GIFT 
 
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 or 
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 Throughout the forenoon Webster and Dolores, from the deck 
 of the steamer, watched the city 
 
WEBSTER 
 
 MAN S MAN 
 
 BY 
 PETER B. KYNE 
 
 Author of 
 
 "Cappy Ricks," "The Three 
 Godfathers," Etc. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED BY 
 
 DEAN CORNWELL 
 
 GARDEN CITY NEW YORK 
 
 DGUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY 
 
 1017 
 
Copyright, 1917, by 
 PETER B. KYNE 
 
 All rights reserved, including that of 
 
 translation into foreign languages, 
 
 including the Scandinavian 
 
 COPYSIGHT, I9t6, r>17, BY THl. II M> BOOK CORPORATION 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Throughout the forenoon Webster and Dolores, 
 from the deck of the steamer, watched the 
 city Frontispiece 
 
 FACING PAGE 
 
 As she passed, John Stuart Webster looked 
 fairly into her face, started as if bee-stung, 
 and hastily lifted his hat 64 
 
 " Mr. William H. Geary," the girl remarked 
 that night, "I know now why your friend 
 
 , Mr. Webster sent that cablegram. I think 
 you re a scout, too " 112 
 
 Webster planted a bullet in Benavides s ab 
 domen with his first shot, and blew out the 
 duelist s brains with his second 336 
 
 370021 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
Webster Man s Man 
 
 CHAPTER ONE 
 
 WHEN John Stuart Webster, mining engineer 
 and kicker-iip-of-dust on distant trails, 
 flagged the S. P., L. A. & S. L. Limited at a 
 blistered board station in Death Valley, California, 
 he had definitely resolved to do certain things. To 
 begin, he would invade the dining car at the first call 
 to dinner and order approximately twenty dollars 
 worth of ham and eggs, which provender is, as all 
 who know will certify, the pinnacle of epicurean 
 delight to an old sour-dough coming out of the wilder 
 ness with a healthy bankroll and a healthier appetite; 
 for even as the hydrophobic dog avoids water, so does 
 the adventurer of the Webster type avoid the weird 
 concoctions of high-priced French chefs until he has 
 first satisfied that void which yawns to receive ham 
 and eggs. 
 
 Following the ham and eggs, Mr. Webster planned 
 to saturate himself from soul to vermiform appendix 
 with nicotine, which he purposed obtaining from to 
 bacco with nicotine in it. It was a week since he had 
 smoked anything, and months since he had tasted 
 Anything with an odour even remotely like tobacco, 
 
4 WE ESTER MAN S MAN 
 
 for the August temperature in Death Valley is no 
 respecter of moisture in any man or his tobacco. 
 By reason of the fact that he had not always dwelt 
 in Death Valley, however, John Stuart Webster 
 knew the dining-car steward would have in the ice 
 chest some wonderful cigars, wonderfully preserved. 
 
 Webster realized that, having sampled civilization 
 thus far, his debauch would be at an end until he 
 reached Salt Lake City unless, indeed, he should 
 find aboard the train something fit to read or some 
 body worth talking to. Upon arrival in Salt Lake 
 City, however, his spree would really begin. Im 
 mediately upon leaving the train he would proceed 
 to a clothing shop and purchase a twenty-five-dollar 
 ready-to-wear suit, together with the appurtenances 
 thereunto pertaining or in any wise belonging. These 
 habiliments he would wear just long enough to shop 
 in respectably and without attracting the attention 
 of the passing throng; and when later his "tailor- 
 mades" and sundry other finery should be delivered, 
 he would send the store clothes to one Ubehebe 
 Henry, a prospector down in the Mojave country, 
 who would appreciate them and wear them when he 
 came to town in the fall to get drunk. 
 
 Having arranged for the delivery of his temporary 
 attire at the best hotel in town, Webster designed 
 chartering a taxicab and proceeding forthwith to that 
 hotel, where he would engage a sunny room with a 
 bath, fill the bathtub, climb blithely in and soak for 
 two hours at least, for it was nearly eight months 
 since he had had a regular bath and he purposed 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 5 
 
 making the most of his opportunity. His long- 
 drawn ablutions at length over, he would don a silken 
 dressing gown and slippers, order up a barber, and 
 proceed to part with enough hair and whiskers to 
 upholster an automobile; and upon the completion 
 of his tonsorial adventures he would encase his person 
 in a suit of mauve-coloured silk pajamas, climb into 
 bed and stay there for forty-eight hours, merely waking 
 long enough to take another bath, order up periodical 
 consignments of ham and eggs and, incidentally, 
 make certain that a friendly side-winder or chuck- 
 walla hadn t crawled under the blankets with him. 
 
 So much for John Stuart Webster s plans. Now 
 for the gentleman himself. No one not even the 
 Pullman porter, shrewd judge of mankind that he 
 was could have discerned in the chrysalis that 
 flagged the Limited the butterfly of fashion that was 
 to be. As the ebony George raised the vestibule 
 platform, opened the car door and looked out, he 
 had no confidence in the lean, sun-baked big man 
 standing by the train. Plainly the fellow was not a 
 first-class passenger but a wandering prospector, for 
 he was dog-dirty, a ruin of rags and hairy as a taran 
 tula. The only clean thing about him was a heavy- 
 calibred automatic pistol of the army type, swinging 
 at his hip. 
 
 "Day coach an tourist up in front," the knight of 
 the whiskbroom announced in disapproving tones 
 and started to close down the platform. 
 
 "So I perceived," John Stuart Webster replied 
 blandly. "I also observed that you failed to employ 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 the title sir when addressing a white man. Put 
 that platform back and hop out here with your little 
 stool, you saddle-coloured son of Senegambia, or I ll 
 make you a hard porter to catch." 
 
 "Yassah, yassah!" the porter sputtered, and 
 obeyed instantly. Mr. Webster handed him a 
 disreputable-looking suitcase and stepped aboard in 
 state, only to be informed by the sleeping-car con 
 ductor that there wasn t a vacant first-class berth on 
 the train. 
 
 "Yes, I know I m dirty," the late arrival an 
 nounced cheerfully, "but still, as Cobby Burns once 
 remarked, *a man s a man for a that and I m no/ 
 unsanitary. I sloshed around some in Furnace 
 Creek the night before last, and while of course I got 
 the top layer off, still, a fellow can t accomplish a 
 great deal without hot water, soap, a good scrub 
 bing-brush and a can of lye." 
 
 "I m very sorry," the conductor replied per 
 functorily and endeavoured to pass on, but Webster 
 secured a firm grip on his lapel and frustrated the 
 escape. 
 
 "You re not sorry," the ragged wanderer declared, 
 k not one little bit. You re only apprehensive. 
 However, you needn t be. There is no wild life on 
 me, brother, I assure you. If you can prove it, I ll 
 give you a thousand-dollar bill for each and every bit 
 of testimony you can adduce." 
 
 "But I tell you, the train is full up. You ll have 
 to roost in the daycoach or the tourist. I m very 
 sorry " 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 7 
 
 "So am I, for I know what daycoaches and tourist- 
 cars smell like in the middle of August, because, as 
 the poet says, I ve been there many a time and oft. 
 Nevertheless, despite your deep grief, something tells 
 me you re spoofing, so while I must, of necessity, 
 accept your suggestion, said acceptance will be but 
 temporary. In about two hours, young fellow, 
 you re going to make the alarming discovery that 
 you have bats in your belfry." And with a whiskery 
 grin which, under the circumstances, was charming 
 in its absolute freedom from malice, Mr. Webster 
 departed for the daycoach. 
 
 Two hours later the conductor found him in 
 the aforementioned daycoach, engaged in a mild 
 game of poker with a mule-skinner, a Chinaman, 
 an aged prospector, and a half-breed Indian, and 
 waited until Mr. Webster, on a bob-tailed club flush, 
 bluffed the Chinaman out of a dollar-and-a-half pot. 
 
 "Maud, Lily, and Kate!" Webster murmured, as 
 the Celestial laid down three queens and watched 
 his ragged opponent rake in the pot. "Had I held 
 those three queens and had you made a two-card 
 draw as I did, only death could have stopped me from 
 seeing what you held! Hello! Here s Little Boy 
 Blue again. All right, son. Blow your horn." 
 
 "Are you Mr. John S. Webster?" 
 
 "Your assumption that I am that person is so 
 eminently correct that it would be a waste of time 
 for me to dispute it," Webster replied quizzically. 
 "However, just to prove that you re not the only 
 clairvoyant on this train, I m going to tell you some- 
 
8 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 thing about yourself. In your pocket you have a 
 telegram; it is from Chicago, where your pay-check 
 originates; it is a short, sweet, and comprehensive, 
 containing an order which you are going to obey. It 
 reads somewhat as follows : 
 
 " My friend, John S. Webster, wires me from 
 Blank that he boarded train at Blank and was refused 
 first-class accommodation because he looked like a 
 hobo. Give him the best you have in stock, if you 
 have to throw somebody off the train to accommo 
 date him. Unless you see your way clear to heed 
 this suggestion your resignation is not only in order 
 but has already been accepted. Signed, Sweeney. 
 
 "Do I hit the target?" 
 
 The conductor nodded. " You win, Mr. Webster," 
 he admitted. 
 
 "Occasionally I lose, old-timer. Well?" 
 
 "Who the devil is Sweeney?" 
 
 John Stuart Webster turned to his cosmopolitan 
 comrades of the national game. "Listen to him, 
 he entreated them. " He has worked for the company, 
 lo, these many years, and he doesn t know who 
 Sweeney is?" He eyed the conductor severely. 
 "Sweeney," he declared, "is the man who is respons 
 ible for the whichness of the why-for. Ignorance of 
 the man higher up excuses no sleeping-car conductor, 
 and if your job is gone when you reach Salt Lake, 
 old-timer, don t blame it on me, but rather on your 
 distressing propensity to ask foolish questions. 
 Vamos, amigo, and leave me to my despair. Can t 
 you see I m happy here?" 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 9 
 
 "No offense, Mr. Webster, no offense. I can let 
 you have a stateroom 
 
 "That s trading talk. I ll take it." 
 
 The conductor gave him his receipt and led him 
 back to the stateroom in the observation-car. At 
 the door Webster handed him a five-dollar bill. 
 "For you, son," he said gently, "just to take the sting 
 out of what I m about to tell you. Now that I pos 
 sess your receipt and know that ten men and a boy 
 cannot take it away from me, I m going to tell you 
 who Sweeney is." 
 
 "Who is he?" the conductor queried. Already he 
 suspected he had been outgeneralled. 
 
 "Sweeney," said Mr. Webster, "is the chief clerk 
 in one of Chicago s most pretentious .hotels and a 
 young man who can find all the angles of a situation 
 without working it out in logarithms. I wired him 
 the details of my predicament; he heard the Mace 
 donian cry and kicked in. Neat, is it not?" 
 
 The conductor grinned. "I hate to take your 
 money," he declared. 
 
 "Don t. Just at present I m very flush. Yes, sir, 
 I m as prosperous as a yearling burro up to his ears in 
 alfalfa, and the only use I have ever found for money 
 is to make other people happy with it, thereby getting 
 some enjoyment out of it myself. Just as soon as I 
 get a little chunk together, some smarter man than I 
 takes it all away from me again so the cleaning 
 process might just as well start here. When I m 
 broke I ll make some more." 
 
 "How?" 
 
10 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 "By remembering that all a man needs in this 
 world, in order to excel, is about two per cent, more 
 courage than a jack-rabbit; also that an ounce of 
 promotion in a world of boobs is worth a ton of 
 perspiration. Thank you for falling for my bluff." 
 
