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On the whole, Pancho Cueto's plans had worked s the Varona twins as traitors he had ed to have himself appointed trustee for the crown, for all their properties, consummation for which he had worked fro after Dona Isabel's 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 Quinta 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 tireless, thorough-going man, therefore he did not set about his explorations in the haphazard rounds, he ripped them up with a series of deep trenches and cross-cuts It was a task that required the labor of many men for several weeks, and when it was finished there was scarcely a growing thing left upon the place Only a few of the larger trees re, 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 its foundations, but without the reward of so le 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 hi sacrificed his choicest residence, he retired in chagrin to the plantation of La Joya

But Cueto was now a e, and his conteed soured into hatred Such ti 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 soan 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 ould end some day What then? Cueto asked himself Sympathy was ever on the side of the weak and oppressed There would co

As if to swell his discothen his fears, out from the hills at the head of the Yuuerrilleros, under the leadership of a beardless boy--a band of blacks ereparties