eroy? Are you here as his representative?"

"Nay, not so, senor," answered the alcalde. "His Excellency is at
present in the city of Mexico. The Commandant of the military lies in
his house, sick of a fever and quite unable to transact business; and
that is why I am here."

"Um!" commented George. "That makes it rather awkward--for you, I am
afraid, senor." He considered a little, and then asked: "How long would
it take a well-mounted messenger to proceed to the city of Mexico with a
message, and return with an answer?"

"Six days at the very least, senor; the roads are very bad," was the
reply.

"Then that rules the Viceroy out of the question," said George, "for I
cannot spare the time to send messages backward and forward a six days'
journey. Now, as to the military Commandant: you say that he is too ill
to transact business. Is there not a sub-commandant, or some such
official, with whom I can deal?"

"There is, of course, the Captain of Soldiers, senor," answered the
alcalde. "But I come next in rank to the Commandant."

"Then," said George, "it is clear that you, senor, are the official with
whom I must deal; and if you are unwilling to bear the entire
responsibility, you must e'en share it with the military captain. Now,
these are my demands, which I will presently embody in a written
document, in order that you may have something to show when the time
comes for you to reckon with the Viceroy.

"First: I claim one million _pezos_ of gold to cover the loss of ships
and treasure resulting to my countrymen through the Viceroy's
treacherous attack upon them. Stay a moment, senor, that is only the
beginning of my demands,"--as the alcalde half rose to his feet,
protestingly.

"Secondly: I will put down the number of Englishmen slain on that
occasion at, let us say, three hundred and fifty. For the benefit of
those who were dependent upon those men I demand one thousand gold
_pezos_ each, or three hundred and fifty thousand in all.

"Thirdly: I demand the release of every Englishman now in your hands,
with certain provisos concerning them, which I will make known when they
have been delivered into my hands.

"And lastly: I will retain these twelve gentlemen, your companions, as
hostages on board my ship, to guard against any further treachery; the
understanding being that upon the first sign of anything of the kind, I
hang them, one after the other, at my yard

As one man the unhappy thirteen s