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He had +been appointed by Lincoln. For a quarter of a century that fact was +his distinction. It was now his epitaph. But in former years, as +each new administration succeeded the old, it had again and again +saved his official head. When victorious and voracious +place-hunters, searching the map of the world for spoils, dug out +his hiding-place and demanded his consular sign as a reward for a +younger and more aggressive party worker, the ghost of the dead +President protected him. In the State Department, Marshall had +become a tradition. "You can't touch Him!" the State Department +would say; "why, HE was appointed by Lincoln!" Secretly, for this +weapon against the hungry headhunters, the department was +infinitely grateful. Old man Marshall was a consul after its own +heart. Like a soldier, he was obedient, disciplined; wherever he +was sent, there, without question, he would go. Never against +exile, against ill-health, against climate did he make complaint. +Nor when he was moved on and down to make way for some +ne'er-do-well with influence, with a brother-in- law in the Senate, +with a cousin owning a newspaper, with rich relatives who desired +him to drink himself to death at the expense of the government +rather than at their own, did old man Marshall point to his record +as a claim for more just treatment. + +And it had been an excellent record. His official reports, in a +quaint, stately hand, were models of English; full of information, +intelligent, valuable, well observed. And those few of his +countrymen, who stumbled upon him in the out-of- the-world places +to which of late he had been banished, wrote of him to the +department in terms of admiration and awe. Never had he or his +friends petitioned for promotion, until it was at last apparent +that, save for his record and the memory of his dead patron, he had +no friends. But, still in the department the tradition held and, +though he was not advanced, he was not dismissed. + +"If that old man's been feeding from the public trough ever since +the Civil War," protested a "practical" politician, "it seems to +me, Mr. Secretary, that he's about had his share. Ain't it time he +give some one else a bite? Some of us that has, done the work, that +has borne the brunt----" + +"This place he now holds," interrupted the Secretary of State +suavely, "is one hardly commensurate with services like yours. I +can't pronounce the name of it, and I'm not sure just where it is, +but I see that, of the last six consuls we sent there, three +resigned within a month and the other three died of yellow-fever. +Still, if you. insist----" + +The practical politician reconsidered hastily. "I'm not the sort," +he protested, "to turn out a man appointed by our martyred +President. Besides, he's so old now, if the fever don't catch him, +he'll die of old age, anyway." + +The Secretary coughed uncomfortably. "And they say," he murmured, +"republics are ungrateful." + +"I don't quite get that," said the practical politician. + +Of Porto Banos, of the Republic of Colombia, where as consul Mr. +Marshall was upholding the dignity of the United States, little +could be said except that it possessed a sure harbor. When driven +from the Caribbean Sea by stress of weather, the largest of ocean +tramps, and even battle-ships, could find in its protecting arms of +coral a safe shelter. But, as young Mr. Aiken, the wireless +operator, pointed out, unless driven by a hurricane and the fear of +death, no one ever visited it. Back of the ancient wharfs, that +dated from the days when Porto Banos was a receiver of stolen goods +for buccaneers and pirates, were rows of thatched huts, streets, +according to the season, of dust or mud, a few iron-barred, +jail-like barracks, customhouses, municipal buildings, and the +whitewashed adobe houses of the consuls. The backyard of the town +was a swamp. Through this at five each morning a rusty engine +pulled a train of flat cars to the base of the mountains, and, if +meanwhile the rails had not disappeared into the swamp, at five in +the evening brought back the flat cars laden with odorous +coffeesacks. + +In the daily life of Porto Banos, waiting for the return of the +train, and betting if it would return, was the chief interest. Each +night the consuls, the foreign residents, the wireless operator, +the manager of the rusty railroad met for dinner. There at the head +of the long table, by virtue of his years, of his courtesy and +distinguished manner, of his office, Mr. Marshall presided. Of the +little band of exiles he was the chosen ruler. His rule was gentle. +By force of example he had made existence in Porto Banos more +possible. For women and children Porto Banos was a death-trap, and +before "old man Marshall" came there had been no influence to +remind the enforced bachelors of other days. + +They had lost interest, had grown lax, irritable, morose. Their +white duck was seldom white. Their cheeks were unshaven. When the +sun sank into the swamp and the heat still turned Porto Banos into +a Turkish bath, they threw dice on the greasy tables of the Cafe +Bolivar for drinks. The petty gambling led to petty quarrels; the +drinks to fever. The coming of Mr. Marshall