Rainbows End | Page 4

women have heard about his treasure."

"What treasure?" asked Sebastian, after an instant's pause.
Cueto's dark eyes gleamed resentfully at this show of ignorance, but he
laughed.
"Ho! There's a careful fellow for you! No wonder he trusts you. But do
you think I have neither eyes nor ears? My good Sebastian, you know
all about that treasure; in fact, you know far more about many things
than Don Esteban would care to have you tell. Come now, don't you?"
Sebastian's face was like a mask carved from ebony. "Of what does this
treasure consist?" he inquired. "I have never heard about it."
"Of gold, of jewels, of silver bars and precious ornaments." Cueto's
head was thrust forward, his nostrils were dilated, his teeth gleamed.
"Oh, it is somewhere about, as you very well know! Bah! Don't deny it.
I'm no fool. What becomes of the money from the slave girls, eh? And
the sugar crops, too? Does it go to buy arms and ammunition for the
rebels? No. Don Esteban hides it, and you help him. Come," he cried,
disregarding Sebastian's murmurs of protest, "did you ever think how
fabulous that fortune must be by this time? Did you ever think that one
little gem, one bag of gold, would buy your freedom?"
"Don Esteban has promised to buy my freedom and the freedom of my
girl."
"So?" The manager was plainly surprised. "I didn't know that." After a
moment he began to laugh. "And yet you pretend to know nothing
about that treasure? Ha! You're a good boy, Sebastian, and so I am. I
admire you. We're both loyal to our master, eh? But now about
Evangelina." Cueto's face took on a craftier expression. "She is a likely
girl, and when she grows up she will be worth more than you, her
father. Don't forget that Don Esteban is before all else a business man.
Be careful that some one doesn't make him so good an offer for your
girl that he will forget his promise and--sell her."
Sebastian uttered a hoarse, animal cry and the whites of his eyes
showed through the gloom. "He would never sell Evangelina!"

Cueto laughed aloud once more. "Of course! He would not dare, eh? I
am only teasing you. But see! You have given yourself away.
Everything you tell me proves that you know all about that treasure."
"I know but one thing," the slave declared, stiffening himself slowly,
"and that is to be faithful to Don Esteban." He turned and departed,
leaving Pancho Cueto staring after him meditatively.
In the days following the birth of his children and the death of his wife,
Don Esteban Varona, as had been his custom, steered a middle course
in politics, in that way managing to avoid a clash with the Spanish
officials who ruled the island, or an open break with his Cuban
neighbors, who rebelled beneath their wrongs. This was no easy thing
to do, for the agents of the crown were uniformly corrupt and quite
ruthless, while most of the native- born were either openly or secretly
in sympathy with the revolution in the Orient. But Esteban dealt
diplomatically with both factions and went on raising slaves and sugar
to his own great profit. Owing to the impossibility of importing negroes,
the market steadily improved, and Esteban reaped a handsome profit
from those he had on hand, especially when his crop of young girls
matured. His sugar-plantations prospered, too, and Pancho Cueto, who
managed them, continued to wonder where the money went.
The twins, Esteban and Rosa, developed into healthy children and
became the pride of Sebastian and his daughter, into whose care they
had been given. As for Evangelina, the young negress, she grew tall
and strong and handsome, until she was the finest slave girl in the
neighborhood. Whenever Sebastian looked at her he thanked God for
his happy circumstances.
Then, one day, Don Esteban Varona remarried, and the Dona Isabel,
who had been a famous Habana beauty, came to live at the quinta. The
daughter of impoverished parents, she had heard and thought much
about the mysterious treasure of La Cumbre.
There followed a period of feasting and entertainment, of music and
merrymaking. Spanish officials, prominent civilians of Matanzas and
the countryside, drove up the hill to welcome Don Esteban's bride. But

before the first fervor of his honeymoon cooled the groom began to fear
that he had made a serious mistake. Dona Isabel, he discovered, was
both vain and selfish. Not only did she crave luxury and display, but
with singular persistence she demanded to know all about her husband's
financial affairs.
Now Don Esteban was no longer young; age had soured him with
suspicion, and when once he saw himself as the victim of a mercenary
marriage he turned