an may do?--your two countries will be
forever separated on this continent by one which will wage successful
war on both. Swift action is my only hope--and yours."

"Your funds," said Mr. Merry, "seem to me inadequate for the demands
which will be made upon them. You said fifty thousand?"

Burr nodded.

"I pledge you as much more--on one condition that I shall name."

Burr turned from Mr. Merry to Senor Yrujo. The latter nodded.

"I undertake to contribute the same amount," said the envoy of Spain,
"but with no condition attached."

The color deepened in the cheek of the great conspirator. His eye
glittered a trifle more brilliantly.

"You named a certain condition, sir," he said to Merry.

"Yes, one entirely obvious."

"What is it, then, your excellency?" Burr inquired.

"You yourself have made it plain. The infernal ingenuity of yonder
Corsican--curse his devilish brain!--has rolled a greater stone in our
yard than could be placed there by any other human agency. We could
not believe that Napoleon Bonaparte would part with Louisiana thus
easily. No doubt he feared the British fleet at the mouth of the
river--no doubt Spain was glad enough that our guns were not at New
Orleans ere this. But, I say, he rolled that stone in our yard. If
title to this Louisiana purchase is driven through to the Pacific--as
Mr. Jefferson plans so boldly--the end is written now, Colonel Burr,
to all your enterprises! Britain will be forced to content herself
with what she can take on the north, and Spain eventually will hold
nothing worth having on the south. By the Lord, General Bonaparte
fights well--he knows how to sacrifice a pawn in order to checkmate a
king!"

"Yes, your excellency," said Burr, "I agree with you, but----"

"And now my condition. Follow me closely. I say if that wedge is
driven home--if that expedition of Mr. Jefferson's shall succeed--its
success will rest on one factor. In short, there is a man at the head
of that expedition who must fight with us and not against us, else my
own interest in this matter lacks entirely. You know the man I have in
mind."

Burr nodded, his lips compressed.

"That young man, Colonel Burr, will go through! I know his kind.
Believe me, if I know men, he is a strong man. Let that man come back
from his expedition with the map of a million square miles of new
American territory hanging at his belt, like a scalp torn from his
foes--and there will be no chance left for Colonel