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diff --git a/old/soldf10.txt b/old/soldf10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..987a0a6 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/soldf10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8998 @@ +**The Project Gutenberg Etext of Soldiers of Fortune, by Davis** +#4 in our series by Richard Harding Davis + + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + +Scanned with OmniPage Professional OCR software +donated by Caere Corporation, 1-800-535-7226. +Contact Mike Lough <Mikel@caere.com> + + + + +SOLDIERS OF +FORTUNE + +BY +RICHARD HARDING DAVIS + +TO +IRENE AND DANA GIBSON + + + + +SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE + +I + +``It is so good of you to come early,'' said Mrs. Porter, as +Alice Langham entered the drawing-room. ``I want to ask a favor +of you. I'm sure you won't mind. I would ask one of the +debutantes, except that they're always so cross if one puts +them next to men they don't know and who can't help them, and so +I thought I'd just ask you, you're so good-natured. You don't +mind, do you?'' + +``I mind being called good-natured,'' said Miss Langham, smiling. +``Mind what, Mrs. Porter?'' she asked. + +``He is a friend of George's,'' Mrs. Porter explained, vaguely. +``He's a cowboy. It seems he was very civil to George when he +was out there shooting in New Mexico, or Old Mexico, I don't +remember which. He took George to his hut and gave him things to +shoot, and all that, and now he is in New York with a letter of +introduction. It's just like George. He may be a most +impossible sort of man, but, as I said to Mr. Porter, the people +I've asked can't complain, because I don't know anything more +about him than they do. He called to-day when I was out and left +his card and George's letter of introduction, and as a man had +failed me for to-night, I just thought I would kill two birds +with one stone, and ask him to fill his place, and he's here. +And, oh, yes,'' Mrs. Porter added, ``I'm going to put him next to +you, do you mind?'' + +``Unless he wears leather leggings and long spurs I shall mind +very much,'' said Miss Langham. + +``Well, that's very nice of you,'' purred Mrs. Porter, as she +moved away. ``He may not be so bad, after all; and I'll put +Reginald King on your other side, shall I?'' she asked, pausing +and glancing back. + +The look on Miss Langham's face, which had been one of amusement, +changed consciously, and she smiled with polite acquiescence. + +``As you please, Mrs. Porter,'' she answered. She raised her +eyebrows slightly. ``I am, as the politicians say, `in the hands +of my friends.' '' + +``Entirely too much in the hands of my friends,'' she repeated, +as she turned away. This was the twelfth time during that same +winter that she and Mr. King had been placed next to one another +at dinner, and it had passed beyond the point when she could +say that it did not matter what people thought as long as she and +he understood. It had now reached that stage when she was not +quite sure that she understood either him or herself. They had +known each other for a very long time; too long, she sometimes +thought, for them ever to grow to know each other any better. +But there was always the chance that he had another side, one +that had not disclosed itself, and which she could not discover +in the strict social environment in which they both lived. And +she was the surer of this because she had once seen him when he +did not know that she was near, and he had been so different that +it had puzzled her and made her wonder if she knew the real +Reggie King at all. + +It was at a dance at a studio, and some French pantomimists gave +a little play. When it was over, King sat in the corner talking +to one of the Frenchwomen, and while he waited on her he was +laughing at her and at her efforts to speak English. He was +telling her how to say certain phrases and not telling her +correctly, and she suspected this and was accusing him of it, and +they were rhapsodizing and exclaiming over certain delightful +places and dishes of which they both knew in Paris with the +enthusiasm of two children. Miss Langham saw him off his guard +for the first time and instead of a somewhat bored and clever +man of the world, he appeared as sincere and interested as a boy. + +When he joined her, later, the same evening, he was as +entertaining as usual, and as polite and attentive as he had been +to the Frenchwoman, but he was not greatly interested, and his +laugh was modulated and not spontaneous. She had wondered that +night, and frequently since then, if, in the event of his asking +her to marry him, which was possible, and of her accepting him, +which was also possible, whether she would find him, in the +closer knowledge of married life, as keen and lighthearted with +her as he had been with the French dancer. If he would but treat +her more like a comrade and equal, and less like a prime minister +conferring with his queen! She wanted something more intimate +than the deference that he showed her, and she did not like his +taking it as an accepted fact that she was as worldly-wise as +himself, even though it were true. + +She was a woman and wanted to be loved, in spite of the fact that +she had been loved by many men--at least it was so supposed--and +had rejected them. + +Each had offered her position, or had wanted her because she was +fitted to match his own great state, or because he was ambitious, +or because she was rich. The man who could love her as she +once believed men could love, and who could give her something +else besides approval of her beauty and her mind, had not +disclosed himself. She had begun to think that he never would, +that he did not exist, that he was an imagination of the +playhouse and the novel. The men whom she knew were careful to +show her that they appreciated how distinguished was her +position, and how inaccessible she was to them. They seemed to +think that by so humbling themselves, and by emphasizing her +position they pleased her best, when it was what she wanted them +to forget. Each of them would draw away backward, bowing and +protesting that he was unworthy to raise his eyes to such a +prize, but that if she would only stoop to him, how happy his +life would be. Sometimes they meant it sincerely; sometimes they +were gentlemanly adventurers of title, from whom it was a +business proposition, and in either case she turned restlessly +away and asked herself how long it would be before the man would +come who would pick her up on his saddle and gallop off with her, +with his arm around her waist and his horse's hoofs clattering +beneath them, and echoing the tumult in their hearts. + +She had known too many great people in the world to feel +impressed with her own position at home in America; but she +sometimes compared herself to the Queen in ``In a Balcony,'' +and repeated to herself, with mock seriousness:-- + + ``And you the marble statue all the time + They praise and point at as preferred to life, + Yet leave for the first breathing woman's cheek, + First dancer's, gypsy's or street balladine's!'' + +And if it were true, she asked herself, that the man she had +imagined was only an ideal and an illusion, was not King the best +of the others, the unideal and ever-present others? Every one +else seemed to think so. The society they knew put them +constantly together and approved. Her people approved. Her own +mind approved, and as her heart was not apparently ever to be +considered, who could say that it did not approve as well? He +was certainly a very charming fellow, a manly, clever companion, +and one who bore about him the evidences of distinction and +thorough breeding. As far as family went, the Kings were as old +as a young country could expect, and Reggie King was, moreover, +in spite of his wealth, a man of action and ability. His yacht +journeyed from continent to continent, and not merely up the +Sound to Newport, and he was as well known and welcome to the +consuls along the coasts of Africa and South America as he was at +Cowes or Nice. His books of voyages were recognized by +geographical societies and other serious bodies, who had given +him permission to put long disarrangements of the alphabet after +his name. She liked him because she had grown to be at home with +him, because it was good to know that there was some one who +would not misunderstand her, and who, should she so indulge +herself, would not take advantage of any appeal she might make to +his sympathy, who would always be sure to do the tactful thing +and the courteous thing, and who, while he might never do a great +thing, could not do an unkind one. + +Miss Langham had entered the Porters' drawing-room after the +greater number of the guests had arrived, and she turned from her +hostess to listen to an old gentleman with a passion for golf, a +passion in which he had for a long time been endeavoring to +interest her. She answered him and his enthusiasm in kind, and +with as much apparent interest as she would have shown in a +matter of state. It was her principle to be all things to all +men, whether they were great artists, great diplomats, or great +bores. If a man had been pleading with her to leave the +conservatory and run away with him, and another had come up +innocently and announced that it was his dance, she would have +said: ``Oh, is it?'' with as much apparent delight as though his +coming had been the one bright hope in her life. + +She was growing enthusiastic over the delights of golf and +unconsciously making a very beautiful picture of herself in her +interest and forced vivacity, when she became conscious for the +first time of a strange young man who was standing alone before +the fireplace looking at her, and frankly listening to all the +nonsense she was talking. She guessed that he had been listening +for some time, and she also saw, before he turned his eyes +quickly away, that he was distinctly amused. Miss Langham +stopped gesticulating and lowered her voice, but continued to +keep her eyes on the face of the stranger, whose own eyes were +wandering around the room, to give her, so she guessed, the idea +that he had not been listening, but that she had caught him at it +in the moment he had first looked at her. He was a tall, broad- +shouldered youth, with a handsome face, tanned and dyed, either +by the sun or by exposure to the wind, to a deep ruddy brown, +which contrasted strangely with his yellow hair and mustache, and +with the pallor of the other faces about him. He was a stranger +apparently to every one present, and his bearing suggested, in +consequence, that ease of manner which comes to a person who is +not only sure of himself, but who has no knowledge of the claims +and pretensions to social distinction of those about him. His +most attractive feature was his eyes, which seemed to observe +all that was going on, not only what was on the surface, but +beneath the surface, and that not rudely or covertly but with the +frank, quick look of the trained observer. Miss Langham found it +an interesting face to watch, and she did not look away from it. +She was acquainted with every one else in the room, and hence she +knew this must be the cowboy of whom Mrs. Porter had spoken, and +she wondered how any one who had lived the rough life of the West +could still retain the look when in formal clothes of one who was +in the habit of doing informal things in them. + +Mrs. Porter presented her cowboy simply as ``Mr. Clay, of whom I +spoke to you,'' with a significant raising of the eyebrows, and +the cowboy made way for King, who took Miss Langham in. He +looked frankly pleased, however, when he found himself next to +her again, but did not take advantage of it throughout the first +part of the dinner, during which time he talked to the young +married woman on his right, and Miss Langham and King continued +where they had left off at their last meeting. They knew each +other well enough to joke of the way in which they were thrown +into each other's society, and, as she said, they tried to make +the best of it. But while she spoke, Miss Langham was +continually conscious of the presence of her neighbor, who piqued +her interest and her curiosity in different ways. He seemed +to be at his ease, and yet from the manner in which he glanced up +and down the table and listened to snatches of talk on either +side of him he had the appearance of one to whom it was all new, +and who was seeing it for the first time. + +There was a jolly group at one end of the long table, and they +wished to emphasize the fact by laughing a little more +hysterically at their remarks than the humor of those witticisms +seemed to justify. A daughter-in-law of Mrs. Porter was their +leader in this, and at one point she stopped in the middle of a +story and waving her hand at the double row of faces turned in +her direction, which had been attracted by the loudness of her +voice, cried, gayly, ``Don't listen. This is for private +circulation. It is not a jeune-fille story.'' The +debutantes at the table continued talking again in steady, +even tones, as though they had not heard the remark or the first +of the story, and the men next to them appeared equally +unconscious. But the cowboy, Miss Langham noted out of the +corner of her eye, after a look of polite surprise, beamed with +amusement and continued to stare up and down the table as though +he had discovered a new trait in a peculiar and interesting +animal. For some reason, she could not tell why, she felt +annoyed with herself and with her friends, and resented the +attitude which the new-comer assumed toward them. + +``Mrs. Porter tells me that you know her son George?'' she said. +He did not answer her at once, but bowed his head in assent, with +a look of interrogation, as though, so it seemed to her, he had +expected her, when she did speak, to say something less +conventional. + +``Yes,'' he replied, after a pause, ``he joined us at Ayutla. It +was the terminus of the Jalisco and Mexican Railroad then. He +came out over the road and went in from there with an outfit +after mountain lions. I believe he had very good sport.'' + +``That is a very wonderful road, I am told,'' said King, bending +forward and introducing himself into the conversation with a nod +of the head toward Clay; ``quite a remarkable feat of +engineering.'' + +``It will open up the country, I believe,'' assented the other, +indifferently. + +``I know something of it,'' continued King, ``because I met the +men who were putting it through at Pariqua, when we touched there +in the yacht. They shipped most of their plant to that port, and +we saw a good deal of them. They were a very jolly lot, and they +gave me a most interesting account of their work and its +difficulties.'' + +Clay was looking at the other closely, as though he was +trying to find something back of what he was saying, but as his +glance seemed only to embarrass King he smiled freely again in +assent, and gave him his full attention. + +``There are no men to-day, Miss Langham,'' King exclaimed, +suddenly, turning toward her, ``to my mind, who lead as +picturesque lives as do civil engineers. And there are no men +whose work is as little appreciated.'' + +``Really?'' said Miss Langham, encouragingly. + +``Now those men I met,'' continued King, settling himself with +his side to the table, ``were all young fellows of thirty or +thereabouts, but they were leading the lives of pioneers and +martyrs--at least that's what I'd call it. They were marching +through an almost unknown part of Mexico, fighting Nature at +every step and carrying civilization with them. They were doing +better work than soldiers, because soldiers destroy things, and +these chaps were creating, and making the way straight. They had +no banners either, nor brass bands. They fought mountains and +rivers, and they were attacked on every side by fever and the +lack of food and severe exposure. They had to sit down around a +camp-fire at night and calculate whether they were to tunnel a +mountain, or turn the bed of a river or bridge it. And they knew +all the time that whatever they decided to do out there in the +wilderness meant thousands of dollars to the stockholders +somewhere up in God's country, who would some day hold them to +account for them. They dragged their chains through miles and +miles of jungle, and over flat alkali beds and cactus, and they +reared bridges across roaring canons. We know nothing about them +and we care less. When their work is done we ride over the road +in an observation-car and look down thousands and thousands of +feet into the depths they have bridged, and we never give them a +thought. They are the bravest soldiers of the present day, and +they are the least recognized. I have forgotten their names, and +you never heard them. But it seems to me the civil engineer, for +all that, is the chief civilizer of our century.'' + +Miss Langham was looking ahead of her with her eyes half-closed, +as though she were going over in her mind the situation King had +described. + +``I never thought of that,'' she said. ``It sounds very fine. +As you say, the reward is so inglorious. But that is what makes +it fine.'' + +The cowboy was looking down at the table and pulling at a flower +in the centre-piece. He had ceased to smile. Miss Langham +turned on him somewhat sharply, resenting his silence, and said, +with a slight challenge in her voice:-- + +``Do you agree, Mr. Clay,'' she asked, ``or do you prefer the +chocolate-cream soldiers, in red coats and gold lace?'' + +``Oh, I don't know,'' the young man answered, with some slight +hesitation. ``It's a trade for each of them. The engineer's +work is all the more absorbing, I imagine, when the difficulties +are greatest. He has the fun of overcoming them.'' + +``You see nothing in it then,'' she asked, ``but a source of +amusement?'' + +``Oh, yes, a good deal more,'' he replied. ``A livelihood, for +one thing. I--I have been an engineer all my life. I built that +road Mr. King is talking about.'' + + +An hour later, when Mrs. Porter made the move to go, Miss Langham +rose with a protesting sigh. ``I am so sorry,'' she said, ``it +has been most interesting. I never met two men who had visited +so many inaccessible places and come out whole. You have quite +inspired Mr. King, he was never so amusing. But I should like to +hear the end of that adventure; won't you tell it to me in the +other room?'' + +Clay bowed. ``If I haven't thought of something more interesting +in the meantime,'' he said. + +``What I can't understand,'' said King, as he moved up into Miss +Langham's place, ``is how you had time to learn so much of the +rest of the world. You don't act like a man who had spent +his life in the brush.'' + +``How do you mean?'' asked Clay, smiling--``that I don't use the +wrong forks?'' + +``No,'' laughed King, ``but you told us that this was your first +visit East, and yet you're talking about England and Vienna and +Voisin's. How is it you've been there, while you have never been +in New York?'' + +``Well, that's partly due to accident and partly to design,'' +Clay answered. ``You see I've worked for English and German and +French companies, as well as for those in the States, and I go +abroad to make reports and to receive instructions. And then I'm +what you call a self-made man; that is, I've never been to +college. I've always had to educate myself, and whenever I did +get a holiday it seemed to me that I ought to put it to the best +advantage, and to spend it where civilization was the furthest +advanced--advanced, at least, in years. When I settle down and +become an expert, and demand large sums for just looking at the +work other fellows have done, then I hope to live in New York, +but until then I go where the art galleries are biggest and where +they have got the science of enjoying themselves down to the very +finest point. I have enough rough work eight months of the year +to make me appreciate that. So whenever I get a few months +to myself I take the Royal Mail to London, and from there to +Paris or Vienna. I think I like Vienna the best. The directors +are generally important people in their own cities, and they ask +one about, and so, though I hope I am a good American, it happens +that I've more friends on the Continent than in the United +States.'' + +``And how does this strike you?'' asked King, with a movement of +his shoulder toward the men about the dismantled table. + +``Oh, I don't know,'' laughed Clay. ``You've lived abroad +yourself; how does it strike you?'' + +Clay was the first man to enter the drawing-room. He walked +directly away from the others and over to Miss Langham, and, +taking her fan out of her hands as though to assure himself of +some hold upon her, seated himself with his back to every one +else. + +``You have come to finish that story?'' she said, smiling. + +Miss Langham was a careful young person, and would not have +encouraged a man she knew even as well as she knew King, to talk +to her through dinner, and after it as well. She fully +recognized that because she was conspicuous certain innocent +pleasures were denied her which other girls could enjoy without +attracting attention or comment. But Clay interested her beyond +her usual self, and the look in his eyes was a tribute which +she had no wish to put away from her. + +``I've thought of something more interesting to talk about,'' +said Clay. ``I'm going to talk about you. You see I've known +you a long time.'' + +``Since eight o'clock?'' asked Miss Langham. + +``Oh, no, since your coming out, four years ago.'' + +``It's not polite to remember so far back,'' she said. ``Were +you one of those who assisted at that important function? There +were so many there I don't remember.'' + +``No, I only read about it. I remember it very well; I had +ridden over twelve miles for the mail that day, and I stopped +half-way back to the ranch and camped out in the shade of a rock +and read all the papers and magazines through at one sitting, +until the sun went down and I couldn't see the print. One of the +papers had an account of your coming out in it, and a picture of +you, and I wrote East to the photographer for the original. It +knocked about the West for three months and then reached me at +Laredo, on the border between Texas and Mexico, and I have had it +with me ever since.'' + +Miss Langham looked at Clay for a moment in silent dismay and +with a perplexed smile. + +``Where is it now?'' she asked at last. + +``In my trunk at the hotel.'' + +``Oh,'' she said, slowly. She was still in doubt as to how to +treat this act of unconventionality. ``Not in your watch?'' she +said, to cover up the pause. ``That would have been more in +keeping with the rest of the story.'' + +The young man smiled grimly, and pulling out his watch pried back +the lid and turned it to her so that she could see a photograph +inside. The face in the watch was that of a young girl in the +dress of a fashion of several years ago. It was a lovely, frank +face, looking out of the picture into the world kindly and +questioningly, and without fear. + +``Was I once like that?'' she said, lightly. ``Well, go on.'' + +``Well,'' he said, with a little sigh of relief, ``I became +greatly interested in Miss Alice Langham, and in her comings out +and goings in, and in her gowns. Thanks to our having a press in +the States that makes a specialty of personalities, I was able to +follow you pretty closely, for, wherever I go, I have my papers +sent after me. I can get along without a compass or a medicine- +chest, but I can't do without the newspapers and the magazines. +There was a time when I thought you were going to marry that +Austrian chap, and I didn't approve of that. I knew things about +him in Vienna. And then I read of your engagement to +others--well--several others; some of them I thought worthy, and +others not. Once I even thought of writing you about it, and +once I saw you in Paris. You were passing on a coach. The man +with me told me it was you, and I wanted to follow the coach in a +fiacre, but he said he knew at what hotel you were stopping, and +so I let you go, but you were not at that hotel, or at any +other--at least, I couldn't find you.'' + +``What would you have done--?'' asked Miss Langham. ``Never +mind,'' she interrupted, ``go on.'' + +``Well, that's all,'' said Clay, smiling. ``That's all, at +least, that concerns you. That is the romance of this poor young +man.'' + +``But not the only one,'' she said, for the sake of saying +something. + +``Perhaps not,'' answered Clay, ``but the only one that counts. +I always knew I was going to meet you some day. And now I have +met you.'' + +``Well, and now that you have met me,'' said Miss Langham, +looking at him in some amusement, ``are you sorry?'' + +``No--'' said Clay, but so slowly and with such consideration +that Miss Langham laughed and held her head a little higher. +``Not sorry to meet you, but to meet you in such surroundings.'' + +``What fault do you find with my surroundings?'' + +``Well, these people,'' answered Clay, ``they are so foolish, so +futile. You shouldn't be here. There must be something else +better than this. You can't make me believe that you choose it. +In Europe you could have a salon, or you could influence +statesmen. There surely must be something here for you to turn +to as well. Something better than golf-sticks and salted +almonds.'' + +``What do you know of me?'' said Miss Langham, steadily. ``Only +what you have read of me in impertinent paragraphs. How do you +know I am fitted for anything else but just this? You never +spoke with me before to-night.'' + +``That has nothing to do with it,'' said Clay, quickly. ``Time +is made for ordinary people. When people who amount to anything +meet they don't have to waste months in finding each other out. +It is only the doubtful ones who have to be tested again and +again. When I was a kid in the diamond mines in Kimberley, I +have seen the experts pick out a perfect diamond from the heap at +the first glance, and without a moment's hesitation. It was the +cheap stones they spent most of the afternoon over. Suppose I +HAVE only seen you to-night for the first time; suppose I +shall not see you again, which is quite likely, for I sail +tomorrow for South America--what of that? I am just as sure +of what you are as though I had known you for years.'' + +Miss Langham looked at him for a moment in silence. Her beauty +was so great that she could take her time to speak. She was not +afraid of losing any one's attention. + +``And have you come out of the West, knowing me so well, just to +tell me that I am wasting myself?'' she said. ``Is that all?'' + +``That is all,'' answered Clay. ``You know the things I would +like to tell you,'' he added, looking at her closely. + +``I think I like to be told the other things best,'' she said, +``they are the easier to believe.'' + +``You have to believe whatever I tell you,'' said Clay, smiling. +The girl pressed her hands together in her lap, and looked at him +curiously. The people about them were moving and making their +farewells, and they brought her back to the present with a start. + +``I'm sorry you're going away,'' she said. ``It has been so odd. +You come suddenly up out of the wilderness, and set me to +thinking and try to trouble me with questions about myself, and +then steal away again without stopping to help me to settle them. +Is it fair?'' She rose and put out her hand, and he took it +and held it for a moment, while they stood looking at one +another. + +``I am coming back,'' he said, ``and I will find that you have +settled them for yourself.'' + +``Good-by,'' she said, in so low a tone that the people standing +near them could not hear. ``You haven't asked me for it, you +know, but--I think I shall let you keep that picture.'' + + +``Thank you,'' said Clay, smiling, ``I meant to.'' + +``You can keep it,'' she continued, turning back, ``because it is +not my picture. It is a picture of a girl who ceased to exist +four years ago, and whom you have never met. Good-night.'' + +Mr. Langham and Hope, his younger daughter, had been to the +theatre. The performance had been one which delighted Miss Hope, +and which satisfied her father because he loved to hear her +laugh. Mr. Langham was the slave of his own good fortune. By +instinct and education he was a man of leisure and culture, but +the wealth he had inherited was like an unruly child that needed +his constant watching, and in keeping it well in hand he had +become a man of business, with time for nothing else. + +Alice Langham, on her return from Mrs. Porter's dinner, found him +in his study engaged with a game of solitaire, while Hope was +kneeling on a chair beside him with her elbows on the table. +Mr. Langham had been troubled with insomnia of late, and so it +often happened that when Alice returned from a ball she would +find him sitting with a novel, or his game of solitaire, and +Hope, who had crept downstairs from her bed, dozing in front of +the open fire and keeping him silent company. The father and the +younger daughter were very close to one another, and had grown +especially so since his wife had died and his son and heir had +gone to college. This fourth member of the family was a great +bond of sympathy and interest between them, and his triumphs and +escapades at Yale were the chief subjects of their conversation. +It was told by the directors of a great Western railroad, who had +come to New York to discuss an important question with Mr. +Langham, that they had been ushered downstairs one night into his +basement, where they had found the President of the Board and his +daughter Hope working out a game of football on the billiard +table. They had chalked it off into what corresponded to five- +yard lines, and they were hurling twenty-two chess-men across it +in ``flying wedges'' and practising the several tricks which +young Langham had intrusted to his sister under an oath of +secrecy. The sight filled the directors with the horrible fear +that business troubles had turned the President's mind, but +after they had sat for half an hour perched on the high chairs +around the table, while Hope excitedly explained the game to +them, they decided that he was wiser than they knew, and each +left the house regretting he had no son worthy enough to bring +``that young girl'' into the Far West. + +``You are home early,'' said Mr. Langham, as Alice stood above +him pulling at her gloves. ``I thought you said you were going +on to some dance.'' + +``I was tired,'' his daughter answered. + +``Well, when I'm out,'' commented Hope, ``I won't come home at +eleven o'clock. Alice always was a quitter.'' + +``A what?'' asked the older sister. + +``Tell us what you had for dinner,'' said Hope. ``I know it +isn't nice to ask,'' she added, hastily, ``but I always like to +know.'' + +``I don't remember,'' Miss Langham answered, smiling at her +father, ``except that he was very much sunburned and had most +perplexing eyes.'' + +``Oh, of course,'' assented Hope, ``I suppose you mean by that +that you talked with some man all through dinner. Well, I think +there is a time for everything.'' + +``Father,'' interrupted Miss Langham, ``do you know many +engineers--I mean do you come in contact with them through +the railroads and mines you have an interest in? I am rather +curious about them,'' she said, lightly. ``They seem to be a +most picturesque lot of young men.'' + +``Engineers? Of course,'' said Mr. Langham, vaguely, with the +ten of spades held doubtfully in air. ``Sometimes we have to +depend upon them altogether. We decide from what the engineering +experts tell us whether we will invest in a thing or not.'' + +``I don't think I mean the big men of the profession,'' said his +daughter, doubtfully. ``I mean those who do the rough work. The +men who dig the mines and lay out the railroads. Do you know any +of them?'' + +``Some of them,'' said Mr. Langham, leaning back and shuffling +the cards for a new game. ``Why?'' + +``Did you ever hear of a Mr. Robert Clay?'' + +Mr. Langham smiled as he placed the cards one above the other in +even rows. ``Very often,'' he said. ``He sails to-morrow to +open up the largest iron deposits in South America. He goes for +the Valencia Mining Company. Valencia is the capital of Olancho, +one of those little republics down there.'' + +``Do you--are you interested in that company?'' asked Miss +Langham, seating herself before the fire and holding out her +hands toward it. ``Does Mr. Clay know that you are?'' + +``Yes--I am interested in it,'' Mr. Langham replied, studying the +cards before him, ``but I don't think Clay knows it--nobody knows +it yet, except the president and the other officers.'' He lifted +a card and put it down again in some indecision. ``It's +generally supposed to be operated by a company, but all the stock +is owned by one man. As a matter of fact, my dear children,'' +exclaimed Mr. Langham, as he placed a deuce of clubs upon a deuce +of spades with a smile of content, ``the Valencia Mining Company +is your beloved father.'' + +``Oh,'' said Miss Langham, as she looked steadily into the fire. + +Hope tapped her lips gently with the back of her hand to hide the +fact that she was sleepy, and nudged her father's elbow. ``You +shouldn't have put the deuce there,'' she said, ``you should have +used it to build with on the ace.'' + + + +II + +A year before Mrs. Porter's dinner a tramp steamer on her way to +the capital of Brazil had steered so close to the shores of +Olancho that her solitary passenger could look into the caverns +the waves had tunnelled in the limestone cliffs along the coast. +The solitary passenger was Robert Clay, and he made a guess that +the white palisades which fringed the base of the mountains along +the shore had been forced up above the level of the sea many +years before by some volcanic action. Olancho, as many people +know, is situated on the northeastern coast of South America, and +its shores are washed by the main equatorial current. From the +deck of a passing vessel you can obtain but little idea of +Olancho or of the abundance and tropical beauty which lies hidden +away behind the rampart of mountains on her shore. You can see +only their desolate dark-green front, and the white caves at +their base, into which the waves rush with an echoing roar, and +in and out of which fly continually thousands of frightened bats. + +The mining engineer on the rail of the tramp steamer observed +this peculiar formation of the coast with listless interest, +until he noted, when the vessel stood some thirty miles north of +the harbor of Valencia, that the limestone formation had +disappeared, and that the waves now beat against the base of the +mountains themselves. There were five of these mountains which +jutted out into the ocean, and they suggested roughly the five +knuckles of a giant hand clenched and lying flat upon the surface +of the water. They extended for seven miles, and then the +caverns in the palisades began again and continued on down the +coast to the great cliffs that guard the harbor of Olancho's +capital. + +``The waves tunnelled their way easily enough until they ran up +against those five mountains,'' mused the engineer, ``and then +they had to fall back.'' He walked to the captain's cabin and +asked to look at a map of the coast line. ``I believe I won't go +to Rio,'' he said later in the day; ``I think I will drop off +here at Valencia.'' + +So he left the tramp steamer at that place and disappeared into +the interior with an ox-cart and a couple of pack-mules, and +returned to write a lengthy letter from the Consul's office to a +Mr. Langham in the United States, knowing he was largely +interested in mines and in mining. ``There are five mountains +filled with ore,'' Clay wrote, ``which should be extracted by +open-faced workings. I saw great masses of red hematite lying +exposed on the side of the mountain, only waiting a pick and +shovel, and at one place there were five thousand tons in plain +sight. I should call the stuff first-class Bessemer ore, running +about sixty-three per cent metallic iron. The people know it is +there, but have no knowledge of its value, and are too lazy to +ever work it themselves. As to transportation, it would only be +necessary to run a freight railroad twenty miles along the sea- +coast to the harbor of Valencia and dump your ore from your own +pier into your own vessels. It would not, I think, be possible +to ship direct from the mines themselves, even though, as I say, +the ore runs right down into the water, because there is no place +at which it would be safe for a large vessel to touch. I will +look into the political side of it and see what sort of a +concession I can get for you. I should think ten per cent of the +output would satisfy them, and they would, of course, admit +machinery and plant free of duty.'' + +Six months after this communication had arrived in New York City, +the Valencia Mining Company was formally incorporated, and a man +named Van Antwerp, with two hundred workmen and a half-dozen +assistants, was sent South to lay out the freight railroad, to +erect the dumping-pier, and to strip the five mountains of +their forests and underbrush. It was not a task for a holiday, +but a stern, difficult, and perplexing problem, and Van Antwerp +was not quite the man to solve it. He was stubborn, self- +confident, and indifferent by turns. He did not depend upon his +lieutenants, but jealously guarded his own opinions from the +least question or discussion, and at every step he antagonized +the easy-going people among whom he had come to work. He had no +patience with their habits of procrastination, and he was +continually offending their lazy good-nature and their pride. He +treated the rich planters, who owned the land between the mines +and the harbor over which the freight railroad must run, with as +little consideration as he showed the regiment of soldiers which +the Government had farmed out to the company to serve as laborers +in the mines. Six months after Van Antwerp had taken charge at +Valencia, Clay, who had finished the railroad in Mexico, of which +King had spoken, was asked by telegraph to undertake the work of +getting the ore out of the mountains he had discovered, and +shipping it North. He accepted the offer and was given the title +of General Manager and Resident Director, and an enormous salary, +and was also given to understand that the rough work of +preparation had been accomplished, and that the more +important service of picking up the five mountains and +putting them in fragments into tramp steamers would continue +under his direction. He had a letter of recall for Van Antwerp, +and a letter of introduction to the Minister of Mines and +Agriculture. Further than that he knew nothing of the work +before him, but he concluded, from the fact that he had been paid +the almost prohibitive sum he had asked for his services, that it +must be important, or that he had reached that place in his +career when he could stop actual work and live easily, as an +expert, on the work of others. + +Clay rolled along the coast from Valencia to the mines in a +paddle-wheeled steamer that had served its usefulness on the +Mississippi, and which had been rotting at the levees in New +Orleans, when Van Antwerp had chartered it to carry tools and +machinery to the mines and to serve as a private launch for +himself. It was a choice either of this steamer and landing in a +small boat, or riding along the line of the unfinished railroad +on horseback. Either route consumed six valuable hours, and +Clay, who was anxious to see his new field of action, beat +impatiently upon the rail of the rolling tub as it wallowed in +the sea. + +He spent the first three days after his arrival at the mines in +the mountains, climbing them on foot and skirting their base on +horseback, and sleeping where night overtook him. Van +Antwerp did not accompany him on his tour of inspection through +the mines, but delegated that duty to an engineer named +MacWilliams, and to Weimer, the United States Consul at Valencia, +who had served the company in many ways and who was in its +closest confidence. + +For three days the men toiled heavily over fallen trunks and +trees, slippery with the moss of centuries, or slid backward on +the rolling stones in the waterways, or clung to their ponies' +backs to dodge the hanging creepers. At times for hours together +they walked in single file, bent nearly double, and seeing +nothing before them but the shining backs and shoulders of the +negroes who hacked out the way for them to go. And again they +would come suddenly upon a precipice, and drink in the soft cool +breath of the ocean, and look down thousands of feet upon the +impenetrable green under which they had been crawling, out to +where it met the sparkling surface of the Caribbean Sea. It was +three days of unceasing activity while the sun shone, and of +anxious questionings around the camp-fire when the darkness fell, +and when there were no sounds on the mountain-side but that of +falling water in a distant ravine or the calls of the night- +birds. + +On the morning of the fourth day Clay and his attendants +returned to camp and rode to where the men had just begun to +blast away the sloping surface of the mountain. + +As Clay passed between the zinc sheds and palm huts of the +soldier-workmen, they came running out to meet him, and one, who +seemed to be a leader, touched his bridle, and with his straw +sombrero in his hand begged for a word with el Senor the +Director. + +The news of Clay's return had reached the opening, and the throb +of the dummy-engines and the roar of the blasting ceased as the +assistant-engineers came down the valley to greet the new +manager. They found him seated on his horse gazing ahead of him, +and listening to the story of the soldier, whose fingers, as he +spoke, trembled in the air, with all the grace and passion of his +Southern nature, while back of him his companions stood humbly, +in a silent chorus, with eager, supplicating eyes. Clay answered +the man's speech curtly, with a few short words, in the Spanish +patois in which he had been addressed, and then turned and smiled +grimly upon the expectant group of engineers. He kept them +waiting for some short space, while he looked them over +carefully, as though he had never seen them before. + +``Well, gentlemen,'' he said, ``I'm glad to have you here all +together. I am only sorry you didn't come in time to hear +what this fellow has had to say. I don't as a rule listen that +long to complaints, but he told me what I have seen for myself +and what has been told me by others. I have been here three days +now, and I assure you, gentlemen, that my easiest course would be +to pack up my things and go home on the next steamer. I was sent +down here to take charge of a mine in active operation, and I +find--what? I find that in six months you have done almost +nothing, and that the little you have condescended to do has been +done so badly that it will have to be done over again; that you +have not only wasted a half year of time--and I can't tell how +much money--but that you have succeeded in antagonizing all the +people on whose good-will we are absolutely dependent; you have +allowed your machinery to rust in the rain, and your workmen to +rot with sickness. You have not only done nothing, but you +haven't a blue print to show me what you meant to do. I have +never in my life come across laziness and mismanagement and +incompetency upon such a magnificent and reckless scale. You +have not built the pier, you have not opened the freight road, +you have not taken out an ounce of ore. You know more of +Valencia than you know of these mines; you know it from the +Alameda to the Canal. You can tell me what night the band +plays in the Plaza, but you can't give me the elevation of +one of these hills. You have spent your days on the pavements in +front of cafe's, and your nights in dance-halls, and you have +been drawing salaries every month. I've more respect for these +half-breeds that you've allowed to starve in this fever-bed than +I have for you. You have treated them worse than they'd treat a +dog, and if any of them die, it's on your heads. You have put +them in a fever-camp which you have not even taken the trouble to +drain. Your commissariat is rotten, and you have let them drink +all the rum they wanted. There is not one of you--'' + +The group of silent men broke, and one of them stepped forward +and shook his forefinger at Clay. + +``No man can talk to me like that,'' he said, warningly, ``and +think I'll work under him. I resign here and now.'' + +``You what--'' cried Clay, ``you resign?'' + +He whirled his horse round with a dig of his spur and faced them. + +``How dare you talk of resigning? I'll pack the whole lot of you +back to New York on the first steamer, if I want to, and I'll +give you such characters that you'll be glad to get a job +carrying a transit. You're in no position to talk of resigning +yet--not one of you. Yes,'' he added, interrupting himself, +``one of you is MacWilliams, the man who had charge of the +railroad. It's no fault of his that the road's not working. I +understand that he couldn't get the right of way from the people +who owned the land, but I have seen what he has done, and his +plans, and I apologize to him--to MacWilliams. As for the rest +of you, I'll give you a month's trial. It will be a month before +the next steamer could get here anyway, and I'll give you that +long to redeem yourselves. At the end of that time we will have +another talk, but you are here now only on your good behavior and +on my sufferance. Good-morning.'' + +As Clay had boasted, he was not the man to throw up his position +because he found the part he had to play was not that of leading +man, but rather one of general utility, and although it had been +several years since it had been part of his duties to oversee the +setting up of machinery, and the policing of a mining camp, he +threw himself as earnestly into the work before him as though to +show his subordinates that it did not matter who did the work, so +long as it was done. The men at first were sulky, resentful, and +suspicious, but they could not long resist the fact that Clay was +doing the work of five men and five different kinds of work, not +only without grumbling, but apparently with the keenest pleasure. + +He conciliated the rich coffee planters who owned the land +which he wanted for the freight road by calls of the most formal +state and dinners of much less formality, for he saw that the +iron mine had its social as well as its political side. And with +this fact in mind, he opened the railroad with great ceremony, +and much music and feasting, and the first piece of ore taken out +of the mine was presented to the wife of the Minister of the +Interior in a cluster of diamonds, which made the wives of the +other members of the Cabinet regret that their husbands had not +chosen that portfolio. Six months followed of hard, unremitting +work, during which time the great pier grew out into the bay from +MacWilliams' railroad, and the face of the first mountain was +scarred and torn of its green, and left in mangled nakedness, +while the ringing of hammers and picks, and the racking blasts of +dynamite, and the warning whistles of the dummy-engines drove +away the accumulated silence of centuries. + +It had been a long uphill fight, and Clay had enjoyed it +mightily. Two unexpected events had contributed to help it. One +was the arrival in Valencia of young Teddy Langham, who came +ostensibly to learn the profession of which Clay was so +conspicuous an example, and in reality to watch over his father's +interests. He was put at Clay's elbow, and Clay made him learn +in spite of himself, for he ruled him and MacWilliams of both +of whom he was very fond, as though, so they complained, they +were the laziest and the most rebellious members of his entire +staff. The second event of importance was the announcement made +one day by young Langham that his father's physician had ordered +rest in a mild climate, and that he and his daughters were coming +in a month to spend the winter in Valencia, and to see how the +son and heir had developed as a man of business. + +The idea of Mr. Langham's coming to visit Olancho to inspect his +new possessions was not a surprise to Clay. It had occurred to +him as possible before, especially after the son had come to join +them there. The place was interesting and beautiful enough in +itself to justify a visit, and it was only a ten days' voyage +from New York. But he had never considered the chance of Miss +Langham's coming, and when that was now not only possible but a +certainty, he dreamed of little else. He lived as earnestly and +toiled as indefatigably as before, but the place was utterly +transformed for him. He saw it now as she would see it when she +came, even while at the same time his own eyes retained their +point of view. It was as though he had lengthened the focus of a +glass, and looked beyond at what was beautiful and picturesque, +instead of what was near at hand and practicable. He found +himself smiling with anticipation of her pleasure in the orchids +hanging from the dead trees, high above the opening of the mine, +and in the parrots hurling themselves like gayly colored missiles +among the vines; and he considered the harbor at night with its +colored lamps floating on the black water as a scene set for her +eyes. He planned the dinners that he would give in her honor on +the balcony of the great restaurant in the Plaza on those nights +when the band played, and the senoritas circled in long lines +between admiring rows of officers and caballeros. And he +imagined how, when the ore-boats had been filled and his work had +slackened, he would be free to ride with her along the rough +mountain roads, between magnificent pillars of royal palms, or to +venture forth in excursions down the bay, to explore the caves +and to lunch on board the rolling paddle-wheel steamer, which he +would have re painted and gilded for her coming. He pictured +himself acting as her guide over the great mines, answering her +simple questions about the strange machinery, and the crew of +workmen, and the local government by which he ruled two thousand +men. It was not on account of any personal pride in the mines +that he wanted her to see them, it was not because he had +discovered and planned and opened them that he wished to show +them to her, but as a curious spectacle that he hoped would +give her a moment's interest. + +But his keenest pleasure was when young Langham suggested that +they should build a house for his people on the edge of the hill +that jutted out over the harbor and the great ore pier. If this +were done, Langham urged, it would be possible for him to see +much more of his family than he would be able to do were they +installed in the city, five miles away. + +``We can still live in the office at this end of the railroad,'' +the boy said, ``and then we shall have them within call at night +when we get back from work; but if they are in Valencia, it will +take the greater part of the evening going there and all of the +night getting back, for I can't pass that club under three hours. +It will keep us out of temptation.'' + +``Yes, exactly,'' said Clay, with a guilty smile, ``it will keep +us out of temptation.'' + +So they cleared away the underbrush, and put a double force of +men to work on what was to be the most beautiful and comfortable +bungalow on the edge of the harbor. It had blue and green and +white tiles on the floors, and walls of bamboo, and a red roof of +curved tiles to let in the air, and dragons' heads for water- +spouts, and verandas as broad as the house itself. There was an +open court in the middle hung with balconies looking down +upon a splashing fountain, and to decorate this patio, they +levied upon people for miles around for tropical plants and +colored mats and awnings. They cut down the trees that hid the +view of the long harbor leading from the sea into Valencia, and +planted a rampart of other trees to hide the iron-ore pier, and +they sodded the raw spots where the men had been building, until +the place was as completely transformed as though a fairy had +waved her wand above it. + +It was to be a great surprise, and they were all--Clay, +MacWilliams, and Langham--as keenly interested in it as though +each were preparing it for his honeymoon. They would be walking +together in Valencia when one would say, ``We ought to have that +for the house,'' and without question they would march into the +shop together and order whatever they fancied to be sent out to +the house of the president of the mines on the hill. They +stocked it with wine and linens, and hired a volante and six +horses, and fitted out the driver with a new pair of boots that +reached above his knees, and a silver jacket and a sombrero that +was so heavy with braid that it flashed like a halo about his +head in the sunlight, and he was ordered not to wear it until the +ladies came, under penalty of arrest. It delighted Clay to find +that it was only the beautiful things and the fine things of +his daily routine that suggested her to him, as though she could +not be associated in his mind with anything less worthy, and he +kept saying to himself, ``She will like this view from the end of +the terrace,'' and ``This will be her favorite walk,'' or ``She +will swing her hammock here,'' and ``I know she will not fancy +the rug that Weimer chose.'' + +While this fairy palace was growing the three men lived as +roughly as before in the wooden hut at the terminus of the +freight road, three hundred yards below the house, and hidden +from it by an impenetrable rampart of brush and Spanish bayonet. +There was a rough road leading from it to the city, five miles +away, which they had extended still farther up the hill to the +Palms, which was the name Langham had selected for his father's +house. And