changed that. His +standard of life, his tact, his worldly wisdom, his cheerful +courtesy, his fastidious personal neatness shamed the younger men; +the desire to please him, to, stand well in his good opinion, +brought back pride and self-esteem. + +The lieutenant of her Majesty's gun-boat PLOVER noted the change. + +"Used to be," he exclaimed, "you couldn't get out of the Cafe +Bolivar without some one sticking a knife in you; now it's a +debating club. They all sit round a table and listen to an old +gentleman talk world politics." + +If Henry Marshall brought content to the exiles of Porto Banos, +there was little in return that Porto Banos could give to him. +Magazines and correspondents in six languages kept him in touch +with those foreign lands in which he had represented his country, +but of the country he had represented, newspapers and periodicals +showed him only too clearly that in forty years it had grown away +from him, had changed beyond recognition. + +When last he had called at the State Department, he had been made +to feel he was a man without a country, and when he visited his +home town in Vermont, he was looked upon as a Rip Van Winkle. Those +of his boyhood friends who were not dead had long thought of him as +dead. And the sleepy, pretty village had become a bustling +commercial centre. In the lanes where, as a young man, he had +walked among wheatfields, trolley-cars whirled between rows of +mills and factories. The children had grown to manhood, with +children of their own. + +Like a ghost, he searched for house after house, where once he had +been made welcome, only to find in its place a towering office +building. "All had gone, the old familiar faces." In vain he +scanned even the shop fronts for a friendly, homelike name. Whether +the fault was his, whether he would better have served his own +interests than those of his government, it now was too late to +determine. In his own home, he was a stranger among strangers. In +the service he had so faithfully followed, rank by rank, he had +been dropped, until now he, who twice had been a consul-general, +was an exile, banished to a fever swamp. The great Ship of State +had dropped him overside, had "marooned" him, and sailed away. + +Twice a day he walked along the shell road to the Cafe Bolivar, and +back again to the consulate. There, as he entered the outer office, +Jose" the Colombian clerk, would rise and bow profoundly. + +"Any papers for me to sign, Jose? " the consul would ask. + +"Not to-day, Excellency, "the clerk would reply. Then Jose would +return to writing a letter to his lady-love; not that there was +any-thing to tell her, but because writing on the official paper of +the consulate gave him importance in his eyes, and in hers. And in +the inner office the consul would continue to gaze at the empty +harbor, the empty coral reefs, the empty, burning sky. + +The little band of exiles were at second break fast when the +wireless man came in late to announce that a Red D. boat and the +island of Curacao had both reported a hurricane coming north. Also, +that much concern was felt for the safety of the yacht SERAPIS. +Three days before, in advance of her coming, she had sent a +wireless to Wilhelmstad, asking the captain of the port to reserve +a berth for her. She expected to arrive the following morning. But +for forty-eight hours nothing had been heard from her, and it was +believed she had been overhauled by the hurricane. Owing to the +presence on board of Senator Hanley, the closest friend of the new +President, the man who had made him president, much concern was +felt at Washington. To try to pick her up by wireless, the gun-boat +NEWARK had been ordered from Culebra, the cruiser RALEIGH, with +Admiral Hardy on board, from Colon. It was possible she would seek +shelter at Porto Banos. The consul was ordered to report. + +As Marshall wrote out his answer, the French consul exclaimed with +interest: + +"He is of importance, then, this senator?" he asked. "Is it that in +your country ships of war are at the service of a senator?" + +Aiken, the wireless operator, grinned derisively. + +"At the service of THIS senator, they are!" he answered. "They call +him the 'king-maker,' the man behind the throne." + +"But in your country," protested the Frenchman, "there is no +throne. I thought your president was elected by the people?" + +"That's what the people think," answered Aiken. "In God's country," +he explained, "the trusts want a rich man in the Senate, with the +same interests as their own, to represent them. They chose Hanley. +He picked out of the candidates for the presidency the man he +thought would help the interests. He nominated him, and the people +voted for him. Hanley is what we call a 'boss.' " + +The Frenchman looked inquiringly at Marshall. + +"The position of the boss is the more dangerous," said Marshall +gravely, "because it is unofficial, because there are no laws to +curtail his powers. Men like Senator Hanley are a menace to good +government. They see in public office only a reward for party +workers." + +"That's right," assented Aiken. "Your forty years' service, Mr. +Consul, wouldn't count with Hanley. If he wanted your job, he'd +throw you out as quick as he would a drunken