Captain Macklin

nes, at his country place, and when word was received there that we had taken the city, Graham urged Mr. Fiske not to return

e demand we made for the half-million of dollars was a gigantic attempt at blackmail. They pointed out to him that the judges of the highest courts of Honduras had decided against the validity of our claim, but they did not tell him that Alvarez had ordered the judges to decide in favor of the company, nor how much money they had paid Alvarez and the judges for that decision. Instead they urged that Garcia, a native of the country, had submitted to the dec

s a national pastime, and no more serious, and that should anyone attempt to molest the property

was president. This made it embarrassing for us, as the Continental was the only hotel in the city, and as it was there we had organized our officers' mess. In consequence, while there was no open war, the dining-room of the

e d'hote luncheon that day our fellows sat at one end of the room, and Fiske and Miss Fiske, Graham and his followers at the ot

my solitary luncheon my thou

nd Von Ritter, who knew Honduras from Fonseca Bay to Truxillo, assured me that, unless I met the man, who had insulted me before the people, our prestige would be entirely destroyed. To the Honduranian mind, the fact that I had thrashed him for so doing, would not serve as a substitu

hildren, as non-combatants. But in my heart I knew that it was not this prejudice which made me hesitate. The sister was the real reason. That he was her brother was the only fact of importance. Had h

oment I felt that if I did not meet her, I could go without meeting any other women for many years to come. She was the most wonderful creature I had ever seen. She was not beautiful, as Beatrice was beautiful, in a womanly, gracious way, but she had

he thought of us at all, that we were trying to levy blackmail on her father. I did not blame her for despising us. I only wished I could tell her how she had been deceived, and assure her that among us there was one, at least, who thought of her gratefully and devotedly, and who wou

the entrance of Miller and Von

meet behind the graveyard at sunrise to-morrow morning." I was b

erre know?

at you two should shake hands, but when they went out to talk it over with Fiske, he came back with them in a terrible rage, and swore he'd not apologize, and that he'd either shoot you or see you hung. Lowell told him it was all rot that two

ter!" I

eir heads sadly at each other, as though the

in the house. Well, she was reading on the balcony, and when her brother began to rage around and swear he'd have your blood, she heard him, and opened the sh

ere," said Von Ritter, stoli

e of rack-a-rock. She told him that a duel was unmanly and un-American, and that he would be a murderer. She sa

ay?" I cried. "

arms and groaned, but Mil

sed by everybody else on your account to-day, and we won't take it from you. It do

Didn't her brother tell her that he first insulted me, and struck me wi

e duel. We were trying to prevent the duel. That's all that's important. And if she hadn't ma

cquaintance, was not more severe than I deserved, but I did not let the men see how s

tol-shot of the salle d'armes in the Rue Scribe, that he can hit a scarf-pin at twenty paces. Of course that ended it. The Baron spoke up in his best style and said that in the face of this information it would be now quite impossible for our man to accept an

xactly right. I'll meet yo

ed that I must not dine there,

raid to show myself out of doors. Besides, if I must be shot through the scarf

re. They had rescinded taxes, altered the tariffs, reorganized the law-courts, taken over the custom-houses by telegraph, and every five minutes were receiving addresses from delegations of prominent Honduranians. Nicaragua and Salvador had both recognized their government, and concession hunters were already

no evidence of any immediate intention of attacking the city. General Laguerre was already informed of the arrival of Mr. Fiske, and had arranged to give him an audience the follow

th plots and counter-plots, and that treachery stalked abroad. He had been unsuccessful in trying to persuad

ould have to run for our lives. These people are all smiles and 'vivas' to-day becau

einze. If I had your opinion of my

fellow-man," Aiken retorted, "he'd have

of the government money. I went to the cellar and dug it up and turned it over to Laguerre. And what do you think he's doing with it!" Aiken exclaime

of the money; that from what I had seen of the native troops, i

oldiers, they'd run to join us so quick that they'd die on the way of sunstroke. But that's not it. Where do we come in? What do we get out

wn salary, don'

