VII

AT about that time, in the Intendencia of Sulaco, Charles Gould was assuring Pedrito Montero, who hal sent a request for his presence there, that he would never let the mine pass out of his hand for the profit of a government who had robbed him of it. The Gould Concession could not be resumed. His father had not desired it. The son would never sur- render it. He would never surrender it alive. And once dead, where was the power capable of resuscitat- ing such an enterprise in all its vigor and wealth out of the ashes and ruin of destruction? There was no such power in the country. And where was the skill and capital abroad that would condescend to touch such an ill-omened corpse? Charles Gould talked in the impassive tone which had for many years served to conceal his anger and contempt. He suffered. He was disgusted with what he had to say. It was too much like heroics. In him the strictly practical in- stinct was in profound discord with the almost mystic- view he took of his right. The Gould Concession was symbolic of abstract justice. Let the heavens fall. But since the San Tome* mine had developed into world-wide fame his threat had enough force and effec- tiveness to reach the rudimentary intelligence of Pedro Montero, wrapped up as it was in the futilities of his-

torical anecdotes. The Gould Concession was a se-