cook." + +Mr. Marshall flushed painfully, and the French consul hastened to +interrupt. + +"Then, let us pray," he exclaimed, with fervor, "that the hurricane +has sunk the SERAPIS, and all on board." + +Two hours later, the SERAPIS, showing she had met the hurricane and +had come out second best, steamed into the harbor. + +Her owner was young Herbert Livingstone, of Washington. He once had +been in the diplomatic service, and, as minister to The Hague, +wished to return to it. In order to bring this about he had +subscribed liberally to the party campaign fund. + +With him, among other distinguished persons, was the all- powerful +Hanley. The kidnapping of Hanley for the cruise, in itself, +demonstrated the ability of Livingstone as a diplomat. It was the +opinion of many that it would surely lead to his appointment as a +minister plenipotentiary. Livingstone was of the same opinion. He +had not lived long in the nation's capital without observing the +value of propinquity. How many men he knew were now paymasters, and +secretaries of legation, solely because those high in the +government met them daily at the Metropolitan Club, and preferred +them in almost any other place. And if, after three weeks as his +guest on board what the newspapers called his floating palace, the +senator could refuse him even the prize, legation of Europe, there +was no value in modest merit. As yet, Livingstone had not hinted at +his ambition. There was no need. To a statesman of Hanley's +astuteness, the largeness of Livingstone's contribution to the +campaign fund was self- explanatory. + +After her wrestling-match with the hurricane, all those on board +the SERAPIS seemed to find in land, even in the swamp land of Porto +Banos, a compelling attraction. Before the anchors hit the water, +they were in the launch. On reaching shore, they made at once for +the consulate. There were many cables they wished to start on their +way by wireless; cables to friends, to newspapers, to the +government. + +Jose, the Colombian clerk, appalled by the unprecedented invasion +of visitors, of visitors so distinguished, and Marshall, grateful +for a chance to serve his fellow- countrymen, and especially his +countrywomen, were ubiquitous, eager, indispensable. At Jose's desk +the great senator, rolling his cigar between his teeth, was using, +to Jose's ecstasy, Jose's own pen to write a reassuring message to +the White House. At the consul's desk a beautiful creature, all in +lace and pearls, was struggling to compress the very low opinion +she held of a hurricane into ten words. On his knee, Henry Cairns, +the banker, was inditing instructions to his Wall Street office, +and upon himself Livingstone had taken the responsibility of +replying to the inquiries heaped upon Marshall's desk, from many +newspapers. + +It was just before sunset, and Marshall produced his tea things, +and the young person in pearls and lace, who was Miss Cairns, made +tea for the women, and the men mixed gin and limes with tepid +water. The consul apologized for proposing a toast in which they +could not join. He begged to drink to those who had escaped the +perils of the sea. Had they been his oldest and nearest friends, +his little speech could not have been more heart-felt and sincere. +To his distress, it moved one of the ladies to tears, and in +embarrassment he turned to the men. + +"I regret there is no ice," he said, "but you know the rule of the +tropics; as soon as a ship enters port, the ice- machine bursts." + +"I'll tell the steward to send you some, sir," said Livingstone, +"and as long as we're here." + +The senator showed his concern. + +"As long as we're here?" he gasped. + +"Not over two days," answered the owner nervously. "The chief says +it will take all of that to get her in shape. As you ought to know, +Senator, she was pretty badly mauled." + +The senator gazed blankly out of the window. Beyond it lay the +naked coral reefs, the empty sky, and the ragged palms of Porto +Banos. + +Livingstone felt that his legation was slipping from him. + +"That wireless operator," he continued hastily, "tells me there is +a most amusing place a few miles down the coast, Las Bocas, a sort +of Coney Island, where the government people go for the summer. +There's surf bathing and roulette and cafes chantants. He says +there's some Spanish dancers----" + +The guests of the SERAPIS exclaimed with interest; the senator +smiled. To Marshall the general enthusiasm over the thought of a +ride on a merry-go-round suggested that the friends of Mr. +Livingstone had found their own society far from satisfying. + +Greatly encouraged, Livingstone continued, with enthusiasm: + +"And that wireless man said," he added, "that with the launch we +can get there in half an hour. We might run down after dinner." He +turned to Marshall. + +"Will you join us, Mr. Consul?" he asked, "and dine with us, +first?" + +Marshall accepted with genuine pleasure. It had been many months +since he had sat at table with his own people. But he shook his +head doubtfully. + +"I was wondering about Las Bocas," he explained, "if your going +there might not get you in trouble at the next port. With a yacht, +I think it is different, but Las Bocas is under quarantine" + +There was a chorus of