Captain Macklin

n, and I found it rich in incident and adventure. Everything was new and strange, but nothing was so strange as my own freedom. After three years of discipli

d. I rated the chance acquaintances of the smoking-car as aids to a clear understanding of mankind, and when at Washington I s

giments had camped, where homesteads had been burned, and where real battles, not of my own imagining, but which had cost the lives of many men, had been lost and won. I found that to these chance acquaintances the events of which they spoke were as fresh after twenty years as though they had occurred but yesterday, and they accepted my curiosity as only a natural interest in a still vital subject. I judged it advisable not to mention that General Hamilton was my grandfather. Instead I told them

of cotton-fields, of tobacco growing in the leaf, were great moments to me; and that the men who guarded the ne

y transport and supplies, and purchased such articles as I considered necessary for a rough campaign in a tropical climate. My purchases consisted of a revolver, a money-belt, in which to carry my small fortune, which I had exchanged into gold double-eagles, a pair of field-glasse

nks slipping past us on either side, the gloomy cypress-trees heavy with gray moss, the abandoned cotton-gins and disused negro quarters. As I did so a feeling of homesickness and depre

e. It was a picture which held neither the freedom of the open sea nor the human element of the solid earth. It seemed to me as though the world must have looked so when darkness broo

came to me that at last I was at sea. I scrambled from my berth and pulled back the curtains of the air port. It was as though over night the ocean had crept up to my window. It stretched below me in great distances of a deep, beautiful blue. Tumbling waves were chasing each other over it, and mil

be. I had read many tales of the sea, but ships I knew only as they moved along the Hudson at the end of the towing-line. I had never felt one rise and fall beneath me, nor from

ant questions of the man at the wheel. The steward of the Panama was purser, supercargo, and bar-keeper in one, and a most interesting man. He apparently never slept, but at any hour was willing to sit and chat with me. It was he w

ll sergeant at the Academy, it was my habit to imagine myself in whatever position of responsibility my surroundings suggested. For this purpose the Panama served me excellently, and in scanning the horizon for hostile fleets or a pirate flag I was as conscientious as was the lookout in the bow. At the Academy I had often sat in my room with maps spread out before me planning

ck of interest. The passengers of the Panama came from widely different parts of Central America. They were coffee planters and mining engineers, concession hunters, and promoters of mining companies. I sounded each of them separately as to the condition of affairs in Honduras, and gave as my reason for inquiring the fact that I had thoughts of investing my money there. I talked rather largely of my money. But this information, instead of inducing them to speak of Honduras, only made each of them more eloquent in praising the particular republic in which his own money was invested, and each begged me to place

S, SAGUA LA GR

t could be true; that at last I should be about to act the life I had so long only rehearsed and pretended. But the pretence had changed to something living and actual. In front of me, under a flashing sun, I saw the palm-fringed harbor of my dreams, a white village of thatched mud houses, a row of ugly huts above which drooped limply the flags of foreign consuls, and, far beyon

g on the bridge, and the hawser was being drawn on board, the custom-house officers, much to my disquiet, began to search my trunk. I had nothing with me which was dutiable, but my grandfather's presentation sword was hidden in the trunk and its presence there and prospective use would be difficult to explain. It was accordingly with a feeling of satisfaction that

to those on the Panama, when the young man from the consula

way, churning the water as she swung slowly seaward, but s

ostling the native Indians and negro sold

creamed, "st

, and, running along the pierhead until h

cried. "My freight! You h

upon the rail, and regarded the young man

ung man demanded. "Where are the sewin

e Captain answered. "I left your

ked the young man

y. "The revenue officers have 'em by now, Mr. Aiken. Some parties said the

n stretched out one arm as though to detain he

ission merchant. I deal in whatever I

a wave of his hand in farewe

er." He returned and made a speaking trumpet of his hands. "Tell him from me," he shouted, mockingly, "th

ok both his fists

l lose your license for this. I'll fix you for

did not need a speaking trumpet now-his voice wo

o you? I'll have your tin sign taken away from you, before I touch this port again. You'll see-you-y

an recognized defeat, an

bserving him, and as I was the only person present who looked as th

him," he said. "He

as equivalent to

es Consul?" I asked. The

Where do you

wered. "I'd--I'd like to have a tal

elt, and the bar-room is half under water anyway. Or you can take a cot in my shack, if you like, and I'll board and lodge you for two pesos a day-that's one dollar in our money. And if you are going up country," he went on, "I can fit you out with

e to try," I s

confess moreover that at that moment I felt very far from home and was glad to meet an American, and one

walked with him up the pier, the native soldiers saluting him awkwardly as he passed. He return

