"Your funds," said Mr. Merry, "seem to me inadequate for the demands which will be made upon them. You said fifty thousand?"
Burr nodded.
"I pledge you as much more--on one condition that I shall name."
Burr turned from Mr. Merry to Señor Yrujo. The latter nodded.
"I undertake to contribute the same amount," said the envoy of Spain, "but with no condition attached."
The color deepened in the cheek of the great conspirator. His eye glittered a trifle more brilliantly.
"You named a certain condition, sir," he said to Merry.
"Yes, one entirely obvious."
"What is it, then, your excellency?" Burr inquired.
"You yourself have made it plain. The infernal ingenuity of yonder Corsican--curse his devilish brain!--has rolled a greater stone in our yard than could be placed there by any other human agency. We could not believe that Napoleon Bonaparte would part with Louisiana thus easily. No doubt he feared the British fleet at the mouth of the river--no doubt Spain was glad enough that our guns were not at New Orleans ere this. But, I say, he rolled that stone in our yard. If title to this Louisiana purchase is driven through to the Pacific--as Mr. Jefferson plans so boldly--the end is written now, Colonel Burr, to all your enterprises! Britain will be forced to content herself with what she can take on the north, and Spain eventually will hold nothing worth having on the south. By the Lord, General Bonaparte fights well--he knows how to sacrifice a pawn in order to checkmate a king!"
"Yes, your excellency," said Burr, "I agree with you, but----"
"And now my condition. Follow me closely. I say if that wedge is driven home--if that expedition of Mr. Jefferson's shall succeed--its success will rest on one factor. In short, there is a man at the head of that expedition who must fight with us and not against us, else my own interest in this matter lacks entirely. You know the man I have in mind."
Burr nodded, his lips compressed.
"That young man, Colonel Burr, will go through! I know his kind. Believe me, if I know men, he is a strong man. Let that man come back from his expedition with the map of a million square miles of new American territory hanging at his belt, like a scalp torn from his foes--and there will be no chance left for Colonel Burr and his friends!"
"All that your excellency has said tallies entirely with our own beliefs," rejoined Burr. "But what then? What is the condition?"
"Simply this--we must have Captain Lewis with us and not against us. I want that man! I must have him. That expedition must never proceed. It must be delayed, stopped. Money was raised twenty years ago in London to make this same sort of journey across the continent, but the plan fell through. Revive it now, and we English still may pull it off. But it will be too late if Captain Lewis goes forward now--too late for us--too late for you and your plan, Mr. Burr. I want that man! We must have him with us!"