exclamations. + +"It's not serious," Marshall explained. "There was bubonic plague +there, or something like it. You would be in no danger from that. +It is only that you might be held up by the regulations. Passenger +steamers can't land any one who has been there at any other port of +the + +West Indies. The English are especially strict. The Royal Mail +won't even receive any one on board here without a certificate from +the English consul saying he has not visited Las Bocas. For an +American they would require the same guarantee from me. But I don't +think the regulations extend to yachts. I will inquire. I don't +wish to deprive you of any of the many pleasures of Porto Banos," +he added, smiling, "but if you were refused a landing at your next +port I would blame myself." + +"It's all right," declared Livingstone decidedly. "It's just as you +say; yachts and warships are exempt. Besides, I carry my own +doctor, and if he won't give us a clean bill of health, I'll make +him walk the plank. At eight, then, at dinner. I'll send the cutter +for you. I can't give you a salute, Mr. Consul, but you shall have +all the side boys I can muster." + +Those from the yacht parted from their consul in the most friendly +spirit. + +"I think he's charming!" exclaimed Miss Cairns. "And did you notice +his novels? They were in every language. It must be terribly lonely +down here, for a man like that." + +"He's the first of our consuls we've met on this trip," growled her +father, "that we've caught sober." + +"Sober!" exclaimed his wife indignantly. + +"He's one of the Marshalls of Vermont. I asked him." + +"I wonder," mused Hanley, "how much the place is worth? Hamilton, +one of the new senators, has been deviling the life out of me to +send his son somewhere. Says if he stays in Washington he'll +disgrace the family. I should think this place would drive any man +to drink himself to death in three months, and young Hamilton, from +what I've seen of him, ought to be able to do it in a week. That +would leave the place open for the next man." + +"There's a postmaster in my State thinks he carried it." The +senator smiled grimly. "He has consumption, and wants us to give +him a consulship in the tropics. I'll tell him I've seen Porto +Banos, and that it's just the place for him." + +The senator's pleasantry was not well received. But Miss Cairns +alone had the temerity to speak of what the others were thinking. + +"What would become of Mr. Marshall?" she asked. The senator smiled +tolerantly. + +"I don't know that I was thinking of Mr. Marshall," he said. "I +can't recall anything he has done for this administration. You see, +Miss Cairns," he explained, in the tone of one addressing a small +child, "Marshall has been abroad now for forty years, at the +expense of the taxpayers. Some of us think men who have lived that +long on their fellow-countrymen had better come home and get to +work." + +Livingstone nodded solemnly in assent. He did not wish a post +abroad at the expense of the taxpayers. He was willing to pay for +it. And then, with "ex-Minister" on his visiting cards, and a sense +of duty well performed, for the rest of his life he could join the +other expatriates in Paris. + +Just before dinner, the cruiser RALEIGH having discovered the +whereabouts of the SERAPIS by wireless, entered the harbor, and +Admiral Hardy came to the yacht to call upon the senator, in whose +behalf he had been scouring the Caribbean Seas. Having paid his +respects to that personage, the admiral fell boisterously upon +Marshall. + +The two old gentlemen were friends of many years. They had met, +officially and unofficially, in many strange parts of the world. To +each the chance reunion was a piece of tremendous good fortune. And +throughout dinner the guests of Livingstone, already bored with +each other, found in them and their talk of former days new and +delightful entertainment. So much so that when, Marshall having +assured them that the local quarantine regulations did not extend +to a yacht, the men departed for Las Bocas, the women insisted that +he and admiral remain behind. + +It was for Marshall a wondrous evening. To foregather with his old +friend whom he had known since Hardy was a mad midshipman, to sit +at the feet of his own charming countrywomen, to listen to their +soft, modulated laughter, to note how quickly they saw that to him +the evening was a great event, and with what tact each contributed +to make it the more memorable; all served to wipe out the months of +bitter loneliness, the stigma of failure, the sense of undeserved +neglect. In the moonlight, on the cool quarter- deck, they sat, in +a half-circle, each of the two friends telling tales out of school, +tales of which the other was the hero or the victim, "inside" +stories of great occasions, ceremonies, bombardments, unrecorded +"shirt-sleeve" diplomacy. + +Hardy had helped to open the Suez Canal. Marshall had assisted the +Queen of Madagascar to escape from the French invaders. On the +Barbary Coast Hardy had chased pirates. In Edinburgh Marshall had +played chess with Carlyle. He had seen Paris in mourning in the +days of the siege, Paris in terror in the days of the Commune; he +had known Garibaldi, Gambetta, the younger Dumas, the creator of +Pickwick. + +"Do you remember that time in Tangier," the admiral urged, when I +was a midshipman, and got into the bashaw's harem?" + +"Do you remember how I got you out? Marshall replied grimly. + +"And," demanded Hardy, "do you remember when Adelina Patti paid a +visit to the KEARSARGE at Marseilles in '65--George Dewey was our +second officer--and you were bowing and backing away from her, and +you backed into an open hatch, and she said 'my French isn't up to +it' what was it she said?" + +"I didn't hear it," said Marshall; "I was too far down the hatch." + +"Do you mean the old KEARSARGE?" asked Mrs. Cairns. "Were you in +the service then, Mr. Marshall? " + +With loyal pride in his friend, the admiral answered for him: + +"He was our consul-general at Marseilles!" + +There was an uncomfortable moment. Even those denied imagination +could not escape the contrast, could see in their mind's eye the +great harbor of Marseilles, crowded with the shipping of the world, +surrounding it the beautiful city, the rival of Paris to the north, +and on the battleship the young consul-general making his bow to +the young Empress of Song. And now, before their actual eyes, they +saw the village of Porto Banos, a black streak in the night, a row +of mud shacks, at the end of the wharf a single lantern yellow in +the clear moonlight. + +Later in the evening Miss Cairns led the admiral to one side. + +"Admiral," she began eagerly, "tell me about your friend. Why is he +here? Why don't they give him a place worthy of him? I've seen many +of our representatives abroad, and I know we cannot afford to waste +men like that." The girl exclaimed indignantly: " He's one of the +most interesting men I've ever met! He's lived everywhere, known +every one. He's a distinguished man, a cultivated man; even I can +see he knows his work, that he's a diplomat, born, trained, that +he's----" The admiral interrupted with a growl. + +"You don't have to tell ME about Henry," he protested. "I've known +Henry twenty-five years. If Henry got his deserts," he exclaimed +hotly, "he wouldn't be a consul on this coral reef; he'd be a +minister in Europe. Look at me! We're the same age. We started +together. When Lincoln sent him to Morocco as consul, he signed my +commission as a midshipman. Now I'm an admiral. Henry has twice my +brains and he's been a consul- general, and he's HERE, back at the +foot of the ladder!" + +"Why?" demanded the girl. + +"Because the navy is a service and the consular service isn't a +service. Men like Senator Hanley use it to pay their debts. While +Henry's been serving his country abroad, he's lost his friends, +lost his 'pull.' Those politicians up at Washington have no use for +him. They don't consider that a consul like Henry can make a +million dollars for his countrymen. He can keep them from shipping +goods where there's no market, show them where there is a market." +The admiral snorted contemptuously. "You don't have to tell ME the +value of a good consul. But those politicians don't consider that. +They only see that he has a job worth a few hundred dollars, and +they want it, and if he hasn't other politicians to protect him, +they'll take it." The girl raised her head. + +"Why don't you speak to the senator?" she asked. "Tell him you've +known him for years, that----" + +"Glad to do it!" exclaimed the admiral heartily. " It won't be the +first time. But Henry mustn't know. He's too confoundedly touchy. +He hates the IDEA of influence, hates men like Hanley, who abuse +it. If he thought anything was given to him except on his merits, +he wouldn't take it." + +"Then we won't tell him, " said the girl. For a moment she +hesitated. + +"If I spoke to Mr. Hanley," she asked, "told him what I learned +to-night of Mr. Marshall, "would it have any effect?" + +"Don't know how it will affect Hanley, said the sailor, "but if you +asked me to make anybody a consul-general, I'd make him an +ambassador." + +Later in the evening Hanley and Livingstone were seated alone on +deck. The visit to Las Bocas had not proved amusing, but, much to +Livingstone's relief, his honored guest was now in good-humor. He +took his cigar from his lips, only to sip at a long cool drink. He +was in a mood flatteringly confidential and communicative. + +"People have the strangest idea of what I can do for them," he +laughed. It was his pose to pretend he was without authority. "They +believe I've only to wave a wand, and get them anything they want. +I thought I'd be safe from them on board a yacht." + +Livingstone, in ignorance of what was coming, squirmed +apprehensively. + +"But it seems," the senator went on, " I'm at the mercy of a +conspiracy. The women folk want me to do something for this fellow +Marshall. If they had their way, they'd send him to the Court of +St. James. And old Hardy, too, tackled me about him. So did Miss +Cairns. + +And then Marshall himself got me behind the wheel-house, and I +thought he was going to tell me how good he was, too I But he +didn't." + +As though the joke were on himself, the senator laughed +appreciatively. + +"Told me, instead, that Hardy ought to be a vice-admiral." + +Livingstone, also, laughed, with the satisfied air of one who +cannot be tricked. + +"They fixed it up between them," he