Rouge et Noire Page: 452

Alinslee's Magazine

intg. "There was a dictator of Chili named
O'iliggins. \hy not a President Maloney
of this countryy ? Say the word, and I'll make
the race. \\e'll capture the Irish vote,
easy runnilig, by a head."
'"No, no, no, no, rtihbz i'/orrio!" cooed
Pasa, pointing the allusion with the tip of
her linger against Dicky's brilliant locks,
"I amn content" she laid her head against
his arm "here."
II.
THEi; VEstVIUs PLAYS.
Trh he llan republic of (Costaragua has,
practically, Ltwo capitals. The one officially
recognized is San lateIo, seventy miles in
the interior. lBut, during the hot season,
frot May to ()ctober', the entire admninis-
tration renloves to iPuerto Blo', where the
seal lreeze renilders thie lipurshit (of' business
and pleasure possible. customm had so estab-
lished this annual hweira of the executive
that a conilnodious government building had
been erected on the bhech at Puerto hrey
for the use ofi the 'resident and his official
family during their sojourn. Thus Puerto
Rey claimed, with reason, equal honor with
San Mateo as capital of the republic.
It is during this season that P'uerto Rey
may actually he said to live. The pleasure-
lovinig people make it one long holiday of
amusen t and rejoicing. I ''iMs , bilis,
games, sea bathing, processions, and small
theatres contribute to their injoi. 'lent.
The famous Swiss hand of forty pieces
pIlays in t1h little Plaza Natcional every
night, while the fIiurteen clarriages in
Puerto Iy' circle in funereal but colmplla-
cent lprocession. Los Indios, looking like
prehis toric stone idols, cni ditll from
the monlnll t ius to peille l heir hal iwork ill
the streets. Tho lwolde Ihrong the side-
walks, a chattering, c';r less, happy stream
of Iui lianl hiuim itxv. i'rleposteroutl children,
with their shortest of I alleti skirts, gilt wings
and grimy, hare legs, hwil underfoot among
the efl'erves'cnt crit ls. l']specially is the
arrival of the presidential party, on the
tifteenth day of' May, attended with lpomp,,
shotw and public demnonstr;tinns of enthu-
siasni a l delight.
l ut now, this year, though the m hile of,
May wa;ts almost colie, the heart of the peo-
pile w:s mnot stirred to the customary joy-
outs lpreparat ion. Throughout the entire
republic there seemed to be a spirit of
silent, sullen discontent. The administration
of 'r,,sid(',e l X:Z rills had n d bh hn far f'roml

duties, and, more than all, his tolerance of
the outrageous oppression of the citizens by
the military had rendered him thie nimost ol-
noxious President since the despised Alforan.
The majority of his own cabinet were out of
sympathy with him. The arnlmy, which he
courted by giving it license to tyrannize, ]lad
been his main, and, thus far, adequate bul-
wark.
But the most impolitic of the admlinistra-
tion's moves had been when it antagonized
the Vesuvius Fruit Company of New Or-
leans, an organization plying twelve steam-
ships, and with a cash capital soiiething
larger than Costaragua's surplus and debt
combined. Naturally, an established con-
cern like the Vesuvius would become irri-
tated at having a small, retail renlublic with
no rating at all attempt to squeeze it. So,
when the government proxies applied for
subsidy they encountered a polite refusal.
The P'resident retaliated by clapping an ex-
port duty of one ric/ per lunch on ianananas
-a thing unprecedented in fruit going
countries. But the Vesuvius (Complany had
built costly iron piers and wharves at three
points along the Costaraguan coast. The
company's agents had erected fine homes in
the towns where they had their healdquar-
ters, and the company had invested laire
sums in banana plantations and timber lands
of the republic. It would cost an immense
sumn ift should be compelled to move out.
The selling' price of hananas from Ver'i Cruz
to Trinidad was three r/s per bunch. This
duty of one ri/d would have fallen as a loss
upon the growers, but the Vesuvius seemed
to prefer Cistaraguan fruit, and thIe con-
tinued to buy it, paying four r/s. without a
This apparent victory deceived His Ex-
cenllrecy, and he hungered for its fruits. n
emissary requested an interview with ;t rep-
resentative of the copiiil y. The V . suxius
sent Mr. Franzoni, a little, :tout, cheerful
man always whistling Verdi. Selt' I Ortiz,
secretary to the Minister of F]iniince at-
temnlited tilhe sanllbagging in behalf of Cost-
Seior' Ortiz opened negotiations lby the
announcelltelelit that the government contemll-
plated the buitlilding ' 'of a railroad to dskirt the'
alluvi l coast lands. After touching uponl
the benefits such an inllprovenent would con-
fer upon the interests of the Ve \esuius ti
reached the definite suggestion that a con-
tribution to the road's expense of one hun-
dred thousand pesoS w\oUb nd t he man'(11 th
:n n , , nl "I] ' t i.. h,,n "lits r'e "c it " ]

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