"I have never seen him. If I had I should not
have wasted my time in getting a letter from him
or from anybody else. As to Senor Garlicho, his
time has expired; he has not asked for its renewal,
and so far as this deal is concerned he does not count.
I am here, as I told you, to keep the affair alive. I
would have come sooner, but I have been away from
the city of San Juan for months. Most of us who
have opinions of our own have been away from San
Juan--some for years. San Juan has not been a
healthy place for men who believe in Paramba."

"And do you?"

"Absolutely. So do thousands of our citizens."

"You don't seem to agree with Senor Garlicho,
then. He thought your former president, Paramba,
a tyrant. As for President Alvarez, he looked upon
him as the saviour of his country."

The lips had full play now, the smile of contempt
wrinkling up to his eyelids.

"Saviour of his country! Saviour of his pocket!
Pardon me; I am not here to discuss the polities of
our people. Is this your estimate?" And he reached
over and picked it from my desk. "Ah, yes: forty
thousand dollars for the ironwork; one hundred and
twenty thousand for the erection on the Lobo Reef;