 And having wotted the which, Mr. Webster re 
 tired to his hard-won sanctuary, where he removed 
 as much alkali and perspiration as he could, carded 
 his long hair and whiskers, manicured his finger nails 
 with a jack-knife, changed his shirt, provided five 
 minutes of industry for George, with his whiskbroom 
 and brush, and set himself patiently to await the 
 first call to dinner. 
 
 The better to hear the dinner call Webster left his 
 stateroom door open, and presently a pink-jowled, 
 well-curried, flashily dressed big man, of about 
 Webster s age, passed in the corridor, going toward 
 the head of the train. An instant later a woman s 
 voice said very distinctly: 
 
 "I do not know you, sir; I do not wish to know you, 
 and it is loathsome of you to persist in addressing me. 
 If you do not stop your annoying attentions, I shall 
 call the conductor." 
 
 "Ah! Beauty in distress," John Stuart Webster 
 soliloquized. "I look so much like an Angora goat 
 I might as well butt in." He stepped to the door of 
 his stateroom. A girl stood in the vestibule, con 
 fronting the man who had just passed Webster s 
 door. Webster bowed. 
 
 "Madame, or mademoiselle, as the case may be," 
 he said, "unlike this other male biped, my sole pur- 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 11 
 
 pose in presuming, to address you is to suggest that 
 there is not the slightest necessity for taking this 
 matter up with the conductor. I am here and very 
 much at your service." 
 
 The girl turned and John Stuart Webster s heart 
 flopped twice in rapid succession, like a trout newly 
 grassed. She was as lovely as a royal flush. Her 
 starry glance began at his miner s boots, travelled up 
 his old, soiled, whipcord trousers, over his light blue 
 chambray shirt and found the man behind the 
 whiskers. She favoured him with a quick, curious 
 scrutiny and a grave, sweet smile. "Thank you so 
 much, sir," she answered, and passed down the cor 
 ridor to the observation-car. 
 
 "Well, old-timer," Webster greeted the fellow who 
 had been annoying her, "how about you? What do 
 you think we ought to do about this little affair?" 
 
 "The sensible thing would be to do nothing." 
 
 "Nothing?" 
 
 "Nothing." 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 " You might start something you couldn t finish." 
 
 "That s a dare," Webster declared brightly, "and 
 wasn t it the immortal Huckleberry Finn who re 
 marked that anybody that d take a dare would suck 
 eggs and steal sheep?" He caressed his beard 
 meditatively. "They say the good Lord made man 
 to His own image and likeness. I take it those were 
 only the specifications for the building complete 
 the painting and interior decorating, not to mention 
 the furnishings, being let to a sub-contractor." He 
 
12 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 was silent a few seconds, appraising his man. "I 
 suppose you commenced operations by moving into 
 her section and asking if she would like to have the 
 window open and enjoy the fresh air. Of course if 
 she had wanted the window open, she would have 
 called the porter. She rebuffed you, but being a 
 persistent devil, you followed her into the observa 
 tion-car, and in all probability you ogled her at 
 luncheon and ruined her appetite. And just now, 
 when you met her in this vestibule, you doubtless 
 jostled her, begged her pardon and without waiting to 
 be introduced asked her to have dinner with you this 
 evening." 
 
 "Well?" the fellow echoed belligerently. 
 
 "It s all bad form. You shouldn t try to make a 
 mash on a lady. I don t know who she is, of course, 
 but she s not common; she s travelling without a 
 chaperon, I take it, and for the sake of the mother 
 that bore me I always respect and protect a good 
 woman and whale hell out of those that do not." 
 
 He reached inside his stateroom and pressed the 
 bell. The porter arrived on the run. 
 
 "George," said Mr. Webster, "in a few minutes 
 we re due at Smith ville. If my memory serves 
 me aright, we stop five minutes for water and 
 orders." 
 
 "Yassah." 
 
 "Remain right here and let me off as soon as the 
 train comes to a stop." 
 
 When the train slid to a grinding halt and the 
 porter opened the car door, Webster pointed. 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 13 
 
 "Out!" he said. "This is no nice place to pull off a 
 scrap." 
 
 "See here, neighbour, I don t want to have any 
 trouble with you " 
 
 "I know it. All the same, you re going to have it 
 come with me to that young lady and beg her 
 pardon." 
 
 There are some things in this world which the most 
 craven of men will not do and the vanity of that 
 masher forbade acceptance of Webster s alternative. 
 He preferred to fight, but he did not purpose being 
 thrashed. He resolved on strategy. 
 
 "All right. I ll apologize," he declared, and 
 started forward as if to pass Webster in the vestibule, 
 on his way to the observation-car, whither the sub 
 ject of his annoying attentions had gone. Two steps 
 brought him within striking distance of his enemy, 
 and before Webster could dodge, a sizzling right- 
 handed blow landed on his jaw and set him back on 
 his haunches in the vestibule. 
 
 It was almost a knockout almost, but not quite. 
 As Webster s body struck the floor the big automatic 
 came out of the holster; swinging in a weak circle, it 
 covered the other. 
 
 "That was a daisy," Webster mumbled. "If 
 you move before my head clears, I ll put four bullets 
 into you before you reach the corridor." 
 
 He waited about a minute; then with the gun he 
 pointed to the car door, and the masher stepped out. 
 Webster handed the porter his gun and followed; 
 two minutes later he returned, dragging his assailant 
 
14 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 by the collar. Up the steps he jerked the big bat 
 tered hulk and tossed it in the corner of the vestibule, 
 just as the girl came through the car, making for the 
 diner up ahead. 
 
 Again she favoured him with that calm, grave, yet 
 vitally interested gaze, nodded appreciatively, made 
 as if to pass on, changed her mind, and said very 
 gravely: "You are a very courtly gentleman, sir." 
 
 He bowed. There was nothing else to do, nothing 
 that he could say, under the circumstances; to use 
 his chivalry as a wedge to open an acquaintance 
 never occurred to him but his whiskers did occur to 
 him. Hastily he backed into his stateroom and 
 closed the door; presently he rose and surveyed him 
 self critically in the small mirror over the washstand. 
 
 "No, Johnny," he murmured, "we can t go into 
 the diner now. We re too blamed disreputable. 
 We were bad enough before that big swine hung the 
 shanty on our right eye, but whatever our physical 
 and personal feelings, far be it from us to parade 
 our iridescent orb in public. Besides, one look at 
 that queen is enough to do us for the remainder of our 
 natural life, and a second look, minus a proper intro 
 duction, would only drive us into a suicide s grave. 
 That s a fair sample of our luck, Johnny. It rains 
 duck soup and we re there like a Chinaman with 
 chopsticks ; and on the only day in the history of the 
 human race, here I am with a marvellous black eye, 
 a dislocated thumb, four skinned knuckles, and a 
 grouch, while otherwise looking like a cross between 
 Rip Van Winkle and a hired man." He sighed, rang 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 15 
 
 for the porter and told him to send a waiter for his 
 order, since he would fain break his fast in the pri 
 vacy of his stateroom. And when the waiter came 
 for the order, such was Mr. Webster s mental per 
 turbation that ham and eggs were furthest from his 
 thoughts. He ordered a steak with French fried 
 potatoes. 
 
CHAPTER TWO 
 
 JOHN STUART WEBSTER passed a restless 
 night. Sleep came to him in hourly install 
 ments, from which he would rouse to ask him 
 self whether it was worth while to continue to go 
 through the motions of living, or alight at the next 
 station, seek a lonely and unfrequented spot and 
 there surrender to outrageous fortune. He had 
 lived every moment of his life; fair fortune and ill 
 had been his portion so often that he had long since 
 ceased to care which took precedence over the other; 
 to quote Mr. Kipling, he had schooled himself to 
 "treat those two impostors both the same" not a 
 very difficult task, if one be granted a breathing spell 
 between the arrival of each impostor! Hitherto, in 
 Webster s experience, there had always been a decent 
 interval between the two say a day, a week, a month 
 or more; whereas in the present instance, two minutes 
 had sufficed to make the journey from a heaven of 
 contentment to the dungeons of despair. 
 
 It was altogether damnable. In a careless mo 
 ment, Fate had accorded him a glimpse of the only 
 woman he had ever met and desired to meet again 
 for Webster was essentially a man s man, and his 
 profession and environment had militated against 
 his opportunities for meeting extraordinary women; 
 
 16 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 17 
 
 and extraordinary women were the only kind that 
 could hope to challenge his serious attention. Had 
 his luck changed there, he might have rested content 
 with his lot but it hadn t. Fate had gone farther. 
 She had accorded him a signal opportunity for 
 knightly combat in the service of this extraordinary 
 woman; and in the absence of a formal introduction, 
 what man could desire a finer opportunity for getting 
 acquainted! If only their meeting had but been 
 delayed two weeks, ten days, a week! Once free of 
 his ugly cocoon of rags and whiskers, the butterfly 
 Webster would not have hesitated one brief instant to 
 inform himself of that young lady s name and address, 
 following his summary disposal of her tormentor. 
 Trusting to the mingled respect and confusion in his 
 manner, and to her own womanly intuition to warn 
 her that no rudeness or brazen familiarity was in 
 tended, he would have presented himself before her 
 and addressed her in these words : 
 
 "A few minutes ago, Miss, you were gracious 
 enough to accord me the rare pleasure of being of 
 slight service to you. May I presume on that evi 
 dence of your generosity and perfect understanding 
 to risk a seeming impertinence by presuming to 
 address y$u?" 
 
 Webster pictured her as bowing, favouring him with 
 that grave yet interested scrutiny and saying : " Cer 
 tainly, sir." Whereupon he would say: 
 
 "It has occurred to me for, like Bimi, the orang 
 outang, I have perhaps too much ego in my cosmos 
 that you might be charitabl moved to admit me to 
 
18 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 the happy circle of those privileged to call you by 
 name. Were there a mutual friend on this train 
 whom I could prevail upon to introduce me formally, 
 I should not be reduced to the necessity of being un 
 conventional. Under the circumstances, however, I 
 am daring enough to presume that this misfortune 
 is not so great that I should permit it to interfere with 
 my respectful desires. Therefore have I your per 
 mission to present myself, with the hope that in 
 so doing I may feel freer to be of additional serv 
 ice to you throughout the remainder of our jour- 
 ney?" * 
 
 That would be a pretty, a graceful speech a little 
 ornate, doubtless, but diplomatic in the extreme. 
 Having been accorded permission to introduce him 
 self, he would cease thereafter to be flowery. How 
 ever, Webster realized that however graceful might 
 be his speech and bearing, should he essay the great 
 adventure in the morning, his appearance would 
 render him ridiculous and presumptuous and perhaps 
 shock and humiliate her; for in all things there is a 
 limit, and John Stuart Webster s right eye consti 
 tuted a deadline beyond which, as a gentleman, he 
 dared not venture; so with a heavy heart he bowed 
 to the inevitable. Brilliant and mysterious as a 
 meteorite she had flashed once across his horizon and 
 was gone. 
 
 In the privacy of his stateroom Webster had ham 
 and eggs for breakfast. He was lighting his second 
 cigar when the porter knocked and entered with an 
 envelope. 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 19 
 
 " Lady in the observation-car asked me to deliver 
 this to you, sah," he announced importantly. 
 
 It was a note, freshly written on the train sta 
 tionery. Webster read: 
 
 The distressed lady desires to thank the gentleman in 
 stateroom A for his chivalry of yesterday. She quite 
 realizes that the gentleman s offer to relieve her of the 
 annoyance to which she was being subjected was such a 
 direct expression of his nature and code, that to have de 
 clined his aid would have been discourteous, despite her 
 distress at the possible outcome. She is delighted to 
 know that hep confidence in the ability of her champion 
 has been fully justified by a swift and sweeping victory, 
 but profoundly sorry that in her service the gentleman in 
 stateroom A was so unfortunate as to acquire a red eye 
 with blue trimmings. 
 
