. Cueto was dis
appointed at finding nothing, but he
was not discouraged. Next he tore
down the old slave barracoons and the
outbuildings, after which he completely
wrecked the residence itself. He pulled
it apart bit by bit, brick by brick. He
even dug up it's foundations, but with
out the reward of so much as single
peseta. Finally, when the villa was
but a heap of rubbish and the grounds
a scar upon the slope Of La Cumbre, he
desisted, baffled, incredulous. while all
Matanzas laughed at him. Having
Z. 1~f~ h.
tired in chagrin to the plantation of
La Joya.
But Cueto was now man with a
grievance. He burned with rage. and
his contempt for the boy and girl he
had Wronged soured into hatred. Such
time as he did not spend in racklng his
brain to explain the disappearance of
the dead Esteban's riches he devoted
to cursing the living Esteban and his
sister, who. it seemed to him, were
somehow to blame for his wrecked
hopes.
In time he began to realize also that
SO long as they lived they would
jeopardize his tenure of their property.
Public feeling, at present. was high;
there was intense bitterness against all
rebels; but the war would end some
day. What then? Cueto asked himself.
Sympathy was ever on the side Of the
weak and oppressed. Ihere would come
a day of reckoning.
AS if to swell his discontinue and
strengthen his fears, out from the hills
at the head of the Yumuri issued
rumors of a little band of guerrilleros.
under the leadership of beardless boy
"a band of blacks who were making
the upper valley unsafe for Spanish
scouting parties.
Cueto armed himself. He did not ven
ture far alone, and, like Dona Isabel
before him, he began to have bad
dreams at night.
49,,
burned, and his laborers reported seeing
ESteban and some negroes riding into
the wood. The overseer took horse
within the hour and rode pell-mell to
3 certain Col Cobo. in command OF
Spanish volunteers, those execrable
convict troops from the Isle OF Pines
whose atrocities had already marked
to him Pancho went with his story.
"Ah, yes. That Varona boy. I've
heard of him. Cobo remarked. when
his caller had finished his account. He
you robbed him" The colonel smiled
disagreeably. He was disagreable
fellow, so dark of skin as to lend
credence to the gossip regarding his
parentage: a loud. strutting. domineer-
ing person. whose record in Santa Clara
province was such that only the men
discussed 1t.
Cueto murmured something to the ef-
feet that the law had placed him in
his position as trustee for the crown,
and should therefore protect him; but
Col. Cobo's respect for the law. it
seemed, was slight. In his view there
was but one law in the land, the law
of force.
why do you come to me?" he asked.
That fellow is a desperado." Pancho
declared. 'He should be destroyed"
bah! The country is overrun with
desperadoes of his kind, and worse.
Burning crops is nothing new. I'd