German here is consular agent for France and Holland. You see, each of 'em has to represent some other country than his own, because his country knows why he left it." He threw back his head and laughed at this with great delight. Apparently he had already forgotten the rebuff from Captain Leeds. But it had m

om the reach of "sand jiggers" and the surf, which at high tide ran up the beach, under and beyond it. Inside it was rude and ba

a bottle of Jamaica rum. While he did this he began to grumble over the loss of his sewing-machines, and to swear picturesquely at Captain Leeds, bragging

d, in a tone of the utmost fam

om the Panama, and I asked if it was contrary to the law of Honduras for one

are some people who might prevent your getting to him," he answered, diplomatically. For a moment he s

's the game? You can trust me. You're an agent for

his foreign legion, and I came here to join him and to fight with him. That's all. I am a soldier of fortune, I said." I repeated this wi

imed Aiken, observing me with a gr

et I had seen no active service, but that for thr

ed me with marked interest. He was not a gentleman, but he was sharp-witted enough to recognize

he asked, "why the devil do you want t

said. "As I understand the situation, this President Alvarez is

ith a laugh, and place

a most offensive tone.

at do you mean

ringly, "that you came all the way down here,

ly am, but if I were taught nothing else at the Point, I was taught to tell the truth, and when Aike

, sir," I answered him, sharply. "You m

eech. His mouth opened and remained open while he slowly removed his f

you have got a nasty temper. I'd fo

nd my trunk to Pulido's. I fancy you and I won't hit it off together." I rose and started t

to get on your ear about. If I did, I'm sorry." He stepped forward, offering t

orgotten how to do the polite. Here, have another drink and start even." He was so eager and so suddenly h

ss you've come to the only person who can help you. If you'd gone to anyone else you'd probably have landed in jail." He glanced over his shoulder at the open door, and then, after a mysterious wink at me, tiptoed out upon the veranda, and ran rapidly around and through

him and buy two machine guns and invoice 'em to me at the consulate. Quay left on the next steamer and appointed me acting consul, but except for his saying so I've no more real authority to act as consul than you have. The plan was that when Laguerre captured this port he would pick up the guns and carry them on to Garcia. Laguerre was at Bluefields, but couldn't get into the game for lack of a boat. So when the Nancy Miller touched there he and his crowd boarded her just like a lot of old-fashioned pirates and turned the passengers out on the wharf. Then they put a gun at the head of the engineer and ordered him to ta

Laguerre seized one of

e fight began between Garcia and the Isthmian Line when Garcia became president. He tried to collect som

n into which I had precipitated myself somewhat invol

is rather confusing. Who is Fis

iske is? I mean old man Fiske, the Wall Street banker-Joseph

Joseph Fiske as a human being. At school and at the Point when we wanted to give the idea of wealth that could not be

aid. "But what has he

y the work of a New York business firm that wants a concession. If the president in office won't give it a concession the company starts out to find one who will. It hunts up a rival politician or a general of the army who wants to be president, and all of them do, and makes a deal with him. It promises him if he'll start a revolution it will back him with the money and the gu

't pay him enough to keep quiet. I don't know which it was, but, anyway, he sent an agent to New Orleans to examine the company's books. The agent discovered the earnings have been so enormous that by rights the Isthmian Line owed the government of Honduras $500,000. This was a great chance for Garcia, and he told them to put up the back pay or lose their charter. They refused and he got back at them by preventing their ships from taking on any cargo in Honduras, and by seizing their plant here and at Truxillo. Well, the company didn't dare to go to law about it, nor appeal to the State Department, so it started a revolution. It picked out a thief named Alvarez as a figure-head and helped him to bribe the army and capture the capital. Then he bought a decision from the local courts in favor of the company. After that there was no more talk about collecting back pay. Garcia was an exile in Nicaragua. There he met Laguerre, who is a professional soldier of fort

I exclaimed. "W

"Didn't you know that? He's up at the capital, visiting A

ing in a Hondurian rev

. He came here on his yacht. You can see her from the window, lying to the left of the buoy.

on the part of the Wall Street banker. I co

many millions a man has, he doesn't stand to

would never reach him. I suppose Joe Fiske is president of a dozen steamship lines, and all he does is to lend his name to this one, and preside at board meetings. The company's lawye