 John Stuart Webster swore his mightiest oath, 
 "By the twelve apostles, Simon Peter, Andrew, 
 James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, 
 Thomas, James, Jude, and Simon, not omitting Judas 
 Iscariot, the scaly scoundrel who betrayed his Lord 
 and Master!" He searched through an old wallet 
 until he discovered a fairly clean professional card, 
 across the bottom of which he wrote, " Thank you. 
 J. S. W" and sent it to the no-longer-distressed lady. 
 
 "The most signal adventure of my life is now 
 over," he soliloquized and turned to his cigar. "For 
 the sake of my self-respect, I had to let her know I m 
 not a hobo! And now to the task of framing up a 
 scheme for future acquaintance. I must learn her 
 
20 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 name and destination; so as a preliminary I ll inter 
 view the train conductor." 
 
 He did, and under the ameliorating influence of a 
 five-dollar bill the conductor bent a respectful ear to 
 the Websterian message. 
 
 "In Car Seven," he began, "there is a young lady. 
 I do not know what section she occupies; neither do I 
 know her name and destination. I only know what 
 she looks like." 
 
 The conductor nodded. "And you want to ascer 
 tain her name and destination?" 
 
 "I do." 
 
 "Easiest thing in life. There is only one young 
 lady in Car Seven. I suppose you mean that 
 queen with the olive complexion, the green suit, 
 and " 
 
 "Hold! Enough." 
 
 "All right. I have the unused portion of her 
 transportation to return to her before we hit Salt 
 Lake; her name is on the ticket, and the ticket in 
 dicates her destination. I ll make a mental note of 
 both as soon as I ve identified her ticket." 
 
 "After you ve made the said mental note," 
 Webster pleaded, "be sure you write it down, so 
 you ll not forget." 
 
 A few hours later the conductor came to Webster s 
 stateroom and handed him a card upon which was 
 written: 
 
 Dolores Ruey. From Los Angeles, via San Pedro, Los 
 Angeles & Salt Lake, to Salt Lake City. Denver & Rio 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 21 
 
 Grande to Denver, Burlington to St. Louis, [Illinois 
 Central to New Orleans. Stop-over at Denver. 
 
 John Stuart Webster studied the name after the 
 conductor withdrew. That s a Spanish name," he 
 soliloquized, "but for all that, she s not a parakeet. 
 There s something Gaelic about her features, par 
 ticularly her eyes. They re brown, with golden 
 flecks in them, and if she had a drop of dark blood in 
 her, they d be smoky and languid. Also if she were 
 a Latin she would have referred to my black eye 
 whereas she referred tc*a red eye with blue trimmings ! 
 Same thing but different! All things considered, I 
 guess I ll take a chance and investigate." 
 
CHAPTER THREE 
 
 WEBSTER S dreams of bliss had, with very 
 slight variation, come true as per schedule. 
 In Salt Lake City he abandoned the beef 
 steak on his damaged eye for two businesslike leeches, 
 which quickly reduced the nocturne effect around his 
 orb, enabling him, the third day, to saunter forth 
 among his fellowmen. By the end of the week he 
 was a being reincarnated, and so he packed a huge 
 new wardrode-trunk with his latest purchases and 
 journeyed on to Denver. Coincident with his arrival 
 there, we again take up the thread of our story. 
 
 One hour after his trunk arrived the gentleman 
 from Death Valley might have been observed stand 
 ing before a cheval glass looking long and earnestly 
 at the reflection of his middle-aged person, the while 
 he marked the fit of his new raiment. 
 
 Let us describe these habiliments, alleging as an 
 excuse for dwelling with emphasis upon the subject 
 the fact that John Stuart Webster was all dressed up 
 for the first time in three long, labour-ridden years, 
 and was tremendously glad of it. Hark to this 
 inventory. There were the silken hose and under 
 wear next his well-scrubbed skin; then there was the 
 white pleated linen shirt a shirt so expensive and 
 exquisite that Mr. Webster longed to go somewhere 
 
 22 
 
WEBSTERMAN S MAN 23 
 
 and shoot a game of billiards, in order that thus he 
 might have an excuse to remove his coat and exhibit 
 that shirt to the gaze of the multitude. His collar 
 irked him slightly, but he had been assured by the 
 clerk who sold it to him that it was strictly in vogue. 
 His gray silk Ascot tie was held in a graceful puff 
 by a scarfpin with a head of perfect crystal prettily 
 shot with virgin gold; his black afternoon coat en 
 veloped his wide shoulders and flanked his powerful 
 neck with the perfection of the epidermis on a goose 
 in the pink of condition; his gray striped trousers 
 broke exactly right over his new "patent leather" 
 shoes. The tout ensemble, as the gentleman himself 
 might have expressed it had he possessed a working 
 knowledge of French (which he did not) , was perfect. 
 
 He "shot" his cuffs and strutted backward and 
 forward, striving to observe his spinal column over 
 his right shoulder, for he was in a transport of delight 
 as truly juvenile as that" on the never-to-be-forgotten 
 day when he had attained to the dignity of his first 
 pair of long trousers. He observed to himself that it 
 was truly remarkable, the metamorphosis nine tailors 
 and a talkative barber can make in an old sour-dough. 
 
 Presently, convinced that he was the glass of 
 fashion and the mould of form, Mr. Webster took up a 
 smart lancewood stick and a pair of new gray suede 
 gloves and descended to the lobby of Denver s most 
 exclusive hotel. He paused at the cigar stand long 
 enough to fill his case with three-for-a-half perfectos 
 and permit the young woman in charge to feast her 
 world-weary eyes on his radiant person (which she 
 
24 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 did, classifying and tabulating him instantly as a 
 millionaire mining man from Nevada) . After this he 
 lighted a cigar and stepped forth into Seventeenth 
 Street, along which he strolled until he came to a 
 certain building into the elevator of which he entered 
 and was whisked to the twelfth floor, where he 
 alighted and found himself before a wide portal which 
 bore in gold letters the words: 
 
 ENGINEERS 
 
 CLUB 
 
 The Engineers Club was the closest approach to a 
 home that John Stuart Webster had known for 
 twenty years, and so he paused just within the en 
 trance to perform the time-honoured ceremonial of 
 home-coming. Over the arched doorway leading 
 to the lounge hung a large bronze gong such as is 
 used in mines, and from the lever of the gong-clapper 
 depended a cord which Webster seized and jerked 
 thrice thus striking the signal known to all of the 
 mining fraternity the signal to hoist! Only those 
 nembers who had been sojourning in distant parts 
 six months or more were privileged thus to disturb 
 the peace and dignity of the Engineers Club, the 
 same privilege, by the way, carrying with it the ob 
 ligation of paying for the materials shortly to be 
 hoisted ! 
 
 Having announced the return of a prodigal, our 
 hero stepped to the door of the lounge and shouted: 
 
 "John Stuart Webster, E. M." 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 25 
 
 The room was empty. Not a single member was 
 present to greet the wanderer and accept of his 
 invitation ! 
 
 "Home was never like this when I was a boy," 
 La complained to the servant at the telephone ex 
 change. "Times must be pretty good in the mining 
 game in Colorado when everybody ha,s a job that 
 keeps him out of Denver." 
 
 The servant rose and essayed a raid on his hat and 
 stick, but Mr. Webster, who was impatient at thus 
 finding himself amidst old scenes, fended him away 
 and said "Shoo fly!" Then he crossed the empty 
 lounge and ascended the stairs leading to the card 
 room, at the entrance of which he paused, leaning on 
 his stick in unconscious imitation of a Sicilian 
 gentleman posing for his photograph after his first 
 payday in America swept that room with a wistful 
 eye and sighed because nothing had changed in three 
 long years. 
 
 Save for the slight job of kalsomining which Father 
 Time had done on the edges of the close-cropped 
 Websterian moustache, the returned prodigal might 
 have stepped out of the Club but yesterday. He 
 would not have taken the short end of a modest bet 
 that even a fresh log had been placed on the fire or 
 that the domino-players over against the wall had 
 won or lost a drink or two and then resumed playing 
 although perchance there were a few more gray 
 hairs in the thickly thatched head of old Neddy 
 Jerome, sitting in his favourite seat by the window 
 and turning the cards in his eternal game of solitaire, 
 
26 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 in blissful ignorance that John Stuart Webster stood 
 within the portals of home and awaited the fatted 
 calf. 
 
 "I ll hypnotize the old pelican into looking up," 
 Webster soliloquized, and forthwith bent a beetling 
 gaze upon the player. For as many as five seconds he 
 strove to demonstrate the superiority of mind over 
 solitaire; then, despairing of success, he struck the 
 upholstery of an adjacent chair a terrific blow with 
 his stick the effect of which was to cause everybody 
 in the room to start and to conceal Mr. Webster 
 momentarily in a cloud of dust, the while in a 
 bellowing baritone he sang: 
 
 His father was a hard-rock miner; 
 He comes from my home town 
 
 "Jack Webster! The devil s own kin!" shouted 
 Neddy Jerome. He swept the cards into a heap and 
 waddled across the room to meet this latest assailant 
 of the peace and dignity of the Engineers Club. 
 "You old, worthless, ornery, no-good son of a lizard! 
 I ve never been so glad to see a man that didn t 
 owe me money." He seized Webster s hand in both 
 of his and wrung it affectionately. "Jack," he con 
 tinued, "I ve been combing the whole civilized 
 world for you, for a month, at least. Where the 
 devil have you been?" 
 
 John Stuart Webster beamed happily upon his 
 friend. "Well, Neddy, you old stocking-knitter," 
 he replied quizzically, "since that is the case, I m 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 27 
 
 not surprised at your failure to find me. You ve 
 known me long enough to have remembered to con 
 fine your search to the uncivilized reaches." 
 
 "Well, you re here, at any rate, and I m happy. 
 Now you ll settle down." 
 
 " Hardly, Neddy. I m young yet, you know only 
 forty. Still a real live man and not quite ready to 
 degenerate into a card-playing, eat-drink-and-be- 
 merry, die-of-inanition, sink-to-oblivion, and go-to- 
 hell fireplace spirit ! " And he prodded Jerome in the 
 short ribs with a tentative thumb that caused the 
 old man to wince. He turned to greet the half- 
 dozen card-players who had looked up at his noisy 
 rance deciding that since they were strangers to 
 
 J. they were mere half-baked young whelps but 
 lately graduated from some school of mines and per 
 mitted his friend to drag him downstairs to the de 
 serted lounge, where Jerome paused in the middle of 
 the room and renewed his query: 
 
 "Johnny, where have you been?" 
 
 "Lead me to a seat, O thou of little manners," 
 Webster retorted. "Here, boy! Remove my prop 
 erty and guard it well. I will stay and disport my 
 self." And he suffered himself to be dispossessed of 
 his hat, gloves, and stick. "It used to be the custom 
 here," he resumed, addressing Jerome, "that when 
 one of the Old Guard returned, he was obliged to ask 
 his friends to indicate their poison 
 
 "Where have you been, I ask?" 
 
 "Out in Death Valley, California, trying to pry 
 loose a fortune." 
 
28 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 "Did you pry it?" 
 