when it was finally finished, they continued to live +under the corrugated zinc roof of their office building, and +locking up the Palms, left it in charge of a gardener and a +watchman until the coming of its rightful owners. + +It had been a viciously hot, close day, and even now the air came +in sickening waves, like a blast from the engine-room of a +steamer, and the heat lightning played round the mountains over +the harbor and showed the empty wharves, and the black outlines +of the steamers, and the white front of the Custom-House, and +the long half-circle of twinkling lamps along the quay. +MacWilliams and Langham sat panting on the lower steps of the +office-porch considering whether they were too lazy to clean +themselves and be rowed over to the city, where, as it was Sunday +night, was promised much entertainment. They had been for the +last hour trying to make up their minds as to this, and appealing +to Clay to stop work and decide for them. But he sat inside at a +table figuring and writing under the green shade of a student's +lamp and made no answer. The walls of Clay's office were of +unplaned boards, bristling with splinters, and hung with blue +prints and outline maps of the mine. A gaudily colored portrait +of Madame la Presidenta, the noble and beautiful woman whom +Alvarez, the President of Olancho, had lately married in Spain, +was pinned to the wall above the table. This table, with its +green oil-cloth top, and the lamp, about which winged insects +beat noisily, and an earthen water-jar--from which the water +dripped as regularly as the ticking of a clock--were the only +articles of furniture in the office. On a shelf at one side of +the door lay the men's machetes, a belt of cartridges, and a +revolver in a holster. + +Clay rose from the table and stood in the light of the open door, +stretching himself gingerly, for his joints were sore and +stiff with fording streams and climbing the surfaces of rocks. +The red ore and yellow mud of the mines were plastered over his +boots and riding-breeches, where he had stood knee-deep in the +water, and his shirt stuck to him like a wet bathing-suit, +showing his ribs when he breathed and the curves of his broad +chest. A ring of burning paper and hot ashes fell from his +cigarette to his breast and burnt a hole through the cotton +shirt, and he let it lie there and watched it burn with a grim +smile. + +``I wanted to see,'' he explained, catching the look of listless +curiosity in MacWilliams's eye, ``whether there was anything +hotter than my blood. It's racing around like boiling water in a +pot.'' + +``Listen,'' said Langham, holding up his hand. ``There goes the +call for prayers in the convent, and now it's too late to go to +town. I am glad, rather. I'm too tired to keep awake, and +besides, they don't know how to amuse themselves in a civilized +way--at least not in my way. I wish I could just drop in at home +about now; don't you, MacWilliams? Just about this time up in +God's country all the people are at the theatre, or they've just +finished dinner and are sitting around sipping cool green mint, +trickling through little lumps of ice. What I'd like--'' he +stopped and shut one eye and gazed, with his head on one side, at +the unimaginative MacWilliams--``what I'd like to do now,'' +he continued, thoughtfully, ``would be to sit in the front row at +a comic opera, ON THE AISLE. The prima donna must be very, +very beautiful, and sing most of her songs at me, and there must +be three comedians, all good, and a chorus entirely composed of +girls. I never could see why they have men in the chorus, +anyway. No one ever looks at them. Now that's where I'd like to +be. What would you like, MacWilliams?'' + +MacWilliams was a type with which Clay was intimately familiar, +but to the college-bred Langham he was a revelation and a joy. +He came from some little town in the West, and had learned what +he knew of engineering at the transit's mouth, after he had first +served his apprenticeship by cutting sage-brush and driving +stakes. His life had been spent in Mexico and Central America, +and he spoke of the home he had not seen in ten years with the +aggressive loyalty of the confirmed wanderer, and he was known to +prefer and to import canned corn and canned tomatoes in +preference to eating the wonderful fruits of the country, because +the former came from the States and tasted to him of home. He +had crowded into his young life experiences that would have +shattered the nerves of any other man with a more sensitive +conscience and a less happy sense of humor; but these same +experiences had only served to make him shrewd and self- +confident and at his ease when the occasion or difficulty came. + +He pulled meditatively on his pipe and considered Langham's +question deeply, while Clay and the younger boy sat with their +arms upon their knees and waited for his decision in thoughtful +silence. + +``I'd like to go to the theatre, too,'' said MacWilliams, with an +air as though to show that he also was possessed of artistic +tastes. ``I'd like to see a comical chap I saw once in '80--oh, +long ago--before I joined the P. Q. & M. He WAS funny. His +name was Owens; that was his name, John E. Owens--'' + +``Oh, for heaven's sake, MacWilliams,'' protested Langham, in +dismay; ``he's been dead for five years.'' + +``Has he?'' said MacWilliams, thoughtfully. ``Well--'' he +concluded, unabashed, ``I can't help that, he's the one I'd like +to see best.'' + +``You can have another wish, Mac, you know,'' urged Langham, +``can't he, Clay?'' + +Clay nodded gravely, and MacWilliams frowned again in thought. +``No,'' he said after an effort, ``Owens, John E. Owens; that's +the one I want to see.'' + +``Well, now I want another wish, too,'' said Langham. ``I +move we can each have two wishes. I wish--'' + +``Wait until I've had mine,'' said Clay. ``You've had one turn. +I want to be in a place I know in Vienna. It's not hot like +this, but cool and fresh. It's an open, out-of-door concert- +garden, with hundreds of colored lights and trees, and there's +always a breeze coming through. And Eduard Strauss, the son, you +know, leads the orchestra there, and they play nothing but +waltzes, and he stands in front of them, and begins by raising +himself on his toes, and then he lifts his shoulders gently--and +then sinks back again and raises his baton as though he were +drawing the music out after it, and the whole place seems to rock +and move. It's like being picked up and carried on the deck of a +yacht over great waves; and all around you are the beautiful +Viennese women and those tall Austrian officers in their long, +blue coats and flat hats and silver swords. And there are cool +drinks--'' continued Clay, with his eyes fixed on the coming +storm--``all sorts of cool drinks--in high, thin glasses, full of +ice, all the ice you want--'' + +``Oh, drop it, will you?'' cried Langham, with a shrug of his +damp shoulders. ``I can't stand it. I'm parching.'' + +``Wait a minute,'' interrupted MacWilliams, leaning forward +and looking into the night. ``Some one's coming.'' There was a +sound down the road of hoofs and the rattle of the land-crabs as +they scrambled off into the bushes, and two men on horseback came +suddenly out of the darkness and drew rein in the light from the +open door. The first was General Mendoza, the leader of the +Opposition in the Senate, and the other, his orderly. The +General dropped his Panama hat to his knee and bowed in the +saddle three times. + +``Good-evening, your Excellency,'' said Clay, rising. ``Tell +that peon to get my coat, will you?'' he added, turning to +Langham. Langham clapped his hands, and the clanging of a guitar +ceased, and their servant and cook came out from the back of the +hut and held the General's horse while he dismounted. ``Wait +until I get you a chair,'' said Clay. ``You'll find those steps +rather bad for white duck.'' + +``I am fortunate in finding you at home,'' said the officer, +smiling, and showing his white teeth. ``The telephone is not +working. I tried at the club, but I could not call you.'' + +``It's the storm, I suppose,'' Clay answered, as he struggled +into his jacket. ``Let me offer you something to drink.'' He +entered the house, and returned with several bottles on a tray +and a bundle of cigars. The Spanish-American poured himself +out a glass of water, mixing it with Jamaica rum, and said, +smiling again, ``It is a saying of your countrymen that when a +man first comes to Olancho he puts a little rum into his water, +and that when he is here some time he puts a little water in his +rum.'' + +``Yes,'' laughed Clay. ``I'm afraid that's true.'' + +There was a pause while the men sipped at their glasses, and +looked at the horses and the orderly. The clanging of the guitar +began again from the kitchen. ``You have a very beautiful view +here of the harbor, yes,'' said Mendoza. He seemed to enjoy the +pause after his ride, and to be in no haste to begin on the +object of his errand. MacWilliams and Langham eyed each other +covertly, and Clay examined the end of his cigar, and they all +waited. + +``And how are the mines progressing, eh?'' asked the officer, +genially. ``You find much good iron in them, they tell me.'' + +``Yes, we are doing very well,'' Clay assented; ``it was +difficult at first, but now that things are in working order, we +are getting out about ten thousand tons a month. We hope to +increase that soon to twenty thousand when the new openings are +developed and our shipping facilities are in better shape.'' + +``So much!'' exclaimed the General, pleasantly. + +``Of which the Government of my country is to get its share of +ten per cent--one thousand tons! It is munificent!'' He laughed +and shook his head slyly at Clay, who smiled in dissent. + +``But you see, sir,'' said Clay, ``you cannot blame us. The +mines have always been there, before this Government came in, +before the Spaniards were here, before there was any Government +at all, but there was not the capital to open them up, I suppose, +or--and it needed a certain energy to begin the attack. Your +people let the chance go, and, as it turned out, I think they +were very wise in doing so. They get ten per cent of the output. +That's ten per cent on nothing, for the mines really didn't +exist, as far as you were concerned, until we came, did they? +They were just so much waste land, and they would have remained +so. And look at the price we paid down before we cut a tree. +Three millions of dollars; that's a good deal of money. It will +be some time before we realize anything on that investment.'' + +Mendoza shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. ``I will be +frank with you,'' he said, with the air of one to whom +dissimulation is difficult. ``I come here to-night on an +unpleasant errand, but it is with me a matter of duty, and I am a +soldier, to whom duty is the foremost ever. I have come to tell +you, Mr. Clay, that we, the Opposition, are not satisfied +with the manner in which the Government has disposed of these +great iron deposits. When I say not satisfied, my dear friend, I +speak most moderately. I should say that we are surprised and +indignant, and we are determined the wrong it has done our +country shall be righted. I have the honor to have been chosen +to speak for our party on this most important question, and on +next Tuesday, sir,'' the General stood up and bowed, as though he +were before a great assembly, ``I will rise in the Senate and +move a vote of want of confidence in the Government for the +manner in which it has given away the richest possessions in the +storehouse of my country, giving it not only to aliens, but for a +pittance, for a share which is not a share, but a bribe, to blind +the eyes of the people. It has been a shameful bargain, and I +cannot say who is to blame; I accuse no one. But I suspect, and +I will demand an investigation; I will demand that the value not +of one-tenth, but of one-half of all the iron that your company +takes out of Olancho shall be paid into the treasury of the +State. And I come to you to-night, as the Resident Director, to +inform you beforehand of my intention. I do not wish to take you +unprepared. I do not blame your people; they are business men, +they know how to make good bargains, they get what they best +can. That is the rule of trade, but they have gone too far, and +I advise you to communicate with your people in New York and +learn what they are prepared to offer now--now that they have to +deal with men who do not consider their own interests but the +interests of their country.'' + +Mendoza made a sweeping bow and seated himself, frowning +dramatically, with folded arms. His voice still hung in the air, +for he had spoken as earnestly as though he imagined himself +already standing in the hall of the Senate championing the cause +of the people. + +MacWilliams looked up at Clay from where he sat on the steps +below him, but Clay did not notice him, and there was no sound, +except the quick sputtering of the nicotine in Langham's pipe, at +which he pulled quickly, and which was the only outward sign the +boy gave of his interest. Clay shifted one muddy boot over the +other and leaned back with his hands stuck in his belt. + +``Why didn't you speak of this sooner?'' he asked. + +``Ah, yes, that is fair,'' said the General, quickly. ``I know +that it is late, and I regret it, and I see that we cause you +inconvenience; but how could I speak sooner when I was ignorant +of what was going on? I have been away with my troops. I am a +soldier first, a politician after. During the last year I +have been engaged in guarding the frontier. No news comes to a +General in the field moving from camp to camp and always in the +saddle; but I may venture to hope, sir, that news has come to you +of me?'' + +Clay pressed his lips together and bowed his head. + +``We have heard of your victories, General, yes,'' he said; ``and +on your return you say you found things had not been going to +your liking?'' + +``That is it,'' assented the other, eagerly. ``I find that +indignation reigns on every side. I find my friends complaining +of the railroad which you run across their land. I find that +fifteen hundred soldiers are turned into laborers, with picks and +spades, working by the side of negroes and your Irish; they have +not been paid their wages, and they have been fed worse than +though they were on the march; sickness and--'' + +Clay moved impatiently and dropped his boot heavily on the porch. + +``That was true at first,'' he interrupted, ``but it is not so +now. I should be glad, General, to take you over the men's +quarters at any time. As for their not having been paid, they +were never paid by their own Government before they came to us +and for the same reason, because the petty officers kept back the +money, just as they have always done. But the men are paid +now. However, this is not of the most importance. Who is it +that complains of the terms of our concession?'' + +``Every one!'' exclaimed Mendoza, throwing out his arms, ``and +they ask, moreover, this: they ask why, if this mine is so rich, +why was not the stock offered here to us in this country? Why +was it not put on the market, that any one might buy? We have +rich men in Olancho, why should not they benefit first of all +others by the wealth of their own lands? But no! we are not +asked to buy. All the stock is taken in New York, no one +benefits but the State, and it receives only ten per cent. It is +monstrous!'' + +``I see,'' said Clay, gravely. ``That had not occurred to me +before. They feel they have been slighted. I see.'' He paused +for a moment as if in serious consideration. ``Well,'' he added, +``that might be arranged.'' + +He turned and jerked his head toward the open door. ``If you +boys mean to go to town to-night, you'd better be moving,'' he +said. The two men rose together and bowed silently to their +guest. + +``I should like if Mr. Langham would remain a moment with us,'' +said Mendoza, politely. ``I understand that it is his father who +controls the stock of the company. If we discuss any arrangement +it might be well if he were here.'' + +Clay was sitting with his chin on his breast, and he did not look +up, nor did the young man turn to him for any prompting. ``I'm +not down here as my father's son,'' he said, ``I am an employee +of Mr. Clay's. He represents the company. Good-night, sir.'' + +``You think, then,'' said Clay, ``that if your friends were given +an opportunity to subscribe to the stock they would feel less +resentful toward us? They would think it was fairer to all?'' + +``I know it,'' said Mendoza; ``why should the stock go out of the +country when those living here are able to buy it?'' + +``Exactly,'' said Clay, ``of course. Can you tell me this, +General? Are the gentlemen who want to buy stock in the mine the +same men who are in the Senate? The men who are objecting to the +terms of our concession?'' + +``With a few exceptions they are the same men.'' + +Clay looked out over the harbor at the lights of the town, and +the General twirled his hat around his knee and gazed with +appreciation at the stars above him. + +``Because if they are,'' Clay continued, ``and they succeed in +getting our share cut down from ninety per cent to fifty per +cent, they must see that the stock would be worth just forty per +cent less than it is now.'' + +``That is true,'' assented the other. ``I have thought of that, +and if the Senators in Opposition were given a chance to +subscribe, I am sure they would see that it is better wisdom to +drop their objections to the concession, and as stockholders +allow you to keep ninety per cent of the output. And, again,'' +continued Mendoza, ``it is really better for the country that the +money should go to its people than that it should be stored up in +the vaults of the treasury, when there is always the danger that +the President will seize it; or, if not this one, the next one.'' + +``I should think--that is--it seems to me,'' said Clay with +careful consideration, ``that your Excellency might be able to +render us great help in this matter yourself. We need a friend +among the Opposition. In fact--I see where you could assist us +in many ways, where your services would be strictly in the line +of your public duty and yet benefit us very much. Of course I +cannot speak authoritatively without first consulting Mr. +Langham; but I should think he would allow you personally to +purchase as large a block of the stock as you could wish, either +to keep yourself or to resell and distribute among those of your +friends in Opposition where it would do the most good.'' + +Clay looked over inquiringly to where Mendoza sat in the light of +the open door, and the General smiled faintly, and emitted a +pleased little sigh of relief. ``Indeed,'' continued Clay, ``I +should think Mr. Langham might even save you the formality of +purchasing the stock outright by sending you its money +equivalent. I beg your pardon,'' he asked, interrupting himself, +``does your orderly understand English?'' + +``He does not,'' the General assured him, eagerly, dragging his +chair a little closer. + +``Suppose now that Mr. Langham were to put fifty or let us say +sixty thousand dollars to your account in the Valencia Bank, do +you think this vote of want of confidence in the Government on +the question of our concession would still be moved?'' + +``I am sure it would not,'' exclaimed the leader of the +Opposition, nodding his head violently. + +``Sixty thousand dollars,'' repeated Clay, slowly, ``for +yourself; and do you think, General, that were you paid that sum +you would be able to call off your friends, or would they make a +demand for stock also?'' + +``Have no anxiety at all, they do just what I say,'' returned +Mendoza, in an eager whisper. ``If I say `It is all right, I am +satisfied with what the Government has done in my absence,' it is +enough. And I will say it, I give you the word of a soldier, I +will say it. I will not move a vote of want of confidence on +Tuesday. You need go no farther than myself. I am glad that I +am powerful enough to serve you, and if you doubt me''--he struck +his heart and bowed with a deprecatory smile--``you need not pay +in the money in exchange for the stock all at the same time. You +can pay ten thousand this year, and next year ten thousand more +and so on, and so feel confident that I shall have the interests +of the mine always in my heart. Who knows what may not happen in +a year? I may be able to serve you even more. Who knows how +long the present Government will last? But I give you my word of +honor, no matter whether I be in Opposition or at the head of the +Government, if I receive every six months the retaining fee of +which you speak, I will be your representative. And my friends +can do nothing. I despise them. _I_ am the Opposition. You +have done well, my dear sir, to consider me alone.'' + +Clay turned in his chair and looked back of him through the +office to the room beyond. + +``Boys,'' he called, ``you can come out now.'' + +He rose and pushed his chair away and beckoned to the orderly who +sat in the saddle holding the General's horse. Langham and +MacWilliams came out and stood in the open door, and Mendoza rose +and looked at Clay. + +``You can go now,'' Clay said to him, quietly. ``And you can +rise in the Senate on Tuesday and move your vote of want of +confidence and object to our concession, and when you have +resumed your seat the Secretary of Mines will rise in his turn +and tell the Senate how you stole out here in the night and tried +to blackmail me, and begged me to bribe you to be silent, and +that you offered to throw over your friends and to take all that +we would give you and keep it yourself. That will make you +popular with your friends, and will show the Government just what +sort of a leader it has working against it.'' + +Clay took a step forward and shook his finger in the officer's +face. ``Try to break that concession; try it. It was made by +one Government to a body of honest, decent business men, with a +Government of their own back of them, and if you interfere with +our conceded rights to work those mines, I'll have a man-of-war +down here with white paint on her hull, and she'll blow you and +your little republic back up there into the mountains. Now you +can go.'' + +Mendoza had straightened with surprise when Clay first began to +speak, and had then bent forward slightly as though he meant to +interrupt him. His eyebrows were lowered in a straight line, and +his lips moved quickly. + +``You poor--'' he began, contemptuously. ``Bah,'' he exclaimed, +``you're a fool; I should have sent a servant to talk with you. +You are a child--but you are an insolent child,'' he cried, +suddenly, his anger breaking out, ``and I shall punish you. You +dare to call me names! You shall fight me, you shall fight me +to-morrow. You have insulted an officer, and you shall meet me +at once, to-morrow.'' + +``If I meet you to-morrow,'' Clay replied, ``I will thrash you +for your impertinence. The only reason I don't do it now is +because you are on my doorstep. You had better not meet me +tomorrow, or at any other time. And I have no leisure to fight +duels with anybody.'' + +``You are a coward,'' returned the other, quietly, ``and I tell +you so before my servant.'' + +Clay gave a short laugh and turned to MacWilliams in the doorway. + +``Hand me my gun, MacWilliams,'' he said, ``it's on the shelf to +the right.'' + +MacWilliams stood still and shook his head. ``Oh, let him +alone,'' he said. ``You've got him where you want him.'' + +``Give me the gun, I tell you,'' repeated Clay. ``I'm not going +to hurt him, I'm only going to show him how I can shoot.'' + +MacWilliams moved grudgingly across the porch and brought back +the revolver and handed it to Clay. ``Look out now,'' he said, +``it's loaded.'' + +At Clay's words the General had retreated hastily to his horse's +head and had begun unbuckling the strap of his holster, and the +orderly reached back into the boot for his carbine. Clay told +him in Spanish to throw up his hands, and the man, with a +frightened look at his officer, did as the revolver suggested. +Then Clay motioned with his empty hand for the other to desist. +``Don't do that,'' he said, ``I'm not going to hurt you; I'm only +going to frighten you a little.'' + +He turned and looked at the student lamp inside, where it stood +on the table in full view. Then he raised his revolver. He did +not apparently hold it away from him by the butt, as other men +do, but let it lie in the palm of his hand, into which it seemed +to fit like the hand of a friend. His first shot broke the top +of the glass chimney, the second shattered the green globe around +it, the third put out the light, and the next drove the lamp +crashing to the floor. There was a wild yell of terror from the +back of the house, and the noise of a guitar falling down a +flight of steps. ``I have probably killed a very good cook,'' +said Clay, ``as I should as certainly kill you, if I were to +meet you. Langham,'' he continued, ``go tell that cook to come +back.'' + +The General sprang into his saddle, and the altitude it gave him +seemed to bring back some of the jauntiness he had lost. + +``That was very pretty,'' he said; ``you have been a cowboy, so +they tell me. It is quite evident by your manners. No matter, +if we do not meet to-morrow it will be because I have more +serious work to do. Two months from to-day there will be a new +Government in Olancho and a new President, and the mines will +have a new director. I have tried to be your friend, Mr. Clay. +See how you like me for an enemy. Goodnight, gentlemen.'' + +``Good-night,'' said MacWilliams, unmoved. ``Please ask your man +to close the gate after you.'' + +When the sound of the hoofs had died away the men still stood in +an uncomfortable silence, with Clay twirling the revolver around +his middle finger. ``I'm sorry I had to make a gallery play of +that sort,'' he said. ``But it was the only way to make that +sort of man understand.'' + +Langham sighed and shook his head ruefully. + +``Well,'' he said, ``I thought all the trouble was over, but it +looks to me as though it had just begun. So far as I can see +they're going to give the governor a run for his money yet.'' + +Clay turned to MacWilliams. + +``How many of Mendoza's soldiers have we in the mines, Mac?'' he +asked. + +``About fifteen hundred,'' MacWilliams answered. ``But you ought +to hear the way they talk of him.'' + +``They do, eh?'' said Clay, with a smile of satisfaction. +``That's good. `Six hundred slaves who hate their masters.' +What do they say about me?'' + +``Oh, they think you're all right. They know you got them their +pay and all that. They'd do a lot for you.'' + +``Would they fight for me?'' asked Clay. + +MacWilliams looked up and laughed uneasily. ``I don't know,'' he +said. ``Why, old man? What do you mean to do?'' + +``Oh, I don't know,'' Clay answered. ``I was just wondering +whether I should like to be President of Olancho.'' + + + +III + +The Langhams were to arrive on Friday, and during the week before +that day Clay went about with a long slip of paper in his pocket +which he would consult earnestly in corners, and upon which he +would note down the things that they had left undone. At night +he would sit staring at it and turning it over in much concern, +and would beg Langham to tell him what he could have meant when +he wrote ``see Weimer,'' or ``clean brasses,'' or ``S. Q. M.'' +``Why should I see Weimer,'' he would exclaim, ``and which +brasses, and what does S. Q. M. stand for, for heaven's sake?'' + +They held a full-dress rehearsal in the bungalow to improve its +state of preparation, and drilled the servants and talked English +to them, so that they would know what was wanted when the young +ladies came. It was an interesting exercise, and had the three +young men been less serious in their anxiety to welcome the +coming guests they would have found themselves very amusing--as +when Langham would lean over the balcony in the court and +shout back into the kitchen, in what was supposed to be an +imitation of his sister's manner, ``Bring my coffee and rolls-- +and don't take all day about it either,'' while Clay and +MacWilliams stood anxiously below to head off the servants when +they carried in a can of hot water instead of bringing the horses +round to the door, as they had been told to do. + +``Of course it's a bit rough and all that,'' Clay would say, +``but they have only to tell us what they want changed and we can +have it ready for them in an hour.'' + +``Oh, my sisters are all right,'' Langham would reassure him; +``they'll think it's fine. It will be like camping-out to them, +or a picnic. They'll understand.'' + +But to make sure, and to ``test his girders,'' as Clay put it, +they gave a dinner, and after that a breakfast. The President +came to the first, with his wife, the Countess Manuelata, Madame +la Presidenta, and Captain Stuart, late of the Gordon +Highlanders, and now in command of the household troops at the +Government House and of the body-guard of the President. He was +a friend of Clay's and popular with every one present, except for +the fact that he occupied this position, instead of serving his +own Government in his own army. Some people said he had been +crossed in love, others, less sentimental, that he had forged a +check, or mixed up the mess accounts of his company. But Clay +and MacWilliams said it concerned no one why he was there, and +then emphasized the remark by picking a quarrel with a man who +had given an unpleasant reason for it. Stuart, so far as they +were concerned, could do no wrong. + +The dinner went off very well, and the President consented to +dine with them in a week, on the invitation of young Langham to +meet his father. + +``Miss Langham is very beautiful, they tell me,'' Madame Alvarez +said to Clay. ``I heard of her one winter in Rome; she was +presented there and much admired.'' + +``Yes, I believe she is considered very beautiful,'' Clay said. +``I have only just met her, but she has travelled a great deal +and knows every one who is of interest, and I think you will like +her very much.'' + +``I mean to like her,'' said the woman. ``There are very few of +the native ladies who have seen much of the world beyond a trip +to Paris, where they live in their hotels and at the dressmaker's +while their husbands enjoy themselves; and sometimes I am rather +heart-sick for my home and my own people. I was overjoyed when I +heard Miss Langham was to be with us this winter. But you +must not keep her out here to yourselves. It is too far and too +selfish. She must spend some time with me at the Government +House.'' + +``Yes,'' said Clay, ``I am afraid of that. I am afraid the young +ladies will find it rather lonely out here.'' + +``Ah, no,'' exclaimed the woman, quickly. ``You have made it +beautiful, and it is only a half-hour's ride, except when it +rains,'' she added, laughing, ``and then it is almost as easy to +row as to ride.'' + +``I will have the road repaired,'' interrupted the President. +``It is my wish, Mr. Clay, that you will command me in every way; +I am most desirous to make the visit of Mr. Langham agreeable to +him, he is doing so much for us.'' + +The breakfast was given later in the week, and only men were +present. They were the rich planters and bankers of Valencia, +generals in the army, and members of the Cabinet, and officers +from the tiny war-ship in the harbor. The breeze from the bay +touched them through the open doors, the food and wine cheered +them, and the eager courtesy and hospitality of the three +Americans pleased and flattered them. They were of a people who +better appreciate the amenities of life than its sacrifices. + +The breakfast lasted far into the afternoon, and, inspired by +the success of the banquet, Clay quite unexpectedly found himself +on his feet with his hand on his heart, thanking the guests for +the good-will and assistance which they had given him in his +work. ``I have tramped down your coffee plants, and cut away +your forests, and disturbed your sleep with my engines, and you +have not complained,'' he said, in his best Spanish, ``and we +will show that we are not ungrateful.'' + +Then Weimer, the Consul, spoke, and told them that in his Annual +Consular Report, which he had just forwarded to the State +Department, he had related how ready the Government of Olancho +had been to assist the American company. ``And I hope,'' he +concluded, ``that you will allow me, gentlemen, to propose the +health of President Alvarez and the members of his Cabinet.'' + +The men rose to their feet, one by one, filling their glasses and +laughing and saying, ``Viva el Gobernador,'' until they were all +standing. Then, as they looked at one another and saw only the +faces of friends, some one of them cried, suddenly, ``To +President Alvarez, Dictator of Olancho!'' + +The cry was drowned in a yell of exultation, and men sprang +cheering to their chairs waving their napkins above their heads, +and those who wore swords drew them and flashed them in the +air, and the quiet, lazy good-nature of the breakfast was turned +into an uproarious scene of wild excitement. Clay pushed back +his chair from the head of the table with an anxious look at the +servants gathered about the open door, and Weimer clutched +frantically at Langham's elbow and whispered, ``What did I say? +For heaven's sake, how did it begin?'' + +The outburst ceased as suddenly as it had started, and old +General Rojas, the Vice-President, called out, ``What is said is +said, but it must not be repeated.'' + +Stuart waited until after the rest had gone, and Clay led him out +to the end of the veranda. ``Now will you kindly tell me what +that was?'' Clay asked. ``It didn't sound like champagne.'' + +``No,'' said the other, ``I thought you knew. Alvarez means to +proclaim himself Dictator, if he can, before the spring +elections.'' + +``And are you going to help him?'' + +``Of course,'' said the Englishman, simply. + +``Well, that's all right,'' said Clay, ``but there's no use +shouting the fact all over the shop like that--and they shouldn't +drag me into it.'' + +Stuart laughed easily and shook his head. ``It won't be long +before you'll be in it yourself,'' he said. + +Clay awoke early Friday morning to hear the shutters beating +viciously against the side of the house, and the wind rushing +through the palms, and the rain beating in splashes on the zinc +roof. It did not come soothingly and in a steady downpour, but +brokenly, like the rush of waves sweeping over a rough beach. He +turned on the pillow and shut his eyes again with the same +impotent and rebellious sense of disappointment that he used to +feel when he had wakened as a boy and found it storming on his +holiday, and he tried to sleep once more in the hope that when he +again awoke the sun would be shining in his eyes; but the storm +only slackened and did not cease, and the rain continued to fall +with dreary, relentless persistence. The men climbed the muddy +road to the Palms, and viewed in silence the wreck which the +night had brought to their plants and garden paths. Rivulets of +muddy water had cut gutters over the lawn and poured out from +under the veranda, and plants and palms lay bent and broken, with +their broad leaves bedraggled and coated with mud. The harbor +and the encircling mountains showed dimly through a curtain of +warm, sticky rain. To something that Langham said of making the +best of it, MacWilliams replied, gloomily, that he would not be +at all surprised if the ladies refused to leave the ship and +demanded to be taken home immediately. ``I am sorry,'' Clay +said, simply; ``I wanted them to like it.'' + +The men walked back to the office in grim silence, and took turns +in watching with a glass the arms of the semaphore, three miles +below, at the narrow opening of the bay. Clay smiled nervously +at himself, with a sudden sinking at the heart, and with a hot +blush of pleasure, as he thought of how often he had looked at +its great arms out lined like a mast against the sky, and thanked +it in advance for telling him that she was near. In the harbor +below, the vessels lay with bare yards and empty decks, the +wharves were deserted, and only an occasional small boat moved +across the beaten surface of the bay. + +But at twelve o'clock MacWilliams lowered the glass quickly, with +a little gasp of excitement, rubbed its moist lens on the inside +of his coat and turned it again toward a limp strip of bunting +that was crawling slowly up the halyards of the semaphore. A +second dripping rag answered it from the semaphore in front of +the Custom-House, and MacWilliams laughed nervously and shut the +glass. + +``It's red,'' he said; ``they've come.'' + +They had planned to wear white duck suits, and go out in a launch +with a flag flying, and they had made MacWilliams purchase a red +cummerbund and a pith helmet; but they tumbled into the +launch now, wet and bedraggled as they were, and raced Weimer in +his boat, with the American flag clinging to the pole, to the +side of the big steamer as she drew slowly into the bay. Other +row-boats and launches and lighters began to push out from the +wharves, men appeared under the sagging awnings of the bare +houses along the river-front, and the custom and health officers +in shining oil-skins and puffing damp cigars clambered over the +side. + +``I see them,'' cried Langham, jumping up and rocking the boat in +his excitement. ``There they are in the bow. That's Hope +waving. Hope! hullo, Hope!'' he shouted, ``hullo!'' Clay +recognized her standing between the younger sister and her +father, with the rain beating on all of them, and waving her hand +to Langham. The men took off their hats, and as they pulled up +alongside she bowed to Clay and nodded brightly. They sent +Langham up the gangway first, and waited until he had made his +greetings to his family alone. + +``We have had a terrible trip, Mr. Clay,'' Miss Langham said to +him, beginning, as people will, with the last few days, as though +they were of the greatest importance; ``and we could see nothing +of you at the mines at all as we passed--only a wet flag, and +a lot of very friendly workmen, who cheered and fired off pans of +dynamite.'' + +``They did, did they?'' said Clay, with a satisfied nod. +``That's all right, then. That was a royal salute in your honor. +Kirkland had that to do. He's the foreman of A opening. I am +awfully sorry about this rain--it spoils everything.'' + +``I hope it hasn't spoiled our breakfast,'' said Mr. Langham. +``We haven't eaten anything this morning, because we wanted a +change of diet, and the captain told us we should be on shore +before now.'' + +``We have some carriages for you at the wharf, and we will drive +you right out to the Palms,'' said young Langham. ``It's shorter +by water, but there's a hill that the girls couldn't climb today. +That's the house we built for you, Governor, with the flag-pole, +up there on the hill; and there's your ugly old pier; and that's +where we live, in the little shack above it, with the tin roof; +and that opening to the right is the terminus of the railroad +MacWilliams built. Where's MacWilliams? Here, Mac, I want you +to know my father. This is MacWilliams, sir, of whom I wrote +you.'' + +There was some delay about the baggage, and in getting the party +together in the boats that Langham and the Consul had brought; +and after they had stood for some time on the wet dock, +hungry and damp, it was rather aggravating to find that the +carriages which Langham had ordered to be at one pier had gone to +another. So the new arrivals sat rather silently under the shed +of the levee on a row of cotton-bales, while Clay and MacWilliams +raced off after the carriages. + +``I wish we didn't have to keep the hood down,'' young Langham +said, anxiously, as they at last proceeded heavily up the muddy +streets; ``it makes it so hot, and you can't see anything. Not +that it's worth seeing in all this mud and muck, but it's great +when the sun shines. We had planned it all so differently.'' + +He was alone with his family now in one carriage, and the other +men and the servants were before them in two others. It seemed +an interminable ride to them all--to the strangers, and to the +men who were anxious that they should be pleased. They left the +city at last, and toiled along the limestone road to the Palms, +rocking from side to side and sinking in ruts filled with rushing +water. When they opened the flap of the hood the rain beat in on +them, and when they closed it they stewed in a damp, warm +atmosphere of wet leather and horse-hair. + +``This is worse than a Turkish bath,'' said Hope, faintly. +``Don't you live anywhere, Ted?'' + +``Oh, it's not far now,'' said the younger brother, dismally; but +even as he spoke the carriage lurched forward and plunged to one +side and came to a halt, and they could hear the streams rushing +past the wheels like the water at the bow of a boat. A wet, +black face appeared at the opening of the hood, and a man spoke +despondently in Spanish. + +``He says we're stuck in the mud,'' explained Langham. He looked +at them so beseechingly and so pitifully, with the perspiration +streaming down his face, and his clothes damp and bedraggled, +that Hope leaned back and laughed, and his father patted him on +the knee. ``It can't be any worse,'' he said, cheerfully; ``it +must mend now. It is not your fault, Ted, that we're starving +and lost in the mud.'' + +Langham looked out to find Clay and MacWilliams knee-deep in the +running water, with their shoulders against the muddy wheels, and +the driver lashing at the horses and dragging at their bridles. +He sprang out to their assistance, and Hope, shaking off her +sister's detaining hands, jumped out after him, laughing. She +splashed up the hill to the horses' heads, motioning to the +driver to release his hold on their bridles. + +``That is not the way to treat a horse,'' she said. ``Let me +have them. Are you men all ready down there?'' she called. +Each of the three men glued a shoulder to a wheel, and clenched +his teeth and nodded. ``All right, then,'' Hope called back. +She took hold of the huge Mexican bits close to the mouth, where +the pressure was not so cruel, and then coaxing and tugging by +turns, and slipping as often as the horses themselves, she drew +them out of the mud, and with the help of the men back of the +carriage pulled it clear until it stood free again at the top of +the hill. Then she released her hold on the bridles and looked +down, in dismay, at her frock and hands, and then up at the three +men. They appeared so utterly miserable and forlorn in their +muddy garments, and with their faces washed with the rain and +perspiration, that the girl gave way suddenly to an +uncontrollable shriek of delight. The men stared blankly at her +for a moment, and then inquiringly at one another, and as the +humor of the situation struck them they burst into an echoing +shout of laughter, which rose above the noise of the wind and +rain, and before which the disappointments and trials of the +morning were swept away. Before they reached the Palms the sun +was out and shining with fierce brilliancy, reflecting its rays +on every damp leaf, and drinking up each glistening pool of +water. + +MacWilliams and Clay left the Langhams alone together, and +returned to the office, where they assured each other again and +again that there was no doubt, from what each had heard different +members of the family say, that they were greatly pleased with +all that had been prepared for them. + +``They think it's fine!'' said young Langham, who had run down +the hill to tell them about it. ``I tell you, they are pleased. +I took them all over the house, and they just exclaimed every +minute. Of course,'' he said, dispassionately, ``I thought +they'd like it, but I had no idea it would please them as much as +it has. My Governor is so delighted with the place that he's +sitting out there on the veranda now, rocking himself up and down +and taking long breaths of sea-air, just as though he owned the +whole coast-line.'' + +Langham dined with his people that night, Clay and MacWilliams +having promised to follow him up the hill later. It was a night +of much moment to them all, and the two men ate their dinner in +silence, each considering what the coming of the strangers might +mean to him. + +As he was leaving the room MacWilliams stopped and hovered +uncertainly in the doorway. + +``Are you going to get yourself into a dress-suit to-night?'' he +asked. Clay said that he thought he would; he wanted to feel +quite clean once more. + +``Well, all right, then,'' the other returned, reluctantly. +``I'll do it for this once, if you mean to, but you needn't think +I'm going to make a practice of it, for I'm not. I haven't worn +a dress-suit,'' he continued, as though explaining his principles +in the matter, ``since your spread when we opened the railroad-- +that's six months ago; and the time before that I wore one at +MacGolderick's funeral. MacGolderick blew himself up at Puerto +Truxillo, shooting rocks for the breakwater. We never found all +of him, but we gave what we could get together as fine a funeral +as those natives ever saw. The boys, they wanted to make him +look respectable, so they asked me to lend them my dress-suit, +but I told them I meant to wear it myself. That's how I came to +wear a dress-suit at a funeral. It was either me or +MacGolderick.'' + +``MacWilliams,'' said Clay, as he stuck the toe of one boot into +the heel of the other, ``if I had your imagination I'd give up +railroading and take to writing war clouds for the newspapers.'' + +``Do you mean you don't believe that story?'' MacWilliams +demanded, sternly. + +``I do,'' said Clay, ``I mean I don't.'' + +``Well, let it go,'' returned MacWilliams, gloomily; ``but +there's been funerals for less than that, let me tell you.'' + +A half-hour later MacWilliams appeared in the door and stood +gazing attentively at Clay arranging his tie before a hand-glass, +and then at himself in his unusual apparel. + +``No wonder you voted to dress up,'' he exclaimed finally, in a +tone of personal injury. ``That's not a dress-suit you've got on +anyway. It hasn't any tails. And I hope for your sake, Mr. +Clay,'' he continued, his voice rising in plaintive indignation, +``that you are not going to play that scarf on us for a vest. +And you haven't got a high collar on, either. That's only a +rough blue print of a dress-suit. Why, you look just as +comfortable as though you were going to enjoy yourself--and you +look cool, too.'' + +``Well, why not?'' laughed Clay. + +``Well, but look at me,'' cried the other. ``Do I look cool? Do +I look happy or comfortable? No, I don't. I look just about the +way I feel, like a fool undertaker. I'm going to take this thing +right off. You and Ted Langham can wear your silk scarfs and +bobtail coats, if you like, but if they don't want me in white +duck they don't get me.'' + +When they reached the Palms, Clay asked Miss Langham if she did +not want to see his view. ``And perhaps, if you appreciate it +properly, I will make you a present of it,'' he said, as he +walked before her down the length of the veranda. + +``It would be very selfish to keep it all to my self,'' she said. + +``Couldn't we share it?'' They had left the others seated facing +the bay, with MacWilliams and young Langham on the broad steps of +the veranda, and the younger sister and her father sitting in +long bamboo steamer-chairs above them. + +Clay and Miss Langham were quite alone. From the high cliff on +which the Palms stood they could look down the narrow inlet that +joined the ocean and see the moonlight turning the water into a +rippling ladder of light and gilding the dark green leaves of the +palms near them with a border of silver. Directly below them lay +the waters of the bay, reflecting the red and green lights of the +ships at anchor, and beyond them again were the yellow lights of +the town, rising one above the other as the city crept up the +hill. And back of all were the mountains, grim and mysterious, +with white clouds sleeping in their huge valleys, like masses of +fog. + +Except for the ceaseless murmur of the insect life about them the +night was absolutely still--so still that the striking of the +ships' bells in the harbor came to them sharply across the +surface of the water, and they could hear from time to time the +splash of some great fish and the steady creaking of an oar in a +rowlock that grew fainter and fainter as it grew further +away, until it was drowned in the distance. Miss Langham was for +a long time silent. She stood with her hands clasped behind her, +gazing from side to side into the moonlight, and had apparently +forgotten that Clay was present. + +``Well,'' he said at last, ``I think you appreciate it properly. +I was afraid you would exclaim about it, and say it was fine, or +charming, or something.'' + +Miss Langham turned to him and smiled slightly. ``And you told +me once that you knew me so very well,'' she said. + +Clay chose to forget much that he had said on that night when he +had first met her. He knew that he had been bold then, and had +dared to be so because he did not think he would see her again; +but, now that he was to meet her every day through several +months, it seemed better to him that they should grow to know +each other as they really were, simply and sincerely, and without +forcing the situation in any way. + +So he replied, ``I don't know you so well now. You must remember +I haven't seen you for a year.'' + +``Yes, but you hadn't seen me for twenty-two years then,'' she +answered. ``I don't think you have changed much,'' she went on. +``I expected to find you gray with cares. Ted wrote us about +the way you work all day at the mines and sit up all night over +calculations and plans and reports. But you don't show it. When +are you going to take us over the mines? To-morrow? I am very +anxious to see them, but I suppose father will want to inspect +them first. Hope knows all about them, I believe; she knows +their names, and how much you have taken out, and how much you +have put in, too, and what MacWilliams's railroad cost, and who +got the contract for the ore pier. Ted told us in his letters, +and she used to work it out on the map in father's study. She is +a most energetic child; I think sometimes she should have been a +boy. I wish I could be the help to any one that she is to my +father and to me. Whenever I am blue or down she makes fun of +me, and--'' + +``Why should you ever be blue?'' asked Clay, abruptly. + +``There is no real reason, I suppose,'' the girl answered, +smiling, ``except that life is so very easy for me that I have to +invent some woes. I should be better for a few reverses.'' And +then she went on in a lower voice, and turning her head away, +``In our family there is no woman older than I am to whom I can +go with questions that trouble me. Hope is like a boy, as I +said, and plays with Ted, and my father is very busy with his +affairs, and since my mother died I have been very much +alone. A man cannot understand. And I cannot understand why I +should be speaking to you about myself and my troubles, +except--'' she added, a little wistfully, ``that you once said +you were interested in me, even if it was as long as a year ago. +And because I want you to be very kind to me, as you have been to +Ted, and I hope that we are going to be very good friends.'' + +She was so beautiful, standing in the shadow with the moonlight +about her and with her hand held out to him, that Clay felt as +though the scene were hardly real. He took her hand in his and +held it for a moment. His pleasure in the sweet friendliness of +her manner and in her beauty was so great that it kept him +silent. + +``Friends!'' he laughed under his breath. ``I don't think there +is much danger of our not being friends. The danger lies,'' he +went on, smiling, ``in my not being able to stop there.'' + +Miss Langham made no sign that she had heard him, but turned and +walked out into the moonlight and down the porch to where the +others were sitting. + +Young Langham had ordered a native orchestra of guitars and reed +instruments from the town to serenade his people, and they were +standing in front of the house in the moonlight as Miss +Langham and Clay came forward. They played the shrill, eerie +music of their country with a passion and feeling that filled out +the strange tropical scene around them; but Clay heard them only +as an accompaniment to his own thoughts, and as a part of the +beautiful night and the tall, beautiful girl who had dominated +it. He watched her from the shadow as she sat leaning easily +forward and looking into the night. The moonlight fell full upon +her, and though she did not once look at him or turn her head in +his direction, he felt as though she must be conscious of his +presence, as though there were already an understanding between +them which she herself had established. She had asked him to be +her friend. That was only a pretty speech, perhaps; but she had +spoken of herself, and had hinted at her perplexities and her +loneliness, and he argued that while it was no compliment to be +asked to share another's pleasure, it must mean something when +one was allowed to learn a little of another's troubles. + +And while his mind was flattered and aroused by this promise of +confidence between them, he was rejoicing in the rare quality of +her beauty, and in the thought that she was to be near him, and +near him here, of all places. It seemed a very wonderful thing +to Clay--something that could only have happened in a novel or a +play. For while the man and the hour frequently appeared +together, he had found that the one woman in the world and the +place and the man was a much more difficult combination to bring +into effect. No one, he assured himself thankfully, could have +designed