explained, " each was to put in +a good word for the other." He nodded eagerly. "That's what I +think." + +There were moments during the cruise when Senator Hanley would have +found relief in dropping his host overboard. With mock deference, +the older man inclined his head. + +"That's what you think, is it?" he asked. "Livingstone," he added, +"you certainly are a great judge of men!" + +The next morning, old man Marshall woke with a lightness at his +heart that had been long absent. For a moment, conscious only that +he was happy, he lay between sleep and waking, frowning up at his +canopy of mosquito net, trying to realize what change had come to +him. Then he remembered. His old friend had returned. New friends +had come into his life and welcomed him kindly. He was no longer +lonely. As eager as a boy, he ran to the window. He had not been +dreaming. In the harbor lay the pretty yacht, the stately, +white-hulled war- ship. The flag that drooped from the stern of +each caused his throat to tighten, brought warm tears to his eyes, +fresh resolve to his discouraged, troubled spirit. When he knelt +beside his bed, his heart poured out his thanks in gratitude and +gladness. + +While he was dressing, a blue-jacket brought a note from the +admiral. It invited him to tea on board the war-ship, with the +guests of the SERAPIS. His old friend added that he was coming to +lunch with his consul, and wanted time reserved for a long talk. +The consul agreed gladly. He was in holiday humor. The day promised +to repeat the good moments of the night previous. + +At nine o'clock, through the open door of the consulate, Marshall +saw Aiken, the wireless operator, signaling from the wharf +excitedly to the yacht, and a boat leave the ship and return. +Almost immediately the launch, carrying several passengers, again +made the trip shoreward. + +Half an hour later, Senator Hanley, Miss Cairns, and Livingstone +came up the waterfront, and entering the consulate, seated +themselves around Marshall's desk. Livingstone was sunk in +melancholy. The senator, on. the contrary, was smiling broadly. His +manner was one of distinct relief. He greeted the consul with +hearty good-humor. + +"I'm ordered home!" he announced gleefully. Then, remembering the +presence of Livingstone, he hastened to add: "I needn't say how +sorry I am to give up my yachting trip, but orders are orders. The +President," he explained to Marshall, " cables me this morning to +come back and take my coat off." The prospect, as a change from +playing bridge on a pleasure boat, seemed far from depressing him. + +"Those filibusters in the Senate," he continued genially, "are +making trouble again. They think they've got me out of the way for +another month, but they'll find they're wrong. When that bill comes +up, they'll find me at the old stand and ready for business!" +Marshall did not attempt to conceal his personal disappointment. + +"I am so sorry you are leaving," he said; "selfishly sorry, I mean. +I'd hoped you all would be here for several days." He looked +inquiringly toward Livingstone. + +"I understood the SERAPIS was disabled," he explained. + +"She is," answered Hanley. "So's the RALEIGH. At a pinch, the +admiral might have stretched the regulations and carried me to +Jamaica, but the RALEIGH's engines are knocked about too. I've GOT +to reach Kingston Thursday. The German boat leaves there Thursday +for New York. At first it looked as though I couldn't do it, but we +find that the Royal Mail is due to- day, and she can get to +Kingston Wednesday night. It's a great piece of luck. I wouldn't +bother you with my troubles, "the senator explained pleasantly, +"but the agent of the Royal Mail here won't sell me a ticket until +you've put your seal to this." He extended a piece of printed +paper. + +As Hanley had been talking, the face of the consul had grown grave. +He accepted the paper, but did not look at it. Instead, he regarded +the senator with troubled eyes. When he spoke, his tone was one of +genuine concern. + +"It is most unfortunate," he said. "But I am afraid the ROYAL MAIL +will not take you on board. Because of Las Bocas," he explained. +"If we had only known!" he added remorsefully. "It is MOST +unfortunate." + +"Because of Las Bocas?" echoed Hanley. + +"You don't mean they'll refuse to take me to Jamaica because I +spent half an hour at the end of a wharf listening to a squeaky +gramophone?" + +"The trouble," explained Marshall, "is this: if they carried you, +all the other passengers would be held in quarantine for ten days, +and there are fines to pay, and there would be difficulties over +the mails. But," he added hopefully, "maybe the regulations have +been altered. I will see her captain, and tell him----" + +"See her captain!" objected Hanley. "Why see the captain? He +doesn't know I've been to that place. Why tell him? All I need is +a clean bill of health from you. That's all HE wants. You have only +to sign that paper." Marshall regarded the senator with surprise. + +"But I can't," he said. + +"You can't? Why not?" + +"Because it certifies to the fact that you have not visited Las +Bocas. Unfortunately, you have visited Las Bocas." + +The senator had been walking up and down the room. Now he seated +himself, and stared