There's a lot of loot in being chief-of-police. Th

ughed. "Not as long as

f I had your job I could scare ten thousand sols out of these merchants before sunrise. Instead of which you walk around nights to see their f

ran down the steps of the palac

tion. Portents and premonitions may frighten some people, but the on

an't hit me." I was just as sure of it as I was of the fact that when I met

upied the one in between. I could see her whenever the German consul bent over his food. She was very pale and tired-looking, but in the white evening frock she wore, all soft and shining with lace, she was as beautiful as the moonlit ni

tone floor in their bare feet, ma

tomime, only on account of old man Fiske they had to act even more covertly. It struck me as being vastly absurd and wicked. What right had young F

eyond them the camp-fires of Alvarez twinkling like glow-worms against the dark background of the hills. The town had gone to sleep, and the hotel was as silent as a church. There was no sound except the whistle of a policeman calling the hour, the bark of the street-dogs in answer, and the voice of one of our sentries, arguing with some jovial gentleman who was abroad without a pass. After the fever and anxieties

and my spurs clanked on the stones, she started, and

d me she moved sharply away. I did not wish her to think I would intrude on her against her will, s

tain Macklin

ak to me, and so happy to hear her voice, that for an ins

ect it. When I spoke of my brother's skill, I mean his skill with the pistol, I knew you were ignorant of it and I thought if you did know of it you would see the utter folly, the wickedn

ve been more impersonal. I might have been one of a class of school-boys to whom she was expounding a problem. At the Point

id not seem cons

n men to shoot you, and of how you took a cannon with your hands. Well, I cannot see-since your reputation for bravery is so well established-that you need to prove it fu

e you--"

me explain myself fully. Your own friends said in my hearing," she went on, "that they

her tone grew even mor

for this meeting. Suppose any harm should come to my brother." For the first time her voice carried a touch of feeling. "It would be my

derful and beautiful woman I had ever seen, was asking me to grant an impossible favor, was speaking of my reputation for bravery as though it were a fact which everyone accepted, and wa

l, or if she did ask me to stultify my honor and spare the life of her precious brother she should not have done so in the same tone with which she would have

ay that what she a

you don't understand that your brother did not only insult me. He insulted my

refuse?"

I replied; "he has

king at me coldly. The dislike in

sooner than harm her brother I would have put my hand in the fire. Now, since she had spoken, I was filled only with pity and disappointment. It seemed so wrong that one so finely bred and wonderfully fair should feel so little consideration. No matter how greatly she had

she spoke again I listened eagerly, hoping she would say something which woul

cept his apology?" Her tone was one partly of interrogation, partly of command. "I do not think he is

said, it is not my affair. It concerns my-a great man

s the same smile of amusement with which she ha

great many people." She turned away as though the interview was at an end, and then halt

eople," she cried. "I know that it is a

ion which she misconstrued,

one of you. You have set out to fight my father, and your friends will use any means to win. But I should have thou

m her as though sh

wer nothing in defence. My brain refused to believe that she had said it. I could not co

disappointment in her was so kee

my head, saluted her

it? What have I said?" She stretched ou

after me in such a voice that

concern. "Because I said that, you mean to punish me for it-through my brother? You mean to make him suffer. You will kill him!" Her voice rose to an accen

y, and she breathing quickly, and holding her hand to

was very hard for me to speak at

n, and stood before her

would do? I trusted you. From the moment you came riding toward me, I tha

yes shone with indignation. She looked at me as though I had tried to touch her with my

e-stems at a Paris fair. What do I care for your brother's tricks. Let him see my score cards at West Point. He'll find them framed on the walls. I was first a coward and a cad, and now I am a bully and a hired assassin. From the first, you and your brother have laughed at me and mine while all I asked of

ack and bowed, and we stood con

d steadily, as though she were picking each word. "It is like a brave

t was burning, as thoug

f I have ever insulted any woman, I hope to God

r, she was leaning against one of the pillars wit

ore and unhappy, and although nothing of this, nor of the duel appeared in my letter, I was comforted to think that I was writing it to her. It wa

o Beatrice, she would have discovered so

evil. Because her father would not pay his debts, I had been twice wounded and many times had risked death; the son had struck me with a whip in the public streets, and t

e years in Paris, by the cut of his riding-clothes even, by the fact that he owned a yacht. I had looked up to them, because they belonged to a class who formed society, as I knew society through the Sunday papers. And now these superior beings had rewarded my snobbishness by acting toward me in a way that was contrary to every ideal I held of what was right and decent. For such as these, I had felt ashamed of my old comrades. I

thing of the Baron's manner, which sat upon him as awkwardly as would a wig and patches. I laughed at them both, but