a more lovely setting for his love-story, if it was to +be a love-story, and he hoped it was, than this into which she +had come of her own free will. It was a land of romance and +adventure, of guitars and latticed windows, of warm brilliant +days and gorgeous silent nights, under purple heavens and white +stars. And he was to have her all to himself, with no one near +to interrupt, no other friends, even, and no possible rival. She +was not guarded now by a complex social system, with its +responsibilities. He was the most lucky of men. Others had only +seen her in her drawing-room or in an opera-box, but he was free +to ford mountain-streams at her side, or ride with her under +arches of the great palms, or to play a guitar boldly beneath her +window. He was free to come and go at any hour; not only free to +do so, but the very nature of his duties made it necessary that +they should be thrown constantly together. + +The music of the violins moved him and touched him deeply, and +stirred depths at which he had not guessed. It made him humble +and deeply grateful, and he felt how mean and unworthy he was +of such great happiness. He had never loved any woman as he felt +that he could love this woman, as he hoped that he was to love +her. For he was not so far blinded by her beauty and by what he +guessed her character to be, as to imagine that he really knew +her. He only knew what he hoped she was, what he believed the +soul must be that looked out of those kind, beautiful eyes, and +that found utterance in that wonderful voice which could control +him and move him by a word. + +He felt, as he looked at the group before him, how lonely his own +life had been, how hard he had worked for so little--for what +other men found ready at hand when they were born into the world. + +He felt almost a touch of self-pity at his own imperfectness; and +the power of his will and his confidence in himself, of which he +was so proud, seemed misplaced and little. And then he wondered +if he had not neglected chances; but in answer to this his +injured self-love rose to rebut the idea that he had wasted any +portion of his time, and he assured himself that he had done the +work that he had cut out for himself to do as best he could; no +one but himself knew with what courage and spirit. And so he sat +combating with himself, hoping one moment that she would +prove what he believed her to be, and the next, scandalized at +his temerity in daring to think of her at all. + +The spell lifted as the music ceased, and Clay brought himself +back to the moment and looked about him as though he were waking +from a dream and had expected to see the scene disappear and the +figures near him fade into the moonlight. + +Young Langham had taken a guitar from one of the musicians and +pressed it upon MacWilliams, with imperative directions to sing +such and such songs, of which, in their isolation, they had grown +to think most highly, and MacWilliams was protesting in much +embarrassment. + +MacWilliams had a tenor voice which he maltreated in the most +villanous manner by singing directly through his nose. He had a +taste for sentimental songs, in which ``kiss'' rhymed with +``bliss,'' and in which ``the people cry'' was always sure to be +followed with ``as she goes by, that's pretty Katie Moody,'' or +``Rosie McIntyre.'' He had gathered his songs at the side of +camp-fires, and in canteens at the first section-house of a new +railroad, and his original collection of ballads had had but few +additions in several years. MacWilliams at first was shy, which +was quite a new development, until he made them promise to +laugh if they wanted to laugh, explaining that he would not +mind that so much as he would the idea that he thought he was +serious. + +The song of which he was especially fond was one called ``He +never cares to wander from his own Fireside,'' which was +especially appropriate in coming from a man who had visited +almost every spot in the three Americas, except his home, in ten +years. MacWilliams always ended the evening's entertainment with +this chorus, no matter how many times it had been sung +previously, and seemed to regard it with much the same veneration +that the true Briton feels for his national anthem. + +The words of the chorus were: + + ``He never cares to wander from his own fireside, + He never cares to wander or to roam. + With his babies on his knee, + He's as happy as can be, + For there's no place like Home, Sweet Home.'' + +MacWilliams loved accidentals, and what he called ``barber-shop +chords.'' He used a beautiful accidental at the word ``be,'' of +which he was very fond, and he used to hang on that note for a +long time, so that those in the extreme rear of the hall, as he +was wont to explain, should get the full benefit of it. And it +was his custom to emphasize ``for'' in the last line by +speaking instead of singing it, and then coming to a full stop +before dashing on again with the excellent truth that ``there is +NO place like Home, Sweet Home.'' + +The men at the mines used to laugh at him and his song at first, +but they saw that it was not to be so laughed away, and that he +regarded it with some peculiar sentiment. So they suffered him +to sing it in peace. + +MacWilliams went through his repertoire to the unconcealed +amusement of young Langham and Hope. When he had finished he +asked Hope if she knew a comic song of which he had only heard by +reputation. One of the men at the mines had gained a certain +celebrity by claiming to have heard it in the States, but as he +gave a completely new set of words to the tune of the ``Wearing +of the Green'' as the true version, his veracity was doubted. +Hope said she knew it, of course, and they all went into the +drawing-room, where the men grouped themselves about the piano. +It was a night they remembered long afterward. Hope sat at the +piano protesting and laughing, but singing the songs of which the +new-comers had become so weary, but which the three men heard +open-eyed, and hailed with shouts of pleasure. The others +enjoyed them and their delight, as though they were people in a +play expressing themselves in this extravagant manner for +their entertainment, until they understood how poverty-stricken +their lives had been and that they were not only enjoying the +music for itself, but because it was characteristic of all that +they had left behind them. It was pathetic to hear them boast of +having read of a certain song in such a paper, and of the fact +that they knew the plot of a late comic opera and the names of +those who had played in it, and that it had or had not been +acceptable to the New York public. + +``Dear me,'' Hope would cry, looking over her shoulder with a +despairing glance at her sister and father, ``they don't even +know `Tommy Atkins'!'' + +It was a very happy evening for them all, foreshadowing, as it +did, a continuation of just such evenings. Young Langham was +radiant with pleasure at the good account which Clay had given of +him to his father, and Mr. Langham was gratified, and proud of +the manner in which his son and heir had conducted himself; and +MacWilliams, who had never before been taken so simply and +sincerely by people of a class that he had always held in +humorous awe, felt a sudden accession of dignity, and an unhappy +fear that when they laughed at what he said, it was because its +sense was so utterly different from their point of view, and not +because they saw the humor of it. He did not know what the word +``snob'' signified, and in his roughened, easy-going nature there +was no touch of false pride; but he could not help thinking how +surprised his people would be if they could see him, whom they +regarded as a wanderer and renegade on the face of the earth and +the prodigal of the family, and for that reason the best loved, +leaning over a grand piano, while one daughter of his +much-revered president played comic songs for his delectation, +and the other, who according to the newspapers refused princes +daily, and who was the most wonderful creature he had ever seen, +poured out his coffee and brought it to him with her own hands. + +The evening came to an end at last, and the new arrivals +accompanied their visitors to the veranda as they started to +their cabin for the night. Clay was asking Mr. Langham when he +wished to visit the mines, and the others were laughing over +farewell speeches, when young Langham startled them all by +hurrying down the length of the veranda and calling on them to +follow. + +``Look!'' he cried, pointing down the inlet. ``Here comes a man- +of-war, or a yacht. Isn't she smart-looking? What can she want +here at this hour of the night? They won't let them land. Can +you make her out, MacWilliams?'' + +A long, white ship was steaming slowly up the inlet, and +passed within a few hundred feet of the cliff on which they were +standing. + +``Why, it's the `Vesta'!'' exclaimed Hope, wonderingly. ``I +thought she wasn't coming for a week?'' + +``It can't be the `Vesta'!'' said the elder sister; ``she was not +to have sailed from Havana until to-day.'' + +``What do you mean?'' asked Langham. ``Is it King's boat? Do +you expect him here? Oh, what fun! I say, Clay, here's the +`Vesta,' Reggie King's yacht, and he's no end of a sport. We can +go all over the place now, and he can land us right at the door +of the mines if we want to.'' + +``Is it the King I met at dinner that night?'' asked Clay, +turning to Miss Langham. + +``Yes,'' she said. ``He wanted us to come down on the yacht, but +we thought the steamer would be faster; so he sailed without us +and was to have touched at Havana, but he has apparently changed +his course. Doesn't she look like a phantom ship in the +moonlight?'' + +Young Langham thought he could distinguish King among the white +figures on the bridge, and tossed his hat and shouted, and a man +in the stern of the yacht replied with a wave of his hand. + +``That must be Mr. King,'' said Hope. ``He didn't bring any +one with him, and he seems to be the only man aft.'' + +They stood watching the yacht as she stopped with a rattle of +anchor-chains and a confusion of orders that came sharply across +the water, and then the party separated and the three men walked +down the hill, Langham eagerly assuring the other two that King +was a very good sort, and telling them what a treasure-house his +yacht was, and how he would have probably brought the latest +papers, and that he would certainly give a dance on board in +their honor. + +The men stood for some short time together, after they had +reached the office, discussing the great events of the day, and +then with cheerful good-nights disappeared into their separate +rooms. + +An hour later Clay stood without his coat, and with a pen in his +hand, at MacWilliams's bedside and shook him by the shoulder. + +``I'm not asleep,'' said MacWilliams, sitting up; ``what is it? +What have you been doing?'' he demanded. ``Not working?'' + +``There were some reports came in after we left,'' said Clay, +``and I find I will have to see Kirkland to-morrow morning. Send +them word to run me down on an engine at five-thirty, will you? +I am sorry to have to wake you, but I couldn't remember in +which shack that engineer lives.'' + +MacWilliams jumped from his bed and began kicking about the floor +for his boots. ``Oh, that's all right,'' he said. ``I wasn't +asleep, I was just--'' he lowered his voice that Langham might +not hear him through the canvas partitions--``I was just lying +awake playing duets with the President, and racing for the +International Cup in my new centre-board yacht, that's all!'' + +MacWilliams buttoned a waterproof coat over his pajamas and +stamped his bare feet into his boots. ``Oh, I tell you, Clay,'' +he said with a grim chuckle, ``we're mixing right in with the +four hundred, we are! I'm substitute and understudy when anybody +gets ill. We're right in our own class at last! Pure amateurs +with no professional record against us. Me and President +Langham, I guess!'' He struck a match and lit the smoky wick in a +tin lantern. + +``But now,'' he said, cheerfully, ``my time being too valuable +for me to sleep, I will go wake up that nigger engine-driver and +set his alarm clock at five-thirty. Five-thirty, I believe you +said. All right; good-night.'' And whistling cheerfully to +himself MacWilliams disappeared up the hill, his body hidden in +the darkness and his legs showing fantastically in the light +of the swinging lantern. + +Clay walked out upon the veranda and stood with his back to one +of the pillars. MacWilliams and his pleasantries disturbed and +troubled him. Perhaps, after all, the boy was right. It seemed +absurd, but it was true. They were only employees of Langham-- +two of the thousands of young men who were working all over the +United States to please him, to make him richer, to whom he was +only a name and a power, which meant an increase of salary or the +loss of place. + +Clay laughed and shrugged his shoulders. He knew that he was not +in that class; if he did good work it was because his self- +respect demanded it of him; he did not work for Langham or the +Olancho Mining Company (Limited). And yet he turned with almost +a feeling of resentment toward the white yacht lying calmly in +magnificent repose a hundred yards from his porch. + +He could see her as clearly in her circle of electric lights as +though she were a picture and held in the light of a stereopticon +on a screen. He could see her white decks, and the rails of +polished brass, and the comfortable wicker chairs and gay +cushions and flat coils of rope, and the tapering masts and +intricate rigging. How easy it was made for some men! This +one had come like the prince in the fairy tale on his magic +carpet. If Alice Langham were to leave Valencia that next day, +Clay could not follow her. He had his duties and +responsibilities; he was at another man's bidding. + +But this Prince Fortunatus had but to raise anchor and start in +pursuit, knowing that he would be welcome wherever he found her. +That was the worst of it to Clay, for he knew that men did not +follow women from continent to continent without some assurance +of a friendly greeting. Clay's mind went back to the days when +he was a boy, when his father was absent fighting for a lost +cause; when his mother taught in a little schoolhouse under the +shadow of Pike's Peak, and when Kit Carson was his hero. He +thought of the poverty of those days poverty so mean and hopeless +that it was almost something to feel shame for; of the days that +followed when, an orphan and without a home, he had sailed away +from New Orleans to the Cape. How the mind of the mathematician, +which he had inherited from the Boston schoolmistress, had been +swayed by the spirit of the soldier, which he had inherited from +his father, and which led him from the mines of South Africa to +little wars in Madagascar, Egypt, and Algiers. It had been a +life as restless as the seaweed on a rock. But as he looked +back to its poor beginnings and admitted to himself its later +successes, he gave a sigh of content, and shaking off the mood +stood up and paced the length of the veranda. + +He looked up the hill to the low-roofed bungalow with the palm- +leaves about it, outlined against the sky, and as motionless as +patterns cut in tin. He had built that house. He had built it +for her. That was her room where the light was shining out from +the black bulk of the house about it like a star. And beyond the +house he saw his five great mountains, the knuckles of the giant +hand, with its gauntlet of iron that lay shut and clenched in the +face of the sea that swept up whimpering before it. Clay felt a +boyish, foolish pride rise in his breast as he looked toward the +great mines he had discovered and opened, at the iron mountains +that were crumbling away before his touch. + +He turned his eyes again to the blazing yacht, and this time +there was no trace of envy in them. He laughed instead, partly +with pleasure at the thought of the struggle he scented in the +air, and partly at his own braggadocio. + +``I'm not afraid,'' he said, smiling, and shaking his head at the +white ship that loomed up like a man-of-war in the black waters. +``I'm not afraid to fight you for anything worth fighting for. + +He bowed his bared head in good-night toward the light on the +hill, as he turned and walked back into his bedroom. ``And I +think,'' he murmured grimly, as he put out the light, ``that she +is worth fighting for.'' + + + +IV + +The work which had called Clay to the mines kept him there for +some time, and it was not until the third day after the arrival +of the Langhams that he returned again to the Palms. On the +afternoon when he climbed the hill to the bungalow he found the +Langhams as he had left them, with the difference that King now +occupied a place in the family circle. Clay was made so welcome, +and especially so by King, that he felt rather ashamed of his +sentiments toward him, and considered his three days of absence +to be well repaid by the heartiness of their greeting. + +``For myself,'' said Mr. Langham, ``I don't believe you had +anything to do at the mines at all. I think you went away just +to show us how necessary you are. But if you want me to make a +good report of our resident director on my return, you had better +devote yourself less to the mines while you are here and more to +us.'' Clay said he was glad to find that his duties were to be +of so pleasant a nature, and asked them what they had seen and +what they had done. + +They told him they had been nowhere, but had waited for his +return in order that he might act as their guide. + +``Then you should see the city at once,'' said Clay, ``and I will +have the volante brought to the door, and we can all go in this +afternoon. There is room for the four of you inside, and I can +sit on the box-seat with the driver.'' + +``No,'' said King, ``let Hope or me sit on the box-seat. Then we +can practise our Spanish on the driver.'' + +``Not very well,'' Clay replied, ``for the driver sits on the +first horse, like a postilion. It's a sort of tandem without +reins. Haven't you seen it yet? We consider the volante our +proudest exhibit.'' So Clay ordered the volante to be brought +out, and placed them facing each other in the open carriage, +while he climbed to the box-seat, from which position of vantage +he pointed out and explained the objects of interest they passed, +after the manner of a professional guide. It was a warm, +beautiful afternoon, and the clear mists of the atmosphere +intensified the rich blue of the sky, and the brilliant colors of +the houses, and the different shades of green of the trees and +bushes that lined the highroad to the capital. + +``To the right, as we descend,'' said Clay, speaking over his +shoulder, ``you see a tin house. It is the home of the +resident director of the Olancho Mining Company (Limited), and of +his able lieutenants, Mr. Theodore Langham and Mr. MacWilliams. +The building on the extreme left is the round-house, in which Mr. +MacWilliams stores his three locomotive engines, and in the far +middle-distance is Mr. MacWilliams himself in the act of +repairing a water-tank. He is the one in a suit of blue +overalls, and as his language at such times is free, we will +drive rapidly on and not embarrass him. Besides,'' added the +engineer, with the happy laugh of a boy who had been treated to a +holiday, ``I am sure that I am not setting him the example of +fixity to duty which he should expect from his chief.'' + +They passed between high hedges of Spanish bayonet, and came to +mud cabins thatched with palm-leaves, and alive with naked, +little brown-bodied children, who laughed and cheered to them as +they passed. + +``It's a very beautiful country for the pueblo,'' was Clay's +comment. ``Different parts of the same tree furnish them with +food, shelter, and clothing, and the sun gives them fuel, and the +Government changes so often that they can always dodge the tax- +collector.'' + +From the mud cabins they came to more substantial one-story +houses of adobe, with the walls painted in two distinct +colors, blue, pink, or yellow, with red-tiled roofs, and the +names with which they had been christened in bold black letters +above the entrances. Then the carriage rattled over paved +streets, and they drove between houses of two stories painted +more decorously in pink and light blue, with wide-open windows, +guarded by heavy bars of finely wrought iron and ornamented with +scrollwork in stucco. The principal streets were given up to +stores and cafe's, all wide open to the pavement and protected +from the sun by brilliantly striped awnings, and gay with the +national colors of Olancho in flags and streamers. In front of +them sat officers in uniform, and the dark-skinned dandies of +Valencia, in white duck suits and Panama hats, toying with +tortoise shell canes, which could be converted, if the occasion +demanded, into blades of Toledo steel. In the streets were +priests and bare-legged mule drivers, and ragged ranchmen with +red-caped cloaks hanging to their sandals, and negro women, with +bare shoulders and long trains, vending lottery tickets and +rolling huge cigars between their lips. It was an old story to +Clay and King, but none of the others had seen a Spanish-American +city before; they were familiar with the Far East and the +Mediterranean, but not with the fierce, hot tropics of their +sister continent, and so their eyes were wide open, and they +kept calling continually to one another to notice some new place +or figure. + +They in their turn did not escape from notice or comment. The +two sisters would have been conspicuous anywhere--in a queen's +drawing-room or on an Indian reservation. Theirs was a type that +the caballeros and senoritas did not know. With them dark +hair was always associated with dark complexions, the rich +duskiness of which was always vulgarized by a coat of powder, and +this fair blending of pink and white skin under masses of black +hair was strangely new, so that each of the few women who were to +be met on the street turned to look after the carriage, while the +American women admired their mantillas, and felt that the straw +sailor-hats they wore had become heavy and unfeminine. + +Clay was very happy in picking out what was most characteristic +and picturesque, and every street into which he directed the +driver to take them seemed to possess some building or monument +that was of peculiar interest. They did not know that he had +mapped out this ride many times before, and was taking them over +a route which he had already travelled with them in imagination. +King knew what the capital would be like before he entered it, +from his experience of other South American cities, but he acted +as though it were all new to him, and allowed Clay to +explain, and to give the reason for those features of the place +that were unusual and characteristic. Clay noticed this and +appealed to him from time to time, when he was in doubt; but the +other only smiled back and shook his head, as much as to say, +``This is your city; they would rather hear about it from you.'' + +Clay took them to the principal shops, where the two girls held +whispered consultations over lace mantillas, which they had at +once determined to adopt, and bought the gorgeous paper fans, +covered with brilliant pictures of bull-fighters in suits of +silver tinsel; and from these open stores he led them to a dingy +little shop, where there was old silver and precious hand-painted +fans of mother-of-pearl that had been pawned by families who had +risked and lost all in some revolution; and then to another shop, +where two old maiden ladies made a particularly good guava; and +to tobacconists, where the men bought a few of the native cigars, +which, as they were a monopoly of the Government, were as bad as +Government monopolies always are. + +Clay felt a sudden fondness for the city, so grateful was he to +it for entertaining her as it did, and for putting its best front +forward for her delectation. He wanted to thank some one for +building the quaint old convent, with its yellow walls +washed to an orange tint, and black in spots with dampness; and +for the fountain covered with green moss that stood before its +gate, and around which were gathered the girls and women of the +neighborhood with red water-jars on their shoulders, and little +donkeys buried under stacks of yellow sugar-cane, and the negro +drivers of the city's green water-carts, and the blue wagons that +carried the manufactured ice. Toward five o'clock they decided +to spend the rest of the day in the city, and to telephone for +the two boys to join them at La Venus, the great restaurant on +the plaza, where Clay had invited them to dine. + +He suggested that they should fill out the time meanwhile by a +call on the President, and after a search for cards in various +pocketbooks, they drove to the Government palace, which stood in +an open square in the heart of the city. + +As they arrived the President and his wife were leaving for their +afternoon drive on the Alameda, the fashionable parade-ground of +the city, and the state carriage and a squad of cavalry appeared +from the side of the palace as the visitors drove up to the +entrance. But at the sight of Clay, General Alvarez and his wife +retreated to the house again and made them welcome. The +President led the men into his reception-room and +entertained them with champagne and cigarettes, not manufactured +by his Government; and his wife, after first conducting the girls +through the state drawing-room, where the late sunlight shone +gloomily on strange old portraits of assassinated presidents and +victorious generals, and garish yellow silk furniture, brought +them to her own apartments, and gave them tea after a civilized +fashion, and showed them how glad she was to see some one of her +own world again. + +During their short visit Madame Alvarez talked a greater part of +the time herself, addressing what she said to Miss Langham, but +looking at Hope. It was unusual for Hope to be singled out in +this way when her sister was present, and both the sisters +noticed it and spoke of it afterwards. They thought Madame +Alvarez very beautiful and distinguished-looking, and she +impressed them, even after that short knowledge of her, as a +woman of great force of character. + +``She was very well dressed for a Spanish woman,'' was Miss +Langham's comment, later in the afternoon. ``But everything she +had on was just a year behind the fashions, or twelve steamer +days behind, as Mr. MacWilliams puts it.'' + +``She reminded me,'' said Hope, ``of a black panther I saw once +in a circus.'' + +``Dear me!'' exclaimed the sister, ``I don't see that at all. +Why?'' + +Hope said she did not know why; she was not given to analyzing +her impressions or offering reasons for them. ``Because the +panther looked so unhappy,'' she explained, doubtfully, ``and +restless; and he kept pacing up and down all the time, and +hitting his head against the bars as he walked as though he liked +the pain. Madame Alvarez seemed to me to be just like that--as +though she were shut up somewhere and wanted to be free.'' + +When Madame Alvarez and the two sisters had joined the men, they +all walked together to the terrace, and the visitors waited until +the President and his wife should take their departure. Hope +noticed, in advance of the escort of native cavalry, an auburn- +haired, fair-skinned young man who was sitting an English saddle. + +The officer's eyes were blue and frank and attractive-looking, +even as they then were fixed ahead of him with a military lack of +expression; but he came to life very suddenly when the President +called to him, and prodded his horse up to the steps and +dismounted. He was introduced by Alvarez as ``Captain Stuart of +my household troops, late of the Gordon Highlanders. Captain +Stuart,'' said the President, laying his hand affectionately on +the younger man's epaulette, ``takes care of my life and the +safety of my home and family. He could have the command of the +army if he wished; but no, he is fond of us, and he tells me we +are in more need of protection from our friends at home than from +our enemies on the frontier. Perhaps he knows best. I trust +him, Mr. Langham,'' added the President, solemnly, ``as I trust +no other man in all this country.'' + +``I am very glad to meet Captain Stuart, I am sure,'' said Mr. +Langham, smiling, and appreciating how the shyness of the +Englishman must be suffering under the praises of the Spaniard. +And Stuart was indeed so embarrassed that he flushed under his +tan, and assured Clay, while shaking hands with them all, that he +was delighted to make his acquaintance; at which the others +laughed, and Stuart came to himself sufficiently to laugh with +them, and to accept Clay's invitation to dine with them later. + +They found the two boys waiting in the cafe' of the restaurant +where they had arranged to meet, and they ascended the steps +together to the table on the balcony that Clay had reserved for +them. + +The young engineer appeared at his best as host. The +responsibility of seeing that a half-dozen others were amused and +content sat well upon him; and as course followed course, and +the wines changed, and the candles left the rest of the room +in darkness and showed only the table and the faces around it, +they all became rapidly more merry and the conversation +intimately familiar. + +Clay knew the kind of table-talk to which the Langhams were +accustomed, and used the material around his table in such a way +that the talk there was vastly different. From King he drew +forth tales of the buried cities he had first explored, and then +robbed of their ugliest idols. He urged MacWilliams to tell +carefully edited stories of life along the Chagres before the +Scandal came, and of the fastnesses of the Andes; and even Stuart +grew braver and remembered ``something of the same sort'' he had +seen at Fort Nilt, in Upper Burma. + +``Of course,'' was Clay's comment at the conclusion of one of +these narratives, ``being an Englishman, Stuart left out the +point of the story, which was that he blew in the gates of the +fort with a charge of dynamite. He got a D. S. O. for doing +it.'' + +``Being an Englishman,'' said Hope, smiling encouragingly on the +conscious Stuart, ``he naturally would leave that out.'' + +Mr. Langham and his daughters formed an eager audience. They had +never before met at one table three men who had known such +experiences, and who spoke of them as though they must be as +familiar in the lives of the others as in their own--men who +spoiled in the telling stories that would have furnished +incidents for melodramas, and who impressed their hearers more +with what they left unsaid, and what was only suggested, than +what in their view was the most important point. + +The dinner came to an end at last, and Mr. Langham proposed that +they should go down and walk with the people in the plaza; but +his two daughters preferred to remain as spectators on the +balcony, and Clay and Stuart stayed with them. + +``At last!'' sighed Clay, under his breath, seating himself at +Miss Langham's side as she sat leaning forward with her arms upon +the railing and looking down into the plaza below. She made no +sign at first that she had heard him, but as the voices of Stuart +and Hope rose from the other end of the balcony she turned her +head and asked, ``Why at last?'' + +``Oh, you couldn't understand,'' laughed Clay. ``You have not +been looking forward to just one thing and then had it come true. +It is the only thing that ever did come true to me, and I thought +it never would.'' + +``You don't try to make me understand,'' said the girl, +smiling, but without turning her eyes from the moving spectacle +below her. Clay considered her challenge silently. He did not +know just how much it might mean from her, and the smile robbed +it of all serious intent; so he, too, turned and looked down into +the great square below them, content, now that she was alone with +him, to take his time. + +At one end of the plaza the President's band was playing native +waltzes that came throbbing through the trees and beating softly +above the rustling skirts and clinking spurs of the senoritas +and officers, sweeping by in two opposite circles around the +edges of the tessellated pavements. Above the palms around the +square arose the dim, white facade of the cathedral, with the +bronze statue of Anduella, the liberator of Olancho, who answered +with his upraised arm and cocked hat the cheers of an imaginary +populace. Clay's had been an unobtrusive part in the evening's +entertainment, but he saw that the others had been pleased, and +felt a certain satisfaction in thinking that King himself could +not have planned and carried out a dinner more admirable in every +way. He was gratified that they should know him to be not +altogether a barbarian. But what he best liked to remember was +that whenever he had spoken she had listened, even when her eyes +were turned away and she was pretending to listen to some +one else. He tormented himself by wondering whether this was +because he interested her only as a new and strange character, or +whether she felt in some way how eagerly he was seeking her +approbation. For the first time in his life he found himself +considering what he was about to say, and he suited it for her +possible liking. It was at least some satisfaction that she had, +if only for the time being, singled him out as of especial +interest, and he assured himself that the fault would be his if +her interest failed. He no longer looked on himself as an +outsider. + +Stuart's voice arose from the farther end of the balcony, where +the white figure of Hope showed dimly in the darkness. + +``They are talking about you over there,'' said Miss Langham, +turning toward him. + +``Well, I don't mind,'' answered Clay, ``as long as they talk +about me--over there.'' + +Miss Langham shook her head. ``You are very frank and +audacious,'' she replied, doubtfully, ``but it is rather pleasant +as a change.'' + +``I don't call that audacious, to say I don't want to be +interrupted when I am talking to you. Aren't the men you meet +generally audacious?'' he asked. ``I can see why not--though,'' +he continued, ``you awe them.'' + +``I can't think that's a nice way to affect people,'' protested +Miss Langham, after a pause. ``I don't awe you, do I?'' + +``Oh, you affect me in many different ways,'' returned Clay, +cheerfully. ``Sometimes I am very much afraid of you, and then +again my feelings are only those of unlimited admiration.'' + +``There, again, what did I tell you?'' said Miss Langham. + +``Well, I can't help doing that,'' said Clay. ``That is one of +the few privileges that is left to a man in my position--it +doesn't matter what I say. That is the advantage of being of no +account and hopelessly detrimental. The eligible men of the +world, you see, have to be so very careful. A Prime Minister, +for instance, can't talk as he wishes, and call names if he wants +to, or write letters, even. Whatever he says is so important, +because he says it, that he must be very discreet. I am so +unimportant that no one minds what I say, and so I say it. It's +the only comfort I have.'' + +``Are you in the habit of going around the world saying whatever +you choose to every woman you happen to--to--'' Miss Langham +hesitated. + +``To admire very much,'' suggested Clay. + +``To meet,'' corrected Miss Langham. ``Because, if you are, it +is a very dangerous and selfish practice, and I think your +theory of non-responsibility is a very wicked one.'' + +``Well, I wouldn't say it to a child,'' mused Clay, ``but to one +who must have heard it before--'' + +``And who, you think, would like to hear it again, perhaps,'' +interrupted Miss Langham. + +``No, not at all,'' said Clay. ``I don't say it to give her +pleasure, but because it gives me pleasure to say what I think.'' + +``If we are to continue good friends, Mr. Clay,'' said Miss +Langham, in decisive tones, ``we must keep our relationship on +more of a social and less of a personal basis. It was all very +well that first night I met you,'' she went on, in a kindly tone. + +``You rushed in then and by a sort of tour de force made me +think a great deal about myself and also about you. Your stories +of cherished photographs and distant devotion and all that were +very interesting; but now we are to be together a great deal, and +if we are to talk about ourselves all the time, I for one shall +grow very tired of it. As a matter of fact you don't know what +your feelings are concerning me, and until you do we will talk +less about them and more about the things you are certain of. +When are you going to take us to the mines, for instance, and who +was Anduella, the Liberator of Olancho, on that pedestal +over there? Now, isn't that much more instructive?'' + +Clay smiled grimly and made no answer, but sat with knitted brows +looking out across the trees of the plaza. His face was so +serious and he was apparently giving such earnest consideration +to what she had said that Miss Langham felt an uneasy sense of +remorse. And, moreover, the young man's profile, as he sat +looking away from her, was very fine, and the head on his broad +shoulders was as well-modelled as the head of an Athenian statue. + +Miss Langham was not insensible to beauty of any sort, and she +regarded the profile with perplexity and with a softening spirit. + +``You understand,'' she said, gently, being quite certain that +she did not understand this new order of young man herself. +``You are not offended with me?'' she asked. + +Clay turned and frowned, and then smiled in a puzzled way and +stretched out his hand toward the equestrian statue in the plaza. + +``Andulla or Anduella, the Treaty-Maker, as they call him, was +born in 1700,'' he said; ``he was a most picturesque sort of a +chap, and freed this country from the yoke of Spain. One of the +stories they tell of him gives you a good idea of his +character.'' And so, without any change of expression or +reference to what had just passed between them, Clay +continued through the remainder of their stay on the balcony to +discourse in humorous, graphic phrases on the history of Olancho, +its heroes, and its revolutions, the buccaneers and pirates of +the old days, and the concession-hunters and filibusters of the +present. It was some time before Miss Langham was able to give +him her full attention, for she was considering whether he could +be so foolish as to have taken offence at what she said, and +whether he would speak of it again, and in wondering whether a +personal basis for conversation was not, after all, more +entertaining than anecdotes of the victories and heroism of dead +and buried Spaniards. + +``That Captain Stuart,'' said Hope to her sister, as they drove +home together through the moonlight, ``I like him very much. He +seems to have such a simple idea of what is right and good. It +is like a child talking. Why, I am really much older than he is +in everything but years--why is that?'' + +``I suppose it's because we always talk before you as though you +were a grown-up person,'' said her sister. ``But I agree with +you about Captain Stuart; only, why is he down here? If he is a +gentleman, why is he not in his own army? Was he forced to leave +it?'' + +``Oh, he seems to have a very good position here,'' said Mr. +Langham. ``In England, at his age, he would be only a second- +lieutenant. Don't you remember what the President said, that he +would trust him with the command of his army? That's certainly a +responsible position, and it shows great confidence in him.'' + +``Not so great, it seems to me,'' said King, carelessly, ``as he +is showing him in making him the guardian of his hearth and home. +Did you hear what he said to-day? `He guards my home and my +family.' I don't think a man's home and family are among the +things he can afford to leave to the protection of stray English +subalterns. From all I hear, it would be better if President +Alvarez did less plotting and protected his own house himself.'' + +``The young man did not strike me as the sort of person,'' said +Mr. Langham, warmly, ``who would be likely to break his word to +the man who is feeding him and sheltering him, and whose uniform +he wears. I don't think the President's home is in any danger +from within. Madame Alvarez--'' + +Clay turned suddenly in his place on the box-seat of the +carriage, where he had been sitting, a silent, misty statue in +the moonlight, and peered down on those in the carriage below +him. + +``Madame Alvarez needs no protection, as you were about to +say, Mr. Langham,'' he interrupted, quickly. ``Those who know +her could say nothing against her, and those who do not know her +would not so far forget themselves as to dare to do it. Have you +noticed the effect of the moonlight on the walls of the +convent?'' he continued, gently. ``It makes them quite white.'' + +``No,'' exclaimed Mr. Langham and King, hurriedly, as they both +turned and gazed with absorbing interest at the convent on the +hills above them. + +Before the sisters went to sleep that night Hope came to the door +of her sister's room and watched Alice admiringly as she sat +before the mirror brushing out her hair. + +``I think it's going to be fine down here; don't you, Alice?'' +she asked. ``Everything is so different from what it is at home, +and so beautiful, and I like the men we've met. Isn't that Mr. +MacWilliams funny--and he is so tough. And Captain Stuart--it is +a pity he's shy. The only thing he seems to be able to talk +about is Mr. Clay. He worships Mr. Clay!'' + +``Yes,'' assented her sister, ``I noticed on the balcony that you +seemed to have found some way to make him speak.'' + +``Well, that was it. He likes to talk about Mr. Clay, and I +wanted to listen. Oh! he is a fine man. He has done more +exciting things--'' + +``Who? Captain Stuart?'' + +``No--Mr. Clay. He's been in three real wars and about a dozen +little ones, and he's built thousands of miles of railroads, I +don't know how many thousands, but Captain Stuart knows; and he +built the highest bridge in Peru. It swings in the air across a +chasm, and it rocks when the wind blows. And the German Emperor +made him a Baron.'' + +``Why?'' + +``I don't know. I couldn't understand. It was something about +plans for fortifications. He, Mr. Clay, put up a fort in the +harbor of Rio Janeiro during a revolution, and the officers on a +German man-of-war saw it and copied the plans, and the Germans +built one just like it, only larger, on the Baltic, and when the +Emperor found out whose design it was, he sent Mr. Clay the order +of something-or-other, and made him a Baron.'' + +``Really,'' exclaimed the elder sister, ``isn't he afraid that +some one will marry him for his title?'' + +``Oh, well, you can laugh, but I think it's pretty fine, and so +does Ted,'' added Hope, with the air of one who propounds a final +argument. + +``Oh, I beg your pardon,'' laughed Alice. ``If Ted approves we +must all go down and worship.'' + +``And father, too,'' continued Hope. ``He said he thought Mr. +Clay was one of the most remarkable men for his years that he had +ever met.'' + +Miss Langham's eyes were hidden by the masses of her black hair +that she had shaken over her face, and she said nothing. + +``And I liked the way he shut Reggie King up too,'' continued +Hope, stoutly, ``when he and father were talking that way about +Madame Alvarez.'' + +``Yes, upon my word,'' exclaimed her sister, impatiently tossing +her hair back over her shoulders. ``I really cannot see that +Madame Alvarez is in need of any champion. I thought Mr. Clay +made it very much worse by rushing in the way he did. Why should +he take it upon himself to correct a man as old as my father?'' + +``I suppose because Madame Alvarez is a friend of his,'' Hope +answered. + +``My dear child, a beautiful woman can always find some man to +take her part,'' said Miss Langham. ``But I've no doubt,'' she +added, rising and kissing her sister good-night, ``that he is all +that your Captain Stuart thinks him; but he is not going to keep +us awake any longer, is he, even if he does show such gallant +interest in old ladies?'' + +``Old ladies!'' exclaimed Hope in amazement. + +``Why, Alice!'' + +But her sister only laughed and waved her out of the room, and +Hope walked away frowning in much perplexity. + + + +V + +The visit to the city was imitated on the three succeeding +evenings by similar excursions. On one night they returned to +the plaza, and the other two were spent in drifting down the +harbor and along the coast on King's yacht. The President and +Madame Alvarez were King's guests on one of these moonlight +excursions, and were saluted by the proper number of guns, and +their native band played on the forward deck. Clay felt that +King held the centre of the stage for the time being, and +obliterated himself completely. He thought of his own paddle- +wheel tug-boat that he had had painted and gilded in her honor, +and smiled grimly. + +MacWilliams approached him as he sat leaning back on the rail and +looking up, with the eye of a man who had served before the mast, +at the lacework of spars and rigging above him. MacWilliams came +toward him on tiptoe and dropped carefully into a wicker chair. +``There don't seem to be any door-mats on this boat,'' he said. +``In every other respect she seems fitted out quite +complete; all the latest magazines and enamelled bathtubs, +and Chinese waiter-boys with cock-tails up their sleeves. But +there ought to be a mat at the top of each of those stairways +that hang over the side, otherwise some one is sure to soil the +deck. Have you been down in the engine-room yet?'' he asked. +``Well, don't go, then,'' he advised, solemnly. ``It will only +make you feel badly. I have asked the Admiral if I can send +those half-breed engine drivers over to-morrow to show them what +a clean engine-room looks like. I've just been talking to the +chief. His name's MacKenzie, and I told him I was Scotch myself, +and he said it `was a greet pleesure' to find a gentleman so well +acquainted with the movements of machinery. He thought I was one +of King's friends, I guess, so I didn't tell him I pulled a lever +for a living myself. I gave him a cigar though, and he said, +`Thankee, sir,' and touched his cap to me.'' + +MacWilliams chuckled at the recollection, and crossed his legs +comfortably. ``One of King's cigars, too,'' he said. ``Real +Havana; he leaves them lying around loose in the cabin. Have you +had one? Ted Langham and I took about a box between us.'' + +Clay made no answer, and MacWilliams settled himself contentedly +in the great wicker chair and puffed grandly on a huge cigar. + +``It's demoralizing, isn't it?'' he said at last. + +``What?'' asked Clay, absently. + +``Oh, this associating with white people again, as we're doing +now. It spoils you for tortillas and rice, doesn't it? It's +going to be great fun while it lasts, but when they've all gone, +and Ted's gone, too, and the yacht's vanished, and we fall back +to tramping around the plaza twice a week, it won't be gay, will +it? No; it won't be gay. We're having the spree of our lives +now, I guess, but there's going to be a difference in the +morning.'' + +``Oh, it's worth a headache, I think,'' said Clay, as he shrugged +his shoulders and walked away to find Miss Langham. + +The day set for the visit to the mines rose bright and clear. +MacWilliams had rigged out his single passenger-car with rugs and +cushions, and flags flew from its canvas top that flapped and +billowed in the wind of the slow-moving train. Their +observation-car, as MacWilliams termed it, was placed in front of +the locomotive, and they were pushed gently along the narrow +rails between forests of Manaca palms, and through swamps and +jungles, and at times over the limestone formation along the +coast, where the waves dashed as high as the smokestack of the +locomotive, covering the excursionists with a sprinkling of white +spray. Thousands of land-crabs, painted red and black and +yellow, scrambled with a rattle like dead men's bones across the +rails to be crushed by the hundreds under the wheels of the +Juggernaut; great lizards ran from sunny rocks at the sound of +their approach, and a deer bounded across the tracks fifty feet +in front of the cow-catcher. MacWilliams escorted Hope out into +the cab of the locomotive, and taught her how to increase and +slacken the speed of the engine, until she showed an unruly +desire to throw the lever open altogether and shoot them off the +rails into the ocean beyond. + +Clay sat at the back of the car with Miss Langham, and told her +and her father of the difficulties with which young MacWilliams +had had to contend. Miss Langham found her chief pleasure in +noting the attention which her father gave to all that Clay had +to tell him. Knowing her father as she did, and being familiar +with his manner toward other men, she knew that he was treating +Clay with unusual consideration. And this pleased her greatly, +for it justified her own interest in him. She regarded Clay as a +discovery of her own, but she was glad to have her opinion of him +shared by others. + +Their coming was a great event in the history of the mines. +Kirkland, the foreman, and Chapman, who handled the +dynamite, Weimer, the Consul, and the native doctor, who cared +for the fever-stricken and the casualties, were all at the +station to meet them in the whitest of white duck and with a +bunch of ponies to carry them on their tour of inspection, and +the village of mudDcabins and zinc-huts that stood clear of the +bare sunbaked earth on whitewashed wooden piles was as clean as +Clay's hundred policemen could sweep it. Mr. Langham rode in +advance of the cavalcade, and the head of each of the different +departments took his turn in riding at his side, and explained +what had been done, and showed him the proud result. The village +was empty, except for the families of the native workmen and the +ownerless dogs, the scavengers of the colony, that snarled and +barked and ran leaping in front of the ponies' heads. + +Rising abruptly above the zinc village, lay the first of the five +great hills, with its open front cut into great terraces, on +which the men clung like flies on the side of a wall, some of +them in groups around an opening, or in couples pounding a steel +bar that a fellow-workman turned in his bare hands, while others +gathered about the panting steam-drills that shook the solid rock +with fierce, short blows, and hid the men about them in a +throbbing curtain of steam. Self-important little dummy- +engines, dragging long trains of ore-cars, rolled and rocked on +the uneven surface of the ground, and swung around corners with +warning screeches of their whistles. They could see, on peaks +outlined against the sky, the signal-men waving their red flags, +and then plunging down the mountain-side out of danger, as the +earth rumbled and shook and vomited out a shower of stones and +rubbish into the calm hot air. It was a spectacle of desperate +activity and puzzling to the uninitiated, for it seemed to be +scattered over an unlimited extent, with no head nor direction, +and with each man, or each group of men, working alone, like rag- +pickers on a heap of ashes. + +After the first half-hour of curious interest Miss Langham +admitted to herself that she was disappointed. She confessed she +had hoped that Clay would explain the meaning of the mines to +her, and act as her escort over the mountains which he was +blowing into pieces. + +But it was King, somewhat bored by the ceaseless noise and heat, +and her brother, incoherently enthusiastic, who rode at her side, +while Clay moved on in advance and seemed to have forgotten her +existence. She watched him pointing up at the openings in the +mountains and down at the ore-road, or stooping to pick up a +piece of ore from the ground in cowboy fashion, without +leaving his saddle, and pounding it on the pommel before he +passed it to the others. And, again, he would stand for minutes +at a time up to his boot-tops in the sliding waste, with his +bridle rein over his arm and his thumbs in his belt, listening to +what his lieutenants were saying, and glancing quickly from them +to Mr. Langham to see if he were following the technicalities of +their speech. All of the men who had welcomed the appearance of +the women on their arrival with such obvious delight and with so +much embarrassment seemed now as oblivious of their presence as +Clay himself. + +Miss Langham pushed her horse up into the group beside Hope, who +had kept her pony close at Clay's side from the beginning; but +she could not make out what it was they were saying, and no one +seemed to think it necessary to explain. She caught Clay's eye +at last and smiled brightly at him; but, after staring at her for +fully a minute, until Kirkland had finished speaking, she heard +him say, ``Yes, that's it exactly; in open-face workings there is +no other way,'' and so showed her that he had not been even +conscious of her presence. But a few minutes later she saw him +look up at Hope, folding his arms across his chest tightly and +shaking his head. ``You see it was the only thing to do,'' she +heard him say, as though he were defending some course of +action, and as though Hope were one of those who must be +convinced. ``If we had cut the opening on the first level, there +was the danger of the whole thing sinking in, so we had to begin +to clear away at the top and work down. That's why I ordered the +bucket-trolley. As it turned out, we saved money by it.'' + +Hope nodded her head slightly. ``That's what I told father when +Ted wrote us about it,'' she said; ``but you haven't done it at +Mount Washington.'' + +``Oh, but it's like this, Miss--'' Kirkland replied, eagerly. +``It's because Washington is a solider foundation. We can cut +openings all over it and they won't