Fiske came down here

at I disliked him intensely. For the last half hour Aiken h

opan Silver Mines. Alvarez is terribly keen to get rid of him. He's afraid the revolutionists will catch him and hold him for ransom. He'd

hter!" I

ginary kiss up toward the roof. Then he drank what was left of his rum and water

I had not. I also resented his toasting her before a stranger. I knew he could not have met her, and his pretence of enthusiasm made hi

at when she rides along the trail

out in this country when she had a clean yacht to fall back on. She's been riding around on a mule, so they tell me, along wit

her father, and here was she, beautiful and an heiress to many millions. In the short space of a few seconds I had pictured myself rescuing her from brigands, denouncing her father for not paying his honest debt to Honduras, had been shot down by his escort, Miss Fiske had bandaged my wounds, and I was returning North as her prospective husband on my prospective father-in-law's yacht.

is moonlight,"

t his object in visiting Tegucigalpa was to persuade Joseph Fiske, as president of the Isthmian Line, to place buoys in the harbor of Porto Cortez and give the commission for their purchase to the commandante. Aiken then and always was the most graceful liar I have ever met. His fictions were never for his own advantage, at least not obviously so. Instea

mere boys in age and armed with old-fashioned Remingtons. But their officer, the captain of the guard, was more smartly dressed, and I was delighted to find that my knowledge of Spanish, in which my grandfather had so persistently drilled me, enabled me to understand all that passed between him and Aiken. The captain warned us that the revolutionists were camped along the trail, and that if challenged we had best answer quickly that we were Americanos. He also told us that General Laguerre and his legion of "gringoes" were in hiding in the highlands some two days' ride from the coast. Aiken expressed the greatest concern at this, and was for at once turning back. His agitation was so convincing, he was apparently so frightened, that, until he threw a quick wink at me, I confess I was completely taken in. Fo

It's because I have so much statecraft that I am a consul. You keep your

after he had dropped into a line behi

in secret service work, Aike

in order to see my face in the moon

didn't,"

asked, "were you eve

ut in jail for being a spy, and I ought to have been hung for

asked, eagerly. "About

ed, and rode on with

a big black background of experience and hard luck to get the perspective on that story," he explain

e work we are to carry out our orders. It's not dishonorable to obey orders.

gain turning away from me. "It was in

t had escaped me I could have kicked myself for havin

to show he did not wish to speak with me further, he spu

web. From the jungle we came to ill-smelling pools of mud and water, over which hung a white mist which rose as high as our heads. It was so heavy with moisture that our clothing dripped with it, and we were chilled until our

Y'S FEVER HO

written the last chapter the day Aiken and I halted at Sagua la Grande. When I read it over I felt that I was somehow much older than when I made that last entry. And yet it was only two months ago. It seems like two years. I don't feel much like writing about it, nor thinking about it, but I suppose, if I mean to keep my "memoirs" up to

at once, and I apologized to everyone-to the alcalde, and the priest, and the village school-master who had crossed the plaza to welcome us-and I asked them all to drink with me. I do not know that I ever enjoyed a breakfast more than I did the one we ate in the big cool inn with the striped awning outside, and the naked brown children watching us from the street, and the palms whispering overhead. The breakfast was good in itself, but it was my surroundings which made the meal so remarkable and the fact that I was no longer at home and responsible to someone, but that I was talking as one man to another, and in a foreign language to people who knew no other tongue. The inn-keeper was a fat little person in white drill and a red sash, in which he carried two silver-mounted pistols. He looked like a ring-master in a circus, but he cooked us a most wonderful omelette with tomatoes and onions and olives chopped up in it with oil. And an Indian woman made us tortillas, which are like our buckwheat cakes. It was fascinating to see her toss them up in the air, and slap them into shape with her hands. Outside the sun blazed upon the white rim of huts, and the great wooden cross in the plaza threw its shadow upon the yellow facade of th

and at times, by looking into the valley, I could see waterfalls and broad streams filled with rocks, which churned the water into a white foam. We passed under tall trees covered with white and purple flowers, and in the branches of

as the halyards of a ship, and others, as thick as one's leg; they were twisted and wrapped around the branches, so that they looked like boa-constrictors hanging ready to drop upon one's shoulders. The moonlight gave to this forest of great trees a weird, fantastic look. I felt like a knight entering an enchanted wood. But nothing disturbed our silence except the sud

e life in Sagua la Grand

f the palms, and startled hundreds of monkeys into wakefulness. We could hear their barks and cries echoing from every part of the forest, and as they sprang from o

with the idea that I was serving some good cause-that old-fashioned principles were forcing these men to fight for their independence. But I had been early undeceived. At the same time that I was enjoying my first sight of new and beautiful things I was being robbed of my illusions and my ideals. And nothing could make up to me for that. By merely travelling on around the globe I would always be sure to find some new things of interest. But what would that count if I lost my faith in men! If I ceased to believe in their unselfishness and honesty. Even though I were young and credulous, and lived in a make-believe world of my own imagining, I was happier so than in thinking that everyone worked for his own advantage, and without justice to others, or private honor. It harmed no one that I believed better of others than they deserved, but it was going to hurt me terribly if I learned that their aims were even lower