 John Stuart Webster arched his eyebrows in mock 
 reproach. "And you can see my new suit, Neddy, 
 my sixteen-dollar, made-to-order shoes, and my 
 horny hoofs encased in silken hose and ask that 
 question? Freshly shaved and ironed and almost 
 afraid to sit down and get wrinkles in my trousers! 
 Smell that!" He blew a cloud of cigar smoke into 
 Jerome s smiling face. The latter sniffed. "It 
 smells expensive," he replied. 
 
 "Yes, and you can bet it tastes expensive, too," 
 Webster answered, handing his cigar-case to his 
 friend who helped himself and said: 
 
 "So you ve made your pile, eh, Jack?" 
 
 "Do you suppose I would have come back 10 
 Colorado without money? Haven t you lived long 
 enough, Neddy, to realize that when a man has 
 money he never knows where to go to spend it? It s 
 so blamed hard to make up one s mind, with all the 
 world to choose from, and so the only place I could 
 think of W-LS the old Engineers Club in Denver. 
 There, at legist, I knew I would find one man of 
 my acquaintance an old granny named Neddy 
 Jerome. Yes, Neddy, I knew I would find you play 
 ing solitaire, with your old heart beating about 
 seven times an hour, your feet good and warm, and 
 a touch of misery around your liver from lack of 
 
 exercise." 
 
 Jerome bit the end of his cigar and spat derisively^ 
 
 How much have you made?" he demanded bluntly/ 
 
 "It s none of your business, but I ll tell you because 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 29 
 
 I love you, Neddy. I ve made one hundred thou 
 sand dollars." 
 
 "Chicken-feed," Jerome retorted. 
 
 Webster glanced around . "I thought at first noth 
 ing had changed in the old place," he said, "but I 
 see I was mistaken." 
 
 "Why, what s wrong, Jack?" 
 
 "Why, when I was here before, they used to ask a 
 man if he had a mouth and now they ask him how 
 much money he s made, where be made it, and why, 
 hello, Mose, you black old scoundrel, how do you do? 
 Glad to see you. Take the order, Mose: some milk 
 
 and vichy for Mr. Jerome, and a " 
 
 Y Yassuh, yassuh," Mose interrupted, "an a 
 .^linger for you, suh." 
 
 "Gone but not forgotten," breathed Mr. Webster, 
 and walled his eyes piously after the fashion of one 
 about to say grace before a meal. "How sweet a 
 thing is life with a club servant like old black Mose, 
 who does things without an order. I feel at home 
 at last." 
 
 "Johnny," Jerome began again, "IVe been comb 
 ing the mineral belt of North and South America for 
 you for a month." 
 
 "Why this sudden belated interest in me?" 
 
 "I have a fine job for you, John " 
 
 "King s X," Webster interrupted, and showed both 
 hands with the fingers crossed . * * No plotting against 
 my peace and comfort, Neddy. Haven t I told you 
 I m all dressed up for the first time in three years, 
 that I have money in my pocket and more in bank? 
 
30 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 Man, I m going to tread the primrose path for a year 
 before I get back into the harness again." 
 
 Jerome waved a deprecatory hand, figuratively 
 brushing aside such feeble and inconsequential argu 
 ment. "Are you foot-loose?" he demanded. 
 
 "I m not. I m bound in golden chains " 
 
 "Married, eh? Great Scott, I might have guessed 
 it. So you re on your honeymoon, eh?" 
 
 "No such luck, you vichy-drinking iconoclast. 
 If you had ever gotten far enough from this club 
 during the past fifteen years to get a breath of real 
 fresh air, you d understand why I want to enjoy 
 civilization for a week or two before I go back to a 
 mine superintendent s cabin on some bleak hi 1 
 No, sir-ee. Old Jeremiah Q. Work and I have had a* 
 falling out. I m going on to New York and attend 
 the opera, see all the good plays, mush around 
 through the Metropolitan Museum of Art, drink 
 tea, and learn to tango." Webster sighed gustily. 
 "Lord, Neddy, how I long for the fleshpots. I ve 
 slept under the desert stars so long I want electric 
 signs for a change. Bacon and beans and sour dough 
 are wonderful when one hasn t something better, 
 but I crave an omelette souffle drenched in cognac, 
 and the cognac afire. Yes, and I want an obsequious 
 waiter to hurry in with it and then take a dollar tip 
 from me afterward for all the world like he was doing 
 me a favour by accepting it. Dad burn your picture, 
 Neddy, I want some class! I ve been listening to a 
 dago shift-boss playing the accordeon for three years 
 and he could only play three tunes. Now I want 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 31 
 
 Sousa s band. I want to hive up in a swell hotel and 
 leave a call for six o clock and then when they call 
 me, I want to curse them, roll over, and go to sleep 
 again. I ve been bathing in tepid, dirty water in a 
 redwood sluice-box, and now I desire a steam room 
 and a needle shower and an osteopath. I ve been 
 bossing Greasers and Italians and was forced to learn 
 their language to get results, and now I want to 
 speak my mother tongue to my old friends. The 
 last funny story I heard had whiskers on it when 
 Rameses was playing hop-scotch in Memphis, Egypt, 
 and by thunder I m going to have a new deal all 
 around." 
 
 "Very well, Jack. Don t excite yourself. I ll 
 ^ive you exactly thirty days to sicken of it all and 
 then I shall come and claim my property." 
 
 "Neddy, I ll not work for you." 
 
 "Oh, yes, you will, John." 
 
 "No, sir, I m mad. I won t play." 
 
 "You re it. I just tagged you." 
 
 "I require a rest but unfold your proposition, 
 Neddy. I was born a poor, weak vessel consumed 
 with a curiosity that was ever my undoing. I can 
 only protest that this is no way to treat a friend." 
 
 "Nonsense! My own brother wants this job, and 
 I have refused to give it to him. Business is busi 
 ness and I ve saved it for you." 
 
 Jerome leaned forward and laid his finger con 
 fidentially on Webster s knee; whereat the light- 
 hearted wanderer carefully lifted the finger, brushed 
 an imaginary speck of dirt from it, and set it down 
 
32 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 again. "Be serious, you ingrate," Jerome protested. V 
 "Listen! I ve been working for two years on a 
 consolidation up near Telluride, and I ve just put it 
 across. Jack, it s the biggest thing in the coun- 
 
 Webster closed his eyes and crooned: 
 
 "I m dying for some one to love me; 
 
 I m tired of living alone; 
 I want to be somebody s darling, 
 
 To be queen upon somebody s throne." 
 
 "Well, you ll be king on the throne of the Colorado 
 Consolidated Mines Company, Limited. English 
 capital, Jack. Pay em 6 per cent, and they ll call 
 you blessed. There s twenty-five thousand a y ar 
 in it, with a house and a good cook and an automobile 
 and a chauffeur, and you can come to town whenever 
 you please, provided you don t neglect the company s 
 interests and I know you re not that kind of an 
 engineer." : . 
 
 "Do I have to put some money into it, Neddy?" 
 
 "Not necessarily, although I should advise it. I 
 can let you in on the ground floor for that hundred 
 thousand of yours, guarantee you a handsome profit 
 and in all probability a big clean-up." 
 
 "I feel myself slipping, Neddy. Nevertheless, the 
 tail goes with the hide. I m not in the habit of 
 asking my friends to guarantee my investments, and 
 if you say it s all right, I ll spread what I have left 
 of the hundred thousand when I report for duty. 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN S3 
 
 Vhat s the news around this mortuary, anyhow? 
 Who s dead and who s alive?" 
 
 "It s been a tremendous job getting this consolida 
 tion over, Jack. When " 
 
 " In pity s name ! Spare me. I ve heard all I want 
 to hear about your confounded consolidation. News ! 
 News! Give me news! I had to beg for a drink " 
 
 "I might remind you that your manners have not 
 improved with age, Jack Webster. You haven t 
 thanked me for that job." 
 
 "No nor shall I. Mose, you black sinner, how 
 dare you appear before me again without that 
 stinger?" 
 
 Mose, the aged coloured porter of the Engineers 
 Club, flashed a row of ivories and respectfully re 
 lumed the democratic greeting. 
 
 Letter for you, suh. Tne secretary told me to 
 give it to you, Mistah Webster." 
 
 "Thank you, Mose. Speak up, Neddy, and tell 
 me something. Ever hear anything of Billy Geary? " 
 
 He was tearing the edge of the envelope the while 
 he gazed at Jerome, who was rubbing his fat hands 
 together after the fashion of elderly men who are well 
 pleased with themselves. 
 
 "You have a chance to become one of the greatest 
 and richest mining engineers in the world, Jack," 
 he answered, "now that you ve cut loose from that 
 young crook Geary. I don t know what s become 
 of him, and neither does anybody else. For that 
 matter, nobody cares." 
 
 "I do and you can take the brief end of that bet 
 
34 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 for your last white chip. Don t let me hear you 
 or anybody else say anything against Billy Geary. 
 That boy goes for my money, every turn in the 
 box. Don t make any mistakes about that, old- 
 timer." 
 
 Webster s face suddenly was serious; the bantering 
 intonation in his voice was gone, and a new, slightly 
 strident note had crept into it. But Jerome, en 
 grossed in his own affairs, failed to observe the men 
 ace in that swift transition of mood in his companion. 
 He waved his hand soothingly. 
 
 "All right, old Johnny Pepper-box, have it your 
 own way. Nevertheless, I m a little mystified. 
 The last I knew of you two, you had testified against 
 him in the high-grader trials at Cripple Creek, and he 
 had pulled out under a cloud, even after his acquit 
 tal." 
 
 "Give a dog a bad name, and it will stick to him," 
 Webster retorted . "Of course I testified against him . 
 As engineer for the Mine Owners Association, I had 
 to. The high-grade ore was found in his assay office, 
 and the circumstantial evidence was complete, and I 
 admit Billy was acquitted merely because I and 
 others could not swear positively that the ore came 
 from any certain mine. It was the same old story, 
 Neddy. It s become history in all mining camps. 
 You can be morally certain that high-grade ore has 
 been stolen from your mine, but unless you catch 
 the ore thief in the act, how can you prove it? High- 
 grade ore is blind goods and is not confined to any 
 certain man-owned spot on this wicked earth so 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 35 
 
 there you are! I suppose you read the newspaper 
 reports and believed them, just as everybody else 
 does." 
 
 "Well, forget it, Jack. It s all over long ago, and 
 forgotten." 
 
 "It wasn t all over so long ago as you seem to 
 think. I suppose you knew the Holman gang was 
 afterward sent to the penitentiary for those same 
 high-grade operations?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "But I ll bet my new plug hat you never knew I 
 was the Hawkshaw that sent them there! You bet I 
 was ! Billy Geary s acquittal didn t end my interest 
 in the case not by a jugful! I fought the case 
 against the friends of the Holman crew among the 
 mine owners themselves; and it cost me my good job, 
 my prestige as a mining engineer, and thirty thousand 
 dollars of money that I d slaved to get together. 
 They squeezed me, Neddy squeezed me hard like a 
 lemon, and threw me away, but I got them ! I should 
 tell a man! Of course you never knew this, Neddy, 
 and for that matter, neither does Geary. I wish he 
 did. We were good friends once. I certainly was 
 mighty fond of that boy." 
 
 He drew the letter from the envelope and slowly 
 opened it, his mind not upon the letter, but upon 
 Billy Geary. 
 
 "And you never heard what became of Geary?" 
 
 "Not a word. I was too busy wondering what 
 was to become of me. I couldn t get a job anywhere 
 in Colorado, and I moved to Nevada. Made a 
 
36 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 million m Goldfield, dropped it in the panic of 1907, 
 
 and had to start again " 
 
 "What have you been doing lately?" 
 "Borax. Staked a group of claims down in Death 
 Valley. Bully ground, Neddy, and I was busted 
 when I located them. Had to borrow money to pay 
 the filing fees and incorporation, and did my own 
 assessment work. Look ! " Webster held up his hands, 
 still somewhat grimy and calloused. 
 