cave, but this hill is most +all rubbish; it's the poorest stuff in the mines.'' + +Hope nodded her head again and crowded her pony on after the +moving group, but her sister and King did not follow. King +looked at her and smiled. ``Hope is very enthusiastic,'' he +said. ``Where did she pick it up?'' + +``Oh, she and father used to go over it in his study last winter +after Ted came down here,'' Miss Langham answered, with a touch +of impatience in her tone. ``Isn't there some place where we can +go to get out of this heat?'' + +Weimer, the Consul, heard her and led her back to Kirkland's +bungalow, that hung like an eagle's nest from a projecting cliff. +From its porch they could look down the valley over the greater +part of the mines, and beyond to where the Caribbean Sea lay +flashing in the heat. + +``I saw very few Americans down there, Weimer,'' said King. ``I +thought Clay had imported a lot of them.'' + +``About three hundred altogether, wild Irishmen and negroes,'' +said the Consul; ``but we use the native soldiers chiefly. They +can stand the climate better, and, besides,'' he added, ``they +act as a reserve in case of trouble. They are Mendoza's men, and +Clay is trying to win them away from him.'' + +``I don't understand,'' said King. + +Weimer looked around him and waited until Kirkland's servant had +deposited a tray full of bottles and glasses on a table near +them, and had departed. ``The talk is,'' he said, ``that Alvarez +means to proclaim a dictatorship in his own favor before the +spring elections. You've heard of that, haven't you?'' King +shook his head. + +``Oh, tell us about it,'' said Miss Langham; ``I should so like +to be in plots and conspiracies.'' + +``Well, they're rather common down here,'' continued the Consul, +``but this one ought to interest you especially, Miss Langham, +because it is a woman who is at the head of it. Madame +Alvarez, you know, was the Countess Manueleta Hernandez before +her marriage. She belongs to one of the oldest families in +Spain. Alvarez married her in Madrid, when he was Minister +there, and when he returned to run for President, she came with +him. She's a tremendously ambitious woman, and they do say she +wants to convert the republic into a monarchy, and make her +husband King, or, more properly speaking, make herself Queen. Of +course that's absurd, but she is supposed to be plotting to turn +Olancho into a sort of dependency of Spain, as it was long ago, +and that's why she is so unpopular.'' + +``Indeed?'' interrupted Miss Langham, ``I did not know that she +was unpopular.'' + +``Oh, rather. Why, her party is called the Royalist Party +already, and only a week before you came the Liberals plastered +the city with denunciatory placards against her, calling on the +people to drive her out of the country.'' + +``What cowards--to fight a woman!'' exclaimed Miss Langham. + +``Well, she began it first, you see,'' said the Consul. + +``Who is the leader of the fight against her?'' asked King. + +``General Mendoza; he is commander-in-chief and has the +greater part of the army with him, but the other candidate, old +General Rojas, is the popular choice and the best of the three. +He is Vice-President now, and if the people were ever given a +fair chance to vote for the man they want, he would +unquestionably be the next President. The mass of the people are +sick of revolutions. They've had enough of them, but they will +have to go through another before long, and if it turns against +Dr. Alvarez, I'm afraid Mr. Langham will have hard work to hold +these mines. You see, Mendoza has already threatened to seize +the whole plant and turn it into a Government monopoly.'' + +``And if the other one, General Rojas, gets into power, will he +seize the mines, too?'' + +``No, he is honest, strange to relate,'' laughed Weimer, ``but he +won't get in. Alvarez will make himself dictator, or Mendoza +will make himself President. That's why Clay treats the soldiers +here so well. He thinks he may need them against Mendoza. You +may be turning your saluting-gun on the city yet, Commodore,'' he +added, smiling, ``or, what is more likely, you'll need the yacht +to take Miss Langham and the rest of the family out of the +country.'' + +King smiled and Miss Langham regarded Weimer with flattering +interest. ``I've got a quick firing gun below decks,'' said +King, ``that I used in the Malaysian Peninsula on a junkful of +Black Flags, and I think I'll have it brought up. And there are +about thirty of my men on the yacht who wouldn't ask for their +wages in a year if I'd let them go on shore and mix up in a +fight. When do you suppose this--'' + +A heavy step and the jingle of spurs on the bare floor of the +bungalow startled the conspirators, and they turned and gazed +guiltily out at the mountain-tops above them as Clay came +hurrying out upon the porch. + +``They told me you were here,'' he said, speaking to Miss +Langham. ``I'm so sorry it tired you. I should have +remembered--it is a rough trip when you're not used to it,'' he +added, remorsefully. ``But I'm glad Weimer was here to take care +of you.'' + +``It was just a trifle hot and noisy,'' said Miss Langham, +smiling sweetly. She put her hand to her forehead with an +expression of patient suffering. ``It made my head ache a +little, but it was most interesting.'' She added, ``You are +certainly to be congratulated on your work.'' + +Clay glanced at her doubtfully with a troubled look, and turned +away his eyes to the busy scene below him. He was greatly hurt +that she should have cared so little, and indignant at himself +for being so unjust. Why should he expect a woman to find +interest in that hive of noise and sweating energy? But even as +he stood arguing with himself his eyes fell on a slight figure +sitting erect and graceful on her pony's back, her white habit +soiled and stained red with the ore of the mines, and green where +it had crushed against the leaves. She was coming slowly up the +trail with a body-guard of half a dozen men crowding closely +around her, telling her the difficulties of the work, and +explaining their successes, and eager for a share of her quick +sympathy. + +Clay's eyes fixed themselves on the picture, and he smiled at its +significance. Miss Langham noticed the look, and glanced below +to see what it was that had so interested him, and then back at +him again. He was still watching the approaching cavalcade +intently, and smiling to himself. Miss Langham drew in her +breath and raised her head and shoulders quickly, like a deer +that hears a footstep in the forest, and when Hope presently +stepped out upon the porch, she turned quickly toward her, and +regarded her steadily, as though she were a stranger to her, and +as though she were trying to see her with the eyes of one who +looked at her for the first time. + +``Hope!'' she said, ``do look at your dress!'' + +Hope's face was glowing with the unusual exercise, and her +eyes were brilliant. Her hair had slipped down beneath the visor +of her helmet. + +``I am so tired--and so hungry.'' She was laughing and looking +directly at Clay. ``It has been a wonderful thing to have +seen,'' she said, tugging at her heavy gauntlet, ``and to have +done,'' she added. She pulled off her glove and held out her +hand to Clay, moist and scarred with the pressure of the reins. + +``Thank you,'' she said, simply. + +The master of the mines took it with a quick rush of gratitude, +and looking into the girl's eyes, saw something there that +startled him, so that he glanced quickly past her at the circle +of booted men grouped in the door behind her. They were each +smiling in appreciation of the tableau; her father and Ted, +MacWilliams and Kirkland, and all the others who had helped him. +They seemed to envy, but not to grudge, the whole credit which +the girl had given to him. + +Clay thought, ``Why could it not have been the other?'' But he +said aloud, ``Thank YOU. You have given me my reward.'' + +Miss Langham looked down impatiently into the valley below, and +found that it seemed more hot and noisy, and more grimy than +before. + + +VI + +Clay believed that Alice Langham's visit to the mines had opened +his eyes fully to vast differences between them. He laughed and +railed at himself for having dared to imagine that he was in a +position to care for her. Confident as he was at times, and sure +as he was of his ability in certain directions, he was uneasy and +fearful when he matched himself against a man of gentle birth and +gentle breeding, and one who, like King, was part of a world of +which he knew little, and to which, in his ignorance concerning +it, he attributed many advantages that it did not possess. He +believed that he would always lack the mysterious something which +these others held by right of inheritance. He was still young +and full of the illusions of youth, and so gave false values to +his own qualities, and values equally false to the qualities he +lacked. For the next week he avoided Miss Langham, unless there +were other people present, and whenever she showed him special +favor, he hastily recalled to his mind her failure to sympathize +in his work, and assured himself that if she could not interest +herself in the engineer, he did not care to have her +interested in the man. Other women had found him attractive in +himself; they had cared for his strength of will and mind, and +because he was good to look at. But he determined that this one +must sympathize with his work in the world, no matter how +unpicturesque it might seem to her. His work was the best of +him, he assured himself, and he would stand or fall with it. + +It was a week after the visit to the mines that President Alvarez +gave a great ball in honor of the Langhams, to which all of the +important people of Olancho, and the Foreign Ministers were +invited. Miss Langham met Clay on the afternoon of the day set +for the ball, as she was going down the hill to join Hope and her +father at dinner on the yacht. + +``Are you not coming, too?'' she asked. + +``I wish I could,'' Clay answered. ``King asked me, but a +steamer-load of new machinery arrived to-day, and I have to see +it through the Custom-House.'' + +Miss Langham gave an impatient little laugh, and shook her head. +``You might wait until we were gone before you bother with your +machinery,'' she said. + +``When you are gone I won't be in a state of mind to attend to +machinery or anything else,'' Clay answered. + +Miss Langham seemed so far encouraged by this speech that she +seated herself in the boathouse at the end of the wharf. She +pushed her mantilla back from her face and looked up at him, +smiling brightly. + +`` `The time has come, the walrus said,' '' she quoted, `` `to +talk of many things.' '' + +Clay laughed and dropped down beside her. ``Well?'' he said. + +``You have been rather unkind to me this last week,'' the girl +began, with her eyes fixed steadily on his. ``And that day at +the mines when I counted on you so, you acted abominably.'' + +Clay's face showed so plainly his surprise at this charge, which +he thought he only had the right to make, that Miss Langham +stopped. + +``I don't understand,'' said Clay, quietly. ``How did I treat +you abominably?'' + +He had taken her so seriously that Miss Langham dropped her +lighter tone and spoke in one more kindly: + +``I went out there to see your work at its best. I was only +interested in going because it was your work, and because it was +you who had done it all, and I expected that you would try to +explain it to me and help me to understand, but you didn't. You +treated me as though I had no interest in the matter at all, as +though I was not capable of understanding it. You did not +seem to care whether I was interested or not. In fact, you +forgot me altogether.'' + +Clay exhibited no evidence of a reproving conscience. ``I am +sorry you had a stupid time,'' he said, gravely. + +``I did not mean that, and you know I didn't mean that,'' the +girl answered. ``I wanted to hear about it from you, because you +did it. I wasn't interested so much in what had been done, as I +was in the man who had accomplished it.'' + +Clay shrugged his shoulders impatiently, and looked across at +Miss Langham with a troubled smile. + +``But that's just what I don't want,'' he said. ``Can't you see? +These mines and other mines like them are all I have in the +world. They are my only excuse for having lived in it so long. +I want to feel that I've done something outside of myself, and +when you say that you like me personally, it's as little +satisfaction to me as it must be to a woman to be congratulated +on her beauty, or on her fine voice. That is nothing she has +done herself. I should like you to value what I have done, not +what I happen to be.'' + +Miss Langham turned her eyes to the harbor, and it was some short +time before she answered. + +``You are a very difficult person to please,'' she said, +``and most exacting. As a rule men are satisfied to be liked for +any reason. I confess frankly, since you insist upon it, that I +do not rise to the point of appreciating your work as the others +do. I suppose it is a fault,'' she continued, with an air that +plainly said that she considered it, on the contrary, something +of a virtue. ``And if I knew more about it technically, I might +see more in it to admire. But I am looking farther on for better +things from you. The friends who help us the most are not always +those who consider us perfect, are they?'' she asked, with a +kindly smile. She raised her eyes to the great ore-pier that +stretched out across the water, the one ugly blot in the scene of +natural beauty about them. ``I think that is all very well,'' +she said; ``but I certainly expect you to do more than that. I +have met many remarkable men in all parts of the world, and I +know what a strong man is, and you have one of the strongest +personalities I have known. But you can't mean that you are +content to stop with this. You should be something bigger and +more wide-reaching and more lasting. Indeed, it hurts me to see +you wasting your time here over my father's interests. You +should exert that same energy on a broader map. You could make +yourself anything you chose. At home you would be your party's +leader in politics, or you could be a great general, or a +great financier. I say this because I know there are better +things in you, and because I want you to make the most of your +talents. I am anxious to see you put your powers to something +worth while.'' + +Miss Langham's voice carried with it such a tone of sincerity +that she almost succeeded in deceiving herself. And yet she +would have hardly cared to explain just why she had reproached +the man before her after this fashion. For she knew that when +she spoke as she had done, she was beating about to find some +reason that would justify her in not caring for him, as she knew +she could care--as she would not allow herself to care. The man +at her side had won her interest from the first, and later had +occupied her thoughts so entirely, that it troubled her peace of +mind. Yet she would not let her feeling for him wax and grow +stronger, but kept it down. And she was trying now to persuade +herself that she did this because there was something lacking in +him and not in her. + +She was almost angry with him for being so much to her and for +not being more acceptable in little things, like the other men +she knew. So she found this fault with him in order that she +might justify her own lack of feeling. + +But Clay, who only heard the words and could not go back of +them to find the motive, could not know this. He sat perfectly +still when she had finished and looked steadily out across the +harbor. His eyes fell on the ugly ore-pier, and he winced and +uttered a short grim laugh. + +``That's true, what you say,'' he began, ``I haven't done much. +You are quite right. Only--'' he looked up at her curiously and +smiled--``only you should not have been the one to tell me of +it.'' + +Miss Langham had been so far carried away by her own point of +view that she had not considered Clay, and now that she saw what +mischief she had done, she gave a quick gasp of regret, and +leaned forward as though to add some explanation to what she had +said. But Clay stopped her. ``I mean by that,'' he said, ``that +the great part of the inspiration I have had to do what little I +have done came from you. You were a sort of promise of something +better to me. You were more of a type than an individual woman, +but your picture, the one I carry in my watch, meant all that +part of life that I have never known, the sweetness and the +nobleness and grace of civilization,--something I hoped I would +some day have time to enjoy. So you see,'' he added, with an +uncertain laugh, ``it's less pleasant to hear that I have failed +to make the most of myself from you than from almost any one +else.'' + +``But, Mr. Clay,'' protested the girl, anxiously, ``I think you +have done wonderfully well. I only said that I wanted you to do +more. You are so young and you have--'' + +Clay did not hear her. He was leaning forward looking moodily +out across the water, with his folded arms clasped across his +knees. + +``I have not made the most of myself,'' he repeated; ``that is +what you said.'' He spoke the words as though she had delivered +a sentence. ``You don't think well of what I have done, of what +I am.'' + +He drew in his breath and shook his head with a hopeless laugh, +and leaned back against the railing of the boat-house with the +weariness in his attitude of a man who has given up after a long +struggle. + +``No,'' he said with a bitter flippancy in his voice, ``I don't +amount to much. But, my God!'' he laughed, and turning his head +away, ``when you think what I was! This doesn't seem much to +you, and it doesn't seem much to me now that I have your point of +view on it, but when I remember!'' Clay stopped again and +pressed his lips together and shook his head. His half-closed +eyes, that seemed to be looking back into his past, lighted as +they fell on King's white yacht, and he raised his arm and +pointed to it with a wave of the hand. ``When I was sixteen +I was a sailor before the mast,'' he said, ``the sort of sailor +that King's crew out there wouldn't recognize in the same +profession. I was of so little account that I've been knocked +the length of the main deck at the end of the mate's fist, and +left to lie bleeding in the scuppers for dead. I hadn't a thing +to my name then but the clothes I wore, and I've had to go aloft +in a hurricane and cling to a swinging rope with my bare toes and +pull at a wet sheet until my finger-nails broke and started in +their sockets; and I've been a cowboy, with no companions for six +months of the year but eight thousand head of cattle and men as +dumb and untamed as the steers themselves. I've sat in my saddle +night after night, with nothing overhead but the stars, and no +sound but the noise of the steers breathing in their sleep. The +women I knew were Indian squaws, and the girls of the sailors' +dance-houses and the gambling-hells of Sioux City and Abilene, +and Callao and Port Said. That was what I was and those were +my companions. ``Why!'' he laughed, rising and striding across +the boat-house with his hands locked behind him, ``I've fought on +the mud floor of a Mexican shack, with a naked knife in my hand, +for my last dollar. I was as low and as desperate as that. And +now--'' Clay lifted his head and smiled. ``Now,'' he said, +in a lower voice and addressing Miss Langham with a return of his +usual grave politeness, ``I am able to sit beside you and talk to +you. I have risen to that. I am quite content.'' + +He paused and looked at Miss Langham uncertainly for a few +moments as though in doubt as to whether she would understand him +if he continued. + +``And though it means nothing to you,'' he said, ``and though as +you say I am here as your father's employee, there are other +places, perhaps, where I am better known. In Edinburgh or Berlin +or Paris, if you were to ask the people of my own profession, +they could tell you something of me. If I wished it, I could +drop this active work tomorrow and continue as an adviser, as an +expert, but I like the active part better. I like doing things +myself. I don't say, `I am a salaried servant of Mr. Langham's;' +I put it differently. I say, `There are five mountains of iron. +You are to take them up and transport them from South America to +North America, where they will be turned into railroads and +ironclads.' That's my way of looking at it. It's better to bind +a laurel to the plough than to call yourself hard names. It +makes your work easier--almost noble. Cannot you see it that +way, too?'' + +Before Miss Langham could answer, a deprecatory cough from +one side of the open boat-house startled them, and turning they +saw MacWilliams coming toward them. They had been so intent upon +what Clay was saying that he had approached them over the soft +sand of the beach without their knowing it. Miss Langham +welcomed his arrival with evident pleasure. + +``The launch is waiting for you at the end of the pier,'' +MacWilliams said. Miss Langham rose and the three walked +together down the length of the wharf, MacWilliams moving briskly +in advance in order to enable them to continue the conversation +he had interrupted, but they followed close behind him, as though +neither of them were desirous of such an opportunity. + +Hope and King had both come for Miss Langham, and while the +latter was helping her to a place on the cushions, and repeating +his regrets that the men were not coming also, Hope started the +launch, with a brisk ringing of bells and a whirl of the wheel +and a smile over her shoulder at the figures on the wharf. + +``Why didn't you go?'' said Clay; ``you have no business at the +Custom-House.'' + +``Neither have you,'' said MacWilliams. ``But I guess we both +understand. There's no good pushing your luck too far.'' + +``What do you mean by that--this time?'' + +``Why, what have we to do with all of this?'' cried MacWilliams. +``It's what I keep telling you every day. We're not in that +class, and you're only making it harder for yourself when they've +gone. I call it cruelty to animals myself, having women like +that around. Up North, where everybody's white, you don't notice +it so much, but down here--Lord!'' + +``That's absurd,'' Clay answered. ``Why should you turn your +back on civilization when it comes to you, just because you're +not going back to civilization by the next steamer? Every person +you meet either helps you or hurts you. Those girls help us, +even if they do make the life here seem bare and mean.'' + +``Bare and mean!'' repeated MacWilliams incredulously. ``I think +that's just what they don't do. I like it all the better because +they're mixed up in it. I never took so much interest in your +mines until she took to riding over them, and I didn't think +great shakes of my old ore-road, either, but now that she's got +to acting as engineer, it's sort of nickel-plated the whole +outfit. I'm going to name the new engine after her--when it gets +here--if her old man will let me.'' + +``What do you mean? Miss Langham hasn't been to the mines but +once, has she?'' + +``Miss Langham!'' exclaimed MacWilliams. ``No, I mean the other, +Miss Hope. She comes out with Ted nearly every day now, and +she's learning how to run a locomotive. Just for fun, you +know,'' he added, reassuringly. + +``I didn't suppose she had any intention of joining the +Brotherhood,'' said Clay. ``So she's been out every day, has +she? I like that,'' he commented, enthusiastically. ``She's a +fine, sweet girl.'' + +``Fine, sweet girl!'' growled MacWilliams. ``I should hope so. +She's the best. They don't make them any better than that, and +just think, if she's like that now, what will she be when she's +grown up, when she's learned a few things? Now her sister. You +can see just what her sister will be at thirty, and at fifty, and +at eighty. She's thoroughbred and she's the most beautiful woman +to look at I ever saw--but, my son--she is too careful. She +hasn't any illusions, and no sense of humor. And a woman with no +illusions and no sense of humor is going to be monotonous. You +can't teach her anything. You can't imagine yourself telling her +anything she doesn't know. The things we think important don't +reach her at all. They're not in her line, and in everything +else she knows more than we could ever guess at. But that Miss +Hope! It's a privilege to show her about. She wants to see +everything, and learn everything, and she goes poking her head +into openings and down shafts like a little fox terrier. +And she'll sit still and listen with her eyes wide open and tears +in them, too, and she doesn't know it--until you can't talk +yourself for just looking at her.'' + +Clay rose and moved on to the house in silence. He was glad that +MacWilliams had interrupted him when he did. He wondered whether +he understood Alice Langham after all. He had seen many fine +ladies before during his brief visits to London, and Berlin, and +Vienna, and they had shown him favor. He had known other women +not so fine. Spanish-American senoritas through Central and +South America, the wives and daughters of English merchants +exiled along the Pacific coast, whose fair skin and yellow hair +whitened and bleached under the hot tropical suns. He had known +many women, and he could have quoted + + ``Trials and troubles amany, + Have proved me; + One or two women, God bless them! + Have loved me.'' + +But the woman he was to marry must have all the things he lacked. + +She must fill out and complete him where he was wanting. This +woman possessed all of these things. She appealed to every +ambition and to every taste he cherished, and yet he knew that he +had hesitated and mistrusted her, when he should have +declared himself eagerly and vehemently, and forced her to listen +with all the strength of his will. + + +Miss Langham dropped among the soft cushions of the launch with a +sense of having been rescued from herself and of delight in +finding refuge again in her own environment. The sight of King +standing in the bow beside Hope with his cigarette hanging from +his lips, and peering with half-closed eyes into the fading +light, gave her a sense of restfulness and content. She did not +know what she wished from that other strange young man. He was +so bold, so handsome, and he looked at life and spoke of it in +such a fresh, unhackneyed spirit. He might make himself anything +he pleased. But here was a man who already had everything, or +who could get it as easily as he could increase the speed of the +launch, by pulling some wire with his finger. + +She recalled one day when they were all on board of this same +launch, and the machinery had broken down, and MacWilliams had +gone forward to look at it. He had called Clay to help him, and +she remembered how they had both gone down on their knees and +asked the engineer and fireman to pass them wrenches and oil- +cans, while King protested mildly, and the rest sat +helplessly in the hot glare of the sea, as the boat rose and +fell on the waves. She resented Clay's interest in the accident, +and his pleasure when he had made the machinery right once more, +and his appearance as he came back to them with oily hands and +with his face glowing from the heat of the furnace, wiping his +grimy fingers on a piece of packing. She had resented the +equality with which he treated the engineer in asking his advice, +and it rather surprised her that the crew saluted him when he +stepped into the launch again that night as though he were the +owner. She had expected that they would patronize him, and she +imagined after this incident that she detected a shade of +difference in the manner of the sailors toward Clay, as though he +had cheapened himself to them--as he had to her. + + + +VII +At ten o'clock that same evening Clay began to prepare himself +for the ball at the Government palace, and MacWilliams, who was +not invited, watched him dress with critical approval that showed +no sign of envy. + +The better to do honor to the President, Clay had brought out +several foreign orders, and MacWilliams helped him to tie around +his neck the collar of the Red Eagle which the German Emperor had +given him, and to fasten the ribbon and cross of the Star of +Olancho across his breast, and a Spanish Order and the Legion of +Honor to the lapel of his coat. MacWilliams surveyed the effect +of the tiny enamelled crosses with his head on one side, and with +the same air of affectionate pride and concern that a mother +shows over her daughter's first ball-dress. + +``Got any more?'' he asked, anxiously. + +``I have some war medals,'' Clay answered, smiling doubtfully. +``But I'm not in uniform.'' + +``Oh, that's all right,'' declared MacWilliams. ``Put 'em on, +put 'em all on. Give the girls a treat. Everybody will +think they were given for feats of swimming, anyway; but they +will show up well from the front. Now, then, you look like a +drum-major or a conjuring chap.'' + +``I do not,'' said Clay. ``I look like a French Ambassador, and +I hardly understand how you find courage to speak to me at all.'' + +He went up the hill in high spirits, and found the carriage at +the door and King, Mr. Langham, and Miss Langham sitting waiting +for him. They were ready to depart, and Miss Langham had but +just seated herself in the carriage when they heard hurrying +across the tiled floor a quick, light step and the rustle of +silk, and turning they saw Hope standing in the doorway, radiant +and smiling. She wore a white frock that reached to the ground, +and that left her arms and shoulders bare. Her hair was dressed +high upon her head, and she was pulling vigorously at a pair of +long, tan-colored gloves. The transformation was so complete, +and the girl looked so much older and so stately and beautiful, +that the two young men stared at her in silent admiration and +astonishment. + +``Why, Hope!'' exclaimed her sister. ``What does this mean?'' + +Hope stopped in some alarm, and clasped her hair with both hands. + +``What is it?'' she asked; ``is anything wrong?'' + +``Why, my dear child,'' said her sister, ``you're not thinking of +going with us, are you?'' + +``Not going?'' echoed the younger sister, in dismay. ``Why, +Alice, why not? I was asked.'' + +``But, Hope-- Father,'' said the elder sister, stepping out of +the carriage and turning to Mr. Langham, ``you didn't intend that +Hope should go, did you? She's not out yet.'' + +``Oh, nonsense,'' said Hope, defiantly. But she drew in her +breath quickly and blushed, as she saw the two young men moving +away out of hearing of this family crisis. She felt that she was +being made to look like a spoiled child. ``It doesn't count down +here,'' she said, ``and I want to go. I thought you knew I was +going all the time. Marie made this frock for me on purpose.'' + +``I don't think Hope is old enough,'' the elder sister said, +addressing her father, ``and if she goes to dances here, there's +no reason why she should not go to those at home.'' + +``But I don't want to go to dances at home,'' interrupted Hope. + +Mr. Langham looked exceedingly uncomfortable, and turned +apppealingly to his elder daughter. ``What do you think, +Alice?'' he said, doubtfully. + +``I'm sorry,'' Miss Langham replied, ``but I know it would +not be at all proper. I hate to seem horrid about it, Hope, but +indeed you are too young, and the men here are not the men a +young girl ought to meet.'' + +``You meet them, Alice,'' said Hope, but pulling off her gloves +in token of defeat. + +``But, my dear child, I'm fifty years older than you are.'' + +``Perhaps Alice knows best, Hope,'' Mr. Langham said. ``I'm +sorry if you are disappointed.'' + +Hope held her head a little higher, and turned toward the door. + +``I don't mind if you don't wish it, father,'' she said. ``Good- +night.'' She moved away, but apparently thought better of it, +and came back and stood smiling and nodding to them as they +seated themselves in the carriage. Mr. Langham leaned forward +and said, in a troubled voice, ``We will tell you all about it in +the morning. I'm very sorry. You won't be lonely, will you? +I'll stay with you if you wish.'' + +``Nonsense!'' laughed Hope. ``Why, it's given to you, father; +don't bother about me. I'll read something or other and go to +bed.'' + +``Good-night, Cinderella,'' King called out to her. + +``Good-night, Prince Charming,'' Hope answered. + +Both Clay and King felt that the girl would not mind missing the +ball so much as she would the fact of having been treated like a +child in their presence, so they refrained from any expression of +sympathy or regret, but raised their hats and bowed a little more +impressively than usual as the carriage drove away. + +The picture Hope made, as she stood deserted and forlorn on the +steps of the empty house in her new finery, struck Clay as +unnecessarily pathetic. He felt a strong sense of resentment +against her sister and her father, and thanked heaven devoutly +that he was out of their class, and when Miss Langham continued +to express her sorrow that she had been forced to act as she had +done, he remained silent. It seemed to Clay such a simple thing +to give children pleasure, and to remember that their woes were +always out of all proportion to the cause. Children, dumb +animals, and blind people were always grouped together in his +mind as objects demanding the most tender and constant +consideration. So the pleasure of the evening was spoiled for +him while he remembered the hurt and disappointed look in Hope's +face, and when Miss Langham asked him why he was so preoccupied, +he told her bluntly that he thought she had been very unkind to +Hope, and that her objections were absurd. + +Miss Langham held herself a little more stiffly. ``Perhaps you +do not quite understand, Mr. Clay,'' she said. ``Some of us have +to conform to certain rules that the people with whom we best +like to associate have laid down for themselves. If we choose to +be conventional, it is probably because we find it makes life +easier for the greater number. You cannot think it was a +pleasant task for me. But I have given up things of much more +importance than a dance for the sake of appearances, and Hope +herself will see to-morrow that I acted for the best.'' + +Clay said he trusted so, but doubted it, and by way of re- +establishing himself in Miss Langham's good favor, asked her if +she could give him the next dance. But Miss Langham was not to +be propitiated. + +``I'm sorry,'' she said, ``but I believe I am engaged until +supper-time. Come and ask me then, and I'll have one saved for +you. But there is something you can do,'' she added. ``I left +my fan in the carriage--do you think you could manage to get it +for me without much trouble?'' + +``The carriage did not wait. I believe it was sent back,'' said +Clay, ``but I can borrow a horse from one of Stuart's men, and +ride back and get it for you, if you like.'' + +``How absurd!'' laughed Miss Langham, but she looked pleased, +notwithstanding. + +``Oh, not at all,'' Clay answered. He was smiling down at her in +some amusement, and was apparently much entertained at his idea. +``Will you consider it an act of devotion?'' he asked. + +There was so little of devotion, and so much more of mischief in +his eyes, that Miss Langham guessed he was only laughing at her, +and shook her head. + +``You won't go,'' she said, turning away. She followed him with +her eyes, however, as he crossed the room, his head and shoulders +towering above the native men and women. She had never seen him +so resplendent, and she noted, with an eye that considered +trifles, the orders, and his well-fitting white gloves, and his +manner of bowing in the Continental fashion, holding his opera- +hat on his thigh, as though his hand rested on a sword. She +noticed that the little Olanchoans stopped and looked after him, +as he pushed his way among them, and she could see that the men +were telling the women who he was. Sir Julian Pindar, the old +British Minister, stopped him, and she watched them as they +laughed together over the English war medals on the American's +breast, which Sir Julian touched with his finger. He called the +French Minister and his pretty wife to look, too, and they +all laughed and talked together in great spirits, and Miss +Langham wondered if Clay was speaking in French to them. + +Miss Langham did not enjoy the ball; she felt injured and +aggrieved, and she assured herself that she had been hardly used. + +She had only done her duty, and yet all the sympathy had gone to +her sister, who had placed her in a trying position. She thought +it was most inconsiderate. + +Hope walked slowly across the veranda when the others had gone, +and watched the carriage as long as it remained in sight. Then +she threw herself into a big arm-chair, and looked down upon her +pretty frock and her new dancing-slippers. She, too, felt badly +used. + +The moonlight fell all about her, as it had on the first night of +their arrival, a month before, but now it seemed cold and +cheerless, and gave an added sense of loneliness to the silent +house. She did not go inside to read, as she had promised to do, +but sat for the next hour looking out across the harbor. She +could not blame Alice. She considered that Alice always moved by +rules and precedents, like a queen in a game of chess, and she +wondered why. It made life so tame and uninteresting, and yet +people invariably admired Alice, and some one had spoken of her +as the noblest example of the modern gentlewoman. She was +sure she could not grow up to be any thing like that. She was +quite confident that she was going to disappoint her family. She +wondered if people would like her better if she were discreet +like Alice, and less like her brother Ted. If Mr. Clay, for +instance, would like her better? She wondered if he disapproved +of her riding on the engine with MacWilliams, and of her tearing +through the mines on her pony, and spearing with a lance of +sugar-cane at the mongrel curs that ran to snap at his flanks. +She remembered his look of astonished amusement the day he had +caught her in this impromptu pig-sticking, and she felt herself +growing red at the recollection. She was sure he thought her a +tomboy. Probably he never thought of her at all. + +Hope leaned back in the chair and looked up at the stars above +the mountains and tried to think of any of her heroes and princes +in fiction who had gone through such interesting experiences as +had Mr. Clay. Some of them had done so, but they were creatures +in a book and this hero was alive, and she knew him, and had +probably made him despise her as a silly little girl who was +scolded and sent off to bed like a disobedient child. Hope felt +a choking in her throat and something like a tear creep to her +eyes: but she was surprised to find that the fact did not +make her ashamed of herself. She owned that she was wounded +and disappointed, and to make it harder she could not help +picturing Alice and Clay laughing and talking together in some +corner away from the ball-room, while she, who understood him so +well, and who could not find the words to tell him how much she +valued what he was and what he had done, was forgotten and +sitting here alone, like Cinderella, by the empty fireplace. + +The picture was so pathetic as Hope drew it, that for a moment +she felt almost a touch of self-pity, but the next she laughed +scornfully at her own foolishness, and rising with an impatient +shrug, walked away in the direction of her room. + +But before she had crossed the veranda she was stopped by the +sound of a horse's hoofs galloping over the hard sun-baked road +that led from the city, and before she had stepped forward out of +the shadow in which she stood the horse had reached the steps and +his rider had pulled him back on his haunches and swung himself +off before the forefeet had touched the ground. + +Hope had guessed that it was Clay by his riding, and she feared +from his haste that some one of her people were ill. So she ran +anxiously forward and asked if anything were wrong. + +Clay started at her sudden appearance, and gave a short boyish +laugh of pleasure. + +``I'm so glad you're still up,'' he said. ``No, nothing is +wrong.'' He stopped in some embarrassment. He had been moved to +return by the fact that the little girl he knew was in trouble, +and now that he was suddenly confronted by this older and +statelier young person, his action seemed particularly silly, and +he was at a loss to explain it in any way that would not give +offence. + +``No, nothing is wrong,'' he repeated. ``I came after +something.'' + +Clay had borrowed one of the cloaks the troopers wore at night +from the same man who had lent him the horse, and as he stood +bareheaded before her, with the cloak hanging from his +shoulders to the floor and the star and ribbon across his breast, +Hope felt very grateful to him for being able to look like a +Prince or a hero in a book, and to yet remain her Mr. Clay at the +same time. + +``I came to get your sister's fan,'' Clay explained. ``She +forgot it.'' + +The young girl looked at him for a moment in surprise and then +straightened herself slightly. She did not know whether she was +the more indignant with Alice for sending such a man on so +foolish an errand, or with Clay for submitting to such a service. + +``Oh, is that it?'' she said at last. ``I will go and find +you one.'' She gave him a dignified little bow and moved away +toward the door, with every appearance of disapproval. + +``Oh, I don't know,'' she heard Clay say, doubtfully; ``I don't +have to go just yet, do I? May I not stay here a little while?'' + +Hope stood and looked at him in some perplexity. + +``Why, yes,'' she answered, wonderingly. ``But don't you want to +go back? You came in a great hurry. And won't Alice want her +fan?'' + +``Oh, she has it by this time. I told Stuart to find it. She +left it in the carriage, and the carriage is waiting at the end +of the plaza.'' + +``Then why did you come?'' asked Hope, with rising suspicion. + +``Oh, I don't know,'' said Clay, helplessly. ``I thought I'd +just like a ride in the moonlight. I hate balls and dances +anyway, don't you? I think you were very wise not to go.'' + +Hope placed her hands on the back of the big arm-chair and looked +steadily at him as he stood where she could see his face in the +moonlight. ``You came back,'' she said, ``because they thought I +was crying, and they sent you to see. Is that it? Did Alice +send you?'' she demanded. + +Clay gave a gasp of consternation. + +``You know that no one sent me,'' he said. ``I thought they +treated you abominably, and I wanted to come and say so. That's +all. And I wanted to tell you that I missed you very much, and +that your not coming had spoiled the evening for me, and I came +also because I preferred to talk to you than to stay where I was. +No one knows that I came to see you. I said I was going to get +the fan, and I told Stuart to find it after I'd left. I just +wanted to see you, that's all. But I will go back again at +once.'' + +While he had been speaking Hope had lowered her eyes from his +face and had turned and looked out across the harbor. There was +a strange, happy tumult in her breast, and she was breathing so +rapidly that she was afraid he would notice it. She also felt an +absurd inclination to cry, and that frightened her. So she +laughed and turned and looked up into his face again. Clay saw +the same look in her eyes that he had seen there the day when she +had congratulated him on his work at the mines. He had seen it +before in the eyes of other women and it troubled him. Hope +seated herself in the big chair, and Clay tossed his cloak on the +floor at her feet and sat down with his shoulders against one of +the pillars. He glanced up at her and found that the look that +had troubled him was gone, and that her eyes were now smiling +with excitement and pleasure. + +``And did you bring me something from the ball in your pocket to +comfort me,'' she asked, mockingly. + +``Yes, I did,'' Clay answered, unabashed. ``I brought you some +bonbons.'' + +``You didn't, really!'' Hope cried, with a shriek of delight. +``How absurd of you! The sort you pull?'' + +``The sort you pull,'' Clay repeated, gravely. ``And also a +dance-card, which is a relic of barbarism still existing in this +Southern capital. It has the arms of Olancho on it in gold, and +I thought you might like to keep it as a souvenir.'' He pulled +the card from his coat-pocket and said, ``May I have this +dance?'' + +``You may,'' Hope answered. ``But you wouldn't mind if we sat it +out, would you?'' + +``I should prefer it,'' Clay said, as he scrawled his name across +the card. ``It is so crowded inside, and the company is rather +mixed.'' They both laughed lightly at their own foolishness, and +Hope smiled down upon him affectionately and proudly. ``You may +smoke, if you choose; and would you like something cool to +drink?'' she asked, anxiously. ``After your ride, you know,'' +she suggested, with hospitable intent. Clay said that he was +very comfortable without a drink, but lighted a cigar and watched +her covertly through the smoke, as she sat smiling happily +and quite unconsciously upon the moonlit world around them. She +caught Clay's eye fixed on her, and laughed lightly. + +``What is it?'' he said. + +``Oh, I was just thinking,'' Hope replied, ``that it was much +better to have a dance come to you, than to go to the dance.'' + +``Does one man and a dance-card and three bonbons constitute your +idea of a ball?'' + +``Doesn't it? You see, I am not out yet, I don't know.'' + +``I should think it might depend a good deal upon the man,'' Clay +suggested. + +``That sounds as though you were hinting,'' said Hope, +doubtfully. ``Now what would I say to that if I were out?'' + +``I don't know, but don't say it,'' Clay answered. ``It would +probably be something very unflattering or very forward, and in +either case I should take you back to your chaperon and leave you +there.'' + +Hope had not been listening. Her eyes were fixed on a level with +his tie, and Clay raised his hand to it in some trepidation. +``Mr. Clay,'' she began abruptly and leaning eagerly forward, +``would you think me very rude if I asked you what you did to get +all those crosses? I know they mean something, and I do so +want to know what. Please tell me.'' + +``Oh, those!'' said Clay. ``The reason I put them on to-night is +because wearing them is supposed to be a sort of compliment to +your host. I got in the habit abroad--'' + +``I didn't ask you that,'' said Hope, severely. ``I asked you +what you did to get them. Now begin with the Legion of Honor on +the left, and go right on until you come to the end, and please +don't skip anything. Leave in all the bloodthirsty parts, and +please don't be modest.'' + +``Like Othello,'' suggested Clay. + +``Yes,'' said Hope; ``I will be Desdemona.'' + +``Well, Desdemona, it was like this,'' said Clay, laughing. ``I +got that medal and that star for serving in the Nile campaign, +under Wolseley. After I left Egypt, I went up the coast to +Algiers, where I took service under the French in a most +disreputable organization known as the Foreign Legion--'' + +``Don't tell me,'' exclaimed Hope, in delight, ``that you have +been a Chasseur d'Afrique! Not like the man in `Under Two +Flags'?'' + +``No, not at all like that man,'' said Clay, emphatically. ``I +was just a plain, common, or garden, sappeur, and I showed the +other good-for-nothings how to dig trenches. Well, I +contaminated the Foreign Legion for eight months, and then I +went to Peru, where I--'' + +``You're skipping,'' said Hope. ``How did you get the Legion of +Honor?'' + +``Oh, that?'' said Clay. ``That was a gallery play I made once +when we were chasing some Arabs. They took the French flag away +from our color-bearer, and I got it back again and waved it +frantically around my head until I was quite certain the Colonel +had seen me doing it, and then I stopped as soon as I knew that I +was sure of promotion.'' + +``Oh, how can you?'' cried Hope. ``You didn't do anything of the +sort. You probably saved the entire regiment.'' + +``Well, perhaps I did,'' Clay returned. ``Though I don't +remember it, and nobody mentioned it at the time.'' + +``Go on about the others,'' said Hope. ``And do try to be +truthful.'' + +``Well, I got this one from Spain, because I was President of an +International Congress of Engineers at Madrid. That was the +ostensible reason, but the real reason was because I taught the +Spanish Commissioners to play poker instead of baccarat. The +German Emperor gave me this for designing a fort, and the Sultan +of Zanzibar gave me this, and no one but the Sultan knows +why, and he won't tell. I suppose he's ashamed. He gives them +away instead of cigars. He was out of cigars the day I called.'' + +``What a lot of places you have seen,'' sighed Hope. ``I have +been in Cairo and Algiers, too, but I always had to walk about +with a governess, and she wouldn't go to the mosques because she +said they were full of fleas. We always go to Homburg and Paris +in the summer, and to big hotels in London. I love to travel, +but I don't love to travel that way, would you?'' + +``I travel because I have no home,'' said Clay. ``I'm different +from the chap that came home because all the other places were +shut. I go to other places because there is no home open.'' + +``What do you mean?'' said Hope, shaking her head. ``Why have +you no home?'' + +``There was a ranch in Colorado that I used to call home,'' said +Clay, ``but they've cut it up into town lots. I own a plot in +the cemetery outside of the town, where my mother is buried, and +I visit that whenever I am in the States, and that is the only +piece of earth anywhere in the world that I have to go back to.'' + +Hope leaned forward with her hands clasped in front of her and +her eyes wide open. + +``And your father?'' she said, softly; ``is he--is he there, +too--'' + +Clay looked at the lighted end of his cigar as he turned it +between his fingers. + +``My father, Miss Hope,'' he said, ``was a filibuster, and went +out on the `Virginius' to help free Cuba, and was shot, against a +stone wall. We never knew where he was buried.'' + +``Oh, forgive me; I beg your pardon,'' said Hope. There was such +distress in her voice that Clay looked at her quickly and saw the +tears in her eyes. She reached out her hand timidly, and touched +for an instant his own rough, sunburned fist, as it lay clenched +on his knee. ``I am so sorry,'' she said, ``so sorry.'' For the +first time in many years the tears came to Clay's eyes and +blurred the moonlight and the scene before him, and he sat +unmanned and silent before the simple touch of a young girl's +sympathy. + +An hour later, when his pony struck the gravel from beneath his +hoofs on the race back to the city, and Clay turned to wave his +hand to Hope in the doorway, she seemed, as she stood with the +moonlight falling about her white figure, like a spirit beckoning +the way to a new paradise. + + + +VIII + +Clay reached the President's Palace during the supper-hour, and +found Mr. Langham and his daughter at the President's table. +Madame Alvarez pointed to a place for him beside Alice Langham, +who held up her hand in welcome. ``You were very foolish to rush +off like that,'' she said. + +``It wasn't there,'' said Clay, crowding into the place beside +her. + +``No, it was here in the carriage all the time. Captain Stuart +found it for me.'' + +``Oh, he did, did he?'' said Clay; ``that's why I couldn't find +it. I am hungry,'' he laughed, ``my ride gave me an appetite.'' +He looked over and grinned at Stuart, but that gentleman was +staring fixedly at the candles on the table before him, his eyes +filled with concern. Clay observed that Madame Alvarez was +covertly watching the young officer, and frowning her disapproval +at his preoccupation. So he stretched his leg under the table +and kicked viciously at Stuart's boots. Old General Rojas, the +Vice-President, who sat next to Stuart, moved suddenly and then +blinked violently at the ceiling with an expression of +patient suffering, but the exclamation which had escaped him +brought Stuart back to the present, and he talked with the woman +next him in a perfunctory manner. + +Miss Langham and her father were waiting for their carriage in +the great hall of the Palace as Stuart came up to Clay, and +putting his hand affectionately on his shoulder, began pointing +to something farther back in the hall. To the night-birds of the +streets and the noisy fiacre drivers outside, and to the crowd of +guests who stood on the high marble steps waiting for their turn +to depart, he might have been relating an amusing anecdote of the +ball just over. + +``I'm in great trouble, old man,'' was what he said. ``I must +see you alone to-night. I'd ask you to my rooms, but they watch +me all the time, and I don't want them to suspect you are in this +until they must. Go on in the carriage, but get out as you pass +the Plaza Bolivar and wait for me by the statue there.'' + +Clay smiled, apparently in great amusement. ``That's very +good,'' he said. + +He crossed over to where King stood surveying the powdered +beauties of Olancho and their gowns of a past fashion, with an +intensity of admiration which would have been suspicious to those +who knew his tastes. ``When we get into the carriage,'' +said Clay, in a low voice, ``we will both call to Stuart that we +will see him to-morrow morning at breakfast.'' + +``All right,'' assented King. ``What's up?'' + +Stuart helped Miss Langham into her carriage, and as it moved +away King shouted to him in English to remember that he was +breakfasting with him on the morrow, and Clay called out in +Spanish, ``Until to-morrow at breakfast, don't forget.'' And +Stuart answered, steadily, ``Good night until to-morrow at one.'' + +As their carriage jolted through the