, and every stone and rock was wet and shining as though it had been washed in readiness for the coming day. The gravestones shone upon us like freshly scrubbed doorsteps. It was a most dismal spot, and I was so cold that I was afraid I would shiver, and Fiske might think I was nervous. So I moved briskly about among the graves, reading the inscriptions on the tombstones. Under the circumstances the occupation, to a less healthy mind, would have bee

haughty with him. But when he passed me, pacing out the ground, he saluted stiffly, and as I saluted back, I called out: "I suppose you k

, and in so loud a tone that everyone he

were double-barrelled affairs, with very fine hair-triggers. Graham was to giv

leased. When each of us had emptied both bar

e dawn was a sickly white, like the belly of a fish. After he had walked to his mark he never took his eyes from me. They seemed to be

of home and of Beatrice, nor of my past sins, but of the fellow's sister as I last saw her in the moonlight, leaning against the pillar of the balcony with her head bowed in her hands. And at once it all seemed contemptible and cruel. No quarrel in the world, so it appeared to me then, was worth while if it were going to make a woman

e written on the faces of my two seconds, and to the face of Fiske there came a contemptuous smile. I at once understood my error. I read what was in the mind of each. They dared to think I had pulled the trigger through nervousness, that I had fired before I was ready, tha

ver my ribs, and the warm blood tickling my side, but I was deter

ascinated me. At first it was incomprehensible, and then I understood. He had fired his last shot, h

aised it to his heart, passed it over his head, and, aiming in the air, fired at the moon, and then tossed the gun away. The waking world seemed to breathe again, and from every side t

to the side o

Mr. Fiske wishes to shake hands

have humored you two long enough. A pest on b

ng to the shock he received when young Lowell ran to the carriage and caught up

ogether. "I've heard a lot about you, and now I believe all I've heard. To stand up there," he ran on, breathlessly, "knowing you didn't mean to fire, and knowing he was a dead shot, and make a canvas

vaulted into the carriage, a

. Full speed ahead. Vamoo

conds," I

n walk,"

and were hidden from the sight of the others, Lowell sprang into the seat beside me. W

" he muttered, "before he

hit," I p

id. "Still, it looks rath

nuine, friendly concern, and no one, except Laguerre, had shown that for me since I had left home. I had taken a fancy to Lowell from the moment he had saluted me like a brother officer in the Plaza, and I had wished he would like me. I liked

fortune, and a great honor. He was only three years older than myself, but he knew much more abo

ent to himself. I mean that if he were presented to an Empress he would not be impressed, nor if he chatted with a bar-maid would he be familiar. He would just look at each of them with his grave blue eyes and think only of

ther's health in a quart of champagne. Nearly all of our officers came in while we were at breakfast to learn if I were still alive,

at Washington to cause the Government to give him the use of the

ed earnestly on the same su

palace at eight o'clock, and the pres

ey always did when he appeared in public, and, though I was badly frightened as to

he Plaza I thought I had never seen a finer soldier. Lowell said he looked like a field marshal of the Second Empire. I was glad Lowell h

ly on me. I saw that he was deeply moved, and I wished fervently, now that it was too late, that I had told him of the street fight at the time, and not allowed him t

e, although I was inwardly quaking, he halted and his l

e sound, and then, with a quick gesture, before all the

y! For you were lost," he murm

eople who, it seems, already knew of the duel and understood the tableau on the barrack steps, but the thou

nce more my superior officer, but the door he

spect with which Lowell addressed him. At the first glance they seemed to understand

air for me to ask you, Mr. Lowell, what instructions the United Sta

d the late president, Doctor Alvarez, that we were here to protect American interests. But you probably

