en he will wait."

Mendoza made no reply. Both remained lost in thought.

"That does not seem to me such a bad plan," said the former, at length.
"I tell you frankly that at present it is impossible to get the thirty
thousand duros from the general; I know his affairs well, and am certain
that he is not in a situation to pay down this amount. But if it does
not come from his private pocket, it may be got from the public
treasury. I have it on good authority that the government has already
voted some money (though not any such sum as this), to be spent on
newspapers, and credited to the secret funds of the Ministry of the
Government. The point here is to get influence enough for the minister
to get hold of it."

"I suppose that the general will use all his."

"Of course. And I will do what I can. But the general is not in Madrid,
and you know as well as I do that these delicate transactions cannot be
managed through correspondence, or arranged in this way, ever. We must
be always on the track, worry the minister with visits, speak to all his
friends, so as to keep it before his attention, and, if it were
possible, threaten him with some summons to the Cortes concerning some
delicate affair which he would not like to have made public."

"_Caramba!_ Perico, you have made great advances in short time. You
understand wire-pulling to the last detail."

"How so?"

"Man alive! certainly; for it is not this way that it is explained and
defined to us by the treatises."

Mendoza shrugged his shoulders, at the same time pressing his lips into
a sign of disdain.

"Well, then you want to bring the general back to Madrid?" added
Miguel.

"That is impossible."

"Then what shall we do?"

Mendoza meditated.

"If you had been elected deputy, the thing would be much easier. In that
case we should be two to ask the minister, who, looking out for his
future interests, would be much more careful not to go counter to
us...."

"But as I am not a deputy!"

Mendoza meditated another long time, and said:--

"Still it can all be arranged. The general, when he accepted the post of
ambassador, left one district vacant, that of Serin, in Galicia. They
will soon be having the second elections. If the government will accept
you as _candidato adicto_, you are certain of a triumph."

Rivera said nothing, and seemed also lost in thought.

"Hitherto, Perico, I have never had the least idea of being the father
of my country. You know