dark and narrow street, +empty now of all noise or movement, one of Stuart's troopers +dashed by it at a gallop, with a lighted lantern swinging at his +side. He raised it as he passed each street crossing, and held +it high above his head so that its light fell upon the walls of +the houses at the four corners. The clatter of his horse's hoofs +had not ceased before another trooper galloped toward them riding +more slowly, and throwing the light of his lantern over the +trunks of the trees that lined the pavements. As the carriage +passed him, he brought his horse to its side with a jerk of the +bridle, and swung his lantern in the faces of its occupants. + +``Who lives?'' he challenged. + +``Olancho,'' Clay replied. + +``Who answers?'' + +``Free men,'' Clay answered again, and pointed at the star on his +coat. + +The soldier muttered an apology, and striking his heels into his +horse's side, dashed noisily away, his lantern tossing from side +to side, high in the air, as he drew rein to scan each tree and +passed from one lamp-post to the next. + +``What does that mean?'' said Mr. Langham; ``did he take us for +highwaymen?'' + +``It is the custom,'' said Clay. ``We are out rather late, you +see.'' + +``If I remember rightly, Clay,'' said King, ``they gave a ball at +Brussels on the eve of Waterloo.'' + +``I believe they did,'' said Clay, smiling. He spoke to the +driver to stop the carriage, and stepped down into the street. + +``I have to leave you here,'' he said; ``drive on quickly, +please; I can explain better in the morning.'' + +The Plaza Bolivar stood in what had once been the centre of the +fashionable life of Olancho, but the town had moved farther up +the hill, and it was now far in the suburbs, its walks neglected +and its turf overrun with weeds. The houses about it had fallen +into disuse, and the few that were still occupied at the time +Clay entered it showed no sign of life. Clay picked his way +over the grass-grown paths to the statue of Bolivar, the +hero of the sister republic of Venezuela, which still stood on +its pedestal in a tangle of underbrush and hanging vines. The +iron railing that had once surrounded it was broken down, and the +branches of the trees near were black with sleeping buzzards. +Two great palms reared themselves in the moonlight at either +side, and beat their leaves together in the night wind, +whispering and murmuring together like two living conspirators. + +``This ought to be safe enough,'' Clay murmured to himself. +``It's just the place for plotting. I hope there are no +snakes.'' He seated himself on the steps of the pedestal, and +lighting a cigar, remained smoking and peering into the shadows +about him, until a shadow blacker than the darkness rose at his +feet, and a voice said, sternly, ``Put out that light. I saw it +half a mile away.'' + +Clay rose and crushed his cigar under his foot. ``Now then, old +man,'' he demanded briskly, ``what's up? It's nearly daylight +and we must hurry.'' + +Stuart seated himself heavily on the stone steps, like a man +tired in mind and body, and unfolded a printed piece of paper. +Its blank side was damp and sticky with paste. + +``It is too dark for you to see this,'' he began, in a +strained voice, ``so I will translate it to you. It is an attack +on Madame Alvarez and myself. They put them up during the ball, +when they knew my men would be at the Palace. I have had them +scouring the streets for the last two hours tearing them down, +but they are all over the place, in the cafe's and clubs. They +have done what they were meant to do.'' + +Clay took another cigar from his pocket and rolled it between his +lips. ``What does it say?'' he asked. + +``It goes over the old ground first. It says Alvarez has given +the richest birthright of his country to aliens--that means the +mines and Langham--and has put an alien in command of the army-- +that is meant for me. I've no more to do with the army than you +have--I only wish I had! And then it says that the boundary +aggressions of Ecuador and Venezuela have not been resented in +consequence. It asks what can be expected of a President who is +as blind to the dishonor of his country as he is to the dishonor +of his own home?'' + +Clay muttered under his breath, ``Well, go on. Is it explicit? +More explicit than that?'' + +``Yes,'' said Stuart, grimly. ``I can't repeat it. It is quite +clear what they mean.'' + +``Have you got any of them?'' Clay asked. Can you fix it on +some one that you can fight?'' + +``Mendoza did it, of course,'' Stuart answered, ``but we cannot +prove it. And if we could, we are not strong enough to take him. + +He has the city full of his men now, and the troops are pouring +in every hour.'' + +``Well, Alvarez can stop that, can't he?'' + +``They are coming in for the annual review. He can't show the +people that he is afraid of his own army.'' + +``What are you going to do?'' + +``What am I going to do?'' Stuart repeated, dully. ``That is +what I want you to tell me. There is nothing I can do now. I've +brought trouble and insult on people who have been kinder to me +than my own blood have been. Who took me in when I was naked and +clothed me, when I hadn't a friend or a sixpence to my name. You +remember--I came here from that row in Colombia with my wound, +and I was down with the fever when they found me, and Alvarez +gave me the appointment. And this is how I reward them. If I +stay I do more harm. If I go away I leave them surrounded by +enemies, and not enemies who fight fair, but damned thieves and +scoundrels, who stab at women and who fight in the dark. I +wouldn't have had it happen, old man, for my right arm! +They--they have been so kind to me, and I have been so happy +here--and now!'' The boy bowed his face in his hands and sat +breathing brokenly while Clay turned his unlit cigar between his +teeth and peered at him curiously through the darkness. ``Now I +have made them both unhappy, and they hate me, and I hate myself, +and I have brought nothing but trouble to every one. First I +made my own people miserable, and now I make my best friends +miserable, and I had better be dead. I wish I were dead. I wish +I had never been born.'' + +Clay laid his hand on the other's bowed shoulder and shook him +gently. ``Don't talk like that,'' he said; ``it does no good. +Why do you hate yourself?'' + +``What?'' asked Stuart, wearily, without looking up. ``What did +you say?'' + +``You said you had made them hate you, and you added that you +hated yourself. Well, I can see why they naturally would be +angry for the time, at least. But why do you hate yourself? +Have you reason to?'' + +``I don't understand,'' said Stuart. + +``Well, I can't make it any plainer,'' Clay replied. ``It isn't +a question I will ask. But you say you want my advice. Well, my +advice to my friend and to a man who is not my friend, differ. +And in this case it depends on whether what that thing--'' +Clay kicked the paper which had fallen on the ground--``what that +thing says is true.'' + +The younger man looked at the paper below him and then back at +Clay, and sprang to his feet. + +``Why, damn you,'' he cried, ``what do you mean?'' + +He stood above Clay with both arms rigid at his side and his head +bent forward. The dawn had just broken, and the two men saw each +other in the ghastly gray light of the morning. ``If any man,'' +cried Stuart thickly, ``dares to say that that blackguardly lie +is true I'll kill him. You or any one else. Is that what you +mean, damn you? If it is, say so, and I'll break every bone of +your body.'' + +``Well, that's much better,'' growled Clay, sullenly. ``The way +you went on wishing you were dead and hating yourself made me +almost lose faith in mankind. Now you go make that speech to the +President, and then find the man who put up those placards, and +if you can't find the right man, take any man you meet and make +him eat it, paste and all, and beat him to death if he doesn't. +Why, this is no time to whimper--because the world is full of +liars. Go out and fight them and show them you are not afraid. +Confound you, you had me so scared there that I almost thrashed +you myself. Forgive me, won't you?'' he begged earnestly. +He rose and held out his hand and the other took it, doubtfully. +``It was your own fault, you young idiot,'' protested Clay. +``You told your story the wrong way. Now go home and get some +sleep and I'll be back in a few hours to help you. Look!'' he +said. He pointed through the trees to the sun that shot up like +a red hot disk of heat above the cool green of the mountains. +``See,'' said Clay, ``God has given us another day. Seven +battles were fought in seven days once in my country. Let's be +thankful, old man, that we're NOT dead, but alive to fight our +own and other people's battles.'' + +The younger man sighed and pressed Clay's hand again before he +dropped it. + +``You are very good to me,'' he said. ``I'm not just quite +myself this morning. I'm a bit nervous, I think. You'll surely +come, won't you?'' + +``By noon,'' Clay promised. ``And if it does come,'' he added, +``don't forget my fifteen hundred men at the mines.'' + +``Good! I won't,'' Stuart replied. ``I'll call on you if I need +them.'' He raised his fingers mechanically to his helmet in +salute, and catching up his sword turned and strode away erect +and soldierly through the debris and weeds of the deserted plaza. + +Clay remained motionless on the steps of the pedestal and +followed the younger man with his eyes. He drew a long breath +and began a leisurely search through his pockets for his match- +box, gazing about him as he did so, as though looking for some +one to whom he could speak his feelings. He lifted his eyes to +the stern, smooth-shaven face of the bronze statue above him that +seemed to be watching Stuart's departing figure. + +``General Bolivar,'' Clay said, as he lit his cigar, ``observe +that young man. He is a soldier and a gallant gentleman. You, +sir, were a great soldier--the greatest this God-forsaken country +will ever know--and you were, sir, an ardent lover. I ask you to +salute that young man as I do, and to wish him well.'' Clay +lifted his high hat to the back of the young officer as it was +hidden in the hanging vines, and once again, with grave respect +to the grim features of the great general above him, and then +smiling at his own conceit, he ran lightly down the steps and +disappeared among the trees of the plaza. + + + +IX + +Clay slept for three hours. He had left a note on the floor +instructing MacWilliams and young Langham not to go to the mines, +but to waken him at ten o'clock, and by eleven the three men were +galloping off to the city. As they left the Palms they met Hope +returning from a morning ride on the Alameda, and Clay begged +her, with much concern, not to ride abroad again. There was a +difference in his tone toward her. There was more anxiety in it +than the occasion seemed to justify, and he put his request in +the form of a favor to himself, while the day previous he would +simply have told her that she must not go riding alone. + +``Why?'' asked Hope, eagerly. ``Is there going to be trouble?'' + +``I hope not,'' Clay said, ``but the soldiers are coming in from +the provinces for the review, and the roads are not safe.'' + +``I'd be safe with you, though,'' said Hope, smiling persuasively +upon the three men. ``Won't you take me with you, please?'' + +``Hope,'' said young Langham in the tone of the elder +brother's brief authority, ``you must go home at once.'' + +Hope smiled wickedly. ``I don't want to,'' she said. + +``I'll bet you a box of cigars I can beat you to the veranda by +fifty yards,'' said MacWilliams, turning his horse's head. + +Hope clasped her sailor hat in one hand and swung her whip with +the other. ``I think not,'' she cried, and disappeared with a +flutter of skirts and a scurry of flying pebbles. + +``At times,'' said Clay, ``MacWilliams shows an unexpected +knowledge of human nature.'' + +``Yes, he did quite right,'' assented Langham, nodding his head +mysteriously. ``We've no time for girls at present, have we?'' + +``No, indeed,'' said Clay, hiding any sign of a smile. + +Langham breathed deeply at the thought of the part he was to play +in this coming struggle, and remained respectfully silent as they +trotted toward the city. He did not wish to disturb the plots +and counterplots that he was confident were forming in Clay's +brain, and his devotion would have been severely tried had he +known that his hero's mind was filled with a picture of a young +girl in a blue shirt-waist and a whipcord riding-skirt. + +Clay sent for Stuart to join them at the restaurant, and +MacWilliams arriving at the same time, the four men seated +themselves conspicuously in the centre of the cafe' and sipped +their chocolate as though unconscious of any imminent danger, and +in apparent freedom from all responsibilities and care. While +MacWilliams and Langham laughed and disputed over a game of +dominoes, the older men exchanged, under cover of their chatter, +the few words which they had met to speak. + +The manifestoes, Stuart said, had failed of their purpose. He +had already called upon the President, and had offered to resign +his position and leave the country, or to stay and fight his +maligners, and take up arms at once against Mendoza's party. +Alvarez had treated him like a son, and bade him be patient. He +held that Caesar's wife was above suspicion because she was +Caesar's wife, and that no canards posted at midnight could +affect his faith in his wife or in his friend. He refused to +believe that any coup d'etat was imminent, save the one +which he himself meditated when he was ready to proclaim the +country in a state of revolution, and to assume a military +dictatorship. + +``What nonsense!'' exclaimed Clay. ``What is a military +dictatorship without soldiers? Can't he see that the army is +with Mendoza?'' + +``No,'' Stuart replied. ``Rojas and I were with him all the +morning. Rojas is an old trump, Clay. He's not bright and he's +old-fashioned; but he is honest. And the people know it. If I +had Rojas for a chief instead of Alvarez, I'd arrest Mendoza with +my own hand, and I wouldn't be afraid to take him to the carcel +through the streets. The people wouldn't help him. But the +President doesn't dare. Not that he hasn't pluck,'' added the +young lieutenant, loyally, ``for he takes his life in his hands +when he goes to the review tomorrow, and he knows it. Think of +it, will you, out there alone with a field of five thousand men +around him! Rojas thinks he can hold half of them, as many as +Mendoza can, and I have my fifty. But you can't tell what any +one of them will do for a drink or a dollar. They're no more +soldiers than these waiters. They're bandits in uniform, and +they'll kill for the man that pays best.'' + +``Then why doesn't Alvarez pay them?'' Clay growled. + +Stuart looked away and lowered his eyes to the table. ``He +hasn't the money, I suppose,'' he said, evasively. ``He--he has +transferred every cent of it into drafts on Rothschild. They are +at the house now, representing five millions of dollars in gold-- +and her jewels, too--packed ready for flight.'' + +``Then he does expect trouble?'' said Clay. ``You told me--'' + +``They're all alike; you know them,'' said Stuart. ``They won't +believe they're in danger until the explosion comes, but they +always have a special train ready, and they keep the funds of the +government under their pillows. He engaged apartments on the +Avenue Kleber six months ago.'' + +``Bah!'' said Clay. ``It's the old story. Why don't you quit +him?'' + +Stuart raised his eyes and dropped them again, and Clay sighed. +``I'm sorry,'' he said. + +MacWilliams interrupted them in an indignant stage-whisper. +``Say, how long have we got to keep up this fake game?'' he +asked. ``I don't know anything about dominoes, and neither does +Ted. Tell us what you've been saying. Is there going to be +trouble? If there is, Ted and I want to be in it. We are +looking for trouble.'' + +Clay had tipped back his chair, and was surveying the restaurant +and the blazing plaza beyond its open front with an expression of +cheerful unconcern. Two men were reading the morning papers near +the door, and two others were dragging through a game of dominoes +in a far corner. The heat of midday had settled on the place, +and the waiters dozed, with their chairs tipped back against the +walls. Outside, the awning of the restaurant threw a broad +shadow across the marble-topped tables on the sidewalk, and half +a dozen fiacre drivers slept peacefully in their carriages before +the door. + +The town was taking its siesta, and the brisk step of a stranger +who crossed the tessellated floor and rapped with his knuckles on +the top of the cigar-case was the only sign of life. The +newcomer turned with one hand on the glass case and swept the +room carelessly with his eyes. They were hard blue eyes under +straight eyebrows. Their owner was dressed unobtrusively in a +suit of rough tweed, and this and his black hat, and the fact +that he was smooth-shaven, distinguished him as a foreigner. + +As he faced them the forelegs of Clay's chair descended slowly to +the floor, and he began to smile comprehendingly and to nod his +head as though the coming of the stranger had explained something +of which he had been in doubt. His companions turned and +followed the direction of his eyes, but saw nothing of interest +in the newcomer. He looked as though he might be a concession +hunter from the States, or a Manchester drummer, prepared to +offer six months' credit on blankets and hardware. + +Clay rose and strode across the room, circling the tables in such +a way that he could keep himself between the stranger and +the door. At his approach the new-comer turned his back and +fumbled with his change on the counter. + +``Captain Burke, I believe?'' said Clay. The stranger bit the +cigar he had just purchased, and shook his head. ``I am very +glad to see you,'' Clay continued. ``Sit down, won't you? I +want to talk with you.'' + +``I think you've made a mistake,'' the stranger answered, +quietly. ``My name is--'' + +``Colonel, perhaps, then,'' said Clay. ``I might have known it. +I congratulate you, Colonel.'' + +The man looked at Clay for an instant, with the cigar clenched +between his teeth and his blue eyes fixed steadily on the other's +face. Clay waved his hand again invitingly toward a table, and +the man shrugged his shoulders and laughed, and, pulling a chair +toward him, sat down. + +``Come over here, boys,'' Clay called. ``I want you to meet an +old friend of mine, Captain Burke.'' + +The man called Burke stared at the three men as they crossed the +room and seated themselves at the table, and nodded to them in +silence. + +``We have here,'' said Clay, gayly, but in a low voice, ``the key +to the situation. This is the gentleman who supplies Mendoza +with the sinews of war. Captain Burke is a brave soldier and a +citizen of my own or of any country, indeed, which happens +to have the most sympathetic Consul-General.'' + +Burke smiled grimly, with a condescending nod, and putting away +the cigar, took out a brier pipe and began to fill it from his +tobacco-pouch. ``The Captain is a man of few words and extremely +modest about himself,'' Clay continued, lightly; ``so I must tell +you who he is myself. He is a promoter of revolutions. That is +his business,--a professional promoter of revolutions, and that +is what makes me so glad to see him again. He knows all about +the present crisis here, and he is going to tell us all he knows +as soon as he fills his pipe. I ought to warn you, Burke,'' he +added, ``that this is Captain Stuart, in charge of the police and +the President's cavalry troop. So, you see, whatever you say, +you will have one man who will listen to you.'' + +Burke crossed one short fat leg over the other, and crowded the +tobacco in the bowl of his pipe with his thumb. + +``I thought you were in Chili, Clay,'' he said. + +``No, you didn't think I was in Chili,'' Clay replied, kindly. +``I left Chili two years ago. The Captain and I met there,'' he +explained to the others, ``when Balmaceda was trying to make +himself dictator. The Captain was on the side of the +Congressionalists, and was furnishing arms and dynamite. +The Captain is always on the winning side, at least he always has +been--up to the present. He is not a creature of sentiment; are +you, Burke? The Captain believes with Napoleon that God is on +the side that has the heaviest artillery.'' + +Burke lighted his pipe and drummed absentmindedly on the table +with his match-box. + +``I can't afford to be sentimental,'' he said. ``Not in my +business.'' + +``Of course not,'' Clay assented, cheerfully. He looked at Burke +and laughed, as though the sight of him recalled pleasant +memories. ``I wish I could give these boys an idea of how clever +you are, Captain,'' he said. ``The Captain was the first man, +for instance, to think of packing cartridges in tubs of lard, and +of sending rifles in piano-cases. He represents the Welby +revolver people in England, and half a dozen firms in the States, +and he has his little stores in Tampa and Mobile and Jamaica, +ready to ship off at a moment's notice to any revolution in +Central America. When I first met the Captain,'' Clay continued, +gleefully, and quite unmindful of the other's continued silence, +``he was starting off to rescue Arabi Pasha from the island of +Ceylon. You may remember, boys, that when Dufferin saved Arabi +from hanging, the British shipped him to Ceylon as a +political prisoner. Well, the Captain was sent by Arabi's +followers in Egypt to bring him back to lead a second rebellion. +Burke had everybody bribed at Ceylon, and a fine schooner fitted +out and a lot of ruffians to do the fighting, and then the good, +kind British Government pardoned Arabi the day before Burke +arrived in port. And you never got a cent for it; did you, +Burke?'' + +Burke shook his head and frowned. + +``Six thousand pounds sterling I was to have got for that,'' he +said, with a touch of pardonable pride in his voice, ``and they +set him free the day before I got there, just as Mr. Clay tells +you.'' + +``And then you headed Granville Prior's expedition for buried +treasure off the island of Cocos, didn't you?'' said Clay. ``Go +on, tell them about it. Be sociable. You ought to write a book +about your different business ventures, Burke, indeed you ought; +but then,'' Clay added, smiling, ``nobody would believe you.'' +Burke rubbed his chin, thoughtfully, with his fingers, and looked +modestly at the ceiling, and the two younger boys gazed at him +with open-mouthed interest. + +``There ain't anything in buried treasure,'' he said, after a +pause, ``except the money that's sunk in the fitting out. It +sounds good, but it's all foolishness.'' + +``All foolishness, eh?'' said Clay, encouragingly. ``And +what did you do after Balmaceda was beaten?--after I last saw +you?'' + +``Crespo,'' Burke replied, after a pause, during which he pulled +gently on his pipe. `` `Caroline Brewer'--cleared from Key West +for Curacao, with cargo of sewing-machines and ploughs-- +beached below Maracaibo--thirty-five thousand rounds and two +thousand rifles--at twenty bolivars apiece.'' + +``Of course,'' said Clay, in a tone of genuine appreciation. ``I +might have known you'd be in that. He says,'' he explained, +``that he assisted General Crespo in Venezuela during his +revolution against Guzman Blanco's party, and loaded a tramp +steamer called the `Caroline Brewer' at Key West with arms, which +he landed safely at a place for which he had no clearance papers, +and he received forty thousand dollars in our money for the job-- +and very good pay, too, I should think,'' commented Clay. + +``Well, I don't know,'' Burke demurred. ``You take in the cost +of leasing the boat and provisioning her, and the crew's wages, +and the cost of the cargo; that cuts into profits. Then I had to +stand off shore between Trinidad and Curacao for over three +weeks before I got the signal to run in, and after that I was +chased by a gun-boat for three days, and the crazy fool put a +shot clean through my engine-room. Cost me about twelve +hundred dollars in repairs.'' + +There was a pause, and Clay turned his eyes to the street, and +then asked, abruptly, ``What are you doing now?'' + +``Trying to get orders for smokeless powder,'' Burke answered, +promptly. He met Clay's look with eyes as undisturbed as his +own. ``But they won't touch it down here,'' he went on. ``It +doesn't appeal to 'em. It's too expensive, and they'd rather see +the smoke. It makes them think--'' + +``How long did you expect to stay here?'' Clay interrupted. + +``How long?'' repeated Burke, like a man in a witness-box who is +trying to gain time. ``Well, I was thinking of leaving by +Friday, and taking a mule-train over to Bogota instead of waiting +for the steamer to Colon.'' He blew a mouthful of smoke into the +air and watched it drifting toward the door with apparent +interest. + +``The `Santiago' leaves here Saturday for New York. I guess you +had better wait over for her,'' Clay said. ``I'll engage your +passage, and, in the meantime, Captain Stuart here will see that +they treat you well in the cuartel.'' + +The men around the table started, and sat motionless looking at +Clay, but Burke only took his pipe from his mouth and +knocked the ashes out on the heel of his boot. ``What am I going +to the cuartel for?'' he asked. + +``Well, the public good, I suppose,'' laughed Clay. ``I'm sorry, +but it's your own fault. You shouldn't have shown yourself here +at all.'' + +``What have you got to do with it?'' asked Burke, calmly, as he +began to refill his pipe. He had the air of a man who saw +nothing before him but an afternoon of pleasant discourse and +leisurely inactivity. + +``You know what I've got to do with it,'' Clay replied. ``I've +got our concession to look after.'' + +``Well, you're not running the town, too, are you?'' asked Burke. + +``No, but I'm going to run you out of it,'' Clay answered. +``Now, what are you going to do,--make it unpleasant for us and +force our hand, or drive down quietly with our friend MacWilliams +here? He is the best one to take you, because he's not so well +known.'' + +Burke turned his head and looked over his shoulder at Stuart. + +``You taking orders from Mr. Clay, to-day, Captain Stuart?'' he +asked. + +``Yes,'' Stuart answered, smiling. ``I agree with Mr. Clay in +whatever he thinks right.'' + +``Oh, well, in that case,'' said Burke, rising reluctantly, +with a protesting sigh, ``I guess I'd better call on the American +minister.'' + +``You can't. He's in Ecuador on his annual visit,'' said Clay. + +``Indeed! That's bad for me,'' muttered Burke, as though in much +concern. ``Well, then, I'll ask you to let me see our consul +here.'' + +``Certainly,'' Clay assented, with alacrity. ``Mr. Langham, this +young gentleman's father, got him his appointment, so I've no +doubt he'll be only too glad to do anything for a friend of +ours.'' + +Burke raised his eyes and looked inquiringly at Clay, as though +to assure himself that this was true, and Clay smiled back at +him. + +``Oh, very well,'' Burke said. ``Then, as I happen to be an +Irishman by the name of Burke, and a British subject, I'll try +Her Majesty's representative, and we'll see if he will allow me +to be locked up without a reason or a warrant.'' + +``That's no good, either,'' said Clay, shaking his head. ``You +fixed your nationality, as far as this continent is concerned, in +Rio harbor, when Peixoto handed you over to the British admiral, +and you claimed to be an American citizen, and were sent on board +the `Detroit.' If there's any doubt about that we've only got to +cable to Rio Janeiro--to either legation. But what's the use? +They know me here, and they don't know you, and I do. +You'll have to go to jail and stay there.'' + +``Oh, well, if you put it that way, I'll go,'' said Burke. +``But,'' he added, in a lower voice, ``it's too late, Clay.'' + +The expression of amusement on Clay's face, and his ease of +manner, fell from him at the words, and he pulled Burke back into +the chair again. ``What do you mean?'' he asked, anxiously. + +``I mean just that, it's too late,'' Burke answered. ``I don't +mind going to jail. I won't be there long. My work's all done +and paid for. I was only staying on to see the fun at the +finish, to see you fellows made fools of.'' + +``Oh, you're sure of that, are you?'' asked Clay. + +``My dear boy!'' exclaimed the American, with a suggestion in his +speech of his Irish origin, as his interest rose. ``Did you ever +know me to go into anything of this sort for the sentiment of it? +Did you ever know me to back the losing side? No. Well, I tell +you that you fellows have no more show in this than a parcel of +Sunday-school children. Of course I can't say when they mean to +strike. I don't know, and I wouldn't tell you if I did. But +when they do strike there'll be no striking back. It'll be all +over but the cheering.'' + +Burke's tone was calm and positive. He held the centre of the +stage now, and he looked from one to the other of the +serious faces around him with an expression of pitying amusement. + +``Alvarez may get off, and so may Madame Alvarez,'' he added, +lowering his voice and turning his face away from Stuart. ``But +not if she shows herself in the streets, and not if she tries to +take those drafts and jewels with her.'' + +``Oh, you know that, do you?'' interrupted Clay. + +``I know nothing,'' Burke replied. ``At least, nothing to what +the rest of them know. That's only the gossip I pick up at +headquarters. It doesn't concern me. I've delivered my goods +and given my receipt for the money, and that's all I care about. +But if it will make an old friend feel any more comfortable to +have me in jail, why, I'll go, that's all.'' + +Clay sat with pursed lips looking at Stuart. The two boys leaned +with their elbows on the tables and stared at Burke, who was +searching leisurely through his pockets for his match-box. From +outside came the lazy cry of a vendor of lottery tickets, and the +swift, uneven patter of bare feet, as company after company of +dust-covered soldiers passed on their way from the provinces, +with their shoes swinging from their bayonets. + +Clay slapped the table with an exclamation of impatience. + +``After all, this is only a matter of business,'' he said, +``with all of us. What do you say, Burke, to taking a ride with +me to Stuart's rooms, and having a talk there with the President +and Mr. Langham? Langham has three millions sunk in these mines, +and Alvarez has even better reasons than that for wanting to hold +his job. What do you say? That's better than going to jail. +Tell us what they mean to do, and who is to do it, and I'll let +you name your own figure, and I'll guarantee you that they'll +meet it. As long as you've no sentiment, you might as well fight +on the side that will pay best.'' + +Burke opened his lips as though to speak, and then shut them +again, closely. If the others thought that he was giving Clay's +proposition a second and more serious thought, he was quick to +undeceive them. + +``There ARE men in the business who do that sort of thing,'' +he said. ``They sell arms to one man, and sell the fact that +he's got them to the deputy-marshals, and sell the story of how +smart they've been to the newspapers. And they never make any +more sales after that. I'd look pretty, wouldn't I, bringing +stuff into this country, and getting paid for it, and then +telling you where it was hid, and everything else I knew? I've +no sentiment, as you say, but I've got business instinct, and +that's not business. No, I've told you enough, and if you +think I'm not safe at large, why I'm quite ready to take a ride +with your young friend here.'' + +MacWilliams rose with alacrity, and beaming with pleasure at the +importance of the duty thrust upon him. + +Burke smiled. ``The young 'un seems to like the job,'' he said. + +``It's an honor to be associated with Captain Burke in any way,'' +said MacWilliams, as he followed him into a cab, while Stuart +galloped off before them in the direction of the cuartel. + +``You wouldn't think so if you knew better,'' said Burke. ``My +friends have been watching us while we have been talking in there +for the last hour. They're watching us now, and if I were to nod +my head during this ride, they'd throw you out into the street +and set me free, if they had to break the cab into kindling-wood +while they were doing it.'' + +MacWilliams changed his seat to the one opposite his prisoner, +and peered up and down the street in some anxiety. + +``I suppose you know there's an answer to that, don't you?'' he +asked. ``Well, the answer is, that if you nod your head once, +you lose the top of it.'' + +Burke gave an exclamation of disgust, and gazed at his zealous +guardian with an expression of trepidation and unconcealed +disapproval. ``You're not armed, are you?'' he asked. + +MacWilliams nodded. ``Why not?'' he said; ``these are rather +heavy weather times, just at present, thanks to you and your +friends. Why, you seem rather afraid of fire-arms,'' he added, +with the intolerance of youth. + +The Irish-American touched the young man on the knee, and lifted +his hat. ``My son,'' he said, ``when your hair is as gray as +that, and you have been through six campaigns, you'll be brave +enough to own that you're afraid of fire-arms, too.'' + + + +X + +Clay and Langham left MacWilliams and Stuart to look after their +prisoner, and returned to the Palms, where they dined in state, +and made no reference, while the women were present, to the +events of the day. + +The moon rose late that night, and as Hope watched it, from where +she sat at the dinner-table facing the open windows, she saw the +figure of a man standing outlined in silhouette upon the edge of +the cliff. He was dressed in the uniform of a sailor, and the +moonlight played along the barrel of a rifle upon which he +leaned, motionless and menacing, like a sentry on a rampart. + +Hope opened her lips to speak, and then closed them again, and +smiled with pleasurable excitement. A moment later King, who sat +on her right, called one of the servants to his side and +whispered some instructions, pointing meanwhile at the wine upon +the table. And a minute after, Hope saw the white figure of the +servant cross the garden and approach the sentinel. She saw the +sentry fling his gun sharply to his hip, and then, after a +moment's parley, toss it up to his shoulder and disappear from +sight among the plants of the garden. + +The men did not leave the table with the ladies, as was their +custom, but remained in the dining-room, and drew their chairs +closer together. + +Mr. Langham would not believe that the downfall of the Government +was as imminent as the others believed it to be. It was only +after much argument, and with great reluctance, that he had even +allowed King to arm half of his crew, and to place them on guard +around the Palms. Clay warned him that in the disorder that +followed every successful revolution, the homes of unpopular +members of the Cabinet were often burned, and that he feared, +should Mendoza succeed, and Alvarez fall, that the mob might +possibly vent its victorious wrath on the Palms because it was +the home of the alien, who had, as they thought, robbed the +country of the iron mines. Mr. Langham said he did not think the +people would tramp five miles into the country seeking vengeance. + +There was an American man-of-war lying in the harbor of Truxillo, +a seaport of the republic that bounded Olancho on the south, and +Clay was in favor of sending to her captain by Weimer, the +Consul, and asking him to anchor off Valencia, to protect +American interests. The run would take but a few hours, and +the sight of the vessel's white hull in the harbor would, he +thought, have a salutary effect upon the revolutionists. But Mr. +Langham said, firmly, that he would not ask for help until he +needed it. + +``Well, I'm sorry,'' said Clay. ``I should very much like to +have that man-of-war here. However, if you say no, we will try +to get along without her. But, for the present, I think you had +better imagine yourself back in New York, and let us have an +entirely free hand. We've gone too far to drop out,'' he went +on, laughing at the sight of Mr. Langham's gloomy countenance. +``We've got to fight them now. It's against human nature not to +do it.'' + +Mr. Langham looked appealingly at his son and at King. + +They both smiled back at him in unanimous disapproval of his +policy of non-interference. + +``Oh, very well,'' he said, at last. ``You gentlemen can go +ahead, kill, burn, and destroy if you wish. But, considering the +fact that it is my property you are all fighting about, I really +think I might have something to say in the matter.'' Mr. Langham +gazed about him helplessly, and shook his head. + +``My doctor sends me down here from a quiet, happy home,'' he +protested, with humorous pathos, ``that I may rest and get +away from excitement, and here I am with armed men patrolling my +garden-paths, with a lot of filibusters plotting at my own +dinner-table, and a civil war likely to break out, entirely on my +account. And Dr. Winter told me this was the only place that +would cure my nervous prostration!'' + +Hope joined Clay as soon as the men left the dining-room, and +beckoned him to the farther end of the veranda. ``Well, what is +it?'' she said. + +``What is what?'' laughed Clay. He seated himself on the rail of +the veranda, with his face to the avenue and the driveway leading +to the house. They could hear the others from the back of the +house, and the voice of young Langham, who was giving an +imitation of MacWilliams, and singing with peculiar emphasis, +``There is no place like Home, Sweet Home.'' + +``Why are the men guarding the Palms, and why did you go to the +Plaza Bolivar this morning at daybreak? Alice says you left them +there. I want to know what it means. I am nearly as old as Ted, +and he knows. The men wouldn't tell me.'' + +``What men?'' + +``King's men from the `Vesta'. I saw some of them dodging around +in the bushes, and I went to find out what they were doing, and I +walked into fifteen of them at your office. They have +hammocks swung all over the veranda, and a quick-firing gun made +fast to the steps, and muskets stacked all about, just like real +soldiers, but they wouldn't tell me why.'' + +``We'll put you in the carcel,'' said Clay, ``if you go spying on +our forces. Your father doesn't wish you to know anything about +it, but, since you have found it out for yourself, you might as +well know what little there is to know. It's the same story. +Mendoza is getting ready to start his revolution, or, rather, he +has started it.'' + +``Why don't you stop him?'' asked Hope. + +``You are very flattering,'' said Clay. ``Even if I could stop +him, it's not my business to do it as yet. I have to wait until +he interferes with me, or my mines, or my workmen. Alvarez is +the man who should stop him, but he is afraid. We cannot do +anything until he makes the first move. If I were the President, +I'd have Mendoza shot to-morrow morning and declare martial law. +Then I'd arrest everybody I didn't like, and levy forced loans on +all the merchants, and sail away to Paris and live happy ever +after. That's what Mendoza would do if he caught any one +plotting against him. And that's what Alvarez should do, too, +according to his lights, if he had the courage of his +convictions, and of his education. I like to see a man play +his part properly, don't you? If you are an emperor, you ought +to conduct yourself like one, as our German friend does. Or if +you are a prize-fighter, you ought to be a human bulldog. +There's no such thing as a gentlemanly pugilist, any more than +there can be a virtuous burglar. And if you're a South American +Dictator, you can't afford to be squeamish about throwing your +enemies into jail or shooting them for treason. The way to +dictate is to dictate,--not to hide indoors all day while your +wife plots for you.'' + +``Does she do that?'' asked Hope. ``And do you think she will be +in danger--any personal danger, if the revolution comes?'' + +``Well, she is very unpopular,'' Clay answered, ``and unjustly +so, I think. But it would be better, perhaps, for her if she +went as quietly as possible, when she does go.'' + +``Is our Captain Stuart in danger, too?'' the girl continued, +anxiously. ``Alice says they put up placards about him all over +the city last night. She saw his men tearing them down as she +was coming home. What has he done?'' + +``Nothing,'' Clay answered, shortly. ``He happens to be in a +false position, that's all. They think he is here because he is +not wanted in his own country; that is not so. That is not +the reason he remains here. When he was even younger than +he is now, he was wild and foolish, and spent more money than he +could afford, and lent more money to his brother-officers, I have +no doubt, than they ever paid back. He had to leave the regiment +because his father wouldn't pay his debts, and he has been +selling his sword for the last three years to one or another king +or sultan or party all over the world, in China and Madagascar, +and later in Siam. I hope you will be very kind to Stuart and +believe well of him, and that you will listen to no evil against +him. Somewhere in England Stuart has a sister like you--about +your age, I mean, that loves him very dearly, and a father whose +heart aches for him, and there is a certain royal regiment that +still drinks his health with pride. He is a lonely little chap, +and he has no sense of humor to help him out of his difficulties, +but he is a very brave gentleman. And he is here fighting for +men who are not worthy to hold his horse's bridle, because of a +woman. And I tell you this because you will hear many lies about +him--and about her. He serves her with the same sort of +chivalric devotion that his ancestors felt for the woman whose +ribbons they tied to their lances, and for whom they fought in +the lists.'' + +``I understand,'' Hope said, softly. ``I am glad you told +me. I shall not forget.'' She sighed and shook her head. ``I +wish they'd let you manage it for them,'' she said. + +Clay laughed. ``I fear my executive ability is not of so high an +order; besides, as I haven't been born to it, my conscience might +trouble me if I had to shoot my enemies and rob the worthy +merchants. I had better stick to digging holes in the ground. +That is all I seem to be good for.'' + +Hope looked up at him, quickly, in surprise. + +``What do you mean by that?'' she demanded. There was a tone of +such sharp reproach in her voice that Clay felt himself put on +the defensive. + +``I mean nothing by it,'' he said. ``Your sister and I had a +talk the other day about a man's making the best of himself, and +it opened my eyes to--to many things. It was a very healthy +lesson.'' + +``It could not have been a very healthy lesson,'' Hope replied, +severely, ``if it makes you speak of your work slightingly, as +you did then. That didn't sound at all natural, or like you. It +sounded like Alice. Tell me, did Alice say that?'' + +The pleasure of hearing Hope take his part against himself was so +comforting to Clay that he hesitated in answering in order to +enjoy it the longer. Her enthusiasm touched him deeply, and he +wondered if she were enthusiastic because she was young, or +because she was sure she was right, and that he was in the wrong. + +``It started this way,'' Clay began, carefully. He was anxious +to be quite fair to Miss Langham, but he found it difficult to +give her point of view correctly, while he was hungering for a +word that would re-establish him in his own good opinion. ``Your +sister said she did not think very much of what I had done, but +she explained kindly that she hoped for better things from me. +But what troubles me is, that I will never do anything much +better or very different in kind from the work I have done +lately, and so I am a bit discouraged about it in consequence. +You see,'' said Clay, ``when I come to die, and they ask me what +I have done with my ten fingers, I suppose I will have to say, +`Well, I built such and such railroads, and I dug up so many tons +of ore, and opened new countries, and helped make other men +rich.' I can't urge in my behalf that I happen to have been so +fortunate as to have gained the good-will of yourself or your +sister. That is quite reason enough to me, perhaps, for having +lived, but it might not appeal to them. I want to feel that I +have accomplished something outside of myself--something that +will remain after I go. Even if it is only a breakwater or a +patent coupling. When I am dead it will not matter to any one +what I personally was, whether I was a bore or a most +charming companion, or whether I had red hair or blue. It is the +work that will tell. And when your sister, whose judgment is the +judgment of the outside world, more or less, says that the work +is not worth while, I naturally feel a bit discouraged. It meant +so much to me, and it hurt me to find it meant so little to +others.'' + +Hope remained silent for some time, but the rigidity of her +attitude, and the tightness with which she pressed her lips +together, showed that her mind was deeply occupied. They both +sat silent for some few moments, looking down toward the distant +lights of the city. At the farther end of the double row of +bushes that lined the avenue they could see one of King's +sentries passing to and fro across the roadway, a long black +shadow on the moonlit road. + +``You are very unfair to yourself,'' the girl said at last, ``and +Alice does not represent the opinion of the world, only of a very +small part of it--her own little world. She does not know how +little it is. And you are wrong as to what they will ask you at +the end. What will they care whether you built railroads or +painted impressionist pictures? They will ask you `What have you +made of yourself? Have you been fine, and strong, and sincere?' +That is what they will ask. And we like you because you are +all of these things, and because you look at life so cheerfully, +and are unafraid. We do not like men because they build +railroads, or because they are prime ministers. We like them for +what they are themselves. And as to your work!'' Hope added, and +then paused in eloquent silence. ``I think it is a grand work, +and a noble work, full of hardships and self-sacrifices. I do +not know of any man who has done more with his life than you have +done with yours.'' She stopped and controlled her voice before +she spoke again. ``You should be very proud,'' she said. + +Clay lowered his eyes and sat silent, looking down the roadway. +The thought that the girl felt what she said so deeply, and that +the fact that she had said it meant more to him than anything +else in the world could mean, left him thrilled and trembling. +He wanted to reach out his hand and seize both of hers, and tell +her how much she was to him, but it seemed like taking advantage +of the truths of a confessional, or of a child's innocent +confidences. + +``No, Miss Hope,'' he answered, with an effort to speak lightly, +``I wish I could believe you, but I know myself better than any +one else can, and I know that while my bridges may stand +examination--_I_ can't.'' + +Hope turned and looked at him with eyes full of such sweet +meaning that he was forced to turn his own away. + +``I could trust both, I think,'' the girl said. + +Clay drew a quick, deep breath, and started to his feet, as +though he had thrown off the restraint under which he had held +himself. + +It was not a girl, but a woman who had spoken then, but, though +he turned eagerly toward her, he stood with his head bowed, and +did not dare to read the verdict in her eyes. + +The clatter of horses' hoofs coming toward them at a gallop broke +in rudely upon the tense stillness of the moment, but neither +noticed it. ``How far,'' Clay began, in a strained voice, ``how +far,'' he asked, more steadily, ``could you trust me?'' + +Hope's eyes had closed for an instant, and opened again, and she +smiled upon him with a look of perfect confidence and content. +The beat of the horses' hoofs came now from the end of the +driveway, and they could hear the men at the rear of the house +pushing back their chairs and hurrying toward them. Hope raised +her head, and Clay moved toward her eagerly. The horses were +within a hundred yards. Before Hope could speak, the sentry's +voice rang out in a hoarse, sharp challenge, like an alarm of +fire on the silent night. ``Halt!'' they heard him cry. +And as the horses tore past him, and their riders did not turn to +look, he shouted again, ``Halt, damn you!'' and fired. The flash +showed a splash of red and yellow in the moonlight, and the +report started into life hundreds of echoes which carried it far +out over the waters of the harbor, and tossed it into sharp +angles, and distant corners, and in an instant a myriad of sounds +answered it; the frightened cry of night-birds, the barking of +dogs in the village below, and the footsteps of men running. + +Clay glanced angrily down the avenue, and turned beseechingly to +Hope. + +``Go,'' she said. ``See what is wrong,'' and moved away as +though she already felt that he could act more freely when she +was not near him. + +The two horses fell back on their haunches before the steps, and +MacWilliams and Stuart tumbled out of their saddles, and +started, running back on foot in the direction from which the +shot had come, tugging at their revolvers. + +``Come back,'' Clay shouted to them. ``That's all right. He was +only obeying orders. That's one of King's sentries.'' + +``Oh, is that it?'' said Stuart, in matter-of-fact tones, as he +turned again to the house. ``Good idea. Tell him to fire lower +next time. And, I say,'' he went on, as he bowed curtly to +the assembled company on the veranda, ``since you have got a +picket out, you had better double it. And, Clay, see that no one +leaves here without permission--no one. That's more important, +even, than keeping them out.'' + +``King, will you--'' Clay began. + +``All right, General,'' laughed King, and walked away to meet his +sailors, who came running up the hill in great anxiety. + +MacWilliams had not opened his lips, but he was bristling with +importance, and his effort to appear calm and soldierly, like +Stuart, told more plainly than speech that he was the bearer of +some invaluable secret. The sight filled young Langham with a +disquieting fear that he had missed something. + +Stuart looked about him, and pulled briskly at his gauntlets. +King and his sailors were grouped together on the grass before +the house. Mr. Langham and his daughters, and Clay, were +standing on the steps, and the servants were peering around the +corners of the house. + +Stuart saluted Mr. Langham, as though to attract his especial +attention, and then addressed himself in a low tone to Clay. + +``It's come,'' he said. ``We've been in it since dinner-time, +and we've got a whole night's work cut out for you.'' He +was laughing with excitement, and paused for a moment to gain +breath. ``I'll tell you the worst of it first. Mendoza has sent +word to Alvarez that he wants the men at the mines to be present +at the review to-morrow. He says they must take part. He wrote +a most insolent letter. Alvarez got out of it by saying that the +men were under contract to you, and that you must give your +permission first. Mendoza sent me word that if you would not let +the men come, he would go out and fetch them in him self.'' + +``Indeed!'' growled Clay. ``Kirkland needs those men to-morrow +to load ore-cars for Thursday's steamer. He can't spare them. +That is our answer, and it happens to be a true one, but if it +weren't true, if to-morrow was All Saints' Day, and the men had +nothing to do but to lie in the sun and sleep, Mendoza couldn't +get them. And if he comes to take them to-morrow, he'll have to +bring his army with him to do it. And he couldn't do it then, +Mr. Langham,'' Clay cried, turning to that gentleman, ``if I had +better weapons. The five thousand dollars I wanted you to spend +on rifles, sir, two months ago, might have saved you several +millions to-morrow.'' + +Clay's words seemed to bear some special significance to Stuart +and MacWilliams, for they both laughed, and Stuart pushed +Clay up the steps before him. + +``Come inside,'' he said. ``That is why we are here. +MacWilliams has found out where Burke hid his shipment of arms. +We are going to try and get them to-night.'' He hurried into the +dining-room, and the others grouped themselves about the table. +``Tell them about it, MacWilliams,'' Stuart commanded. ``I will +see that no one overhears you.'' + +MacWilliams was pushed into Mr. Langham's place at the head of +the long table, and the others dragged their chairs up close +around him. King put the candles at the opposite end of the +table, and set some decanters and glasses in the centre. ``To +look as though we were just enjoying ourselves,'' he explained, +pleasantly. + +Mr. Langham, with his fine, delicate fingers beating nervously on +the table, observed the scene as an on-looker, rather than as the +person chiefly interested. He smiled as he appreciated the +incongruity of the tableau, and the contrast which the actors +presented to the situation. He imagined how much it would amuse +his contemporaries of the Union Club, at home, if they could see +him then, with the still, tropical night outside, the candles +reflected on the polished table and on the angles of the +decanters, and showing the intent faces of the young girls +and the men leaning eagerly forward around MacWilliams, who sat +conscious and embarrassed, his hair dishevelled, and his face +covered with dust, while Stuart paced up and down in the shadow, +his sabre clanking as he walked. + +``Well, it happened like this,'' MacWilliams began, nervously, +and