 "How did you get by with your bluff?" 
 "In the only way anybody ever got by on no pair. 
 I was a brave dog and went around with an erect tail, 
 talking in millions and buying my tobacco on jaw 
 bone. The Borax Trust knew I was busted, but 
 they never could quite get over the fear that I d 
 dig up some blacking and give them a run so they 
 bought me out. Two weeks ago I got a belated 
 telegram, telling me there was a hundred thousand 
 dollars in escrow against deeds and certificate of 
 title in a Salt Lake City bank so here I am." 
 
 "Somebody told me Geary had gone to Rhodesia," 
 Jerome continued musingly, "or maybe it was Cape 
 town. I know he was seen somewhere in South 
 Africa." 
 
 "He left the Creek immediately after the conclu 
 sion of his trial. Poor boy! That dirty business 
 destroyed the lad and made a tramp of him, I guess. 
 I tell you, Neddy, no two men ever lived who came 
 nearer to loving each other than Billy Geary and his 
 old Jack-pardner. We bucked the marts of men and 
 went to sleep together hungry many a time during 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 37 
 
 our five-year partnership. Why, Bill was like my 
 own boy! Do you know, Neddy, now that I ve 
 rounded the forty-pole, I get thinking sometimes, 
 and wish I could have married when I was about 
 twenty years old; I might have had a son to knock 
 around with now, while I m still in the shank of my 
 own youth. And if I had been blessed with a son, I 
 would have wanted him to be just like Billy. You 
 know, Bill tied onto me when he was about eighteen. 
 He s rising twenty-six now. He came to me at the 
 Bonnie Claire mine fresh from high school, and I 
 staked him to a drill; but he didn t stick there long. 
 I saw he was too good a boy to be a mucker all his 
 days." 
 
 Webster smiled reminiscently and went on: "I ll 
 never forget the day Billy challenged a big Cornish 
 shift-boss that called him out of his name. The 
 Cousin Jack could fight, too, but Billy walked around 
 him like a cooper around a barrel, and when he 
 finished, I fired the Cousin Jack and gave Billy his 
 job!" 
 
 He chuckled softly at the remembrance. "Too 
 bad!" he continued. "That boy had brains and grit 
 and honour, and he shouldn t have held that trial 
 against me. But Billy was young, I suppose, and 
 he just couldn t understand my position. It takes 
 the hard old years to impart common sense to a man, 
 and I suppose Billy couldn t understand why I had 
 to be true to my salt. He should have known I 
 hadn t a leg to stand on when I took the stand for the 
 prosecution not a scintilla of evidence to present, 
 
 I 
 
38 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 except that the high-grade had been found in his 
 assay office. Jerome, I curse the day I took that boy 
 out from underground and put him in the Bonnie 
 Claire assay office to learn the business. How could 
 I know that the Holman gang had cached the stuff 
 in his shack?" 
 
 "Well, it s too bad," Jerome answered dully. 
 He was quite willing that the subject of conversation 
 should be changed. "I m glad to get the right dope 
 on the boy, anyhow. We might be able to hand him 
 a good job to make up for the injustice. Have 
 another drink?" 
 
 "Not until I read this letter. Now, who the 
 dickens knew I was headed for Denver and the 
 Engineers Club? I didn t tell a soul, and I only ar 
 rived this morning." 
 
 He turned to the last page to ascertain the identity 
 of his correspondent, and his facial expression ran 
 the gamut from surprise to a joy that was good to see. 
 
 It was a long letter, and John Stuart Webster read 
 it deliberately. When he had read it once, he reread 
 it; after which he sat in silent contemplation of the 
 design of the carpet for fully a minute before reaching 
 for the bell. A servant responded immediately. 
 
 "Bring me the time-tables of all roads leading to 
 New Orleans," he ordered, " also a cable blank." 
 
 Webster had reread the letter before the servant- 
 returned with the time-tables. He glanced through 
 them. "Henry," he announced, "your name is 
 Henry, isn t it?" , 
 
 "No, sir George, sir." 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 39 
 
 "Well, August, you go out to the desk, like a good 
 fellow, and ask the secretary to arrange for a com 
 partment for me to New Orleans on the Gulf States 
 Limited, leaving at ten o clock to-morrow night." 
 He handed the servant his card. "Now wait a 
 minute until I write something." He seized the 
 cable blank, helped himself, uninvited, to Neddy 
 Jerome s fountain pen, and wrote: 
 
 WILLIAM H. GEARY, 
 Calle de Concordia No. 19, 
 Buenaventura, 
 Sobrante, C. A. 
 
 Salute, you young jackass! Just received your letter. 
 Cabling thousand for emergency roll first thing to-morrow. 
 Will order machinery. Leaving for New Orleans to-morrow 
 night, to arrive Buenaventura first steamer. Your letter 
 caught me with a hundred thousand. We cut it two 
 ways and take our chances. Keep a light in the window 
 for your old 
 
 JACK PARDNER. 
 
 "That s a windy cablegram," Neddy Jerome re 
 marked as the servant bore it away. "Why all this 
 garrulity? A cablegram anywhere generally costs at 
 least a dollar a word." 
 
 " That s my delight of a shiny night, in the season 
 of the year/ " quoted John Stuart Webster; " and why 
 the devil economize when the boy needs cheering 
 up?" 
 
 "What boy?" 
 
 "Billy Geary." 
 
40 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 "Broke?" 
 
 "I should say so. Rattles when he walks." 
 
 "Where is he?" 
 
 "Central America." 
 
 Neddy Jerome was happy. He was in an expan 
 sive mood, for he had, with the assistance of a kindly 
 fate, rounded up the one engineer in all the world 
 whom he needed to take charge of the Colorado Con 
 solidated. So he said: 
 
 "Well, Jack, just to celebrate the discovery of your 
 old pal, I ll tell you what I ll do. I ll O. K your 
 voucher for the expense of bringing young Geary 
 back to the U. S. A., and when we get him here, it 
 will be up to you to find a snug berth for him with 
 Colorado Consolidated." 
 
 "Neddy," said John Stuart Webster, "by my hali- 
 dom, I love thee. You re a thoughtful, kindly old 
 stick-in-the-mud, but " 
 
 "No ifs or but s. I m your boss," Jerome inter 
 rupted, and waddled away to telephone the head 
 waiter at his favourite restaurant to reserve a table 
 for two. 
 
 Mr. Webster sighed. He disliked exceedingly to 
 
 disappoint old Neddy, but ~~ He shrank from 
 
 seeming to think over-well of himself by declining 
 a twenty-five-thousand-dollar-a-year job with the 
 biggest mining company in Colorado, but 
 
 "Rotten luck," he soliloquized. "It runs that 
 way for a while, and then it changes, and gets worse!" 
 
CHAPTER FOUR 
 
 WHEN Jerome returned to his seat, the 
 serious look in Webster s hitherto laugh 
 ing eyes challenged his immediate attention. 
 "Now what s gone and broken loose?" he de 
 manded. 
 
 "Neddy," said John Stuart Webster gently, "do 
 you remember my crossing my fingers and saying 
 * King s X when you came at me with that proposi 
 tion of yours?" 
 
 "Yes. But I noticed you uncrossed them mighty 
 quick when I told you the details of the job. You ll 
 never be offered another like it." 
 
 "I know, Neddy, I know. It just breaks my 
 heart to have to decline it, but the fact of the 
 matter is, I think you d better give that job to your 
 brother after all. At any rate, I m not going to 
 take it." 
 
 " Why? " the amazed Jerome demanded. "Johnny, 
 you re crazy in the head. Of course you ll take 
 it." 
 
 For answer Webster handed his friend the letter 
 he had just received. 
 
 "Read that, old horse, and see if you can t work 
 up a circulation," he suggested. 
 
 Jerome adjusted his spectacles and read: 
 
 41 
 
42 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 Calle de Concordia 19, 
 Buenaventura, 
 Sobrante, C. A. 
 
 DEAR JOHN: 
 
 I would address you as "dear friend John," did I but 
 possess sufficient courage. In my heart of hearts you are 
 still that, but after three years of silence, due to my 
 stupidity and hardness of heart, it is, perhaps, better to 
 make haste slowly. 
 
 To begin, I should like to be forgiven, on the broad 
 general grounds that I am most almighty sorry for what 
 I went and done! Am I forgiven? I seem to see your 
 friendly old face and hear you answer "Aye," and with 
 this load off my chest at last I believe I feel better already. 
 
 I did not know until very recently what had become of 
 you, and that that wretched Cripple Creek business had 
 been cleared up at last. I met a steam-shovel man a 
 month or two ago on the Canal. He used to be a machine- 
 man in the Portland mine, and he told me the whole story. 
 
 Jack, you poor, deluded old piece of white meat, do you 
 think for a moment that I held against you your testimony 
 for the operators in Cripple Creek? You will never know 
 how badly it broke me up when that Canal digger sprung 
 his story of how you went the limit for my measly reputa 
 tion after I had quit the company in disgrace. Still, it 
 was not that which hurt me particularly. I thought you 
 believed the charges and that you testified in a firm belief 
 that I was the guilty man, as all of the circumstantial 
 evidence seemed to indicate. I thought this for three 
 long, meagre years, old friend, and I m sorry. After that, 
 I suppose there isn t any need for me to say more, except 
 that you are an old fool for not saying you were going to 
 spend your money and your time and reputation trying to 
 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 48 
 
 put my halo back on straight! I doubt if I was worth it, 
 and you knew that; but let it pass, for we have other fish to 
 
 fiy. 
 
 The nubbin of the matter is this : There is only one good 
 gold mine left in this weary world and I have it. It s the 
 sweetest wildcat lever struck, and we stand the finest show 
 in the world of starving to death if we tackle it without 
 sufficient capital to go through. (You will notice that I 
 am already and unconsciously employing the plural 
 pronoun. How rapidly the old habits return with the old 
 friendships rehabilitated!) It will take at least thirty 
 thousand dollars, and we ought to have double that to 
 play safe. I do not know whether you have, or can raise, 
 sixty cents, but at any rate I am going to put the buck up 
 to you and you can take a look. 
 
 Here are the specifications. Read them carefully and 
 then see if there is anybody in the U. S. A. whom you can 
 interest to the tune mentioned above. We could prob 
 ably get by with thirty thousand, but I would not jeopar 
 dize anybody s money by tackling it with less. 
 
 Jack, I have a mining concession. It is low-grade a 
 free-milling gold vein twelve feet of ore between good 
 solid walls on a contact between Andesite and Silurian 
 limestone. The ore is oxidized, and we can save ninety 
 per cent, of the values on amalgamating plates without 
 concentrating or cyaniding machinery. I have had my 
 own portable assay outfit on the ground for a month, and 
 you can take my opinion for what it is worth when I 
 assure you that this concession is a winner, providing the 
 money is forthcoming with which to handle it. 
 
 This is a pretty fair country, Jack if you survive long 
 enough to get used to it. At first you think it s Paradise; 
 then you grow to hate it and know it for hell with the lid 
 off; and finally all your early love for it returns and you 
 
44 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 become what I am now a tropical tramp ! There is only 
 one social stratum lower than mine, and that s the tropical 
 beachcomber. I am not that yet; and will not be if my 
 landlady will continue to listen to my blandishments. She 
 is a sweet soul, with a divine disposition, and I am duly 
 grateful. 
 
