South Wind

place," sai

ike save that one of them had a balcony; square, white-washed rooms, not very clean, and inadequately furnished with tables, cane-bottomed chairs and a few prints on the walls. There was a lavish display, however, of bottles and g

. Mr. Heard noticed a slender young Indian and a blond-haired fellow-probably a Scandinavian. They were arguing about cigars with a rosy-cheeked old reprobate whom they called Charlie. An adjo

" aske

sty," suggest

er; it's just a boozing institution, where you run to seed. They come in here, and say the south wind make

y drink wine or

He would not be able to

ho

Presi

d to sketch the histor

who owed subscriptions were unable or unwilling to pay them. Such had been the case before the accession of the new President. It hung i

he more pressing of his private debts. Napoleon, or somebody, once remarked: "L'ETAT, C'EST MOI." Mr. Parker thought highly

ub, tha

ne barrel of the original stuff was more than enough for three barrelfuls of the bottled product. Cultured members, on drinking it, were wont to say things about Locusta and Borgia. The commoner sort swore like hell at Freddy Parker. It made you feel squiffy after the sixth glass-argumentative, mag

mixture within. Members often complained of feeling queer. They threatened to resign. Mr. Parker did not want them to resign; he wanted their subscriptions. He had a grand way with him on such occasions. Whenever one of them complained too bitterly or too persistently-became damned abusive, in fact-he

e sum it was-to keep out of England. He travelled about formerly. But no amount of travel, no association with his betters, could pierce his stolid pachydermatous obliquity. He was the worst kind of Englishman; he could not even cheat without being found

s a job for a Dago. I'm

lation had a way of turning badly. That was because people, even people in Nicaragua, distrusted him for one reason or another; they said his whole existence was a tangle of shady and ignoble transac

even Nicaragua, g

landed interests; being a native of the place he might succeed in squeezing a little something out of them. In exchange for this concession an unobtrusive Government job was specially created for Mr. Parker. He was appointed Financial Commissioner for Sout

epresentative of a Foreign Power on the island. His official rank procured him not only dignity and a new start in life but, what was still more urgent, credit. It brought him into contact with the local authorities-with the red-haired rachitic judge, for instance, between whom and Mr. Parker there sprang up an intimacy which was viewed with vague forebod

But men must live. The refined social status attached to Mr. Parker's honorary post producing nothing tangible in the way of ready

h the police, who hated meddling with foreigners, were reluctantly compelled to intervene-suggested to her that something might be done in that direction. She got him elected President for that year, President for the next, the next, and the nex

ch-like Club necessaries. Next, he took the landlord in hand. He would clear out, by God, and take more respectable premises if the rent were not reduced by twenty per cent! Scandalous! Downright robbery! The landlord being a reasonable sort of man, it was agreed that the old rate should stand in the contract, while the balance of twenty per cent found its way into Mr. Parker's pockets, and not, as theretofore, into his own. The same with the servants. From the boy who cleaned the rooms, and whom he changed as often as ever possible, he exacted a monetary d

that Mr. Parker, in his capacity of moralist, would have been the first person to dissolve that asse

and acted accordingly, these others insisted upon regarding it as genuine Scotch-with inevitable and dire results. They succumbed. During the first year of Freddy Parker's reign, eight of these stubborn sinners were carried to their graves. And year by year, the same causes being in action, the process of betterment went on. Extremists dropped off, moderates survived. The Club

rows going on all the time-insignificant rows, mostly about newspapers and gambling debts. Mr. Samuel got his eye blacked over a harmless game of ecarte; Mr. White, one of the steadiest members, threatened to withdraw his subscription on account of the black-beetles; a Swedish sea-captain smashed nine panes of glass-just by way of a friendly demonstration, he said-because the great Upsala journ

ou run a place, run it yourself. He was ever-present, absorbing at other people's expense his own poison, to the effects of which he seemed to be immune; and borrowing money, on the sly, from the richer and more forgetful members. His uproarious joviality, his echoing ha! ha! became a feature of the place

uggest with a genial wink, push

e numerous the members the greater the quantity of whisky consumed-the greater, therefore, their profits; quite apart from the possibility of additional subscriptions being paid. He agreed. Then, in a sudden glo

home every night. It couldn't be done, Freddy. We might as well shut up the shop a

imbs, and an insatiable craving for alcohol. She would unavoidably have damaged the reputa

or those few subscriptions. After all, I'm an Engli

d you to let th

your idea originally. Well,

clusion that it could not be done. Russians were n

artistic to be hon

as sentiments were concerned. Nothing could be good enough for the Russians, just then. An acquaintance with Peter, one of the handsomest of the whole batch of religious enthusiasts, had brought about her psychologica

he line somewhere, Lola. I draw it at Russians. At lea

y, many people had said unkind things about them, and yet nobody had gone so far as to accuse them of being unable to stow it away in proper Christian style. No wonder. Because there was nothing whatever in their B

ings over and coming to the wrong

at the wrong season and difficult to manage. He needed careful motherly guidance. All fools, she reflected, were subject to meteoric gleams of common sense. He was no exception to that rule. But whereas the

ith en

come a member of this

sh

r ponder

se poor fellows in there. But I like to do things properly. It would entail at first a little friendly drinking, I'm afraid, in order to gain their confidence. It is not in m

. "No wonder you hesitate. It is quit