ave delighted in those days at sea, and how wonderful it would have been if I could have seen this hot, feverish country with her at my side. I pictured her at the inn at Sagua smiling on the priest and the fat little landlord; and their admiration of her. I imagined us riding together in the brilliant sunshine with the crimson flowers meeting overhead, and the palms bowing to her and paying her homage. I lifted the locket she had wound around my wrist, and kissed it. As I did so, my doubts and questionings seemed to fall away. I sto

ver me with a cup of it in his hand, and Aiken buckling the straps of my saddle-girth. We took a plunge in the s

ars open," he said, "and when they challenge throw up your hands quick. The challenge is 'Halt, who lives,'" he explained. "If it is a government soldier you mu

al times, and giving the appropriate answers. The

at right?

l which is the government soldier and which is the revolutioni

y our uniform

urst into the most uproarious lau

ince I had started from Dobbs Ferry I had been wondering what was the Honduranian uniform. I had promised myself to have my photograph taken in it. I had anticipated the pride I should have in sending the picture back to Beatrice. So I was considerably chagrined, unti

broken masses of rock and through a thick tangle of laurel. The walls of the pass we

all unlikely. The place was the most excellent man-trap, but as to that, the whole length o

the old man, the more I think I was a fool to come. As long as I've got nothing but bad new

slipping and kicking down pebbles, and making as much noise as a gun battery. I knew

e it into his head it's my fault the guns didn't come. L

think you'd do th

ay certainly sold us out at New Orleans. An

Laguerre. It seemed as though it certainly would have been better had I found my way to him alone. I grew so unea

the better for you. Why, the rottenness of this country is a proverb. 'It's a place where the birds have no song, where the flowers have no odor, where the

cture, but in my discourag

not belong to this coun

and belongs to a dozen countries. He's fought for every flag

ith an amused and tolerant grin.

t I was vain enough to want to know what he did think of m

y seemed to amuse Aiken,

t. You two are just different from other people-that's all. He

n old man,"

ther," Aiken laughed, "but I say he

as so much younger than himself, and I had started

and fell back with such a jerk that he lost his balance, and would have fallen had he not pitched forward and clasped the mule around the neck. I pulled my mule to a halt,

, so I kept silent. I could hear Jose behind me in

is hands, and cried: "Confound you, we are travellers, g

n demanded over th

ed, petulantly. "Talk English, c

the rifle between us,

e government,'" he

when he was lying, or making the winning move in some bit of knavery, by that nervous trick of the eyelids. He knew that I knew about it, and he

drooping of the eyel

t is," he added hastily, "I won't cry long live anything. I'm t

his gun by so much

e Alvarez' or I will sh

he pressed it against the stock were twitching with a smile. As the side of his face toward me was the one farther from the gun, I was able to see this, but Aiken could not, and he answered, still more angril

h for Aiken and myself, but when he made this offer, my nervousne

I made the best

red for the two of u

me, bit his lips, and then burst into shouts of laughter. He sa

" he cried, "for certain I did.

jumped from behind a door, and shouted "Boo!" at me. I hoped in my heart that the col

s pockets, and surveyed the man with an

dea of a joke," he said fina

, for he fairly hooted at us. He was so much amused th

l the time. You came to our camp after the fight, and the General gave you a

orted in

er you next time. Are you standing guard now, or just

ought I'd have to jump you just for fun. I'm an American myself, you see, from Kansas. An' being an American I had to give the American Consul a scare. But say," he exclaimed, advancing

aguerre we'll use our influence to have you promoted. You need more room. I i

d appreciative

hat two hundred dollars?" he asked. He rounded

emi-uniform and wearing an officer's sash and sword stepping from one rock to another and breaking his way through the laurel. He greeted Aiken with a curt wave of the hand. "G

ken," his voice called back to us

the hill. Already both the officer and the tr

s all right,"

laurels parted, and the officer's fa

"My information is for General La

d we scrambled and stumbled after him, guided by t

and poking fun at me, I experienced a strong change of feeling toward him. He was the only friend I had in Honduras, and as between him and these strangers who had received us so oddly, I felt that, although it would be to

n't be any ro

," I repeated, "yo

ll right,

row stream. On one side of the stream a great herd of mules and horses were tethered, and on the side nearer us were many smoking camp-fires and rough shelters made from the branches of trees. Men were sleeping in the grass or sitting in the shade of the shelters, cleaning accoutrements, an