 I would tell you all about the geography, topography, 
 flora and fauna of Sobrante, but you can ascertain that in 
 detail by consulting any standard encyclopedia. Govern- 
 mentally the country is similar to its sister republics. The 
 poor we have always with us; also a first-class, colorado- 
 maduro despot in the political saddle, and it s a cold day 
 indeed when two patriots, two viva s and a couple of old 
 Long Tom Springfield rifles cannot upset the Sobrante 
 apple cart. We have the usual Governmental extrava 
 gance in the matter of statues to countless departed "liber 
 ators" in all the public squares, and money is no object. 
 It is depreciated shin-plasters, and I had to use a discarded 
 sugar-barrel to hold mine when I arrived and changed four 
 hundred pesos oro into the national currency. If a waiter 
 brings you a jolt of hooch, you re stingy if you tip him less 
 than a Sobrante dollar. 
 
 We have a Malicon along the bay shore and back again, 
 with a municipal bandstand in the middle thereof, upon 
 which the fine city band of Buenaventura plays nightly 
 those languid Spanish melodies that must have descended 
 to us from the Inquisition. If you can spare the cash, send 
 me a bale of the latest New York rags and a banjo, and I ll 
 start something. I have nothing else to do until I hear 
 from you, save shake dice at The Frenchman s with the 
 Presidente, wh^ has nothing else to do except lap up high 
 balls and wait for the next drawing of the lottery. I asked 
 him for a job to tide me over temporarily, and he offered 
 me a portfolia! I could have been Minister of Finance! 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 45 
 
 I declined, from a constitutional inability, inherent in the 
 Irish, to assimilate a joke from a member of an inferior 
 race. 
 
 We haven t had a revolution for nearly six months, but 
 we have hopes. 
 
 There, are some white men here, neither better nor worse. 
 We tolerate each other. 
 
 I am addressing you at the Engineers Club, in the hope 
 that my letter may reach you there, or perhaps the secre 
 tary will know your address and forward it to you. If 
 you are foot-loose and still entertain a lingering regard 
 for your old pal, get busy on this mining concession P. D. Q. 
 Time is the essence of the contract, because I am holding on 
 to the thin edge of nothing, and if we have a change of 
 government I may lose even that. I need you, John 
 Stuart Webster, worse than I need salvation. I enclose 
 you a list of equipment required. 
 
 If you receive this letter and can do anything for me, 
 please cable. If you cannot, please cable anyway. It is 
 needless for me to state that the terms of division are as 
 you make them, although I think fifty-fifty would place us 
 both on Easy Street for the rest of our days. Do let me 
 hear from you, Jack, if only to tell me the old entente 
 cordiale still exists. I know now that I was considerable 
 of a heedless pup a few years ago and overlooked my hand 
 quite regularly, but now that I have a good thing I do not 
 know of anybody with whom I care to share it except 
 your own genial self. Please let me hear from you. 
 
 Affectionately, 
 
 BILLY. 
 
 Jerome finished reading this remarkable com 
 munication; then with infinite amusement he re 
 garded John Stuart Webster over the tops of his 
 
46 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 glasses as one who examines a new and interesting 
 species of bug. 
 
 "So Billy loves that dear Sobrante, eh?" he said 
 with abysmal sarcasm. "Jack Webster, listen to a 
 sane man and be guided accordingly. I was in this 
 same little Buenaventura once. I was there for 
 three days, and I wouldn t have been there three 
 minutes if I could have caught a steamer out sooner. 
 Of all the miserable, squalid, worthless, ornery, stink 
 ing holes on the face of God s green footstool, So 
 brante is the worst if one may judge it by its capital 
 city. Jack, there is an old bromide that describes 
 aptly the republic of Sobrante, and it s so trite I 
 hesitate to repeat it but I will, for your benefit. 
 Sobrante is a country where the flowers are without 
 fragrance, the men without honour, and the women 
 without virtue. It is hot and unhealthy, and the 
 mosquitoes wear breechclouts; and when they bite 
 you, you die. You get mail three times a month, 
 and there isn t a white man in the whole Roman- 
 candle republic that a gentleman would associate 
 with." 
 
 "You forget Billy Geary," Webster reminded him 
 gently. 
 
 "He s a boy. What does his judgment amount 
 to? Are you going to chase off to this God-forsaken 
 fever-hole at the behest of a lad scarcely out of his 
 swaddling clothes? Jack Webster, surely you aren t 
 going to throw yourself away give up the sure thing 
 I offer you to join Billy Geary in Sobrante and 
 finance a wildcat prospect without a certificate of 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 47 
 
 title attached. Why, Jack, my dear boy, don t you 
 know that if you develop your mine to-morrow and 
 get it paying well, the first * liberator may take it 
 away from you or tax you for the entire output?" 
 
 " We ll have government protection, Neddy. This 
 will be American capital, and if they get fresh, our 
 Uncle Sam can send a warship, can t he? " 
 
 "He can but he won t. Are you and Billy 
 Geary of sufficient importance at home or abroad to 
 warrant the vast consumption of coal necessary to 
 send a battleship to protect your dubious prospect- 
 hole? Be reasonable. What did you wire that con 
 founded boy?" 
 
 "That I was coming." 
 
 "Cable him you ve changed your mind. We ll 
 send him some money to come home, and you can 
 give him a good job under you. I ll O. K. the 
 voucher and charge it to your personal expense 
 account." 
 
 "That s nice of you, old sport, and I thank you 
 kindly. I ll talk to Billy when I arrive in Buenaven 
 tura, and if the prospect doesn t look good to me, I ll 
 argue him out of it and we ll come home." 
 
 "But I want you now. I don t want you to go 
 away." 
 
 "You promised me thirty days in which to have a 
 good time " 
 
 "So I did. But is this having a good time? How 
 about that omelette souffle all blazing with blue fire, 
 and that shower-bath and the opera and mushing 
 through the art centres, and Sousa s band " 
 
48 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 " They have a band down in Buenaventura. Billy 
 says so." 
 
 "It plays La Paloma and Sobre las Olas and 
 La Golondrina and all the rest of them. Jack, 
 you ll go crazy listening to it." 
 
 "Oh, I don t want any omelette souffle, and I had 
 a bath before I left the hotel. I was just hearing 
 myself talk, Neddy," the culprit protested weakly. 
 "Let me go. I might come back. But I must go. 
 I want to see Billy." 
 
 " You just said a minute ago you d turned the forty- 
 year post," Jerome warned him. "And you re now 
 going to lose a year or two more in which you might 
 better be engaged laying up a foundation of indepen 
 dence for your old age. You will get out of Sobrante 
 with the price of a second-class ticket on a vile fruit 
 boat, and you ll be back here panhandling around for 
 a job at a quarter of what I am offering you. For 
 Heaven s sake, man, don t be a fool." 
 
 "Oh, but I will be a fool," John Stuart Webster 
 answered; and possibly, by this time, the reader has 
 begun to understand the potency of his middle name 
 the Scotch are notoriously pig-headed, and Mr. 
 Webster had just enough oatmeal in his blood to have 
 come by that centre-fire name honestly. "And you, 
 you poor old horse, you could not possibly understand 
 why, if you lived to be a million years old." 
 
 He got up from his chair to the full height of his 
 six-feet-one, and stretched one hundred and ninety 
 pounds of bone and muscle. 
 
 "And so I shall go to Sobrante and lose fill of this 
 
AVEBSTER MAN S MAN 49 
 
 all-important money, shall I?" he jeered. "Then, 
 by all the gods of the Open Country, I hope I may! 
 Old man, you have browsed through a heap of litera 
 ture in your day, but I doubt if it has done you any 
 good. Permit me to map out a course of reading for 
 you. Get a copy of * Paradise Lost* and another of 
 * Cyrano de Bergerac. In the former you will find a 
 line running somewhat thusly : * What tho the cause 
 be lost, all is not lost! And in the immortal work 
 of Monsieur Rostand, let me recommend one little 
 page about fifteen lines. Read them, old money- 
 grubber, and learn! On second thought, do not read 
 them. Those lines would only be wasted on you, 
 for you have become afflicted with hypertrophy of 
 the acquisitive sense, which thins the blood, dwarfs 
 the understanding, stunts the perception of relative 
 values, and chills the feet. 
 
 "Let me foretell your future for the next twenty 
 years, Neddy. You will spend about forty per cent. 
 of your time in this lounging-room, thirty per cent, 
 of it in piling up a bank-roll, out of which you will 
 glean no particular enjoyment, and the remaining 
 thirty per cent, you will spend in bed. And then 
 some bright morning your heart-beat will slow down 
 almost imperceptibly, and the House Committee 
 will order a wreath of autumn leaves hung just above 
 Number Four domino table, and it will remain there 
 until the next annual house-cleaning, when some 
 swamper will say, What the devil is this stuff here 
 for? and forthwith he will tear it down and consign 
 it to the fireplace." 
 
50 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 "Ba-a-h," growled Jerome. 
 
 "The truth hurts, I know," Webster pursued re 
 lentlessly, " but hear me to the bitter end. And then 
 presently shall enter the club no less a personage than 
 young John Stuart Webster, even as he entered it 
 to-day. He will be smelling of country with the hair 
 on, and he will glance toward Table Number Four 
 and murmur sympathetically: Poor old Jerome! 
 I knowed him good ! Did I hear you say Huh ! just 
 then? I thank thee for teaching me that word. 
 Take careful note and see I use it correctly Huh / 
 
 "Dad burn you, Neddy, I m not a Methuselah. 
 I want some fun in life. I want to fight and be 
 broke and go hungry and then make money for the 
 love of making it and spending it, and I want to live 
 a long time yet. I have a constitutional weakness 
 for foregathering with real he-men, doing real he- 
 things, and if I m to be happy, I ll just naturally have 
 to be the he-est of the whole confounded pack! I 
 want to see the mirage across the sagebrush and hear 
 it whisper: * Hither, John Stuart Webster! Hither, 
 you fool, and I ll hornswaggle you again, as in an 
 elder day I horn,s waggled you before." 
 
 Jerome shook his white thatch hopelessly. 
 
 "I thought you were a great mining engineer, 
 John," he said sadly, "but you re not. You re a 
 poet. You do not seem to care for money." 
 
 "Well," Webster retorted humorously, "it isn t 
 exactly what you might term a ruling passion. I like 
 to make it, but there s more fun spending it. I ve 
 made a hundred thousand dollars, and now I want 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 51 
 
 to go blow it and I m going to. Do not try to argue 
 with me. I m a lunatic and I will have my way. If I 
 didn t go tearing off to Sobrante and join forces with 
 Billy Geary, there to play the game, red or black, I d 
 feel as if I had done something low and mean and 
 small. The boy s appealed to me, and I have made 
 my answer. If I come back alive but broke, you 
 know in your heart you ll give me the best job you 
 have." 
 
 "You win," poor Jerome admitted. 
 
 "Hold the job open thirty days. At the end of 
 that period I ll give you a definite answer, Neddy." 
 
 "There is no Balm in Gilead," Jerome replied 
 sadly. "Blessed are they that expect nothing, for 
 they shall not be disappointed." 
 
 "It s six-thirty," Webster suggested. "Let s eat. 
 Last call for that omelette souffle, and we ll go to a 
 show afterward. By the way, Neddy, how do you 
 like this suit? Fellow in Salt Lake built it for me 
 ninety bucks!" 
 
 But Jerome was not interested in clothing and 
 similar foolishness. He only knew that he had lost 
 the services of a mining engineer for whom he had 
 searched the country for a month. He rose, dusting 
 the cigar ashes from his vest, and followed sulkily. 
 