addressing himself to Clay. ``Stuart and I put Burke safely +in a cell by himself. It was one of the old ones that face the +street. There was a narrow window in it, about eight feet above +the floor, and no means of his reaching it, even if he stood on a +chair. We stationed two troopers before the door, and sent out +to a cafe' across the street for our dinners. I finished mine +about nine o'clock, and said `Good night' to Stuart, and started +to come out here. I went across the street first, however, to +give the restaurant man some orders about Burke's breakfast. It +is a narrow street, you know, with a long garden-wall and a row +of little shops on one side, and with the jail-wall taking up all +of the other side. The street was empty when I left the jail, +except for the sentry on guard in front of it, but just as I was +leaving the restaurant I saw one of Stuart's police come out and +peer up and down the street and over at the shops. He looked +frightened and anxious, and as I wasn't taking chances on +anything, I stepped back into the restaurant and watched him +through the window. He waited until the sentry had turned his +back, and started away from him on his post, and then I saw him +drop his sabre so that it rang on the sidewalk. He was standing, +I noticed then, directly under the third window from the door of +the jail. That was the window of Burke's cell. When I grasped +that fact I got out my gun and walked to the door of the +restaurant. Just as I reached it a piece of paper shot out +through the bars of Burke's cell and fell at the policeman's +feet, and he stamped his boot down on it and looked all around +again to see if any one had noticed him. I thought that was my +cue, and I ran across the street with my gun pointed, and shouted +to him to give me the paper. He jumped about a foot when he +first saw me, but he was game, for he grabbed up the paper and +stuck it in his mouth and began to chew on it. I was right up on +him then, and I hit him on the chin with my left fist and knocked +him down against the wall, and dropped on him with both knees and +choked him till I made him spit out the paper--and two teeth,'' +MacWilliams added, with a conscientious regard for details. +``The sentry turned just then and came at me with his bayonet, +but I put my finger to my lips, and that surprised him, so +that he didn't know just what to do, and hesitated. You +see, I didn't want Burke to hear the row outside, so I grabbed my +policeman by the collar and pointed to the jail-door, and the +sentry ran back and brought out Stuart and the guard. Stuart was +pretty mad when he saw his policeman all bloody. He thought it +would prejudice his other men against us, but I explained out +loud that the man had been insolent, and I asked Stuart to take +us both to his private room for a hearing, and, of course, when I +told him what had happened, he wanted to punch the chap, too. We +put him ourselves into a cell where he could not communicate with +any one, and then we read the paper. Stuart has it,'' said +MacWilliams, pushing back his chair, ``and he'll tell you the +rest.'' There was a pause, in which every one seemed to take +time to breathe, and then a chorus of questions and explanations. + +King lifted his glass to MacWilliams, and nodded. + +`` `Well done, Condor,' '' he quoted, smiling. + +``Yes,'' said Clay, tapping the younger man on the shoulder as he +passed him. ``That's good work. Now show us the paper, +Stuart.'' + +Stuart pulled the candles toward him, and spread a slip of paper +on the table. + +``Burke did this up in one of those paper boxes for wax +matches,'' he explained, ``and weighted it with a twenty- +dollar gold piece. MacWilliams kept the gold piece, I believe.'' + +``Going to use it for a scarf-pin,'' explained MacWilliams, in +parenthesis. ``Sort of war-medal, like the Chief's,'' he added, +smiling. + +``This is in Spanish,'' Stuart explained. ``I will translate it. +It is not addressed to any one, and it is not signed, but it was +evidently written to Mendoza, and we know it is in Burke's +handwriting, for we compared it with some notes of his that we +took from him before he was locked up. He says, `I cannot keep +the appointment, as I have been arrested.' The line that follows +here,'' Stuart explained, raising his head, ``has been scratched +out, but we spent some time over it, and we made out that it +read: `It was Mr. Clay who recognized me, and ordered my arrest. +He is the best man the others have. Watch him.' We think he +rubbed that out through good feeling toward Clay. There seems to +be no other reason. He's a very good sort, this old Burke, I +think.'' + +``Well, never mind him; it was very decent of him, anyway,'' said +Clay. ``Go on. Get to Hecuba.'' + +`` `I cannot keep the appointment, as I have been arrested,' '' +repeated Stuart. `` `I landed the goods last night in safety. I +could not come in when first signalled, as the wind and tide +were both off shore. But we got all the stuff stored away +by morning. Your agent paid me in full and got my receipt. +Please consider this as the same thing--as the equivalent'--it is +difficult to translate it exactly,'' commented Stuart--`` `as the +equivalent of the receipt I was to have given when I made my +report to-night. I sent three of your guards away on my own +responsibility, for I think more than that number might attract +attention to the spot, and they might be seen from the ore- +trains.' That is the point of the note for us, of course,'' +Stuart interrupted himself to say. ``Burke adds,'' he went on, +`` `that they are to make no effort to rescue him, as he is quite +comfortable, and is willing to remain in the carcel until they +are established in power.' '' + +``Within sight of the ore-trains!'' exclaimed Clay. ``There are +no ore-trains but ours. It must be along the line of the road.'' + +``MacWilliams says he knows every foot of land along the +railroad,'' said Stuart, ``and he is sure the place Burke means +is the old fortress on the Platta inlet, because--'' + +``It is the only place,'' interrupted MacWilliams, ``where there +is no surf. They could run small boats up the inlet and unload +in smooth water within twenty feet of the ramparts; and another +thing, that is the only point on the line with a wagon road +running direct from it to the Capital. It's an old road, and +hasn't been travelled over for years, but it could be used. +No,'' he added, as though answering the doubt in Clay's mind, +``there is no other place. If I had a map here I could show you +in a minute; where the beach is level there is a jungle between +it and the road, and wherever there is open country, there is a +limestone formation and rocks between it and the sea, where no +boat could touch.'' + +``But the fortress is so conspicuous,'' Clay demurred; ``the +nearest rampart is within twenty feet of the road. Don't you +remember we measured it when we thought of laying the double +track?'' + +``That is just what Burke says,'' urged Stuart. ``That is the +reason he gives for leaving only three men on guard--`I think +more than that number might attract attention to the spot, as +they might be seen from the ore-trains.' '' + +``Have you told any one of this?'' Clay asked. ``What have you +done so far?'' + +``We've done nothing,'' said Stuart. ``We lost our nerve when we +found out how much we knew, and we decided we'd better leave it +to you.'' + +``Whatever we do must be done at once,'' said Clay. ``They will +come for the arms to-night, most likely, and we must be there +first. I agree with you entirely about the place. It is only +a question now of our being on time. There are two things +to do. The first thing is, to keep them from getting the arms, +and the second is, if we are lucky, to secure them for ourselves. +If we can pull it off properly, we ought to have those rifles in +the mines before midnight. If we are hurried or surprised, we +must dump them off the fort into the sea.'' Clay laughed and +looked about him at the men. ``We are only following out General +Bolivar's saying `When you want arms take them from the enemy.' +Now, there are three places we must cover. This house, first of +all,'' he went on, inclining his head quickly toward the two +sisters, ``then the city, and the mines. Stuart's place, of +course, is at the Palace. King must take care of this house and +those in it, and MacWilliams and Langham and I must look after +the arms. We must organize two parties, and they had better +approach the fort from here and from the mines at the same time. +I will need you to do some telegraphing for me, Mac; and, King, I +must ask you for some more men from the yacht. How many have +you?'' + +King answered that there were fifteen men still on board, ten of +whom would be of service. He added that they were all well +equipped for fighting. + +``I believe King's a pirate in business hours,'' Clay said, +smiling. ``All right, that's good. Now go tell ten of them to +meet me at the round-house in half an hour. I will get +MacWilliams to telegraph Kirkland to run an engine and flat cars +to within a half mile of the fort on the north, and we will come +up on it with the sailors and Ted, here, from the south. You +must run the engine yourself, MacWilliams, and perhaps it would +be better, King, if your men joined us at the foot of the grounds +here and not at the round-house. None of the workmen must see +our party start. Do you agree with me?'' he asked, turning to +those in the group about him. ``Has anybody any criticism to +make?'' + +Stuart and King looked at one another ruefully and laughed. ``I +don't see what good I am doing in town,'' protested Stuart. +``Yes, and I don't see where I come in, either,'' growled King, +in aggrieved tones. ``These youngsters can't do it all; besides +I ought to have charge of my own men.'' + +``Mutiny,'' said Clay, in some perplexity, ``rank mutiny. Why, +it's only a picnic. There are but three men there. We don't +need sixteen white men to frighten off three Olanchoans.'' + +``I'll tell you what to do,'' cried Hope, with the air of having +discovered a plan which would be acceptable to every one, ``let's +all go.'' + +``Well, I certainly mean to go,'' said Mr. Langham, +decidedly. ``So some one else must stay here. Ted, you will +have to look after your sisters.'' + +The son and heir smiled upon his parent with a look of +affectionate wonder, and shook his head at him in fond and +pitying disapproval. + +``I'll stay,'' said King. ``I have never seen such ungallant +conduct. Ladies,'' he said, ``I will protect your lives and +property, and we'll invent something exciting to do ourselves, +even if we have to bombard the Capital.'' + +The men bade the women good-night, and left them with King and +Mr. Langham, who had been persuaded to remain overnight, while +Stuart rode off to acquaint Alvarez and General Rojas with what +was going on. + + + +XI + +There was no chance for Clay to speak to Hope again, though he +felt the cruelty of having to leave her with everything between +them in this interrupted state. But their friends stood about +her, interested and excited over this expedition of smuggled +arms, unconscious of the great miracle that had come into his +life and of his need to speak to and to touch the woman who had +wrought it. Clay felt how much more binding than the laws of +life are the little social conventions that must be observed at +times, even though the heart is leaping with joy or racked with +sorrow. He stood within a few feet of the woman he loved, +wanting to cry out at her and to tell her all the wonderful +things which he had learned were true for the first time that +night, but he was forced instead to keep his eyes away from her +face and to laugh and answer questions, and at the last to go +away content with having held her hand for an instant, and to +have heard her say ``good-luck.'' + +MacWilliams called Kirkland to the office at the other end +of the Company's wire, and explained the situation to him. He +was instructed to run an engine and freight-cars to a point a +quarter of a mile north of the fort, and to wait there until he +heard a locomotive whistle or pistol shots, when he was to run on +to the fort as quickly and as noiselessly as possible. He was +also directed to bring with him as many of the American workmen +as he could trust to keep silent concerning the events of the +evening. At ten o'clock MacWilliams had the steam up in a +locomotive, and with his only passenger-car in the rear, ran it +out of the yard and stopped the train at the point nearest the +cars where ten of the `Vesta's' crew were waiting. The sailors +had no idea as to where they were going, or what they were to do, +but the fact that they had all been given arms filled them with +satisfaction, and they huddled together at the bottom of the car +smoking and whispering, and radiant with excitement and +satisfaction. + +The train progressed cautiously until it was within a half mile +below the fort, when Clay stopped it, and, leaving two men on +guard, stepped off the remaining distance on the ties, his little +band following noiselessly behind him like a procession of ghosts +in the moonlight. They halted and listened from time to time as +they drew near the ruins, but there was no sound except the +beating of the waves on the rocks and the rustling of the +sea-breeze through the vines and creepers about them. + +Clay motioned to the men to sit down, and, beckoning to +MacWilliams, directed him to go on ahead and reconnoitre. + +``If you fire we will come up,'' he said. ``Get back here as +soon as you can.'' + +``Aren't you going to make sure first that Kirkland is on the +other side of the fort?'' MacWilliams whispered. + +Clay replied that he was certain Kirkland had already arrived. +``He had a shorter run than ours, and he wired you he was ready +to start when we were, didn't he?'' MacWilliams nodded. + +``Well, then, he is there. I can count on Kirk.'' + +MacWilliams pulled at his heavy boots and hid them in the bushes, +with his helmet over them to mark the spot. ``I feel as though I +was going to rob a bank,'' he chuckled, as he waved his hand and +crept off into the underbrush. + +For the first few moments the men who were left behind sat +silent, but as the minutes wore on, and MacWilliams made no sign, +they grew restless, and shifted their positions, and began to +whisper together, until Clay shook his head at them, and there +was silence again until one of them, in trying not to cough, +almost strangled, and the others tittered and those nearest +pummelled him on the back. + +Clay pulled out his revolver, and after spinning the cylinder +under his finger-nail, put it back in its holder again, and the +men, taking this as an encouraging promise of immediate action, +began to examine their weapons again for the twentieth time, and +there was a chorus of short, muffled clicks as triggers were +drawn back and cautiously lowered and levers shot into place and +caught again. + +One of the men farthest down the track raised his arm, and all +turned and half rose as they saw MacWilliams coming toward them +on a run, leaping noiselessly in his stocking feet from tie to +tie. He dropped on his knees between Clay and Langham. + +``The guns are there all right,'' he whispered, panting, ``and +there are only three men guarding them. They are all sitting on +the beach smoking. I hustled around the fort and came across the +whole outfit in the second gallery. It looks like a row of +coffins, ten coffins and about twenty little boxes and kegs. I'm +sure that means they are coming for them to-night. They've not +tried to hide them nor to cover them up. All we've got to do is +to walk down on the guards and tell them to throw up their hands. +It's too easy.'' + +Clay jumped to his feet. ``Come on,'' he said. + +``Wait till I get my boots on first,'' begged MacWilliams. ``I +wouldn't go over those cinders again in my bare feet for all the +buried treasure in the Spanish Main. You can make all the noise +you want; the waves will drown it.'' + +With MacWilliams to show them the way, the men scrambled up the +outer wall of the fort and crossed the moss-covered ramparts at +the run. Below them, on the sandy beach, were three men sitting +around a driftwood fire that had sunk to a few hot ashes. Clay +nodded to MacWilliams. ``You and Ted can have them,'' he said. +``Go with him, Langham.'' + +The sailors levelled their rifles at the three lonely figures on +the beach as the two boys slipped down the wall and fell on their +hands and feet in the sand below, and then crawled up to within a +few feet of where the men were sitting. + +As MacWilliams raised his revolver one of the three, who was +cooking something over the fire, raised his head and with a yell +of warning flung himself toward his rifle. + +``Up with your hands!'' MacWilliams shouted in Spanish, and +Langham, running in, seized the nearest sentry by the neck and +shoved his face down between his knees into the sand. + +There was a great rattle of falling stones and of breaking vines +as the sailors tumbled down the side of the fort, and in a half +minute's time the three sentries were looking with angry, +frightened eyes at the circle of armed men around them. + +``Now gag them,'' said Clay. ``Does anybody here know how to gag +a man?'' he asked. ``I don't.'' + +``Better make him tell what he knows first,'' suggested Langham. + +But the Spaniards were too terrified at what they had done, or at +what they had failed to do, to further commit themselves. + +``Tie us and gag us,'' one of them begged. ``Let them find us +so. It is the kindest thing you can do for us.'' + +``Thank you, sir,'' said Clay. ``That is what I wanted to know. +They are coming to-night, then. We must hurry.'' + +The three sentries were bound and hidden at the base of the wall, +with a sailor to watch them. He was a young man with a high +sense of the importance of his duties, and he enlivened the +prisoners by poking them in the ribs whenever they moved. + +Clay deemed it impossible to signal Kirkland as they had arranged +to do, as they could not know now how near those who were coming +for the arms might be. So MacWilliams was sent back for his +engine, and a few minutes later they heard it rumble heavily past +the fort on its way to bring up Kirkland and the flat cars. Clay +explored the lower chambers of the fort and found the boxes as +MacWilliams had described them. Ten men, with some effort, could +lift and carry the larger coffin-shaped boxes, and Clay guessed +that, granting their contents to be rifles, there must be a +hundred pieces in each box, and that there were a thousand rifles +in all. + +They had moved half of the boxes to the side of the track when +the train of flat cars and the two engines came crawling and +twisting toward them, between the walls of the jungle, like a +great serpent, with no light about it but the glow from the hot +ashes as they fell between the rails. Thirty men, equally +divided between Irish and negroes, fell off the flat cars before +the wheels had ceased to revolve, and, without a word of +direction, began loading the heavy boxes on the train and passing +the kegs of cartridges from hand to hand and shoulder to +shoulder. The sailors spread out up the road that led to the +Capital to give warning in case the enemy approached, but they +were recalled before they had reason to give an alarm, and in a +half hour Burke's entire shipment of arms was on the ore-cars, +the men who were to have guarded them were prisoners in the +cab of the engine, and both trains were rushing at full speed +toward the mines. On arriving there Kirkland's train was +switched to the siding that led to the magazine in which was +stored the rack-arock and dynamite used in the blasting. By +midnight all of the boxes were safely under lock in the zinc +building, and the number of the men who always guarded the place +for fear of fire or accident was doubled, while a reserve, +composed of Kirkland's thirty picked men, were hidden in the +surrounding houses and engine-sheds. + +Before Clay left he had one of the boxes broken open, and found +that it held a hundred Mannlicher rifles. + +``Good!'' he said. ``I'd give a thousand dollars in gold if I +could bring Mendoza out here and show him his own men armed with +his own Mannlichers and dying for a shot at him. How old Burke +will enjoy this when he hears of it!'' + +The party from the Palms returned to their engine after many +promises of reward to the men for their work ``over-time,'' and +were soon flying back with their hearts as light as the smoke +above them. + +MacWilliams slackened speed as they neared the fort, and moved up +cautiously on the scene of their recent victory, but a warning +cry from Clay made him bring his engine to a sharp stop. +Many lights were flashing over the ruins and they could see +in their reflection the figures of men running over the same +walls on which the lizards had basked in undisturbed peace for +years. + +``They look like a swarm of hornets after some one has chucked a +stone through their nest,'' laughed MacWilliams. ``What shall we +do now? Go back, or wait here, or run the blockade?'' + +``Oh, ride them out,'' said Langham; ``the family's anxious, and +I want to tell them what's happened. Go ahead.'' + +Clay turned to the sailors in the car behind them. ``Lie down, +men,'' he said. ``And don't any of you fire unless I tell you +to. Let them do all the shooting. This isn't our fight yet, +and, besides, they can't hit a locomotive standing still, +certainly not when it's going at full speed.'' + +``Suppose they've torn the track up?'' said MacWilliams, +grinning. ``We'd look sort of silly flying through the air.'' + +``Oh, they've not sense enough to think of that,'' said Clay. +``Besides, they don't know it was we who took their arms away, +yet.'' + +MacWilliams opened the throttle gently, and the train moved +slowly forward, gaining speed at each revolution of the wheels. + +As the noise of its approach beat louder and louder on the +air, a yell of disappointed rage and execration rose into the +night from the fort, and a mass of soldiers swarmed upon the +track, leaping up and down and shaking the rifles in their hands. + +``That sounds a little as though they thought we had something to +do with it,'' said MacWilliams, grimly. ``If they don't look out +some one will get hurt.'' + +There was a flash of fire from where the mass of men stood, +followed by a dozen more flashes, and the bullets rattled on the +smokestack and upon the boiler of the engine. + +``Low bridge,'' cried MacWilliams, with a fierce chuckle. ``Now, +watch her!'' + +He threw open the throttle as far as it would go, and the engine +answered to his touch like a race-horse to the whip. It seemed +to spring from the track into the air. It quivered and shook +like a live thing, and as it shot in between the soldiers they +fell back on either side, and MacWilliams leaned far out of his +cab-window shaking his fist at them. + +``You got left, didn't you?'' he shouted. ``Thank you for the +Mannlichers.'' + +As the locomotive rushed out of the jungle, and passed the point +on the road nearest to the Palms, MacWilliams loosened three long +triumphant shrieks from his whistle and the sailors stood up +and cheered. + +``Let them shout,'' cried Clay. ``Everybody will have to know +now. It's begun at last,'' he said, with a laugh of relief. + +``And we took the first trick,'' said MacWilliams, as he ran his +engine slowly into the railroad yard. + +The whistles of the engine and the shouts of the sailors had +carried far through the silence of the night, and as the men came +hurrying across the lawn to the Palms, they saw all of those who +had been left behind grouped on the veranda awaiting them. + +``Do the conquering heroes come?'' shouted King. + +``They do,'' young Langham cried, joyously. ``We've got all +their arms, and they shot at us. We've been under fire!'' + +``Are any of you hurt?'' asked Miss Langham, anxiously, as she +and the others hurried down the steps to welcome them, while +those of the `Vesta's' crew who had been left behind looked at +their comrades with envy. + +``We have been so frightened and anxious about you,'' said Miss +Langham. + +Hope held out her hand to Clay and greeted him with a quiet, +happy smile, that was in contrast to the excitement and +confusion that reigned about them. + +``I knew you would come back safely,'' she said. And the +pressure of her hand seemed to add ``to me.'' + + + +XII + +The day of the review rose clear and warm, tempered by a light +breeze from the sea. As it was a fete day, the harbor wore an +air of unwonted inactivity; no lighters passed heavily from the +levees to the merchantmen at anchor, and the warehouses along the +wharves were closed and deserted. A thin line of smoke from the +funnels of the `Vesta' showed that her fires were burning, and +the fact that she rode on a single anchor chain seemed to promise +that at any moment she might slip away to sea. + +As Clay was finishing his coffee two notes were brought to him +from messengers who had ridden out that morning, and who sat in +their saddles looking at the armed force around the office with +amused intelligence. + +One note was from Mendoza, and said he had decided not to call +out the regiment at the mines, as he feared their long absence +from drill would make them compare unfavorably with their +comrades, and do him more harm than credit. ``He is afraid of +them since last night,'' was Clay's comment, as he passed the +note on to MacWilliams. ``He's quite right, they might do +him harm.'' + +The second note was from Stuart. He said the city was already +wide awake and restless, but whether this was due to the fact +that it was a fete day, or to some other cause which would +disclose itself later, he could not tell. Madame Alvarez, the +afternoon before, while riding in the Alameda, had been insulted +by a group of men around a cafe', who had risen and shouted +after her, one of them throwing a wine-glass into her lap as she +rode past. His troopers had charged the sidewalk and carried off +six of the men to the carcel. He and Rojas had urged the +President to make every preparation for immediate flight, to have +the horses put to his travelling carriage, and had warned him +when at the review to take up his position at the point nearest +to his own body-guard, and as far as possible from the troops led +by Mendoza. Stuart added that he had absolute confidence in the +former. The policeman who had attempted to carry Burke's note to +Mendoza had confessed that he was the only traitor in the camp, +and that he had tried to work on his comrades without success. +Stuart begged Clay to join him as quickly as possible. Clay went +up the hill to the Palms, and after consulting with Mr. Langham, +dictated an order to Kirkland, instructing him to call the +men together and to point out to them how much better their +condition had been since they had entered the mines, and to +promise them an increase of wages if they remained faithful to +Mr. Langham's interests, and a small pension to any one who might +be injured ``from any cause whatsoever'' while serving him. + +``Tell them, if they are loyal, they can live in their shacks +rent free hereafter,'' wrote Clay. ``They are always asking for +that. It's a cheap generosity,'' he added aloud to Mr. Langham, +``because we've never been able to collect rent from any of them +yet.'' + +At noon young Langham ordered the best three horses in the +stables to be brought to the door of the Palms for Clay, +MacWilliams, and himself. Clay's last words to King were to have +the yacht in readiness to put to sea when he telephoned him to do +so, and he advised the women to have their dresses and more +valuable possessions packed ready to be taken on board. + +``Don't you think I might see the review if I went on +horseback?'' Hope asked. ``I could get away then, if there +should be any trouble.'' + +Clay answered with a look of such alarm and surprise that Hope +laughed. + +``See the review! I should say not,'' he exclaimed. ``I don't +even want Ted to be there.'' + +``Oh, that's always the way,'' said Hope, ``I miss everything. I +think I'll come, however, anyhow. The servants are all going, +and I'll go with them disguised in a turban.'' + +As the men neared Valencia, Clay turned in his saddle, and asked +Langham if he thought his sister would really venture into the +town. + +``She'd better not let me catch her, if she does,'' the fond +brother replied. + +The reviewing party left the Government Palace for the Alameda at +three o'clock, President Alvarez riding on horseback in advance, +and Madame Alvarez sitting in the State carriage with one of her +attendants, and with Stuart's troopers gathered so closely about +her that the men's boots scraped against the wheels, and their +numbers hid her almost entirely from sight. + +The great square in which the evolutions were to take place was +lined on its four sides by the carriages of the wealthy +Olanchoans, except at the two gates, where there was a wide space +left open to admit the soldiers. The branches of the trees on +the edges of the bare parade ground were black with men and boys, +and the balconies and roofs of the houses that faced it were gay +with streamers and flags, and alive with women wrapped for the +occasion in their colored shawls. Seated on the grass between +the carriages, or surging up and down behind them, were +thousands of people, each hurrying to gain a better place of +vantage, or striving to hold the one he had, and forming a +restless, turbulent audience in which all individual cries were +lost in a great murmur of laughter, and calls, and cheers. The +mass knit together, and pressed forward as the President's band +swung jauntily into the square and halted in one corner, and a +shout of expectancy went up from the trees and housetops as the +President's body-guard entered at the lower gate, and the broken +place in its ranks showed that it was escorting the State +carriage. The troopers fell back on two sides, and the carriage, +with the President riding at its head, passed on, and took up a +position in front of the other carriages, and close to one of the +sides of the hollow square. At Stuart's orders Clay, +MacWilliams, and Langham had pushed their horses into the rear +rank of cavalry, and remained wedged between the troopers within +twenty feet of where Madame Alvarez was sitting. She was very +white, and the powder on her face gave her an added and unnatural +pallor. As the people cheered her husband and herself she raised +her head slightly and seemed to be trying to catch any sound of +dissent in their greeting, or some possible undercurrent of +disfavor, but the welcome appeared to be both genuine and +hearty, until a second shout smothered it completely as the +figure of old General Rojas, the Vice-President, and the most +dearly loved by the common people, came through the gate at the +head of his regiment. There was such greeting for him that the +welcome to the President seemed mean in comparison, and it was +with an embarrassment which both felt that the two men drew near +together, and each leaned from his saddle to grasp the other's +hand. Madame Alvarez sank back rigidly on her cushions, and her +eyes flashed with anticipation and excitement. She drew her +mantilla a little closer about her shoulders, with a nervous +shudder as though she were cold. Suddenly the look of anxiety in +her eyes changed to one of annoyance, and she beckoned Clay +imperiously to the side of the carriage. + +``Look,'' she said, pointing across the square. ``If I am not +mistaken that is Miss Langham, Miss Hope. The one on the black +horse--it must be she, for none of the native ladies ride. It is +not safe for her to be here alone. Go,'' she commanded, ``bring +her here to me. Put her next to the carriage, or perhaps she +will be safer with you among the troopers.'' + +Clay had recognized Hope before Madame Alvarez had finished +speaking, and dashed off at a gallop, skirting the line of +carriages. Hope had stopped her horse beside a victoria, +and was talking to the native women who occupied it, and who were +scandalized at her appearance in a public place with no one but a +groom to attend her. + +``Why, it's the same thing as a polo match,'' protested Hope, as +Clay pulled up angrily beside the victoria. ``I always ride over +to polo alone at Newport, at least with James,'' she added, +nodding her head toward the servant. + +The man approached Clay and touched his hat apologetically, +``Miss Hope would come, sir,'' he said, ``and I thought I'd +better be with her than to go off and tell Mr. Langham, sir. I +knew she wouldn't wait for me.'' + +``I asked you not to come,'' Clay said to Hope, in a low voice. + +``I wanted to know the worst at once,'' she answered. ``I was +anxious about Ted--and you.'' + +``Well, it can't be helped now,'' he said. ``Come, we must +hurry, here is our friend, the enemy.'' He bowed to their +acquaintances in the victoria and they trotted briskly off to the +side of the President's carriage, just as a yell arose from the +crowd that made all the other shouts which had preceded it sound +like the cheers of children at recess. + +``It reminds me of a football match,'' whispered young Langham, +excitedly, ``when the teams run on the field. Look at +Alvarez and Rojas watching Mendoza.'' + +Mendoza advanced at the front of his three troops of cavalry, +looking neither to the left nor right, and by no sign +acknowledging the fierce uproarious greeting of the people. +Close behind him came his chosen band of cowboys and ruffians. +They were the best equipped and least disciplined soldiers in the +army, and were, to the great relief of the people, seldom seen in +the city, but were kept moving in the mountain passes and along +the coast line, on the lookout for smugglers with whom they were +on the most friendly terms. They were a picturesque body of +blackguards, in their hightopped boots and silver-tipped +sombreros and heavy, gaudy saddles, but the shout that had gone +up at their advance was due as much to the fear they inspired as +to any great love for them or their chief. + +``Now all the chessmen are on the board, and the game can +begin,'' said Clay. ``It's like the scene in the play, where +each man has his sword at another man's throat and no one dares +make the first move.'' He smiled as he noted, with the eye of +one who had seen Continental troops in action, the shuffling +steps and slovenly carriage of the half-grown soldiers that +followed Mendoza's cavalry at a quick step. Stuart's picked +men, over whom he had spent many hot and weary hours, looked +like a troop of Life Guardsmen in comparison. Clay noted their +superiority, but he also saw that in numbers they were most +woefully at a disadvantage. + +It was a brilliant scene for so modest a capital. The sun +flashed on the trappings of the soldiers, on the lacquer and +polished metal work of the carriages; and the Parisian gowns of +their occupants and the fluttering flags and banners filled the +air with color and movement, while back of all, framing the +parade ground with a band of black, was the restless mob of +people applauding the evolutions, and cheering for their +favorites, Alvarez, Mendoza, and Rojas, moved by an excitement +that was in disturbing contrast to the easy good-nature of their +usual manner. + +The marching and countermarching of the troops had continued with +spirit for some time, and there was a halt in the evolutions +which left the field vacant, except for the presence of Mendoza's +cavalrymen, who were moving at a walk along one side of the +quadrangle. Alvarez and Vice-President Rojas, with Stuart, as an +adjutant at their side, were sitting their horses within some +fifty yards of the State carriage and the body-guard. Alvarez +made a conspicuous contrast in his black coat and high hat to the +brilliant greens and reds of his generals' uniforms, but he +sat his saddle as well as either of the others, and his white +hair, white imperial and mustache, and the dignity of his bearing +distinguished him above them both. Little Stuart, sitting at his +side, with his blue eyes glaring from under his white helmet and +his face burned to almost as red a tint as his curly hair, looked +like a fierce little bull-dog in comparison. None of the three +men spoke as they sat motionless and quite alone waiting for the +next movement of the troops. + +It proved to be one of moment. Even before Mendoza had ridden +toward them with his sword at salute, Clay gave an exclamation of +enlightenment and concern. He saw that the men who were believed +to be devoted to Rojas, had been halted and left standing at the +farthest corner of the plaza, nearly two hundred yards from where +the President had taken his place, that Mendoza's infantry +surrounded them on every side, and that Mendoza's cowboys, who +had been walking their horses, had wheeled and were coming up +with an increasing momentum, a flying mass of horses and men +directed straight at the President himself. + +Mendoza galloped up to Alvarez with his sword still in salute. +His eyes were burning with excitement and with the light of +success. No one but Stuart and Rojas heard his words; to the +spectators and to the army he appeared as though he was, in +his capacity of Commander-in-Chief, delivering some brief report, +or asking for instructions. + +``Dr. Alvarez,'' he said, ``as the head of the army I arrest you +for high treason; you have plotted to place yourself in office +without popular election. You are also accused of large thefts +of public funds. I must ask you to ride with me to the military +prison. General Rojas, I regret that as an accomplice of the +President's, you must come with us also. I will explain my +action to the people when you are safe in prison, and I will +proclaim martial law. If your troops attempt to interfere, my +men have orders to fire on them and you.'' + +Stuart did not wait for his sentence. He had heard the heavy +beat of the cavalry coming up on them at a trot. He saw the +ranks open and two men catch at each bridle rein of both Alvarez +and Rojas and drag them on with them, buried in the crush of +horses about them, and swept forward by the weight and impetus of +the moving mass behind. Stuart dashed off to the State carriage +and seized the nearest of the horses by the bridle. ``To the +Palace!'' he shouted to his men. ``Shoot any one who tries to +stop you. Forward, at a gallop,'' he commanded. + +The populace had not discovered what had occurred until it was +finished. The coup d'etat had been long considered and the +manner in which it was to be carried out carefully planned. The +cavalry had swept across the parade ground and up the street +before the people saw that they carried Rojas and Alvarez with +them. The regiment commanded by Rojas found itself hemmed in +before and behind by Mendoza's two regiments. They were greatly +outnumbered, but they fired a scattering shot, and following +their captured leader, broke through the line around them and +pursued the cavalry toward the military prison. + +It was impossible to tell in the uproar which followed how many +or how few had been parties to the plot. The mob, shrieking and +shouting and leaping in the air, swarmed across the parade +ground, and from a dozen different points men rose above the +heads of the people and harangued them in violent speeches. And +while some of the soldiers and the citizens gathered anxiously +about these orators, others ran through the city calling for the +rescue of the President, for an attack on the palace, and +shrieking ``Long live the Government!'' and ``Long live the +Revolution!'' The State carriage raced through the narrow +streets with its body-guard galloping around it, sweeping down in +its rush stray pedestrians, and scattering the chairs and +tables in front of the cafe's. As it dashed up the long avenue +of the palace, Stuart called his men back and ordered them to +shut and barricade the great iron gates and to guard them against +the coming of the mob, while MacWilliams and young Langham pulled +open the carriage door and assisted the President's wife and her +terrified companion to alight. Madame Alvarez was trembling with +excitement as she leaned on Langham's arm, but she showed no +signs of fear in her face or in her manner. + +``Mr. Clay has gone to bring your travelling carriage to the rear +door,'' Langham said. ``Stuart tells us it is harnessed and +ready. You will hurry, please, and get whatever you need to +carry with you. We will see you safely to the coast.'' + +As they entered the hall, and were ascending the great marble +stairway, Hope and her groom, who had followed in the rear of the +cavalry, came running to meet them. ``I got in by the back +way,'' Hope explained. ``The streets there are all deserted. +How can I help you?'' she asked, eagerly. + +``By leaving me,'' cried the older woman. ``Good God, child, +have I not enough to answer for without dragging you into this? +Go home at once through the botanical garden, and then by +way of the wharves. That part of the city is still empty.'' + +``Where are your servants; why are they not here?'' Hope demanded +without heeding her. The palace was strangely empty; no +footsteps came running to greet them, no doors opened or shut as +they hurried to Madame Alvarez's apartments. The servants of the +household had fled at the first sound of the uproar in the city, +and the dresses and ornaments scattered on the floor told that +they had not gone empty-handed. The woman who had accompanied +Madame Alvarez to the review sank weeping on the bed, and then, +as the shouts grew suddenly louder and more near, ran to hide +herself in the upper stories of the house. Hope crossed to the +window and saw a great mob of soldiers and citizens sweep around +the corner and throw themselves against the iron fence of the +palace. ``You will have to hurry,'' she said. ``Remember, you +are risking the lives of those boys by your delay.'' + +There was a large bed in the room, and Madame Alvarez had pulled +it forward and was bending over a safe that had opened in the +wall, and which had been hidden by the head board of the bed. +She held up a bundle of papers in her hand, wrapped in a leather +portfolio. ``Do you see these?'' she cried, ``they are drafts +for five millions of dollars.'' She tossed them back into +the safe and swung the door shut. + +``You are a witness. I do not take them,'' she said. + +``I don't understand,'' Hope answered, ``but hurry. Have you +everything you want--have you your jewels?'' + +``Yes,'' the woman answered, as she rose to her feet, ``they are +mine.'' + +A yell more loud and terrible than any that had gone before rose +from the garden below, and there was the sound of iron beating +against iron, and cries of rage and execration from a great +multitude. + +``I will not go!'' the Spanish woman cried, suddenly. ``I will +not leave Alvarez to that mob. If they want to kill me, let them +kill me.'' She threw the bag that held her jewels on the bed, +and pushing open the window stepped out upon the balcony. She +was conspicuous in her black dress against the yellow stucco of +the wall, and in an instant the mob saw her and a mad shout of +exultation and anger rose from the mass that beat and crushed +itself against the high iron railings of the garden. Hope caught +the woman by the skirt and dragged her back. ``You are mad,'' +she said. ``What good can you do your husband here? Save +yourself and he will come to you when he can. There is +nothing you can do for him now; you cannot give your life for +him. You are wasting it, and you are risking the lives of the +men who are waiting for us below. Come, I tell you.'' + +MacWilliams left Clay waiting beside the diligence and ran from +the stable through the empty house and down the marble stairs to +the garden without meeting any one on his way. He saw Stuart +helping and directing his men to barricade the gates with iron +urns and garden benches and sentry-boxes. Outside the mob were +firing at him with their revolvers, and calling him foul names, +but Stuart did not seem to hear them. He greeted MacWilliams +with a cheerful little laugh. ``Well,'' he asked, ``is she +ready?'' + +``No, but we are. Clay and I've been waiting there for five +minutes. We found Miss Hope's groom and sent him back to the +Palms with a message to King. We told him to run the yacht to +Los Bocos and lie off shore until we came. He is to take her on +down the coast to Truxillo, where our man-of-war is lying, and +they will give her shelter as a political refugee.'' + +``Why don't you drive her to the Palms at once?'' demanded +Stuart, anxiously, ``and take her on board the yacht there? It +is ten miles to Bocos and the roads are very bad.'' + +``Clay says we could never get her through the city,'' +MacWilliams answered. ``We should have to fight all the way. +But the city to the south is deserted, and by going out by the +back roads, we can make Bocos by ten o'clock to-night. The yacht +should reach there by seven.'' + +``You are right; go back. I will call off some of my men. The +rest must hold this mob back until you start; then I will follow +with the others. Where is Miss Hope?'' + +``We don't know. Clay is frantic. Her groom says she is +somewhere in the palace.'' + +``Hurry,'' Stuart commanded. ``If Mendoza gets here before +Madame Alvarez leaves, it will be too late.'' + +MacWilliams sprang up the steps of the palace, and Stuart, +calling to the men nearest him to follow, started after him on a +run. + +As Stuart entered the palace with his men at his heels, Clay was +hurrying from its rear entrance along the upper hall, and Hope +and Madame Alvarez were leaving the apartments of the latter at +its front. They met at the top of the main stairway just as +Stuart put his foot on its lower step. The young Englishman +heard the clatter of his men following close behind him and +leaped eagerly forward. Half way to the top the noise behind him +ceased, and turning his head quickly he looked back over his +shoulder and saw that the men had halted at the foot of the +stairs and stood huddled together in disorder looking up at him. +Stuart glanced over their heads and down the hallway to the +garden beyond to see if they were followed, but the mob still +fought from the outer side of the barricade. He waved his sword +impatiently and started forward again. ``Come on!'' he shouted. +But the men below him did not move. Stuart halted once more and +this time turned about and looked down upon them with surprise +and anger. There was not one of them he could not have called by +name. He knew all their little troubles, their love-affairs, +even. They came to him for comfort and advice, and to beg for +money. He had regarded them as his children, and he was proud of +them as soldiers because they were the work of his hands. + +So, instead of a sharp command, he asked, ``What is it?'' in +surprise, and stared at them wondering. He could not or would +not comprehend, even though he saw that those in the front rank +were pushing back and those behind were urging them forward. The +muzzles of their carbines were directed at every point, and on +their faces fear and hate and cowardice were written in varying +likenesses. + +``What does this mean?'' Stuart demanded, sharply. ``What are +you waiting for?'' + +Clay had just reached the top of the stairs. He saw Madame +Alvarez and Hope coming toward him, and at the sight of Hope he +gave an exclamation of relief. + +Then his eyes turned and fell on the tableau below, on Stuart's +back, as he stood confronting the men, and on their scowling +upturned faces and half-lifted carbines. Clay had lived for a +longer time among Spanish-Americans than had the English +subaltern, or else he was the quicker of the two to believe in +evil and ingratitude, for he gave a cry of warning, and motioned +the women away. + +``Stuart!'' he cried. ``Come away; for God's sake, what are you +doing? Come back!'' + +The Englishman started at the sound of his friend's voice, but he +did not turn his head. He began to descend the stairs slowly, a +step at a time, staring at the mob so fiercely that they shrank +back before the look of wounded pride and anger in his eyes. +Those in the rear raised and levelled their rifles. Without +taking his eyes from theirs, Stuart drew his revolver, and with +his sword swinging from its wrist-strap, pointed his weapon at +the mass below him. + +``What does this mean?'' he demanded. ``Is this mutiny?'' + +A voice from the rear of the crowd of men shrieked: ``Death to +the Spanish woman. Death to all traitors. Long live +Mendoza,'' and the others echoed the cry in chorus. + +Clay sprang down the broad stairs calling, ``Come to me;'' but +before he could reach Stuart, a woman's voice rang out, in a long +terrible cry of terror, a cry that was neither a prayer nor an +imprecation, but which held the agony of both. Stuart started, +and looked up to where Madame Alvarez had thrown herself toward +him across the broad balustrade of the stairway. She was silent +with fear, and her hand clutched at the air, as she beckoned +wildly to him. Stuart stared at her with a troubled smile and +waved his empty hand to reassure her. The movement was final, +for the men below, freed from the reproach of his eyes, flung up +their carbines and fired, some wildly, without placing their guns +at rest, and others steadily and aiming straight at his heart. + +As the volley rang out and the smoke drifted up the great +staircase, the subaltern's hands tossed high above his head, his +body sank into itself and toppled backward, and, like a tired +child falling to sleep, the defeated soldier of fortune dropped +back into the outstretched arms of his friend. + +Clay lifted him upon his knee, and crushed him closer against his +breast with one arm, while he tore with his free hand at the +stock about the throat and pushed his fingers in between the +buttons of the tunic. They came forth again wet and colored +crimson. + +``Stuart!'' Clay gasped. ``Stuart, speak to me, look at me!'' +He shook the body in his arms with fierce roughness, peering into +the face that rested on his shoulder, as though he could command +the eyes back again to light and life. ``Don't leave me!'' he +said. ``For God's sake, old man, don't leave me!'' + +But the head on his shoulder only sank the closer and the body +stiffened in his arms. Clay raised his eyes and saw the soldiers +still standing, irresolute and appalled at what they had done, +and awe-struck at the sight of the grief before them. + +Clay gave a cry as terrible as the cry of a woman who has seen +her child mangled before her eyes, and lowering the body quickly +to the steps, he ran at the scattering mass below him. As he +came they fled down the corridor, shrieking and calling to their +friends to throw open the gates and begging them to admit the +mob. When they reached the outer porch they turned, encouraged +by the touch of numbers, and halted to fire at the man who still +followed them. + +Clay stopped, with a look in his eyes which no one who knew them +had ever seen there, and smiled with pleasure in knowing himself +a master in what he had to do. And at each report of his +revolver one of Stuart's assassins stumbled and pitched heavily +forward on his face. Then he turned and walked slowly back up +the hall to the stairway like a man moving in his sleep. He +neither saw nor heard the bullets that bit spitefully at the +walls about him and rattled among the glass pendants of the great +chandeliers above his head. When he came to the step on which +the body lay he stooped and picked it up gently, and holding it +across his breast, strode on up the stairs. MacWilliams and +Langham were coming toward him, and saw the helpless figure in +his arms. + +``What is it?'' they cried; ``is he wounded, is he hurt?'' + +``He is dead,'' Clay answered, passing on with his burden. ``Get +Hope away.'' + +Madame Alvarez stood with the girl's arms about her, her eyes +closed and her figure trembling. + +``Let me be!'' she moaned. ``Don't touch me; let me die. My +God, what have I to live for now?'' She shook off Hope's +supporting arm, and stood before them, all her former courage +gone, trembling and shivering in agony. ``I do not care what +they do to me!'' she cried. She tore her lace mantilla from her +shoulders and threw it on the floor. ``I shall not leave this +place. He is dead. Why should I go? He is dead. They +have murdered him; he is dead.'' + +``She is fainting,'' said Hope. Her voice was strained and hard. + +To her brother she seemed to have grown suddenly much older, and +he looked to her to tell him what to do. + +``Take hold of her,'' she said. ``She will fall.'' The woman +sank back into the arms of the men, trembling and moaning feebly. + +``Now carry her to the carriage,'' said Hope. ``She has fainted; +it is better; she does not know what has happened.'' + +Clay, still bearing the body in his arms, pushed open the first +door that stood ajar before him with his foot. It opened into +the great banqueting hall of the palace, but he could not choose. + +He had to consider now the safety of the living, whose lives were +still in jeopardy. + +The long table in the centre of the hall was laid with places for +many people, for it had been prepared for the President and the +President's guests, who were to have joined with him in +celebrating the successful conclusion of the review. From +outside the light of the sun, which was just sinking behind the +mountains, shone dimly upon the silver on the board, on the glass +and napery, and the massive gilt centre-pieces filled with great +clusters of fresh flowers. It looked as though the servants +had but just left the room. Even the candles had been lit in +readiness, and as their flames wavered and smoked in the evening +breeze they cast uncertain shadows on the walls and showed the +stern faces of the soldier presidents frowning down on the +crowded table from their