Graham has said that when Mr. Fiske gives the word Captain M

d his shoulder

his own sources for information. I am here because he sent me to 'Go, look, see,' and report. I have been wiring him ever

said: "We court

ince you became president. It is only the Isthmian Line that wants the protection of our ship. The foreign merchants are not afraid. I hate it!" he cried, "I hate to think that a billionaire, with a pull at Washington, can tur

out replying, and then rose and b

ning to me, "I am to have my talk with Mr. Fiske. I have not the least doubt but that he will see the justice of our claim against his company, and before evening I am sure I shall be ab

h us and we escort

great palms of the Plaza, with the tropical sunshine touching his white hair, and flashing upon

on my daily round, Miller came galloping up to the barracks and flung himse

Laguerre that the original charter of the company had been tampered with, and that the one Laguerre su

Lague

The General just looked at him, and then picked up a pen, a

me. You are either extremely ignorant, or extremely dishonest, and I shall treat with you no longer. Instead, I shall at once seize every piece of property belonging to your company, and hold it until you pay your debts. Now you go, and congratulate yourself that when you tried to insult me, you did so w

doors of the building were barred, and two sentries were standing guard in front of it. A proclamation on the wall announced that, by order of the President, the entire plant of the Isthmian Line

he Isthmian Line had been caught in port; one at Cortez on her way to Aspinwall, and one at Truxillo, bound north. The passen

rd this was very grave,

ferent matter. It's a good thing," he exclaimed, with a laugh, "that the Raleigh's on the wrong side of the Isthmus. If we were in the Caribbean, they might order us to make you gi

ot so sure you could take those ships, and I'm not so sure your marines

e a shout

ou'd fight against y

est Point they had decided I was not go

, with a grin. "How would you like to be Re

up his reins i

A Rear-Admiral at my age! That's dangerously near my price. I'm afraid to listen to you. Good-by." He waved

e laughter, of the jes

ur cup of triumph, and though it was only a taste, it had flown to our brains like heavy wine, and the headaches and th

of the palace, and it did not cease, for even one brief breath

e. The President was walking with his head bowed, listening to Aiken, who was whispering and gesticul

om Heinze?" he demanded. "Has he asked you

tives to dig trenches. I sent fi

It was like the quick, despe

n Laguerre. "Macklin has sent them.

n past us down the steps, and halting when he reached the street, turned and looked up at the great bulk of El

it?" I

ed, savagely. "Heinze

You do not know that," he said; but his voice trembl

ly. "I warned you yesterday; I tol

ve, but like Laguerre he still continue

f my men to Pecachua. He came back an hour ago. He tells me Graham offered Heinze twenty thousand dollars to buy off himself and the other officers and the men. But Heinze was afraid of the others, and so he planned to ask Laguerre for a native regiment, to pretend that he wanted them to work on the trenches. And then, when our me

baseness, I felt convinced that Aiken spoke the truth. The th

n hour," I said. "We can reach th

true," Laguerre protested

man's voice shrieking to his horse; the sounds of many people running, and one of my scouts swept into the street, and raced toward

p, and fires burning, and started at night, but I smelt 'em the moment they struck the trail. We fellows have been

s their plot. They're working together. They mean

me to look. His voice and my dread t

with a flash of flame, and the dull echo of the report drifted toward us on the hot, motionless air. At the same instant our flag on

bt and concern on the face of Gener

untain, have we?" he asked. He spoke as

red. "All our heavy pi

or starve them out. Assemble all the men at the palace at once. Trust to no one but yourself. Ride to every o

he continued, turning to me, "not to expose his men, but to harass the enemy, and hold him until I come." His tone was easy, confident, and assured. Even a

"I will expect the men

ce between the lines of the guard he saluted as pun

people from their houses, and they were screaming through the streets, as

een speaking, the people had gathered in a great circle, whispering and gesticulating, pointing at us, at the dying horse, at the shells that swung above us, at the flag of Alvarez which floated from Pecachua. Wh

word. I thought it was only the bravado o

rgeant and drive their bayonets into his throat. He went down with a dozen of the dwarf-lik

pt Laguerre. I had only one thought, to

ut the voice I knew best of all called my name from just above my head, and I loo

face was wh

does this mean? Obey your orders. Y

is is an attack upon yo

forward. Still looking up, I saw Laguerre clasp his hands to his throat, and fall back upon Webster's shoulder, but he again instantly stood upright and motioned me fiercel

e blood spreading and dyeing the gold braid. But he straightened himself and leaned forward. His eyes opened, and, hold

e cried, "and-