at Marshall curiously. + +"It's like this, Mr. Marshall," he began quietly. "The President +desires my presence in Washington, thinks I can be of some use to +him there in helping carry out certain party measures--measures to +which he pledged himself before his election. Down here, a British +steamship line has laid down local rules which, in my case anyway, +are ridiculous. The question is, are you going to be bound by the +red tape of a ha'penny British colony, or by your oath to the +President of the United States?" + +The sophistry amused Marshall. He smiled good-naturedly and shook +his head. + +"I'm afraid, Senator," he said, "that way of putting it is hardly +fair. Unfortunately, the question is one of fact. I will explain to +the captain----" + +"You will explain nothing to the captain!" interrupted Hanley. +"This is a matter which concerns no one but our two selves. I am +not asking favors of steamboat captains. I am asking an American +consul to assist an American citizen in trouble, and, "he added, +with heavy sarcasm, "incidentally, to carry out the wishes of his +President." + +Marshall regarded the senator with an expression of both surprise +and disbelief. + +"Are you asking me to put my name to what is not so?" he said. "Are +you serious?" + +"That paper, Mr. Marshall," returned Hanley steadily, "is a mere +form, a piece of red tape. There's no more danger of my carrying +the plague to Jamaica than of my carrying a dynamite bomb. You KNOW +that." + +"I DO know that," assented Marshall heartily."I appreciate your +position, and I regret it exceedingly. You are the innocent victim +of a regulation which is a wise regulation, but which is most +unfair to you. My own position," he added, "is not important, but +you can believe me, it is not easy. It is certainly no pleasure for +me to be unable to help you." + +Hanley was leaning forward, his hands on his knees, his eyes +watching Marshall closely. "Then you refuse?" he said. "Why?" + +Marshall regarded the senator steadily. His manner was untroubled. +The look he turned upon Hanley was one of grave disapproval. + +"You know why," he answered quietly. "It is impossible." + +In sudden anger Hanley rose. Marshall, who had been seated behind +his desk, also rose. For a moment, in silence, the two men +confronted each other. Then Hanley spoke; his tone was harsh and +threatening. + +"Then I am to understand," he exclaimed, "that you refuse to carry +out the wishes of a United States Senator and of the President of +the United States?" + +In front of Marshall, on his desk, was the little iron stamp of the +consulate. Protectingly, almost caressingly, he laid his hand upon +it. + +"I refuse," he corrected, "to place the seal of this consulate on +a lie." + +There was a moment's pause. Miss Cairns, unwilling to remain, and +unable to withdraw, clasped her hands unhappily and stared at the +floor. Livingstone exclaimed in indignant protest. Hanley moved a +step nearer and, to emphasize what he said, tapped his knuckles on +the desk. With the air of one confident of his advantage, he spoke +slowly and softly. + +"Do you appreciate," he asked, "that, while you may be of some +importance down here in this fever swamp, in Washington I am +supposed to carry some weight? Do you appreciate that I am a +senator from a State that numbers four millions of people, and that +you are preventing me from serving those people?" + Marshall inclined his head gravely and politely. + "And I want you to appreciate," he said, "that while I have no +weight at Washington, in this fever swamp I have the honor to +represent eighty millions of people, and as long as that consular +sign is over my door I don't intend to prostitute it for YOU, or +the President of the United States, or any one of those eighty +millions." + + +Of the two men, the first to lower his eyes was Hanley. He laughed +shortly, and walked to the door. There he turned, and +indifferently, as though the incident no longer interested him, +drew out his watch. + +"Mr. Marshall," he said, "if the cable is working, I'll take your +tin sign away from you by sunset." + +For one of Marshall's traditions, to such a speech there was no +answer save silence. He bowed, and, apparently serene and +undismayed, resumed his seat. From the contest, judging from the +manner of each, it was Marshall, not Hanley, who had emerged +victorious. + +But Miss Cairns was not deceived. Under the unexpected blow, +Marshall had turned older. His clear blue eyes had grown less +alert, his broad shoulders seemed to stoop. In sympathy, her own +eyes filled with sudden tears. + +"What will you do?" she whispered. + +"I don't know what I shall do," said Marshall simply. "I should +have liked to have resigned. It's a prettier finish. After forty +years--to be dismissed by cable is--it's a poor way of ending it." + +Miss Cairns rose and walked to the door. There she turned and +looked back. + +"I am sorry," she said. And both understood that in saying no more +than that she had best shown her sympathy. + +An hour later the sympathy of Admiral Hardy was expressed more +directly. + +"If he comes on board my ship," roared that gentleman, "I'll push +him down an ammunition hoist and break his damned neck!" + +Marshall laughed delightedly. The