gilded frames. + +There was a great leather lounge stretching along one side of the +hall, and Clay moved toward this quickly and laid his burden +down. He was conscious that Hope was still following him. He +straightened the limbs of the body and folded the arms across the +breast and pressed his hand for an instant on the cold hands of +his friend, and then whispering something between his lips, +turned and walked hurriedly away. + +Hope confronted him in the doorway. She was sobbing silently. +``Must we leave him,'' she pleaded, ``must we leave him--like +this?'' + +From the garden there came the sound of hammers ringing on the +iron hinges, and a great crash of noises as the gate fell back +from its fastenings, and the mob rushed over the obstacles upon +which it had fallen. It seemed as if their yells of exultation +and anger must reach even the ears of the dead man. + +``They are calling Mendoza,'' Clay whispered, ``he must be with +them. Come, we will have to run for our lives now.'' + +But before he could guess what Hope was about to do, or could +prevent her, she had slipped past him and picked up Stuart's +sword that had fallen from his wrist to the floor, and laid it on +the soldier's body, and closed his hands upon its hilt. She +glanced quickly about her as though looking for something, and +then with a sob of relief ran to the table, and sweeping it of an +armful of its flowers, stepped swiftly back again to the lounge +and heaped them upon it. + +``Come, for God's sake, come!'' Clay called to her in a whisper +from the door. + +Hope stood for an instant staring at the young Englishman as the +candle-light flickered over his white face, and then, dropping on +her knees, she pushed back the curly hair from about the boy's +forehead and kissed him. Then, without turning to look again, +she placed her hand in Clay's and he ran with her, dragging her +behind him down the length of the hall, just as the mob entered +it on the floor below them and filled the palace with their +shouts of triumph. + +As the sun sank lower its light fell more dimly on the lonely +figure in the vast diningDhall, and as the gloom deepened there, +the candles burned with greater brilliancy, and the faces of the +portraits shone more clearly. + +They seemed to be staring down less sternly now upon the +white mortal face of the brother-in-arms who had just joined +them. + +One who had known him among his own people would have seen in the +attitude and in the profile of the English soldier a likeness to +his ancestors of the Crusades who lay carved in stone in the +village church, with their faces turned to the sky, their +faithful hounds waiting at their feet, and their hands pressed +upward in prayer. + +And when, a moment later, the half-crazed mob of men and boys +swept into the great room, with Mendoza at their head, something +of the pathos of the young Englishman's death in his foreign +place of exile must have touched them, for they stopped appalled +and startled, and pressed back upon their fellows, with eager +whispers. The Spanish-American General strode boldly forward, +but his eyes lowered before the calm, white face, and either +because the lighted candles and the flowers awoke in him some +memory of the great Church that had nursed him, or because the +jagged holes in the soldier's tunic appealed to what was bravest +in him, he crossed himself quickly, and then raising his hands +slowly to his visor, lifted his hat and pointed with it to the +door. And the mob, without once looking back at the rich +treasure of silver on the table, pushed out before him, stepping +softly, as though they had intruded on a shrine. + + + +XIII + +The President's travelling carriage was a double-seated diligence +covered with heavy hoods and with places on the box for two men. +Only one of the coachmen, the same man who had driven the State +carriage from the review, had remained at the stables. As he +knew the roads to Los Bocos, Clay ordered him up to the driver's +seat, and MacWilliams climbed into the place beside him after +first storing three rifles under the lap-robe. + +Hope pulled open the leather curtains of the carriage and found +Madame Alvarez where the men had laid her upon the cushions, weak +and hysterical. The girl crept in beside her, and lifting her in +her arms, rested the older woman's head against her shoulder, and +soothed and comforted her with tenderness and sympathy. + +Clay stopped with his foot in the stirrup and looked up anxiously +at Langham who was already in the saddle. + +``Is there no possible way of getting Hope out of this and back +to the Palms?'' he asked. + +``No, it's too late. This is the only way now.'' Hope opened +the leather curtains and looking out shook her head impatiently +at Clay. ``I wouldn't go now if there were another way,'' she +said. ``I couldn't leave her like this.'' + +``You're delaying the game, Clay,'' cried Langham, warningly, as +he stuck his spurs into his pony's side. + +The people in the diligence lurched forward as the horses felt +the lash of the whip and strained against the harness, and then +plunged ahead at a gallop on their long race to the sea. As they +sped through the gardens, the stables and the trees hid them from +the sight of those in the palace, and the turf, upon which the +driver had turned the horses for greater safety, deadened the +sound of their flight. + +They found the gates of the botanical gardens already opened, and +Clay, in the street outside, beckoning them on. Without waiting +for the others the two outriders galloped ahead to the first +cross street, looked up and down its length, and then, in evident +concern at what they saw in the distance, motioned the driver to +greater speed, and crossing the street signalled him to follow +them. At the next corner Clay flung himself off his pony, and +throwing the bridle to Langham, ran ahead into the cross street +on foot, and after a quick glance pointed down its length +away from the heart of the city to the mountains. + +The driver turned as Clay directed him, and when the man found +that his face was fairly set toward the goal he lashed his horses +recklessly through the narrow street, so that the murmur of the +mob behind them grew perceptibly fainter at each leap forward. + +The noise of the galloping hoofs brought women and children to +the barred windows of the houses, but no men stepped into the +road to stop their progress, and those few they met running in +the direction of the palace hastened to get out of their way, and +stood with their backs pressed against the walls of the narrow +thoroughfare looking after them with wonder. + +Even those who suspected their errand were helpless to detain +them, for sooner than they could raise the hue and cry or +formulate a plan of action, the carriage had passed and was +disappearing in the distance, rocking from wheel to wheel like a +ship in a gale. Two men who were so bold as to start to follow, +stopped abruptly when they saw the outriders draw rein and turn +in their saddles as though to await their coming. + +Clay's mind was torn with doubts, and his nerves were drawn taut +like the strings of a violin. Personal danger exhilarated him, +but this chance of harm to others who were helpless, except +for him, depressed his spirit with anxiety. He experienced in +his own mind all the nervous fears of a thief who sees an officer +in every passing citizen, and at one moment he warned the driver +to move more circumspectly, and so avert suspicion, and the next +urged him into more desperate bursts of speed. In his fancy +every cross street threatened an ambush, and as he cantered now +before and now behind the carriage, he wished that he was a +multitude of men who could encompass it entirely and hide it. + +But the solid streets soon gave way to open places, and low mud +cabins, where the horses' hoofs beat on a sun-baked road, and +where the inhabitants sat lazily before the door in the fading +light, with no knowledge of the changes that the day had wrought +in the city, and with only a moment's curious interest in the +hooded carriage, and the grim, white-faced foreigners who guarded +it. + +Clay turned his pony into a trot at Langham's side. His face was +pale and drawn. + +As the danger of immediate pursuit and capture grew less, the +carriage had slackened its pace, and for some minutes the +outriders galloped on together side by side in silence. But the +same thought was in the mind of each, and when Langham spoke +it was as though he were continuing where he had but just been +interrupted. + +He laid his hand gently on Clay's arm. He did not turn his face +toward him, and his eyes were still peering into the shadows +before them. ``Tell me?'' he asked. + +``He was coming up the stairs,'' Clay answered. He spoke in so +low a voice that Langham had to lean from his saddle to hear him. +``They were close behind; but when they saw her they stopped and +refused to go farther. I called to him to come away, but he +would not understand. They killed him before he really +understood what they meant to do. He was dead almost before I +reached him. He died in my arms.'' There was a long pause. ``I +wonder if he knows that?'' Clay said. + +Langham sat erect in the saddle again and drew a short breath. +``I wish he could have known how he helped me,'' he whispered, +``how much just knowing him helped me.'' + +Clay bowed his head to the boy as though he were thanking him. +``His was the gentlest soul I ever knew,'' he said. + +``That's what I wanted to say,'' Langham answered. ``We will let +that be his epitaph,'' and touching his spur to his horse he +galloped on ahead and left Clay riding alone. + +Langham had proceeded for nearly a mile when he saw the forest +opening before them, and at the sight he gave a shout of relief, +but almost at the same instant he pulled his pony back on his +haunches and whirling him about, sprang back to the carriage with +a cry of warning. + +``There are soldiers ahead of us,'' he cried. ``Did you know +it?'' he demanded of the driver. ``Did you lie to me? Turn +back.'' + +``He can't turn back,'' MacWilliams answered. ``They have seen +us. They are only the custom officers at the city limits. They +know nothing. Go on.'' He reached forward and catching the +reins dragged the horses down into a walk. Then he handed the +reins back to the driver with a shake of the head. + +``If you know these roads as well as you say you do, you want to +keep us out of the way of soldiers,'' he said. ``If we fall into +a trap you'll be the first man shot on either side.'' + +A sentry strolled lazily out into the road dragging his gun after +him by the bayonet, and raised his hand for them to halt. His +captain followed him from the post-house throwing away a +cigarette as he came, and saluted MacWilliams on the box and +bowed to the two riders in the background. In his right hand he +held one of the long iron rods with which the collectors of the +city's taxes were wont to pierce the bundles and packs, and +even the carriage cushions of those who entered the city limits +from the coast, and who might be suspected of smuggling. + +``Whose carriage is this, and where is it going?'' he asked. + +As the speed of the diligence slackened, Hope put her head out of +the curtains, and as she surveyed the soldier with apparent +surprise, she turned to her brother. + +``What does this mean?'' she asked. ``What are we waiting for?'' + +``We are going to the Hacienda of Senor Palacio,'' +MacWilliams said, in answer to the officer. ``The driver thinks +that this is the road, but I say we should have taken the one to +the right.'' + +``No, this is the road to Senor Palacio's plantation,'' the +officer answered, ``but you cannot leave the city without a pass +signed by General Mendoza. That is the order we received this +morning. Have you such a pass?'' + +``Certainly not,'' Clay answered, warmly. ``This is the carriage +of an American, the president of the mines. His daughters are +inside and on their way to visit the residence of Senor +Palacio. They are foreigners--Americans. We are all +foreigners, and we have a perfect right to leave the city +when we choose. You can only stop us when we enter it.'' + +The officer looked uncertainly from Clay to Hope and up at the +driver on the box. His eyes fell upon the heavy brass mountings +of the harness. They bore the arms of Olancho. He wheeled +sharply and called to his men inside the post-house, and they +stepped out from the veranda and spread themselves leisurely +across the road. + +``Ride him down, Clay,'' Langham muttered, in a whisper. The +officer did not understand the words, but he saw Clay gather the +reins tighter in his hands and he stepped back quickly to the +safety of the porch, and from that ground of vantage smiled +pleasantly. + +``Pardon,'' he said, ``there is no need for blows when one is +rich enough to pay. A little something for myself and a drink +for my brave fellows, and you can go where you please.'' + +``Damned brigands,'' growled Langham, savagely. + +``Not at all,'' Clay answered. ``He is an officer and a +gentleman. I have no money with me,'' he said, in Spanish, +addressing the officer, ``but between caballeros a word of honor +is sufficient. I shall be returning this way to-morrow morning, +and I will bring a few hundred sols from Senor Palacio +for you and your men; but if we are followed you will get +nothing, and you must have forgotten in the mean time that you +have seen us pass.'' + +There was a murmur inside the carriage, and Hope's face +disappeared from between the curtains to reappear again +almost immediately. She beckoned to the officer with her hand, +and the men saw that she held between her thumb and little finger +a diamond ring of size and brilliancy. She moved it so that it +flashed in the light of the guard lantern above the post-house. + +``My sister tells me you shall be given this tomorrow morning,'' +Hope said, ``if we are not followed.'' + +The man's eyes laughed with pleasure. He swept his sombrero to +the ground. + +``I am your servant, Senorita,'' he said. ``Gentlemen,'' he +cried, gayly, turning to Clay, ``if you wish it, I will accompany +you with my men. Yes, I will leave word that I have gone in the +sudden pursuit of smugglers; or I will remain here as you wish, +and send those who may follow back again.'' + +``You are most gracious, sir,'' said Clay. ``It is always a +pleasure to meet with a gentleman and a philosopher. We prefer +to travel without an escort, and remember, you have seen nothing +and heard nothing.'' He leaned from the saddle, and touched +the officer on the breast. ``That ring is worth a king's +ransom.'' + +``Or a president's,'' muttered the man, smiling. ``Let the +American ladies pass,'' he commanded. + +The soldiers scattered as the whip fell, and the horses once more +leaped forward, and as the carriage entered the forest, Clay +looked back and saw the officer exhaling the smoke of a fresh +cigarette, with the satisfaction of one who enjoys a clean +conscience and a sense of duty well performed. + +The road through the forest was narrow and uneven, and as the +horses fell into a trot the men on horseback closed up together +behind the carriage. + +``Do you think that road-agent will keep his word?'' Langham +asked. + +``Yes; he has nothing to win by telling the truth,'' Clay +answered. ``He can say he saw a party of foreigners, Americans, +driving in the direction of Palacio's coffee plantation. That +lets him out, and in the morning he knows he can levy on us for +the gate money. I am not so much afraid of being overtaken as I +am that King may make a mistake and not get to Bocos on time. We +ought to reach there, if the carriage holds together, by eleven. +King should be there by eight o'clock, and the yacht ought to +make the run to Truxillo in three hours. But we shall not +be able to get back to the city before five to-morrow morning. I +suppose your family will be wild about Hope. We didn't know +where she was when we sent the groom back to King.'' + +``Do you think that driver is taking us the right way?'' Langham +asked, after a pause. + +``He'd better. He knows it well enough. He was through the last +revolution, and carried messages from Los Bocos to the city on +foot for two months. He has covered every trail on the way, and +if he goes wrong he knows what will happen to him.'' + +``And Los Bocos--it is a village, isn't it, and the landing must +be in sight of the Custom-house?'' + +``The village lies some distance back from the shore, and the +only house on the beach is the Custom-house itself; but every one +will be asleep by the time we get there, and it will take us only +a minute to hand her into the launch. If there should be a guard +there, King will have fixed them one way or another by the time +we arrive. Anyhow, there is no need of looking for trouble that +far ahead. There is enough to worry about in between. We +haven't got there yet.'' + +The moon rose grandly a few minutes later, and flooded the forest +with light so that the open places were as clear as day. It +threw strange shadows across the trail, and turned the rocks +and fallen trees into figures of men crouching or standing +upright with uplifted arms. They were so like to them that Clay +and Langham flung their carbines to their shoulders again and +again, and pointed them at some black object that turned as they +advanced into wood or stone. From the forest they came to little +streams and broad shallow rivers where the rocks in the fording +places churned the water into white masses of foam, and the +horses kicked up showers of spray as they made their way, +slipping and stumbling, against the current. It was a silent +pilgrim age, and never for a moment did the strain slacken or the +men draw rein. Sometimes, as they hurried across a broad +tableland, or skirted the edge of a precipice and looked down +hundreds of feet below at the shining waters they had just +forded, or up at the rocky points of the mountains before them, +the beauty of the night overcame them and made them forget the +significance of their journey. + +They were not always alone, for they passed at intervals through +sleeping villages of mud huts with thatched roofs, where the dogs +ran yelping out to bark at them, and where the pine-knots, +blazing on the clay ovens, burned cheerily in the moonlight. In +the low lands where the fever lay, the mist rose above the level +of their heads and enshrouded them in a curtain of fog, and the +dew fell heavily, penetrating their clothing and chilling +their heated bodies so that the sweating horses moved in a lather +of steam. + +They had settled down into a steady gallop now, and ten or +fifteen miles had been left behind them. + +``We are making excellent time,'' said Clay. ``The village of +San Lorenzo should lie beyond that ridge.'' He drove up beside +the driver and pointed with his whip. ``Is not that San +Lorenzo?'' he asked. + +``Yes, senor,'' the man answered, ``but I mean to drive around +it by the old wagon trail. It is a large town, and people may be +awake. You will be able to see it from the top of the next +hill.'' + +The cavalcade stopped at the summit of the ridge and the men +looked down into the silent village. It was like the others they +had passed, with a few houses built round a square of grass that +could hardly be recognized as a plaza, except for the church on +its one side, and the huge wooden cross planted in its centre. +From the top of the hill they could see that the greater number +of the houses were in darkness, but in a large building of two +stories lights were shining from every window. + +``That is the comandancia,'' said the driver, shaking his +head. ``They are still awake. It is a telegraph station.'' + +``Great Scott!'' exclaimed MacWilliams. ``We forgot the +telegraph. They may have sent word to head us off already.'' + +``Nine o'clock is not so very late,'' said Clay. ``It may mean +nothing.'' + +``We had better make sure, though,'' MacWilliams answered, +jumping to the ground. ``Lend me your pony, Ted, and take my +place. I'll run in there and dust around and see what's up. +I'll join you on the other side of the town after you get back to +the main road.'' + +``Wait a minute,'' said Clay. ``What do you mean to do?'' + +``I can't tell till I get there, but I'll try to find out how +much they know. Don't you be afraid. I'll run fast enough if +there's any sign of trouble. And if you come across a telegraph +wire, cut it. The message may not have gone over yet.'' + +The two women in the carriage had parted the flaps of the hoods +and were trying to hear what was being said, but could not +understand, and Langham explained to them that they were about to +make a slight detour to avoid San Lorenzo while MacWilliams was +going into it to reconnoitre. He asked if they were comfortable, +and assured them that the greater part of the ride was over, +and that there was a good road from San Lorenzo to the sea. + +MacWilliams rode down into the village along the main trail, and +threw his reins over a post in front of the comandancia. He +mounted boldly to the second floor of the building and stopped at +the head of the stairs, in front of an open door. There were +three men in the room before him, one an elderly man, whom he +rightly guessed was the comandante, and two younger men who +were standing behind a railing and bending over a telegraph +instrument on a table. As he stamped into the room, they looked +up and stared at him in surprise; their faces showed that he had +interrupted them at a moment of unusual interest. + +MacWilliams saluted the three men civilly, and, according to the +native custom, apologized for appearing before them in his spurs. + +He had been riding from Los Bocos to the capital, he said, and +his horse had gone lame. Could they tell him if there +was any one in the village from whom he could hire a mule, as he +must push on to the capital that night? + +The comandante surveyed him for a moment, as though still +disturbed by the interruption, and then shook his head +impatiently. ``You can hire a mule from one Pulido Paul, at the +corner of the plaza,'' he said. And as MacWilliams still +stood uncertainly, he added, ``You say you have come from +Los Bocos. Did you meet any one on your way?'' + +The two younger men looked up at him anxiously, but before he +could answer, the instrument began to tick out the signal, and +they turned their eyes to it again, and one of them began to take +its message down on paper. + +The instrument spoke to MacWilliams also, for he was used to +sending telegrams daily from the office to the mines, and could +make it talk for him in either English or Spanish. So, in his +effort to hear what it might say, he stammered and glanced at it +involuntarily, and the comandante, without suspecting his +reason for doing so, turned also and peered over the shoulder of +the man who was receiving the message. Except for the clicking +of the instrument, the room was absolutely still; the three men +bent silently over the table, while MacWilliams stood gazing at +the ceiling and turning his hat in his hands. The message +MacWilliams read from the instrument was this: ``They are +reported to have left the city by the south, so they are going to +Para, or San Pedro, or to Los Bocos. She must be stopped--take +an armed force and guard the roads. If necessary, kill her. She +has in the carriage or hidden on her person, drafts for five +million sols. You will be held responsible for every one of +them. Repeat this message to show you understand, and relay it +to Los Bocos. If you fail--'' + +MacWilliams could not wait to hear more; he gave a curt nod to +the men and started toward the stairs. ``Wait,'' the +comandante called after him. + +MacWilliams paused with one hand on top of the banisters +balancing himself in readiness for instant flight. + +``You have not answered me. Did you meet with any one on your +ride here from Los Bocos?'' + +``I met several men on foot, and the mail carrier passed me a +league out from the coast, and oh, yes, I met a carriage at the +cross roads, and the driver asked me the way of San Pedro Sula.'' + +``A carriage?--yes--and what did you tell him?'' + +``I told him he was on the road to Los Bocos, and he turned back +and--'' + +``You are sure he turned back?'' + +``Certainly, sir. I rode behind him for some distance. He +turned finally to the right into the trail to San Pedro Sula.'' + +The man flung himself across the railing. + +``Quick,'' he commanded, ``telegraph to Morales, Comandante +San Pedro Sula--'' + +He had turned his back on MacWilliams, and as the younger man +bent over the instrument, MacWilliams stepped softly down the +stairs, and mounting his pony rode slowly off in the direction of +the capital. As soon as he had reached the outskirts of the +town, he turned and galloped round it and then rode fast with his +head in air, glancing up at the telegraph wire that sagged from +tree-trunk to tree-trunk along the trail. At a point where he +thought he could dismount in safety and tear down the wire, he +came across it dangling from the branches and he gave a shout of +relief. He caught the loose end and dragged it free from its +support, and then laying it across a rock pounded the blade of +his knife upon it with a stone, until he had hacked off a piece +some fifty feet in length. Taking this in his hand he +mounted again and rode off with it, dragging the wire in +the road behind him. He held it up as he rejoined Clay, and +laughed triumphantly. ``They'll have some trouble splicing that +circuit,'' he said, ``you only half did the work. What wouldn't +we give to know all this little piece of copper knows, eh?'' + +``Do you mean you think they have telegraphed to Los Bocos +already?'' + +``I know that they were telegraphing to San Pedro Sula as I left +and to all the coast towns. But whether you cut this down +before or after is what I should like to know.'' + +``We shall probably learn that later,'' said Clay, grimly. + +The last three miles of the journey lay over a hard, smooth road, +wide enough to allow the carriage and its escort to ride abreast. + +It was in such contrast to the tortuous paths they had just +followed, that the horses gained a fresh impetus and galloped +forward as freely as though the race had but just begun. + +Madame Alvarez stopped the carriage at one place and asked the +men to lower the hood at the back that she might feel the fresh +air and see about her, and when this had been done, the women +seated themselves with their backs to the horses where they could +look out at the moonlit road as it unrolled behind them. + +Hope felt selfishly and wickedly happy. The excitement had kept +her spirits at the highest point, and the knowledge that Clay was +guarding and protecting her was in itself a pleasure. She leaned +back on the cushions and put her arm around the older woman's +waist, and listened to the light beat of his pony's hoofs +outside, now running ahead, now scrambling and slipping up some +steep place, and again coming to a halt as Langham or MacWilliams +called, ``Look to the right, behind those trees,'' or +``Ahead there! Don't you see what I mean, something crouching?'' + +She did not know when the false alarms would turn into a genuine +attack, but she was confident that when the time came he would +take care of her, and she welcomed the danger because it brought +that solace with it. + +Madame Alvarez sat at her side, rigid, silent, and beyond the +help of comfort. She tortured herself with thoughts of the +ambitions she had held, and which had been so cruelly mocked that +very morning; of the chivalric love that had been hers, of the +life even that had been hers, and which had been given up for her +so tragically. When she spoke at all, it was to murmur her +sorrow that Hope had exposed herself to danger on her poor +account, and that her life, as far as she loved it, was at an +end. Only once after the men had parted the curtains and asked +concerning her comfort with grave solicitude did she give way to +tears. + +``Why are they so good to me?'' she moaned. ``Why are you so +good to me? I am a wicked, vain woman, I have brought a nation to +war and I have killed the only man I ever trusted.'' + +Hope touched her gently with her hand and felt guiltily how +selfish she herself must be not to feel the woman's grief, but +she could not. She only saw in it a contrast to her own +happiness, a black background before which the figure of Clay and +his solicitude for her shone out, the only fact in the world that +was of value. + +Her thoughts were interrupted by the carriage coming to a halt, +and a significant movement upon the part of the men. MacWilliams +had descended from the box-seat and stepping into the carriage +took the place the women had just left. + +He had a carbine in his hand, and after he was seated Langham +handed him another which he laid across his knees. + +``They thought I was too conspicuous on the box to do any good +there,'' he explained in a confidential whisper. ``In case there +is any firing now, you ladies want to get down on your knees here +at my feet, and hide your heads in the cushions. We are entering +Los Bocos.'' + +Langham and Clay were riding far in advance, scouting to the +right and left, and the carriage moved noiselessly behind them +through the empty streets. There was no light in any of the +windows, and not even a dog barked, or a cock crowed. The women +sat erect, listening for the first signal of an attack, each +holding the other's hand and looking at MacWilliams, who sat with +his thumb on the trigger of his carbine, glancing to the right +and left and breathing quickly. His eyes twinkled, like +those of a little fox terrier. The men dropped back, and drew up +on a level with the carriage. + +``We are all right, so far,'' Clay whispered. ``The beach slopes +down from the other side of that line of trees. What is the +matter with you?'' he demanded, suddenly, looking up at the +driver, ``are you afraid?'' + +``No,'' the man answered, hurriedly, his voice shaking; ``it's +the cold.'' + +Langham had galloped on ahead and as he passed through the trees +and came out upon the beach, he saw a broad stretch of moonlit +water and the lights from the yacht shining from a point a +quarter of a mile off shore. Among the rocks on the edge of the +beach was the ``Vesta's'' longboat and her crew seated in it or +standing about on the beach. The carriage had stopped under the +protecting shadow of the trees, and he raced back toward it. + +``The yacht is here,'' he cried. ``The long-boat is waiting and +there is not a sign of light about the Custom-house. Come on,'' +he cried. ``We have beaten them after all.'' + +A sailor, who had been acting as lookout on the rocks, sprang to +his full height, and shouted to the group around the long-boat, +and King came up the beach toward them running heavily through +the deep sand. + +Madame Alvarez stepped down from the carriage, and as Hope handed +her her jewel case in silence, the men draped her cloak about her +shoulders. She put out her hand to them, and as Clay took it in +his, she bent her head quickly and kissed his hand. ``You were +his friend,'' she murmured. + +She held Hope in her arms for an instant, and kissed her, and +then gave her hand in turn to Langham and to MacWilliams. + +``I do not know whether I shall ever see you again,'' she said, +looking slowly from one to the other, ``but I will pray for you +every day, and God will reward you for saving a worthless life.'' + +As she finished speaking King came up to the group, followed by +three of his men. + +``Is Hope with you, is she safe?'' he asked. + +``Yes, she is with me,'' Madame Alvarez answered. + +``Thank God,'' King exclaimed, breathlessly. ``Then we will +start at once, Madame. Where is she? She must come with us!'' + +``Of course,'' Clay-assented, eagerly, ``she will be much safer +on the yacht.'' + +But Hope protested. ``I must get back to father,'' she said. +``The yacht will not arrive until late to-morrow, and the +carriage can take me to him five hours earlier. The family have +worried too long about me as it is, and, besides, I will not +leave Ted. I am going back as I came.'' + +``It is most unsafe,'' King urged. + +``On the contrary, it is perfectly safe now,'' Hope answered. +``It was not one of us they wanted.'' + +``You may be right,'' King said. ``They don't know what has +happened to you, and perhaps after all it would be better if you +went back the quicker way.'' He gave his arm to Madame Alvarez +and walked with her toward the shore. As the men surrounded her +on every side and moved away, Clay glanced back at Hope and saw +her standing upright in the carriage looking after them. + +``We will be with you in a minute,'' he called, as though in +apology for leaving her for even that brief space. And then the +shadow of the trees shut her and the carriage from his sight. +His footsteps made no sound in the soft sand, and except for the +whispering of the palms and the sleepy wash of the waves as they +ran up the pebbly beach and sank again, the place was as peaceful +and silent as a deserted island, though the moon made it as light +as day. + +The long-boat had been drawn up with her stern to the shore, and +the men were already in their places, some standing waiting for +the order to shove off, and others seated balancing their +oars. + +King had arranged to fire a rocket when the launch left the +shore, in order that the captain of the yacht might run in closer +to pick them up. As he hurried down the beach, he called to his +boatswain to give the signal, and the man answered that he +understood and stooped to light a match. King had jumped into +the stern and lifted Madame Alvarez after him, leaving her late +escort standing with uncovered heads on the beach behind her, +when the rocket shot up into the calm white air, with a roar and +a rush and a sudden flash of color. At the same instant, as +though in answer to its challenge, the woods back of them burst +into an irregular line of flame, a volley of rifle shots +shattered the silence, and a score of bullets splashed in the +water and on the rocks about them. + +The boatswain in the bow of the long-boat tossed up his arms and +pitched forward between the thwarts. + +``Give way,'' he shouted as he fell. + +``Pull,'' Clay yelled, ``pull, all of you.'' + +He threw himself against the stern of the boat, and Langham and +MacWilliams clutched its sides, and with their shoulders against +it and their bodies half sunk in the water, shoved it off, free +of the shore. + +The shots continued fiercely, and two of the crew cried out +and fell back upon the oars of the men behind them. + +Madame Alvarez sprang to her feet and stood swaying unsteadily as +the boat leaped forward. + +``Take me back. Stop, I command you,'' she cried, ``I will not +leave those men. Do you hear?'' + +King caught her by the waist and dragged her down, but she +struggled to free herself. ``I will not leave them to be +murdered,'' she cried. ``You cowards, put me back.'' + +``Hold her, King,'' Clay shouted. ``We're all right. They're +not firing at us.'' + +His voice was drowned in the noise of the oars beating in the +rowlocks, and the reports of the rifles. The boat disappeared in +a mist of spray and moonlight, and Clay turned and faced about +him. Langham and MacWilliams were crouching behind a rock and +firing at the flashes in the woods. + +``You can't stay there,'' Clay cried. ``We must get back to +Hope.'' + +He ran forward, dodging from side to side and firing as he ran. +He heard shots from the water, and looking back saw that the men +in the longboat had ceased rowing, and were returning the fire +from the shore. + +``Come back, Hope is all right,'' her brother called to him. ``I +haven't seen a shot within a hundred yards of her yet, they're +firing from the Custom-house and below. I think Mac's hit.'' + +``I'm not,'' MacWilliams's voice answered from behind a rock, +``but I'd like to see something to shoot at.'' + +A hot tremor of rage swept over Clay at the thought of a possibly +fatal termination to the night's adventure. He groaned at the +mockery of having found his life only to lose it now, when it was +more precious to him than it had ever been, and to lose it in a +silly brawl with semi-savages. He cursed himself impotently and +rebelliously for a senseless fool. + +``Keep back, can't you?'' he heard Langham calling to him from +the shore. ``You're only drawing the fire toward Hope. She's +got away by now. She had both the horses.'' + +Langham and MacWilliams started forward to Clay's side, but the +instant they left the shadow of the rock, the bullets threw up +the sand at their feet and they stopped irresolutely. The moon +showed the three men outlined against the white sand of the beach +as clearly as though a searchlight had been turned upon them, +even while its shadows sheltered and protected their assailants. +At their backs the open sea cut off retreat, and the line of fire +in front held them in check. They were as helpless as chessmen +upon a board. + +``I'm not going to stand still to be shot at,'' cried +MacWilliams. ``Let's hide or let's run. This isn't doing +anybody any good.'' But no one moved. They could hear the +singing of the bullets as they passed them whining in the air +like a banjo-string that is being tightened, and they knew they +were in equal danger from those who were firing from the boat. + +``They're shooting better,'' said MacWilliams. ``They'll reach +us in a minute.'' + +``They've reached me already, I think,'' Langham answered, with +suppressed satisfaction, ``in the shoulder. It's nothing.'' His +unconcern was quite sincere; to a young man who had galloped +through two long halves of a football match on a strained tendon, +a scratched shoulder was not important, except as an unsought +honor. + +But it was of the most importance to MacWilliams. He raised his +voice against the men in the woods in impotent fury. ``Come out, +you cowards, where we can see you,'' he cried. ``Come out where +I can shoot your black heads off.'' + +Clay had fired the last cartridge in his rifle, and throwing it +away drew his revolver. + +``We must either swim or hide,'' he said. ``Put your heads down +and run.'' + +But as he spoke, they saw the carriage plunging out of the shadow +of the woods and the horses galloping toward them down the +beach. MacWilliams gave a cheer of welcome. ``Hurrah!'' he +shouted, ``it's Jose' coming for us. He's a good man. Well +done, Jose'!'' he called. + +``That's not Jose','' Langham cried, doubtfully, peering +through the moonlight. ``Good God! It's Hope,'' he exclaimed. +He waved his hands frantically above his head. ``Go back, +Hope,'' he cried, ``go back!'' + +But the carriage did not swerve on its way toward them. They all +saw her now distinctly. She was on the driver's box and alone, +leaning forward and lashing the horses' backs with the whip and +reins, and bending over to avoid the bullets that passed above +her head. As she came down upon them, she stood up, her woman's +figure outlined clearly in the riding habit she still wore. +``Jump in when I turn,'' she cried. ``I'm going to turn slowly, +run and jump in.'' + +She bent forward again and pulled the horses to the right, and as +they obeyed her, plunging and tugging at their bits, as though +they knew the danger they were in, the men threw themselves at +the carriage. Clay caught the hood at the back, swung himself +up, and scrambled over the cushions and up to the box seat. He +dropped down behind Hope, and reaching his arms around her took +the reins in one hand, and with the other forced her down to +her knees upon the footboard, so that, as she knelt, his arms and +body protected her from the bullets sent after them. Langham +followed Clay, and tumbled into the carriage over the hood at the +back, but MacWilliams endeavored to vault in from the step, and +missing his footing fell under the hind wheel, so that the weight +of the carriage passed over him, and his head was buried for an +instant in the sand. But he was on his feet again before they +had noticed that he was down, and as he jumped for the hood, +Langham caught him by the collar of his coat and dragged him into +the seat, panting and gasping, and rubbing the sand from his +mouth and nostrils. Clay turned the carriage at a right angle +through the heavy sand, and still standing with Hope crouched at +his knees, he raced back to the woods into the face of the +firing, with the boys behind him answering it from each side of +the carriage, so that the horses leaped forward in a frenzy of +terror, and dashing through the woods, passed into the first road +that opened before them. + +The road into which they had turned was narrow, but level, and +ran through a forest of banana palms that bent and swayed above +them. Langham and MacWilliams still knelt in the rear seat of +the carriage, watching the road on the chance of possible +pursuit. + +``Give me some cartridges,'' said Langham. ``My belt is empty. +What road is this?'' + +``It is a private road, I should say, through somebody's banana +plantation. But it must cross the main road somewhere. It +doesn't matter, we're all right now. I mean to take it easy.'' +MacWilliams turned on his back and stretched out his legs on the +seat opposite. + +``Where do you suppose those men sprang from? Were they +following us all the time?'' + +``Perhaps, or else that message got over the wire before we cut +it, and they've been lying in wait for us. They were probably +watching King and his sailors for the last hour or so, but they +didn't want him. They wanted her and the money. It was pretty +exciting, wasn't it? How's your shoulder?'' + +``It's a little stiff, thank you,'' said Langham. He stood up +and by peering over the hood could just see the top of Clay's +sombrero rising above it where he sat on the back seat. + +``You and Hope all right up there, Clay?'' he asked. + +The top of the sombrero moved slightly, and Langham took it as a +sign that all was well. He dropped back into his seat beside +MacWilliams, and they both breathed a long sigh of relief and +content. Langham's wounded arm was the one nearest +MacWilliams, and the latter parted the torn sleeve and examined +the furrow across the shoulder with unconcealed envy. + +``I am afraid it won't leave a scar,'' he said, sympathetically. + +``Won't it?'' asked Langham, in some concern. + +The horses had dropped into a walk, and the beauty of the moonlit +night put its spell upon the two boys, and the rustling of the +great leaves above their heads stilled and quieted them so that +they unconsciously spoke in whispers. + +Clay had not moved since the horses turned of their own accord +into the valley of the palms. He no longer feared pursuit nor +any interruption to their further progress. His only sensation +was one of utter thankfulness that they were all well out of it, +and that Hope had been the one who had helped them in their +trouble, and his dearest thought was that, whether she wished or +not, he owed his safety, and possibly his life, to her. + +She still crouched between his knees upon the broad footboard, +with her hands clasped in front of her, and looking ahead into +the vista of soft mysterious lights and dark shadows that the +moon cast upon the road. Neither of them spoke, and as the +silence continued unbroken, it took a weightier significance, and +at each added second of time became more full of meaning. + +The horses had dropped into a tired walk, and drew them smoothly +over the white road; from behind the hood came broken snatches of +the boys' talk, and above their heads the heavy leaves of the +palms bent and bowed as though in benediction. A warm breeze +from the land filled the air with the odor of ripening fruit and +pungent smells, and the silence seemed to envelop them and mark +them as the only living creatures awake in the brilliant tropical +night. + +Hope sank slowly back, and as she did so, her shoulder touched +for an instant against Clay's knee; she straightened herself and +made a movement as though to rise. Her nearness to him and +something in her attitude at his feet held Clay in a spell. He +bent forward and laid his hand fearfully upon her shoulder, and +the touch seemed to stop the blood in his veins and hushed the +words upon his lips. Hope raised her head slowly as though with +a great effort, and looked into his eyes. It seemed to him that +he had been looking into those same eyes for centuries, as though +he had always known them, and the soul that looked out of them +into his. He bent his head lower, and stretching out his arms +drew her to him, and the eyes did not waver. He raised her +and held her close against his breast. Her eyes faltered and +closed. + +``Hope,'' he whispered, ``Hope.'' He stooped lower and kissed +her, and his lips told her what they could not speak--and they +were quite alone. + + + +XIV +An hour later Langham rose with a protesting sigh and shook the +hood violently. + +``I say!'' he called. ``Are you asleep up there. We'll never +get home at this rate. Doesn't Hope want to come back here and +go to sleep? + +The carriage stopped, and the boys tumbled out and walked around +in front of it. Hope sat smiling on the box-seat. She was +apparently far from sleepy, and she was quite contented where she +was, she told him. + +``Do you know we haven't had anything to eat since yesterday at +breakfast?'' asked Langham. ``MacWilliams and I are fainting. +We move that we stop at the next shack we come to, and waken the +people up and make them give us some supper.'' + +Hope looked aside at Clay and laughed softly. ``Supper?'' she +said. ``They want supper!'' + +Their suffering did not seem to impress Clay deeply. He sat +snapping his whip at the palm-trees above him, and smiled happily +in an inconsequent and irritating manner at nothing. + +``See here! Do you know that we are lost?'' demanded Langham, +indignantly, ``and starving? Have you any idea at all where you +are?'' + +``I have not,'' said Clay, cheerfully. ``All I know is that a +long time ago there was a revolution and a woman with jewels, who +escaped in an open boat, and I recollect playing that I was a +target and standing up to be shot at in a bright light. After +that I woke up to the really important things of life--among +which supper is not one.'' + +Langham and MacWilliams looked at each other doubtfully, and +Langham shook his head. + +``Get down off that box,'' he commanded. ``If you and Hope think +this is merely a pleasant moonlight drive, we don't. You two can +sit in the carriage now, and we'll take a turn at driving, and +we'll guarantee to get you to some place soon.'' + +Clay and Hope descended meekly and seated themselves under the +hood, where they could look out upon the moonlit road as it +unrolled behind them. But they were no longer to enjoy their +former leisurely progress. The new whip lashed his horses into a +gallop, and the trees flew past them on either hand. + +``Do you remember that chap in the `Last Ride Together'?'' said +Clay. + ``I and my mistress, side by side, + Shall be together--forever ride, + And so one more day am I deified. + Who knows--the world may end to-night.'' + +Hope laughed triumphantly, and threw out her arms as though she +would embrace the whole beautiful world that stretched around +them. + +``Oh, no,'' she laughed. ``To-night the world has just begun.'' + +The carriage stopped, and there was a confusion of voices on the +box-seat, and then a great barking of dogs, and they beheld +MacWilliams beating and kicking at the door of a hut. The door +opened for an inch, and there was a long debate in Spanish, and +finally the door was closed again, and a light appeared through +the windows. A few minutes later a man and woman came out of the +hut, shivering and yawning, and made a fire in the sun-baked oven +at the side of the house. Hope and Clay remained seated in the +carriage, and watched the flames springing up from the oily +fagots, and the boys moving about with flaring torches of pine, +pulling down bundles of fodder for the horses from the roof of +the kitchen, while two sleepy girls disappeared toward a mountain +stream, one carrying a jar on her shoulder, and the other +lighting the way with a torch. Hope sat with her chin on her +hand, watching the black figures passing between them and +the fire, and standing above it with its light on their faces, +shading their eyes from the heat with one hand, and stirring +something in a smoking caldron with the other. Hope felt an +overflowing sense of gratitude to these simple strangers for the +trouble they were taking. She felt how good every one was, and +how wonderfully kind and generous was the world that she lived +in. + +Her brother came over to the carriage and bowed with mock +courtesy. + +``I trust, now that we have done all the work,'' he said, ``that +your excellencies will condescend to share our frugal fare, or +must we bring it to you here?'' + +The clay oven stood in the middle of a hut of laced twigs, +through which the smoke drifted freely. There was a row of +wooden benches around it, and they all seated themselves and ate +ravenously of rice and fried plantains, while the woman patted +and tossed tortillas between her hands, eyeing her guests +curiously. Her glance fell upon Langham's shoulder, and rested +there for so long that Hope followed the direction of her eyes. +She leaped to her feet with a cry of fear and reproach, and ran +toward her brother. + +``Ted!'' she cried, ``you are hurt! you are wounded, and you +never told me! What is it? Is it very bad?'' Clay +crossed the floor in a stride, his face full of concern. + +``Leave me alone!'' cried the stern brother, backing away and +warding them off with the coffeepot. ``It's only scratched. +You'll spill the coffee.'' + +But at the sight of the blood Hope had turned very white, and +throwing her arms around her brother's neck, hid her eyes on his +other shoulder and began to cry. + +``I am so selfish,'' she sobbed. ``I have been so happy and you +were suffering all the time.'' + +Her brother stared at the others in dismay. ``What nonsense,'' +he said, patting her on the shoulder. ``You're a bit tired, and +you need rest. That's what you need. The idea of my sister +going off in hysterics after behaving like such a sport--and +before these young ladies, too. Aren't you ashamed?'' + +``I should think they'd be ashamed,'' said MacWilliams, severely, +as he continued placidly with his supper. ``They haven't got +enough clothes on.'' + +Langham looked over Hope's shoulder at Clay and nodded +significantly. ``She's been on a good deal of a strain,'' he +explained apologetically, ``and no wonder; it's been rather an +unusual night for her.'' + +Hope raised her head and smiled at him through her tears. Then +she turned and moved toward Clay. She brushed her eyes with the +back of her hand and laughed. ``It has been an unusual night,'' +she said. ``Shall I tell him?'' she asked. + +Clay straightened himself unconsciously, and stepped beside her +and took her hand; MacWilliams quickly lowered to the bench the +dish from which he was eating, and stood up, too. The people of +the house stared at the group in the firelight with puzzled +interest, at the beautiful young girl, and at the tall, sunburned +young man at her side. Langham looked from his sister to Clay +and back again, and laughed uneasily. + +``Langham, I have been very bold,'' said Clay. ``I have asked +your sister to marry me--and she has said that she would.'' + +Langham flushed as red as his sister. He felt himself at a +disadvantage in the presence of a love as great and strong as he +knew this must be. It made him seem strangely young and +inadequate. He crossed over to his sister awkwardly and kissed +her, and then took Clay's hand, and the three stood together and +looked at one another, and there was no sign of doubt or question +in the face of any one of them. They stood so for some little +time, smiling and exclaiming together, and utterly unconscious of +anything but their own delight and happiness. MacWilliams +watched them, his face puckered into odd wrinkles and his eyes +half-closed. Hope suddenly broke away from the others and turned +toward him with her hands held out. + +``Have you nothing to say to me, Mr. MacWilliams?'' she asked. + +MacWilliams looked doubtfully at Clay, as though from force of +habit he must ask advice from his chief first, and then took the +hands that she held out to him and shook them up and down. His +usual confidence seemed to have forsaken him, and he stood, +shifting from one foot to the other, smiling and abashed. + +``Well, I always said they didn't make them any better than +you,'' he gasped at last. ``I was always telling him that, +wasn't I?'' He nodded energetically at Clay. ``And that's so; +they don't make 'em any better than you.'' + +He dropped her hands and crossed over to Clay, and stood +surveying him with a smile of wonder and admiration. + +``How'd you do it?'' he demanded. ``How did you do it? I +suppose you know,'' he asked sternly, ``that you're not good +enough for Miss Hope? You know that, don't you?'' + +``Of course I know that,'' said Clay. + +MacWilliams walked toward the door and stood in it for a +second, looking back at them over his shoulder. ``They don't +make them any better than that,'' he reiterated gravely, and +disappeared in the direction of the horses, shaking his head and +muttering his astonishment and delight. + +``Please give me some money,'' Hope said to Clay. ``All the +money you have,'' she added, smiling at her presumption of +authority over him, ``and you, too, Ted.'' The men emptied their +pockets, and Hope poured the mass of silver into the hands of the +women, who gazed at it uncomprehendingly. + +``Thank you for your trouble and your good supper,'' Hope said in +Spanish, ``and may no evil come to your house.'' + +The woman and her daughters followed her to the carriage, bowing +and uttering good wishes in the extravagant metaphor of their +country; and as