 Despite the evidences of "grouch" which Jerome 
 brought to the dinner table with John Stuart Web 
 ster, he was not proof against the latter s amaz 
 ing vitality and boundless good spirits. The sheer 
 weight of the Websterian optimism and power of 
 enjoying simple things swept all of Jerome s an- 
 
52 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 noyance from him as a brisk breeze dissipates the 
 low-lying fog that hides a pleasant valley, and ere the 
 second cocktail had made its appearance, the presi 
 dent of the Colorado Consolidated Mines Company, 
 Limited, was doing his best to help Webster enjoy 
 this one perfect night snatched from the grim proces 
 sional of sunrise and sunset that had passed since last 
 he had dallied with the fleshpots that were to pass 
 ere he should dally with them again according to his 
 peculiar nature and inclination. 
 
 Lovingly, lingeringly, Mr. Webster picked his way 
 through the hors d wuvres, declared against the soup 
 as too filling, mixed the salad after a recipe of his own, 
 served it and consumed it prior to the advent of the 
 entree, which if not the fashion in the West, at pres 
 ent, has not as yet gone entirely out of fashion. He 
 revelled in breast of pheasant, with asparagus tips, 
 and special baked potato; he thrilled with champagne 
 at twelve dollars the quart, and a tender light came 
 into his quizzical glance at sight of a brick of ice 
 cream in four colours; he cheered for the omelette 
 souffle. In the end he demanded a tiny cheese fit for 
 active service, cracked himself a peck of assorted 
 nuts, and with a pot of black coffee and the best 
 cigars possible of purchase in Denver, he leaned back 
 at his ease and forgot the theatre in the long-denied 
 delight of yarning with his old friend. 
 
 At one o clock next morning they were still seated 
 in the cosy grill, smoking and talking. Jerome 
 looked at his watch. 
 
 "Great grief, Johnny!" he declared. "I must 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 53 
 
 be trotting along. Haven t been out this late in 
 years." 
 
 "It s the shank of the evening, Neddy," Webster 
 pleaded, "and I m hungry again. We ll have a nice 
 broiled lobster, with drawn butter eh, Ned? And 
 another quart of that 98?" 
 
 "My liver would never stand it. I d be in bed for 
 a week," Jerome protested. "See you at the club 
 to-morrow afternoon before you leave, I presume." 
 
 "If I get through with my shopping in time," 
 Webster answered, and reluctantly abandoning the 
 lobster and accessories, he accompanied Jerome to 
 the door and saw him safely into a taxicab. 
 
 "Sure you won t think it over, Jack, and give up 
 this crazy proposition?" he pleaded at parting. 
 
 Webster shook his head. "I sniff excitement and 
 adventure and profit in Sobrante, Neddy, and I ve 
 just got to go look-see. I m like an old burro staked 
 out knee-deep in alfalfa just now. I won t take 
 kindly to the rjack " 
 
 "And like an old burro, you won t be happy until 
 you ve sneaked through a hole in the fence to get out 
 into a stubble-field and starve." Jerome swore half 
 heartedly and promulgated the trite proverb that 
 life is just one blank thing after the other an in 
 choate mass of liver and disappointment! 
 
 "Do you find it so?" Webster queried sympatheti 
 cally. 
 
 Suspecting that he was being twitted, Jerome 
 looked up sharply, prepared to wither Webster with 
 that glance. But no, the man was absolutely serious ; 
 
54 WEGSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 whereupon Jerome realized the futility of further 
 argument and gave John Stuart Webster up for a 
 total loss. Still, he could not help smiling as he 
 reflected how Webster had planned a year of quiet- 
 enjoyment and Fate had granted him one brief 
 evening. He marvelled that Webster could be so 
 light-hearted and contented under the circumstances. 
 
 Webster read his thoughts. "Good-bye, old 
 man," he said, and extended his hand. "Don t 
 worry about me. Allah is always kind to fools, my 
 friend; sorrow is never their portion. I ve led rather 
 a humdrum life. I ve worked hard and never had any 
 fun or excitement to speak of, and in answering 
 Billy s call I have a feeling that I am answering the 
 call of a great adventure." 
 
 He did not know how truly he spoke, of course, 
 but if he had, that knowledge would not have 
 changed his answer. 
 
CHAPTER FIVE 
 
 A AHlS morning following his decision to play the 
 I role of angel to Billy Geary s mining conces- 
 
 - sion in Sobrante, John Stuart Webster, like 
 Mr. Pepys, was up betimes. 
 
 Nine o clock found him in the office of his friend 
 Joe Daingerfield, of the Bingham Engineering Works, 
 where, within the hour, he had in his characteristi 
 cally decisive fashion purchased the machinery for a 
 ten-stamp mill and an electric light plant capab 1 
 of generating two hundred and fifty horsepower \\tft 
 electric hoists with cable, half a dozen s f cel ore- 
 buckets, as many more ore-cars with five h 
 of rail, a blacksmithing outfit, a pump Wefrett, Skecf- 
 steel to line the crushing-bins ar I Wm <z\\cv . 
 platforms for the ore in the wo:<f : picks, 3J 
 drills, and so forth. It was a nice ie r, anl Jjb 
 field was delighted. 
 
 "This is going to cost you about Kelt Voar for 
 tune, Jack," he informed Webster when u u order was 
 finally made up. 
 
 Webster grinned. " You don t suppose I m chump 
 enough to pay for it now, do you, Joe?" he queried. 
 
 "You ll pay at least half, my son. We love you, 
 Jack; we honour and respect you; but this stuff is 
 going to Central America, and in the event of your 
 
 55 
 
56 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 premature demise, we might not get it back. They 
 have wars down there, you know, and when those 
 people are war-mad, they destroy things." 
 
 "I know. But I m going first to scout the coun 
 try, Joe, and in the meantime keep all this stuff in 
 your warehouse until I authorize you by cable to 
 ship, when you can draw on me at sight for the entire 
 invoice with bill of lading attached. If, upon in 
 vestigation, I find that this mine isn t all my partner 
 thinks it is, I ll cable a cancellation, and you can 
 tear that nice fat order up and forget it. I don t 
 intend to have you and that gang of penny-pinching 
 card-room engineers up at the Engineers Club re 
 mind me of the old adage that a fool and his money 
 are soon parted." 
 
 From Daingerfield s office Webster went forth to 
 purchase a steamer-trunk, his railway ticket and 
 sleeping-car reservation after which he returned to 
 his hotel and set about packing for the journey. 
 
 He sighed regretfully as he folded his brand-new 
 raiment, packed it in moth balls in his wardrobe- 
 trunk, and ordered the trunk sent to a storage ware 
 house. 
 
 "Well, I was a giddy old bird of paradise for one 
 night, at least," he comforted himself, as he dressed 
 instead in a suit of light-weight olive drab goods in 
 which he hoped to enjoy some measure of cool 
 comfort until he should reach Buenaventura and 
 thus become acquainted with the foibles of fashion 
 in that tropical centre. 
 
 The remainder of the afternoon he spent among his 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 57 
 
 old friends of the Engineers Club, who graciously 
 tendered him a dollar table d hote dinner that even 
 ing and saw him off for his train at ten o clock, with 
 many a gloomy prophecy as to his ultimate destiny 
 the prevailing impression appearing to be that he 
 would return to them in a neat long box labelled: 
 This Side UpWith Care Use No Hooks. 
 
 Old Neddy Jerome, as sour and cross as a setting 
 hen, accompanied him in the taxicab to the station, 
 loth to let him escape and pleading to the last, in a 
 forlorn hope that Jack Webster s better nature would 
 triumph over his friendship and boyish yearning 
 for adventure. He clung to Webster s arm as they 
 walked slowly down the track and paused at the 
 steps of the car containing the wanderer s reserva 
 tion, just as a porter, carrying some hand-baggage, 
 passed them by, followed by a girl in a green tailor- 
 made suit. As she passed, John Stuart Webster 
 looked fairly into her face, started as if bee-stung, and 
 hastily lifted his hat. The girl briefly returned his 
 scrutiny with sudden interest, decided she did not 
 know him, and reproved him with a glance that even 
 passe old Neddy Jerome did not fail to assimilate. 
 
 " Wow, wow ! " he murmured. " The next time you 
 try that, Johnny W T ebster, be sure you re right 
 
 "Good land o Goshen, Neddy," Webster replied. 
 "Fry me in bread-crumbs, if that isn t the same girl! 
 Come to think of it, the conductor who gave me her 
 name told me her ticket called for a stop-over in 
 Denver! Let me go, Neddy. Quick! Good-bye, 
 old chap. I m on my way." 
 
58 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 "Nonsense! The train doesn t pull out for seven 
 minutes yet. Who is she, John, and why does she 
 excite you so?" Jerome recognized in his whimsical 
 friend the symptoms of a most unusual malady 
 with Webster and so he held the patient fast by the 
 arm. 
 
 "Who is she, you ancient horse-thief? Why, if I 
 have my way and I m certainly going to try to 
 have it she s the future Mrs. W." 
 
 "Alas! Poor Yorick, I knowed him well," Jerome 
 answered. "Take a tip from the old man, John. 
 I ve been through the mill and I know. Never mrrry 
 a girl that can freeze you with a glance. It isn t safe, 
 and remember, you re not as young as you used to be. 
 By the way, what s the fair charmer s name? * 
 
 "I ve got it down in my memorandum book, but I 
 can t recall it this minute Sparish name." 
 
 "John, my dear boy, be careful," Neddy Jerome 
 counseled. " Stick to your own kind of people 
 
 "I ll not. That girl is as trim and neat and beauti 
 ful as a newly minted guinea. What do I want with 
 a Scotch lassie six feet tall and a believer in hell-fire 
 and infant damnation?" 
 
 "Is this a er a nice girl, John?" 
 
 " How do I know I mean, how dare you ask? Of 
 course she s nice. Can t you see she is? And be 
 sides, why should you be so fearful " 
 
 "I ll have you understand, young man, that I 
 have considerable interest in the girl you re going to 
 marry. Drat it, boy, if you marry the wrong girl 
 she may interfere with my plans. She may be a 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 59 
 
 spoil-sport and not want to live up at the mine after 
 you return from this wild-goose chase, dragging your 
 fool tail behind you. By the way, where did you 
 first meet this girl? Who introduced you?" 
 
 "I haven t met her, and I ve never been intro 
 duced," Webster complained, and poured forth the 
 tale of his adventure on the train from Death Valley. 
 Neddy was very sympathetic. 
 
 "Well, no wonder she didn t recognize you when 
 you saluted her to-night," he agreed. "Thought 
 you were another brute of a man trying to make a 
 mash. By thunder, Jack, I m afraid you made a 
 mistake when you shed your whiskers and buried 
 your old clothes. You don t look nearly so pic 
 turesque and romantic now, and maybe she ll refuse 
 to believe you re the same man!" 
 
 "I don t care what she thinks. I found her, I 
 lost her, and I ve found her again; and I m not going 
 to take any further chances. I wired a detective 
 agency to pick her up in Salt Lake and trail her to 
 New Orleans and get me all the dope on her, while I 
 was in temporary retirement with my black eye. 
 Brainless fellows, these amateur detectives. I ll 
 never employ one again. I described her accurately 
 told them she was beautiful and that she was wear 
 ing a green tailor-made suit; and will you believe me, 
 Neddy, they reported to me next day that their 
 operative failed to pick her up at the station? He 
 said three beautiful women got off the train there, 
 and that none of them wore a green dress." 
 
 "Well, it s just barely possible she may have an- 
 
60 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 other dress," Jerome retorted slyly. "Women are 
 funny that way. They change their dresses about 
 as often as they change their minds." 
 