loyalty of his old friend was +never so welcome. + +"You'll treat him with every courtesy," he said. "The only +satisfaction he gets out of this is to see that he has hurt me. We +will not give him that satisfaction." + +But Marshall found that to conceal his wound was more difficult +than he had anticipated. When, at tea time, on the deck of the +war-ship, he again met Senator Hanley and the guests of the +SERAPIS, he could not forget that his career had come to an end. +There was much to remind him that this was so. He was made aware of +it by the sad, sympathetic glances of the women; by their tactful +courtesies; by the fact that Livingstone, anxious to propitiate +Hanley, treated him rudely; by the sight of the young officers, +each just starting upon a career of honor, and possible glory, as +his career ended in humiliation; and by the big war-ship herself, +that recalled certain crises when he had only to press a button and +war-ships had come at his bidding. + +At five o'clock there was an awkward moment. The Royal Mail boat, +having taken on her cargo, passed out of the harbor on her way to +Jamaica, and dipped her colors. Senator Hanley, abandoned to his +fate, observed her departure in silence. + +Livingstone, hovering at his side, asked sympathetically: "Have +they answered your cable, sir?" "They have," said Hanley gruffly. + +"Was it--was it satisfactory?" pursued the diplomat. "It WAS," said +the senator, with emphasis. + +Far from discouraged, Livingstone continued his inquiries. + +"And when," he asked eagerly, "are you going to tell him?" + +"Now!" said the senator. + +The guests were leaving the ship. When all were seated in the +admiral's steam launch, the admiral descended the accommodation +ladder and himself picked up the tiller ropes. + +"Mr. Marshall," he called, "when I bring the launch broadside to +the ship and stop her, you will stand ready to receive the consul's +salute." + +Involuntarily, Marshall uttered an exclamation of protest. He had +forgotten that on leaving the war-ship, as consul, he was entitled +to seven guns. Had he remembered, he would have insisted that the +ceremony be omitted. He knew that the admiral wished to show his +loyalty, knew that his old friend was now paying him this honor +only as a rebuke to Hanley. But the ceremony was no longer an +honor. Hanley had made of it a mockery. It served only to emphasize +what had been taken from him. But, without a scene, it now was too +late to avoid it. The first of the seven guns had roared from the +bow, and, as often he had stood before, as never he would so stand +again, Marshall took his place at the gangway of the launch. His +eyes were fixed on the flag, his gray head was uncovered, his hat +was pressed above his heart. + +For the first time since Hanley had left the consulate, he fell +into sudden terror lest he might give way to his emotions. +Indignant at the thought, he held himself erect. His face was set +like a mask, his eyes were untroubled. He was determined they +should not see that he was suffering. + +Another gun spat out a burst of white smoke, a stab of flame. There +was an echoing roar. Another and another followed. Marshall counted +seven, and then, with a bow to the admiral, backed from the +gangway. + +And then another gun shattered the hot, heavy silence. Marshall, +confused, embarrassed, assuming he had counted wrong, hastily +returned to his place. But again before he could leave it, in +savage haste a ninth gun roared out its greeting. He could not +still be mistaken. He turned appealingly to his friend. The eyes of +the admiral were fixed upon the war-ship. Again a gun shattered the +silence. Was it a jest? Were they laughing at him? Marshall flushed +miserably. He gave a swift glance toward the others. They were +smiling. Then it was a jest. Behind his back, something of which +they all were cognizant was going forward. The face of Livingstone +alone betrayed a like bewilderment to his own. But the others, who +knew, were mocking him. + +For the thirteenth time a gun shook the brooding swamp land of +Porto Banos. And then, and not until then, did the flag crawl +slowly from the mast-head. Mary Cairns broke the tenseness by +bursting into tears. But Marshall saw that every one else, save she +and Livingstone, were still smiling. Even the bluejackets in charge +of the launch were grinning at him. He was beset by smiling faces. +And then from the war-ship, unchecked, came, against all +regulations, three long, splendid cheers. + +Marshall felt his lips quivering, the warm tears forcing their way +to his eyes. He turned beseechingly to his friend. His voice +trembled. + +"Charles," he begged, "are they laughing at me?" + +Eagerly, before the other would answer, Senator Hanley tossed his +cigar into the water and, scrambling forward, seized Marshall by +the hand. + +"Mr. Marshall," he cried, "our President has great faith in Abraham +Lincoln's judgment of men. And this salute means that this morning +he appointed you our new minister to The Hague. I'm one of those +politicians who keeps his word. I TOLD YOU I'd take your tin sign +away from you by sunset. I've done it!" + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg Etext of The Consul, by Richard Harding Davis + |