they drove away, Hope waved her hand to them as +she sank closer against Clay's shoulder. + +``The world is full of such kind and gentle souls,'' she said. + +In an hour they had regained the main road, and a little later +the stars grew dim and the moonlight faded, and trees and bushes +and rocks began to take substance and to grow into form and +outline. They saw by the cool, gray light of the morning the +familiar hills around the capital, and at a cry from the +boys on the box-seat, they looked ahead and beheld the harbor of +Valencia at their feet, lying as placid and undisturbed as the +water in a bath-tub. As they turned up the hill into the road +that led to the Palms, they saw the sleeping capital like a city +of the dead below them, its white buildings reddened with the +light of the rising sun. From three places in different parts of +the city, thick columns of smoke rose lazily to the sky. + +``I had forgotten!'' said Clay; ``they have been having a +revolution here. It seems so long ago.'' + +By five o'clock they had reached the gate of the Palms, and their +appearance startled the sentry on post into a state of +undisciplined joy. A riderless pony, the one upon which Jose' +had made his escape when the firing began, had crept into the +stable an hour previous, stiff and bruised and weary, and had led +the people at the Palms to fear the worst. + +Mr. Langham and his daughter were standing on the veranda as the +horses came galloping up the avenue. They had been awake all the +night, and the face of each was white and drawn with anxiety and +loss of sleep. Mr. Langham caught Hope in his arms and held her +face close to his in silence. + +``Where have you been?'' he said at last. ``Why did you +treat me like this? You knew how I would suffer.'' + +``I could not help it,'' Hope cried. ``I had to go with Madame +Alvarez.'' + +Her sister had suffered as acutely as had Mr. Langham himself, as +long as she was in ignorance of Hope's whereabouts. But now that +she saw Hope in the flesh again, she felt a reaction against her +for the anxiety and distress she had caused them. + +``My dear Hope,'' she said, ``is every one to be sacrificed for +Madame Alvarez? What possible use could you be to her at such a +time? It was not the time nor the place for a young girl. You +were only another responsibility for the men.'' + +``Clay seemed willing to accept the responsibility,'' said +Langham, without a smile. ``And, besides,'' he added, ``if Hope +had not been with us we might never have reached home alive.'' + +But it was only after much earnest protest and many explanations +that Mr. Langham was pacified, and felt assured that his son's +wound was not dangerous, and that his daughter was quite safe. + +Miss Langham and himself, he said, had passed a trying night. +There had been much firing in the city, and continual uproar. +The houses of several of the friends of Alvarez had been burned +and sacked. Alvarez himself had been shot as soon as he had +entered the yard of the military prison. It was then given out +that he had committed suicide. Mendoza had not dared to kill +Rojas, because of the feeling of the people toward him, and had +even shown him to the mob from behind the bars of one of the +windows in order to satisfy them that he was still living. The +British Minister had sent to the Palace for the body of Captain +Stuart, and had had it escorted to the Legation, from whence it +would be sent to England. This, as far as Mr. Langham had heard, +was the news of the night just over. + +``Two native officers called here for you about midnight, Clay,'' +he continued, ``and they are still waiting for you below at your +office. They came from Rojas's troops, who are encamped on the +hills at the other side of the city. They wanted you to join +them with the men from the mines. I told them I did not know +when you would return, and they said they would wait. If you +could have been here last night, it is possible that we might +have done something, but now that it is all over, I am glad that +you saved that woman instead. I should have liked, though, to +have struck one blow at them. But we cannot hope to win against +assassins. The death of young Stuart has hurt me terribly, and +the murder of Alvarez, coming on top of it, has made me wish I +had never heard of nor seen Olancho. I have decided to go +away at once, on the next steamer, and I will take my daughters +with me, and Ted, too. The State Department at Washington can +fight with Mendoza for the mines. You made a good stand, but +they made a better one, and they have beaten us. Mendoza's coup +d'etat has passed into history, and the revolution is at an +end.'' + +On his arrival Clay had at once asked for a cigar, and while Mr. +Langham was speaking he had been biting it between his teeth, +with the serious satisfaction of a man who had been twelve hours +without one. He knocked the ashes from it and considered the +burning end thoughtfully. Then he glanced at Hope as she stood +among the group on the veranda. She was waiting for his reply +and watching him intently. He seemed to be confident that she +would approve of the only course he saw open to him. + +``The revolution is not at an end by any means, Mr. Langham,'' he +said at last, simply. ``It has just begun.'' He turned abruptly +and walked away in the direction of the office, and MacWilliams +and Langham stepped off the veranda and followed him as a matter +of course. + +The soldiers in the army who were known to be faithful to General +Rojas belonged to the Third and Fourth regiments, and numbered +four thousand on paper, and two thousand by count of heads. +When they had seen their leader taken prisoner, and swept off the +parade-ground by Mendoza's cavalry, they had first attempted to +follow in pursuit and recapture him, but the men on horseback had +at once shaken off the men on foot and left them, panting and +breathless, in the dust behind them. So they halted uncertainly +in the road, and their young officers held counsel together. +They first considered the advisability of attacking the military +prison, but decided against doing so, as it would lead, they +feared, whether it proved successful or not, to the murder of +Rojas. It was impossible to return to the city where Mendoza's +First and Second regiments greatly outnumbered them. Having no +leader and no headquarters, the officers marched the men to the +hills above the city and went into camp to await further +developments. + +Throughout the night they watched the illumination of the city +and of the boats in the harbor below them; they saw the flames +bursting from the homes of the members of Alvarez's Cabinet, and +when the morning broke they beheld the grounds of the Palace +swarming with Mendoza's troops, and the red and white barred flag +of the revolution floating over it. The news of the +assassination of Alvarez and the fact that Rojas had been +spared for fear of the people, had been carried to them early in +the evening, and with this knowledge of their General's safety +hope returned and fresh plans were discussed. By midnight they +had definitely decided that should Mendoza attempt to dislodge +them the next morning, they would make a stand, but that if the +fight went against them, they would fall back along the mountain +roads to the Valencia mines, where they hoped to persuade the +fifteen hundred soldiers there installed to join forces with them +against the new Dictator. + +In order to assure themselves of this help, a messenger was +despatched by a circuitous route to the Palms, to ask the aid of +the resident director, and another was sent to the mines to work +upon the feelings of the soldiers themselves. The officer who +had been sent to the Palms to petition Clay for the loan of his +soldier-workmen, had decided to remain until Clay returned, and +another messenger had been sent after him from the camp on the +same errand. + +These two lieutenants greeted Clay with enthusiasm, but he at +once interrupted them, and began plying them with questions as to +where their camp was situated and what roads led from it to the +Palms. + +``Bring your men at once to this end of our railroad,'' he +said. ``It is still early, and the revolutionists will sleep +late. They are drugged with liquor and worn out with excitement, +and whatever may have been their intentions toward you last +night, they will be late in putting them into practice this +morning. I will telegraph Kirkland to come up at once with all +of his soldiers and with his three hundred Irishmen. Allowing +him a half-hour to collect them and to get his flat cars +together, and another half-hour in which to make the run, he +should be here by half-past six--and that's quick mobilization. +You ride back now and march your men here at a double-quick. +With your two thousand we shall have in all three thousand and +eight hundred men. I must have absolute control over my own +troops. Otherwise I shall act independently of you and go into +the city alone with my workmen.'' + +``That is unnecessary,'' said one of the lieutenants. ``We have +no officers. If you do not command us, there is no one else to +do it. We promise that our men will follow you and give you +every obedience. They have been led by foreigners before, by +young Captain Stuart and Major Fergurson and Colonel Shrevington. +They know how highly General Rojas thinks of you, and they know +that you have led Continental armies in Europe.'' + +``Well, don't tell them I haven't until this is over,'' said +Clay. ``Now, ride hard, gentlemen, and bring your men here as +quickly as possible.'' + +The lieutenants thanked him effusively and galloped away, radiant +at the success of their mission, and Clay entered the office +where MacWilliams was telegraphing his orders to Kirkland. He +seated himself beside the instrument, and from time to time +answered the questions Kirkland sent back to him over the wire, +and in the intervals of silence thought of Hope. It was the +first time he had gone into action feeling the touch of a woman's +hand upon his sleeve, and he was fearful lest she might think he +had considered her too lightly. + +He took a piece of paper from the table and wrote a few lines +upon it, and then rewrote them several times. The message he +finally sent to her was this: ``I am sure you understand, and +that you would not have me give up beaten now, when what we do +to-day may set us right again. I know better than any one else +in the world can know, what I run the risk of losing, but you +would not have that fear stop me from going on with what we have +been struggling for so long. I cannot come back to see you +before we start, but I know your heart is with me. With great +love, Robert Clay.'' + +He gave the note to his servant, and the answer was brought +to him almost immediately. Hope had not rewritten her message: +``I love you because you are the sort of man you are, and had you +given up as father wished you to do, or on my account, you would +have been some one else, and I would have had to begin over again +to learn to love you for some different reasons. I know that you +will come back to me bringing your sheaves with you. Nothing can +happen to you now. Hope.'' + +He had never received a line from her before, and he read and +reread this with a sense of such pride and happiness in his face +that MacWilliams smiled covertly and bent his eyes upon his +instrument. Clay went back into his room and kissed the page of +paper gently, flushing like a boy as he did so, and then folding +it carefully, he put it away beneath his jacket. He glanced +about him guiltily, although he was quite alone, and taking out +his watch, pried it open and looked down into the face of the +photograph that had smiled up at him from it for so many years. +He thought how unlike it was to Alice Langham as he knew her. He +judged that it must have been taken when she was very young, at +the age Hope was then, before the little world she lived in had +crippled and narrowed her and marked her for its own. He +remembered what she had said to him the first night he had +seen her. ``That is the picture of the girl who ceased to exist +four years ago, and whom you have never met.'' He wondered if +she had ever existed. + +``It looks more like Hope than her sister,'' he mused. ``It +looks very much like Hope.'' He decided that he would let it +remain where it was until Hope gave him a better one; and smiling +slightly he snapped the lid fast, as though he were closing a +door on the face of Alice Langham and locking it forever. + +Kirkland was in the cab of the locomotive that brought the +soldiers from the mine. He stopped the first car in front of the +freight station until the workmen had filed out and formed into a +double line on the platform. Then he moved the train forward the +length of that car, and those in the one following were mustered +out in a similar manner. As the cars continued to come in, the +men at the head of the double line passed on through the freight +station and on up the road to the city in an unbroken column. +There was no confusion, no crowding, and no haste. + +When the last car had been emptied, Clay rode down the line and +appointed a foreman to take charge of each company, stationing +his engineers and the Irish-Americans in the van. It looked more +like a mob than a regiment. None of the men were in +uniform, and the native soldiers were barefoot. But they showed +a winning spirit, and stood in as orderly an array as though they +were drawn up in line to receive their month's wages. The +Americans in front of the column were humorously disposed, and +inclined to consider the whole affair as a pleasant outing. They +had been placed in front, not because they were better shots than +the natives, but because every South American thinks that every +citizen of the United States is a master either of the rifle or +the revolver, and Clay was counting on this superstition. His +assistant engineers and foremen hailed him as he rode on up and +down the line with good-natured cheers, and asked him when they +were to get their commissions, and if it were true that they were +all captains, or only colonels, as they were at home. + +They had been waiting for a half-hour, when there was the sound +of horses' hoofs on the road, and the even beat of men's feet, +and the advance guard of the Third and Fourth regiments came +toward them at a quickstep. The men were still in the full-dress +uniforms they had worn at the review the day before, and in +comparison with the soldier-workmen and the Americans in flannel +shirts, they presented so martial a showing that they were +welcomed with tumultuous cheers. Clay threw them into a double +line on one side of the road, down the length of which his +own marched until they had reached the end of it nearest to the +city, when they took up their position in a close formation, and +the native regiments fell in behind them. Clay selected twenty +of the best shots from among the engineers and sent them on ahead +as a skirmish line. They were ordered to fall back at once if +they saw any sign of the enemy. In this order the column of four +thousand men started for the city. + +It was a little after seven when they advanced. and the air was +mild and peaceful. Men and women came crowding to the doors and +windows of the huts as they passed, and stood watching them in +silence, not knowing to which party the small army might belong. +In order to enlighten them, Clay shouted, ``Viva Rojas.'' And +his men took it up, and the people answered gladly. + +They had reached the closely built portion of the city when the +skirmish line came running back to say that it had been met by a +detachment of Mendoza's cavalry, who had galloped away as soon as +they saw them. There was then no longer any doubt that the fact +of their coming was known at the Palace, and Clay halted his men +in a bare plaza and divided them into three columns. Three +streets ran parallel with one another from this plaza to the +heart of the city, and opened directly upon the garden of +the Palace where Mendoza had fortified himself. Clay directed +the columns to advance up these streets, keeping the head of each +column in touch with the other two. At the word they were to +pour down the side streets and rally to each other's assistance. + +As they stood, drawn up on the three sides of the plaza, he rode +out before them and held up his hat for silence. They were there +with arms in their hands, he said, for two reasons: the greater +one, and the one which he knew actuated the native soldiers, was +their desire to preserve the Constitution of the Republic. +According to their own laws, the Vice-President must succeed when +the President's term of office had expired, or in the event of +his death. President Alvarez had been assassinated, and the +Vice-President, General Rojas, was, in consequence, his legal +successor. It was their duty, as soldiers of the Republic, to +rescue him from prison, to drive the man who had usurped his +place into exile, and by so doing uphold the laws which they had +themselves laid down. The second motive, he went on, was a less +worthy and more selfish one. The Olancho mines, which now gave +work to thousands and brought millions of dollars into the +country, were coveted by Mendoza, who would, if he could, convert +them into a monopoly of his government. If he remained in +power all foreigners would be driven out of the country, and the +soldiers would be forced to work in the mines without payment. +Their condition would be little better than that of the slaves in +the salt mines of Siberia. Not only would they no longer be paid +for their labor, but the people as a whole would cease to receive +that share of the earnings of the mines which had hitherto been +theirs. + +``Under President Rojas you will have liberty, justice, and +prosperity,'' Clay cried. ``Under Mendoza you will be ruled by +martial law. He will rob and overtax you, and you will live +through a reign of terror. Between them--which will you +choose?'' + +The native soldiers answered by cries of ``Rojas,'' and breaking +ranks rushed across the plaza toward him, crowding around his +horse and shouting, ``Long live Rojas,'' ``Long live the +Constitution,'' ``Death to Mendoza.'' The Americans stood as +they were and gave three cheers for the Government. + +They were still cheering and shouting as they advanced upon the +Palace, and the noise of their coming drove the people indoors, +so that they marched through deserted streets and between closed +doors and sightless windows. No one opposed them, and no one +encouraged them. But they could now see the facade of the +Palace and the flag of the Revolutionists hanging from the mast +in front of it. + +Three blocks distant from the Palace they came upon the buildings +of the United States and English Legations, where the flags of +the two countries had been hung out over the narrow thoroughfare. + +The windows and the roofs of each legation were crowded with +women and children who had sought refuge there, and the column +halted as Weimer, the Consul, and Sir Julian Pindar, the English +Minister, came out, bare-headed, into the street and beckoned to +Clay to stop. + +``As our Minister was not here,'' Weimer said, ``I telegraphed to +Truxillo for the man-of-war there. She started some time ago, +and we have just heard that she is entering the lower harbor. +She should have her blue-jackets on shore in twenty minutes. Sir +Julian and I think you ought to wait for them.'' + +The English Minister put a detaining hand on Clay's bridle. ``If +you attack Mendoza at the Palace with this mob,'' he +remonstrated, ``rioting and lawlessness generally will break out +all over the city. I ask you to keep them back until we get your +sailors to police the streets and protect property.'' + +Clay glanced over his shoulder at the engineers and the +Irish workmen standing in solemn array behind him. ``Oh, you can +hardly call this a mob,'' he said. ``They look a little rough +and ready, but I will answer for them. The two other columns +that are coming up the streets parallel to this are Government +troops and properly engaged in driving a usurper out of the +Government building. The best thing you can do is to get down to +the wharf and send the marines and blue-jackets where you think +they will do the most good. I can't wait for them. And they +can't come too soon.'' + +The grounds of the Palace occupied two entire blocks; the +Botanical Gardens were in the rear, and in front a series of low +terraces ran down from its veranda to the high iron fence which +separated the grounds from the chief thoroughfare of the city. + +Clay sent word to the left and right wing of his little army to +make a detour one street distant from the Palace grounds and form +in the street in the rear of the Botanical Gardens. When they +heard the firing of his men from the front they were to force +their way through the gates at the back and attack the Palace in +the rear. + +``Mendoza has the place completely barricaded,'' Weimer warned +him, ``and he has three field pieces covering each of these +streets. You and your men are directly in line of one of them +now. He is only waiting for you to get a little nearer +before he lets loose.'' + +From where he sat Clay could count the bars of the iron fence in +front of the grounds. But the boards that backed them prevented +his forming any idea of the strength or the distribution of +Mendoza's forces. He drew his staff of amateur officers to one +side and explained the situation to them. + +``The Theatre National and the Club Union,'' he said, ``face the +Palace from the opposite corners of this street. You must get +into them and barricade the windows and throw up some sort of +shelter for yourselves along the edge of the roofs and drive the +men behind that fence back to the Palace. Clear them away from +the cannon first, and keep them away from it. I will be waiting +in the street below. When you have driven them back, we will +charge the gates and have it out with them in the gardens. The +Third and Fourth regiments ought to take them in the rear about +the same time. You will continue to pick them off from the +roof.'' + +The two supporting columns had already started on their +roundabout way to the rear of the Palace. Clay gathered up his +reins, and telling his men to keep close to the walls, started +forward, his soldiers following on the sidewalks and leaving +the middle of the street clear. As they reached a point a +hundred yards below the Palace, a part of the wooden shield +behind the fence was thrown down, there was a puff of white smoke +and a report, and a cannon-ball struck the roof of a house which +they were passing and sent the tiles clattering about their +heads. But the men in the lead had already reached the stage- +door of the theatre and were opposite one of the doors to the +club. They drove these in with the butts of their rifles, and +raced up the stairs of each of the deserted buildings until they +reached the roof. Langham was swept by a weight of men across a +stage, and jumped among the music racks in the orchestra. He +caught a glimpse of the early morning sun shining on the tawdry +hangings of the boxes and the exaggerated perspective of the +scenery. He ran through corridors between two great statues of +Comedy and Tragedy, and up a marble stair case to a lobby in +which he saw the white faces about him multiplied in long +mirrors, and so out to an iron balcony from which he looked down, +panting and breathless, upon the Palace Gardens, swarming with +soldiers and white with smoke. Men poured through the windows of +the club opposite, dragging sofas and chairs out to the balcony +and upon the flat roof. The men near him were tearing down the +yellow silk curtains in the lobby and draping them along the +railing of the balcony to better conceal their movements from the +enemy below. Bullets spattered the stucco about their heads, and +panes of glass broke suddenly and fell in glittering particles +upon their shoulders. The firing had already begun from the +roofs near them. Beyond the club and the theatre and far along +the street on each side of the Palace the merchants were slamming +the iron shutters of their shops, and men and women were running +for refuge up the high steps of the church of Santa Maria. +Others were gathered in black masses on the balconies and roofs +of the more distant houses, where they stood outlined against the +soft blue sky in gigantic silhouette. Their shouts of +encouragement and anger carried clearly in the morning air, and +spurred on the gladiators below to greater effort. In the Palace +Gardens a line of Mendoza's men fought from behind the first +barricade, while others dragged tables and bedding and chairs +across the green terraces and tumbled them down to those below, +who seized them and formed them into a second line of defence. + +Two of the assistant engineers were kneeling at Langham's feet +with the barrels of their rifles resting on the railing of the +balcony. Their eyes had been trained for years to judge +distances and to measure space, and they glanced along the +sights of their rifles as though they were looking through +the lens of a transit, and at each report their faces grew more +earnest and their lips pressed tighter together. One of them +lowered his gun to light a cigarette, and Langham handed him his +match-box, with a certain feeling of repugnance. + +``Better get under cover, Mr. Langham,'' the man said, kindly. +``There's no use our keeping your mines for you if you're not +alive to enjoy them. Take a shot at that crew around the gun.'' + +``I don't like this long range business,'' Langham answered. ``I +am going down to join Clay. I don't like the idea of hitting a +man when he isn't looking at you.'' + +The engineer gave an incredulous laugh. + +``If he isn't looking at you, he's aiming at the man next to you. + +`Live and let Live' doesn't apply at present.'' + +As Langham reached Clay's side triumphant shouts arose from the +roof-tops, and the men posted there stood up and showed +themselves above the barricades and called to Clay that the +cannon were deserted. + +Kirkland had come prepared for the barricade, and, running across +the street, fastened a dynamite cartridge to each gate post and +lit the fuses. The soldiers scattered before him as he came +leaping back, and in an instant later there was a racking +roar, and the gates were pitched out of their sockets and thrown +forward, and those in the street swept across them and surrounded +the cannon. + +Langham caught it by the throat as though it were human, and did +not feel the hot metal burning the palms of his hands as he +choked it and pointed its muzzle toward the Palace, while the +others dragged at the spokes of the wheel. It was fighting at +close range now, close enough to suit even Langham. He found +himself in the front rank of it without knowing exactly how he +got there. Every man on both sides was playing his own hand, and +seemed to know exactly what to do. He felt neglected and very +much alone, and was somewhat anxious lest his valor might be +wasted through his not knowing how to put it to account. He saw +the enemy in changing groups of scowling men, who seemed to eye +him for an instant down the length of a gun-barrel and then +disappear behind a puff of smoke. He kept thinking that war made +men take strange liberties with their fellow-men, and it struck +him as being most absurd that strangers should stand up and try +to kill one another, men who had so little in common that they +did not even know one another's names. The soldiers who were +fighting on his own side were equally unknown to him, and he +looked in vain for Clay. He saw MacWilliams for a moment +through the smoke, jabbing at a jammed cartridge with his pen- +knife, and hacking the lead away to make it slip. He was +remonstrating with the gun and swearing at it exactly as though +it were human, and as Langham ran toward him he threw it away and +caught up another from the ground. Kneeling beside the wounded +man who had dropped it and picking the cartridges from his belt, +he assured him cheerfully that he was not so badly hurt as he +thought. + +``You all right?'' Langham asked. + +``I'm all right. I'm trying to get a little laddie hiding behind +that blue silk sofa over there. He's taken an unnatural dislike +to me, and he's nearly got me three times. I'm knocking horse- +hair out of his rampart, though.'' + +The men of Stuart's body-guard were fighting outside of the +breastworks and mattresses. They were using their swords as +though they were machetes, and the Irishmen were swinging their +guns around their shoulders like sledge-hammers, and beating +their foes over the head and breast. The guns at his own side +sounded close at Langham's ear, and deafened him, and those of +the enemy exploded so near to his face that he was kept +continually winking and dodging, as though he were being taken by +a flashlight photograph. When he fired he aimed where the +mass was thickest, so that he might not see what his bullet did, +but he remembered afterward that he always reloaded with the most +anxious swiftness in order that he might not be killed before he +had had another shot, and that the idea of being killed was of no +concern to him except on that account. Then the scene before him +changed, and apparently hundreds of Mendoza's soldiers poured out +from the Palace and swept down upon him, cheering as they came, +and he felt himself falling back naturally and as a matter of +course, as he would have stepped out of the way of a locomotive, +or a runaway horse, or any other unreasoning thing. His +shoulders pushed against a mass of shouting, sweating men, who in +turn pressed back upon others, until the mass reached the iron +fence and could move no farther. He heard Clay's voice shouting +to them, and saw him run forward, shooting rapidly as he ran, and +he followed him, even though his reason told him it was a useless +thing to do, and then there came a great shout from the rear of +the Palace, and more soldiers, dressed exactly like the others, +rushed through the great doors and swarmed around the two wings +of the building, and he recognized them as Rojas's men and knew +that the fight was over. + +He saw a tall man with a negro's face spring out of the +first mass of soldiers and shout to them to follow him. Clay +gave a yell of welcome and ran at him, calling upon him in +Spanish to surrender. The negro stopped and stood at bay, +glaring at Clay and at the circle of soldiers closing in around +him. He raised his revolver and pointed it steadily. It was as +though the man knew he had only a moment to live, and meant to do +that one thing well in the short time left him. + +Clay sprang to one side and ran toward him, dodging to the right +and left, but Mendoza followed his movements carefully with his +revolver. + +It lasted but an instant. Then the Spaniard threw his arm +suddenly across his face, drove the heel of his boot into the +turf, and spinning about on it fell forward. + +``If he was shot where his sash crosses his heart, I know the man +who did it,'' Langham heard a voice say at his elbow, and turning +saw MacWilliams wetting his fingers at his lips and touching them +gingerly to the heated barrel of his Winchester. + +The death of Mendoza left his followers without a leader and +without a cause. They threw their muskets on the ground and held +their hands above their heads, shrieking for mercy. Clay and his +officers answered them instantly by running from one group +to another, knocking up the barrels of the rifles and calling +hoarsely to the men on the roofs to cease firing, and as they +were obeyed the noise of the last few random shots was drowned in +tumultuous cheering and shouts of exultation, that, starting in +the gardens, were caught up by those in the streets and passed on +quickly as a line of flame along the swaying housetops. + +The native officers sprang upon Clay and embraced him after their +fashion, hailing him as the Liberator of Olancho, as the +Preserver of the Constitution, and their brother patriot. Then +one of them climbed to the top of a gilt and marble table and +proclaimed him military President. + +``You'll proclaim yourself an idiot, if you don't get down from +there,'' Clay said, laughing. ``I thank you for permitting me to +serve with you, gentlemen. I shall have great pleasure in +telling our President how well you acquitted yourself in this +row--battle, I mean. And now I would suggest that you store the +prisoners' weapons in the Palace and put a guard over them, and +then conduct the men themselves to the military prison, where you +can release General Rojas and escort him back to the city in a +triumphal procession. You'd like that, wouldn't you?'' + +But the natives protested that that honor was for him alone. +Clay declined it, pleading that he must look after his wounded. + +``I can hardly believe there are any dead,'' he said to Kirkland. + +``For, if it takes two thousand bullets to kill a man in European +warfare, it must require about two hundred thousand to kill a man +in South America.'' + +He told Kirkland to march his men back to the mines and to see +that there were no stragglers. ``If they want to celebrate, let +them celebrate when they get to the mines, but not here. They +have made a good record to-day and I won't have it spoiled by +rioting. They shall have their reward later. Between Rojas and +Mr. Langham they should all be rich men.'' + +The cheering from the housetops since the firing ceased had +changed suddenly into hand-clappings, and the cries, though still +undistinguishable, were of a different sound. Clay saw that the +Americans on the balconies of the club and of the theatre had +thrown themselves far over the railings and were all looking in +the same direction and waving their hats and cheering loudly, and +he heard above the shouts of the people the regular tramp of +men's feet marching in step, and the rattle of a machine gun as +it bumped and shook over the rough stones. He gave a shout of +pleasure, and Kirkland and the two boys ran with him up the +slope, crowding each other to get a better view. The mob +parted at the Palace gates, and they saw two lines of blue- +jackets, spread out like the sticks of a fan, dragging the gun +between them, the middies in their tight-buttoned tunics and +gaiters, and behind them more blue-jackets with bare, bronzed +throats, and with the swagger and roll of the sea in their legs +and shoulders. An American flag floated above the white helmets +of the marines. Its presence and the sense of pride which the +sight of these men from home awoke in them made the fight just +over seem mean and petty, and they took off their hats and +cheered with the others. + +A first lieutenant, who felt his importance and also a sense of +disappointment at having arrived too late to see the fighting, +left his men at the gate of the Palace, and advanced up the +terrace, stopping to ask for information as he came. Each group +to which he addressed himself pointed to Clay. The sight of his +own flag had reminded Clay that the banner of Mendoza still hung +from the mast beside which he was standing, and as the officer +approached he was busily engaged in untwisting its halyards and +pulling it down. + +The lieutenant saluted him doubtfully. + +``Can you tell me who is in command here?'' he asked. He spoke +somewhat sharply, for Clay was not a military looking personage, +covered as he was with dust and perspiration, and with his +sombrero on the back of his head. + +``Our Consul here told us at the landing-place,'' continued the +lieutenant in an aggrieved tone, ``that a General Mendoza was in +power, and that I had better report to him, and then ten minutes +later I hear that he is dead and that a General Rojas is +President, but that a man named Clay has made himself Dictator. +My instructions are to recognize no belligerents, but to report +to the Government party. Now, who is the Government party?'' + +Clay brought the red-barred flag down with a jerk, and ripped it +free from the halyards. Kirkland and the two boys were watching +him with amused smiles. + +``I appreciate your difficulty,'' he said. ``President Alvarez +is dead, and General Mendoza, who tried to make himself Dictator, +is also dead, and the real President, General Rojas, is still in +jail. So at present I suppose that I represent the Government +party, at least I am the man named Clay. It hadn't occurred to +me before, but, until Rojas is free, I guess I am the Dictator of +Olancho. Is Madame Alvarez on board your ship?'' + +``Yes, she is with us,'' the officer replied, in some confusion. +``Excuse me--are you the three gentlemen who took her to the +yacht? I am afraid I spoke rather hastily just now, but you +are not in uniform, and the Government seems to change so quickly +down here that a stranger finds it hard to keep up with it.'' + +Six of the native officers had approached as the lieutenant was +speaking and saluted Clay gravely. ``We have followed your +instructions,'' one of them said, ``and the regiments are ready +to march with the prisoners. Have you any further orders for +us--can we deliver any messages to General Rojas?'' + +``Present my congratulations to General Rojas, and best wishes,'' +said Clay. ``And tell him for me, that it would please me +greatly if he would liberate an American citizen named Burke, who +is at present in the cuartel. And that I wish him to promote all +of you gentlemen one grade and give each of you the Star of +Olancho. Tell him that in my opinion you have deserved even +higher reward and honor at his hands.'' + +The boy-lieutenants broke out into a chorus of delighted thanks. +They assured Clay that he was most gracious; that he overwhelmed +them, and that it was honor enough for them that they had served +under him. But Clay laughed, and drove them off with a paternal +wave of the hand. + +The officer from the man-of-war listened with an uncomfortable +sense of having blundered in his manner toward this powder- +splashed young man who set American citizens at liberty, and +created captains by the half-dozen at a time. + +``Are you from the States?'' he asked as they moved toward the +man-of-war's men. + +``I am, thank God. Why not?'' + +``I thought you were, but you saluted like an Englishman.'' + +``I was an officer in the English army once in the Soudan, when +they were short of officers.'' Clay shook his head and looked +wistfully at the ranks of the blue-jackets drawn up on either +side of them. The horses had been brought out and Langham and +MacWilliams were waiting for him to mount. ``I have worn several +uniforms since I was a boy,'' said Clay. ``But never that of my +own country.'' + +The people were cheering him from every part of the square. +Women waved their hands from balconies and housetops, and men +climbed to awnings and lampposts and shouted his name. The +officers and men of the landing party took note of him and of +this reception out of the corner of their eyes, and wondered. + +``And what had I better do?'' asked the commanding officer. + +``Oh, I would police the Palace grounds, if I were you, and +picket that street at the right, where there are so many +wine shops, and preserve order generally until Rojas gets here. +He won't be more than an hour, now. We shall be coming over to +pay our respects to your captain to-morrow. Glad to have met +you.'' + +``Well, I'm glad to have met you,'' answered the officer, +heartily. ``Hold on a minute. Even if you haven't worn our +uniform, you're as good, and better, than some I've seen that +have, and you're a sort of a commander-in-chief, anyway, and I'm +damned if I don't give you a sort of salute.'' + +Clay laughed like a boy as he swung himself into the saddle. The +officer stepped back and gave the command; the middies raised +their swords and Clay passed between massed rows of his +countrymen with their muskets held rigidly toward him. The +housetops rocked again at the sight, and as he rode out into the +brilliant sunshine, his eyes were wet and winking. + +The two boys had drawn up at his side, but MacWilliams had turned +in the saddle and was still looking toward the Palace, with his +hand resting on the hindquarters of his pony. + +``Look back, Clay,'' he said. ``Take a last look at it, you'll +never see it after to-day. Turn again, turn again, Dictator of +Olancho.'' + +The men laughed and drew rein as he bade them, and looked +back up the narrow street. They saw the green and white flag of +Olancho creeping to the top of the mast before the Palace, the +blue-jackets driving back the crowd, the gashes in the walls of +the houses, where Mendoza's cannonballs had dug their way through +the stucco, and the silk curtains, riddled with bullets, flapping +from the balconies of the opera-house. + +``You had it all your own way an hour ago,'' MacWilliams said, +mockingly. ``You could have sent Rojas into exile, and made us +all Cabinet Ministers--and you gave it up for a girl. Now, +you're Dictator of Olancho. What will you be to-morrow? To- +morrow you will be Andrew Langham's son-in-law--Benedict, the +married man. Andrew Langham's son-in-law cannot ask his wife to +live in such a hole as this, so--Goodbye, Mr. Clay. We have been +long together.'' + +Clay and Langham looked curiously at the boy to see if he were in +earnest, but MacWilliams would not meet their eyes. + +``There were three of us,'' he said, ``and one got shot, and one +got married, and the third--? You will grow fat, Clay, and live +on Fifth Avenue and wear a high silk hat, and some day when +you're sitting in your club you'll read a paragraph in a +newspaper with a queer Spanish date-line to it, and this will all +come back to you,--this heat, and the palms, and the fever, +and the days when you lived on plantains and we watched our +trestles grow out across the canons, and you'll be willing to +give your hand to sleep in a hammock again, and to feel the sweat +running down your back, and you'll want to chuck your gun up +against your chin and shoot into a line of men, and the policemen +won't let you, and your wife won't let you. That's what you're +giving up. There it is. Take a good look at it. You'll never +see it again.'' + + + +XV + +The steamer ``Santiago,'' carrying ``passengers, bullion, and +coffee,'' was headed to pass Porto Rico by midnight, when she +would be free of land until she anchored at the quarantine +station of the green hills of Staten Island. She had not yet +shaken off the contamination of the earth; a soft inland breeze +still tantalized her with odors of tree and soil, the smell of +the fresh coat of paint that had followed her coaling rose from +her sides, and the odor of spilt coffee-grains that hung around +the hatches had yet to be blown away by a jealous ocean breeze, +or washed by a welcoming cross sea. + +The captain stopped at the open entrance of the Social Hall. +``If any of you ladies want to take your last look at Olancho +you've got to come now,'' he said. ``We'll lose the Valencia +light in the next quarter hour.'' + +Miss Langham and King looked up from their novels and smiled, and +Miss Langham shook her head. ``I've taken three final farewells +of Olancho already,'' she said: ``before we went down to +dinner, and when the sun set, and when the moon rose. I have no +more sentiment left to draw on. Do you want to go?'' she asked. + +``I'm very comfortable, thank you,'' King said, and returned to +the consideration of his novel. + +But Clay and Hope arose at the captain's suggestion with +suspicious alacrity, and stepped out upon the empty deck, and +into the encompassing darkness, with a little sigh of relief. + +Alice Langham looked after them somewhat wistfully and bit the +edges of her book. She sat for some time with her brows knitted, +glancing occasionally and critically toward King and up with +unseeing eyes at the swinging lamps of the saloon. He caught her +looking at him once when he raised his eyes as he turned a page, +and smiled back at her, and she nodded pleasantly and bent her +head over her reading. She assured herself that after all King +understood her and she him, and that if they never rose to +certain heights, they never sank below a high level of mutual +esteem, and that perhaps was the best in the end. + +King had placed his yacht at the disposal of Madame Alvarez, and +she had sailed to Colon, where she could change to the steamers +for Lisbon, while he accompanied the Langhams and the wedding +party to New York. + +Clay recognized that the time had now arrived in his life +when he could graduate from the position of manager-director and +become the engineering expert, and that his services in Olancho +were no longer needed. + +With Rojas in power Mr. Langham had nothing further to fear from +the Government, and with Kirkland in charge and young Langham +returning after a few months' absence to resume his work, he felt +himself free to enjoy his holiday. + +They had taken the first steamer out, and the combined efforts of +all had been necessary to prevail upon MacWilliams to accompany +them; and even now the fact that he was to act as Clay's best man +and, as Langham assured him cheerfully, was to wear a frock coat +and see his name in all the papers, brought on such sudden panics +of fear that the fast-fading coast line filled his soul with +regret, and a wilful desire to jump overboard and swim back. + +Clay and Hope stopped at the door of the chief engineer's cabin +and said they had come to pay him a visit. The chief had but +just come from the depths where the contamination of the earth +was most evident in the condition of his stokers; but his chin +was now cleanly shaven, and his pipe was drawing as well as his +engine fires, and he had wrapped himself in an old P. & O. white +duck jacket to show what he had been before he sank to the +level of a coasting steamer. They admired the clerk-like +neatness of the report he had just finished, and in return he +promised them the fastest run on record, and showed them the +portrait of his wife, and of their tiny cottage on the Isle of +Wight, and his jade idols from Corea, and carved cocoanut gourds +from Brazil, and a picture from the ``Graphic'' of Lord +Salisbury, tacked to the partition and looking delightedly down +between two highly colored lithographs of Miss Ellen Terry and +the Princess May. + +Then they called upon the captain, and Clay asked him why +captains always hung so much lace about their beds when they +invariably slept on a red velvet sofa with their boots on, and +the captain ordered his Chinese steward to mix them a queer drink +and offered them the choice of a six months' accumulation of +paper novels, and free admittance to his bridge at all hours. +And then they passed on to the door of the smoking-room and +beckoned MacWilliams to come out and join them. His manner as he +did so bristled with importance, and he drew them eagerly to the +rail. + +``I've just been having a chat with Captain Burke,'' he said, in +an undertone. ``He's been telling Langham and me about a new +game that's better than running railroads. He says there's a +country called Macedonia that's got a native prince who +wants to be free from Turkey, and the Turks won't let him, and +Burke says if we'll each put up a thousand dollars, he'll +guarantee to get the prince free in six months. He's made an +estimate of the cost and submitted it to the Russian Embassy at +Washington, and he says they will help him secretly, and he knows +a man who has just patented a new rifle, and who will supply him +with a thousand of them for the sake of the advertisement. He +says it's a mountainous country, and all you have to do is to +stand on the passes and roll rocks down on the Turks as they come +in. It sounds easy, doesn't it?'' + +``Then you're thinking of turning professional filibuster +yourself?'' said Clay. + +``Well, I don't know. It sounds more interesting than +engineering. Burke says I beat him on his last fight, and he'd +like to have me with him in the next one--sort of young-blood-in- +the-firm idea--and he calculates that we can go about setting +people free and upsetting governments for some time to come. He +says there is always something to fight about if you look for it. +And I must say the condition of those poor Macedonians does +appeal to me. Think of them all alone down there bullied by that +Sultan of Turkey, and wanting to be free and independent. That's +not right. You, as an American citizen, ought to be the +last person in the world to throw cold water on an +undertaking like that. In the name of Liberty now?'' + +``I don't object; set them free, of course,'' laughed Clay. +``But how long have you entertained this feeling for the enslaved +Macedonians, Mac?'' + +``Well, I never heard of them until a quarter of an hour ago, but +they oughtn't to suffer through my ignorance.'' + +``Certainly not. Let me know when you're going to do it, and +Hope and I will run over and look on. I should like to see you +and Burke and the Prince of Macedonia rolling rocks down on the +Turkish Empire.'' + +Hope and Clay passed on up the deck laughing, and MacWilliams +looked after them with a fond and paternal smile. The lamp in +the wheelhouse threw a broad belt of light across the forward +deck as they passed through it into the darkness of the bow, +where the lonely lookout turned and stared at them suspiciously, +and then resumed his stern watch over the great waters. + +They leaned upon the rail and breathed the soft air which the +rush of the steamer threw in their faces, and studied in silence +the stars that lay so low upon the horizon line that they looked +like the harbor lights of a great city. + +``Do you see that long line of lamps off our port bow?'' asked +Clay. + +Hope nodded. + +``Those are the electric lights along the ocean drive at Long +Branch and up the Rumson Road, and those two stars a little +higher up are fixed to the mast-heads of the Scotland Lightship. +And that mass of light that you think is the Milky Way, is the +glare of the New York street lamps thrown up against the sky.'' + +``Are we so near as that?'' said Hope, smiling. ``And what lies +over there?'' she asked, pointing to the east. + +``Over there is the coast of Africa. Don't you see the +lighthouse on Cape Bon? If it wasn't for Gibraltar being in the +way, I could show you the harbor lights of Bizerta, and the +terraces of Algiers shining like a cafe' chantant in the +night.'' + +``Algiers,'' sighed Hope, ``where you were a soldier of Africa, +and rode across the deserts. Will you take me there?'' + +``There, of course, but to Gibraltar first, where we will drive +along the Alameda by moonlight. I drove there once coming home +from a mess dinner with the Colonel. The drive lies between +broad white balustrades, and the moon shone down on us between +the leaves of the Spanish bayonet. It was like an Italian +garden. But he did not see it, and he would talk to me +about the Watkins range finder on the lower ramparts, and he +puffed on a huge cigar. I tried to imagine I was there on my +honeymoon, but the end of his cigar would light up and I would +see his white mustache and the glow on his red jacket, so I vowed +I would go over that drive again with the proper person. And we +won't talk of range finders, will we? + +``There to the North is Paris; your Paris, and my Paris, with +London only eight hours away. If you look very closely, you can +see the thousands of hansom cab lamps flashing across the +asphalt, and the open theatres, and the fairy lamps in the +gardens back of the houses in Mayfair, where they are giving +dances in your honor, in honor of the beautiful American bride, +whom every one wants to meet. And you will wear the finest tiara +we can get on Bond Street, but no one will look at it; they will +only look at you. And I will feel very miserable and tease you +to come home.'' + +Hope put her hand in his, and he held her finger-tips to his lips +for an instant and closed his other hand upon hers. + +``And after that?'' asked Hope. + +``After that we will go to work again, and take long journeys to +Mexico and Peru or wherever they want me, and I will sit in +judgment on the work other chaps have done. And when we get +back to our car at night, or to the section house, for it will be +very rough sometimes,''--Hope pressed his hand gently in +answer,--``I will tell you privately how very differently your +husband would have done it, and you, knowing all about it, will +say that had it been left to me, I would certainly have +accomplished it in a vastly superior manner.'' + +``Well, so you would,'' said Hope, calmly. + +``That's what I said you'd say,'' laughed Clay. ``Dearest,'' he +begged, ``promise me something. Promise me that you are going to +be very happy.'' + +Hope raised her eyes and looked up at him in silence, and had the +man in the wheelhouse been watching the stars, as he should have +been, no one but the two foolish young people on the bow of the +boat would have known her answer. + +The ship's bell sounded eight times, and Hope moved slightly. + +``So late as that,'' she sighed. ``Come. We must be going +back.'' + +A great wave struck the ship's side a friendly slap, and the wind +caught up the spray and tossed it in their eyes, and blew a +strand of her hair loose so that it fell across Clay's face, and +they laughed happily together as she drew it back and he took her +hand again to steady her progress across the slanting deck. + +As they passed hand in hand out of the shadow into the light from +the wheelhouse, the lookout in the bow counted the strokes of the +bell to himself, and then turned and shouted back his measured +cry to the bridge above them. His voice seemed to be a part of +the murmuring sea and the welcoming winds. + +``Listen,'' said Clay. + +``Eight bells,'' the voice sang from the darkness. ``The for'ard +light's shining bright--and all's well.'' + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Soldiers of Fortune, by Davis + |