 "Why, that s so," Webster answered innocently. 
 "I never thought of that," 
 
 The porter, having delivered his charge s baggage 
 in her section, was returning for another tip. Web 
 ster reached out and accosted him. 
 
 "Henry," he said, "do you want to earn a dollar?" 
 
 "Yes, sah. Yes indeed, sah. 
 
 "Where did you stow that young lady s hand- 
 baggage?" 
 
 "Lower Six, Car Nine, sah." 
 
 "I have a weakness for coloured boys who are quick 
 at figures," Webster declared, and dismissed the 
 porter with the gratuity. He turned to Jerome. 
 "Neddy, I feel that I am answering the call to a great 
 adventure," he declared solemnly. 
 
 "I know it, Jack. Good-bye, son, and God bless 
 you. If your fit of insanity passes within ninety 
 days, cable me; and if you re broke, stick the Colo 
 rado Con for the cable tolls." 
 
 " Good old wagon ! " Webster replied affectionately. 
 Then he shook hands and climbed aboard the train. 
 The instant he disappeared in the vestibule, how 
 ever, Neddy Jerome waddled rapidly down the 
 track to Car Nine, climbed aboard, and made his way 
 to Lower Six. The young lady in the green tailor- 
 made suit was there, looking idly out the window. 
 
 "Young lady," Jerome began, "may I presume to 
 address you for a moment on a matter of very great 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 1? 
 
 importance to you? Don t be afraid of me, my dear. 
 I m old enough to be your father, and besides, I m 
 one of the nicest old men you ever met." 
 
 She could not forbear a smile. "Very well, sir," 
 she replied. 
 
 Neddy Jerome produced a pencil and card. 
 "Please write your name on this card," he pleaded, 
 "and I ll telegraph what I want to say to you. 
 There ll be a man coming through this car in a 
 minute, and I don t want him to see me here besides 
 which, the train leaves in half a minute, and I live in 
 Denver and make it a point to be home and in bed 
 not later than ten each night. Please trust me, 
 young lady." 
 
 The young lady did not trust him, however, al 
 though she wrote on the card. Jerome thanked her 
 and fled as fast as his fat old legs could carry him. 
 Under the station arc he read the card. 
 
 " Henrietta Wilkins, " he murmured. "By the 
 gods, one would never suspect a name like that be 
 longed to a face like that. I know that name is 
 going to jar Jack and cause him to seethe with am 
 bition to change it. He ll trim the Henrietta down 
 to plain Retta, and change Wilkins to Webster ! By 
 jingo, it would be strange if that madman persuaded 
 her to marry him. I hope he does. If I m any 
 judge of character, Jack Webster won t be cruel 
 enough to chain that vision to Sobrante; and besides, 
 she s liable to make him decide who s most popular 
 with him Henrietta or Billy Geary. If she does, 
 I ll play Geary to lose. However, if that confirmed 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 old bachelor wants to chase rainbows, I might as well 
 help him out, since whichever way the cat jumps I 
 can t lose. It s to my interest to have him marry 
 that girl, or any girl, for that matter, because she ll 
 have something to say about the advisability of 
 kicking aside what amounts, approximately, to 
 thirty thousand a year, in order to sink the family 
 bankroll in a wildcat mine in the suburbs of hell. 
 Well! Needs must when the devil drives." And he 
 entered the station telegraph office and commenced 
 to write. 
 
 An hour later Miss Dolores Ruey, alias Henrietta 
 Wilkins, was handed this remarkably verbose and 
 truly candid telegram: 
 
 Denver, Colo., Aug. 7, 1913. 
 Miss HENRIETTA WILKINS, 
 Lower 6, Car 9, 
 On board train 24. 
 
 Do you recall the bewhiskered, ragged individual you 
 met on the S.P., L.A. & S.L. train in Death Valley ten 
 days ago? He thrashed a man who annoyed you, but 
 owing to a black eye and his generally unpresentable ap 
 pearance, he remained in his stateroom the remainder of 
 the trip and you did not see him again until to-night. He 
 lifted his hat to you to-night, and you almost killed him 
 with a look. It did not occur to him that you would not 
 recognize him disguised as a gentleman, and he lifted his 
 hat on impulse. Do not hold it against him. The sight 
 of you again set his reason tottering on its throne, and 
 he told me his sad story. 
 
 This man, John Stuart Webster, is wealthy, single, forty, 
 fine, and crazy as a March hare. He is in love with you. 
 
WEBSTEL -MAN S MAN 63 
 
 You might do worse than fall in love with him. He is the 
 best mining engineer in the world, and he is now aboard 
 the same train with you, en route to New Orleans, thence 
 to take the steamer to Buenaventura, Sobrante, C. A., 
 where he is to meet another lunatic and finance a hole in 
 the ground. He has just refused a thirty-thousand-dollar- 
 a-year job from me to answer the call of a mistaken friend 
 ship. I do not want him to go to Sobrante. If you marry 
 him, he will not. If you do not marry him, you still 
 might arrange to make him listen to reason. If you can 
 induce him to come to work for me within the next ninety 
 days, whether you marry him or not, I will give you five 
 thousand dollars the day he reports on the job. Please 
 bear in mind that he does not know I am doing this. If 
 he did, he would kill me, but business is business, and this is 
 a plain business proposition. I am putting you wise, so 
 you will know your power and can exercise it if you care to 
 earn the money. If not, please forget about it. At any 
 rate, please do me the favour to communicate with me on 
 the subject, if at all interested. 
 
 EDWARD P. JEROME. 
 
 President Colorado Consolidated 
 Mines, Limited. 
 
 Care Engineers Club. 
 
 The girl read and reread this telegram several 
 times, and presently a slow little smile commenced 
 to creep around the corners of her adorable mouth, 
 for out of the chaos of emotions induced by Ned 
 Jerome s amazing proposition, the humour of the 
 situation had detached itself to the elimination of 
 everything else. 
 
 "I believe that amazing old gentleman is absolutely 
 
64 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 dependable," was the decision at which she ultimately 
 arrived, and calling for a telegraph blank, she wired 
 the old schemer: 
 
 Five thousand not enough money. Make it ten thou 
 sand and I will guarantee to deliver the man within ninety 
 days. I stay on this train to New Orleans. 
 
 HENRIETTA. 
 
 That telegram arrived at the Engineers Club 
 about midnight, and pursuant to instructions, the 
 night barkeeper read it and phoned the contents to 
 Neddy Jerome, who promptly telephoned his reply 
 to the telegraph office, and then sat on the edge of his 
 bed, scratching his toes and meditating. 
 
 "That s a remarkable young woman," he decided, 
 <; and business to her finger-tips. Like the majority 
 of her sex, she s out for the dough. Well, I ve done 
 my part, and it s now up to Jack Webster to protect 
 himself in the clinches and breakaways." 
 
 About daylight a black hand passed Neddy Jer 
 ome s reply through the berth-curtains to Dolores 
 Ruey. She read: 
 
 Accept. When you deliver the goods, communicate 
 with me and get your money. 
 
 JEROME. 
 
 She snuggled back among the pillows and con 
 sidered the various aspects of this amazing contract 
 which she had undertaken with a perfect stranger. 
 Hour after hour she lay there, thinking over th ; s 
 
As she passed, John Stuart Webster looked fairly into her face, 
 , started as if bee-stung, and hastily lifted his hat 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN (J.5 
 
 preposterous situation, and the more she weighed it, 
 the more interesting and attractive the proposition 
 appeared. But one consideration troubled her. How 
 would the unknown knight manage an introduction? 
 Or, if he failed to manage it, how was she to over 
 come that obstacle? 
 
 "Oh, dear," she murmured, "I do hope he s 
 brave." 
 
 She need not have worried. Hours before, the 
 object of her thought had settled all that to his own 
 complete satisfaction, and as a consequence was 
 sleeping peacefully and gaining strength for whatever 
 of fortune, good or ill, the morrow might bring forth. 
 
CHAPTER SIX 
 
 DAY was dawning in Buenaventura, republic 
 of Sobrante, as invariably it dawns in the 
 tropics without extended preliminary symp 
 toms. The soft, silvery light of a full moon 
 that had stayed out scandalously late had merged 
 imperceptibly into gray; the gray was swiftly yield 
 ing place to a faint crimson that was spreading and 
 deepening upward athwart the east. 
 
 In the Calle^Nueva a game cock, pride of an adoring 
 family of Sobrante s lower class, crowed defiance 
 to a neighbouring bird. A dog barked. From the 
 patch of vivid green at the head of the Calle San 
 Rosario a troupe of howling monkeys raised a sun-up 
 cheer that marked the finish of a night of roystering; 
 from wattled hut and adobe casa brunette women in 
 red calico wrappers came forth, sleepy-eyed and dis 
 hevelled; and presently from a thousand little adobe 
 fireplaces in a thousand backyards thin blue spirals 
 of smoke mounted incense to the household gods 
 of Sobrante Tortilla and Frijoles. Brown men, 
 black men, lemon-tinted men, and white men whose 
 fingernails showed blue instead of white at the base, 
 came to the doors of their respective habitations, 
 leaned against them, lighted post-breakfast cigarettes, 
 and waited for somebody to start something. 
 
 66 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 67 
 
 To these indolent watchers of the dawn was 
 vouchsafed presently the sight of Senora Concepcion 
 Josefina Morelos on her way to early mass at the 
 Catedral de la Vera Cruz. Men called to each other, 
 when she passed, that Senora Morelos shortly would 
 seek, in a Carmelite convent, surcease from the grief 
 caused by the premature demise of her husband, 
 General Pablo Morelos, at the hands of a firing-squad 
 in the cuartel yard, as a warning to others of similar 
 kidney to forbear and cease to tamper with the ma 
 chinery of politics. And when Senora Morelos had 
 passed, came Alberto Guzman with two smart mules 
 hitched to a dilapidated street-car; came Don Juan 
 Cafetero, peseta-less, still slightly befuddled from his 
 potations of the night before, and raising the echoes 
 in the calle with a song singularly alien to his sur 
 roundings : 
 
 Green were the fields where my forefathers dwelt 
 O, Erin, mavourneen, slan laght go bragh ! 
 
 At the theatre we sit patiently waiting for the stage 
 electrician to switch on the footlights and warn us that 
 the drama is about to begin. Let us, in a broader 
 sense, appropriate that cue to mark the beginning 
 of the drama with which this story deals; instead of a 
 stage, however, we have the republic of Sobrante; 
 in lieu of footlights we have the sun popping up out 
 of the Caribbean Sea. 
 
 Those actors whose acquaintance we have so 
 briefly made thus far must be presumed to be supers 
 
68 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 crossing the stage and loitering thereon while the 
 curtain is down. Now, therefore, let us drive them 
 into the wings while the curtain rises on a tropical 
 scene. 
 
 In the patio of Mother Jenks s establishment in the 
 Calle de Concordia, No. 19, the first shafts of morn 
 ing light were filtering obliquely through the orange 
 trees and creeping in under the deep, Gothic-arched 
 veranda flanking the western side of the patio, to re 
 veal a dusky maiden of more or less polyglot antece 
 dents, asleep upon a bright, parti-coloured blanket 
 spread over a wicker couch. 
 
 Presently, through the silent reaches of the Calle 
 de Concordia, the sound of a prodigious knocking 
 and thumping echoed, as of some fretful individual 
 seeking admission at the street door of El Buen 
 Amigo, by which euphonious designation Mother 
 Jenks s caravansary was known to the public of 
 Buenaventura. In the second story, front, a window 
 slid back and a woman s voice, husky with that h uski- 
 ness that speaks so accusingly of cigarettes and al 
 cohol, demanded: 
 
 "Quien es ? Who is it? Que quiere usted ? Wot 
 do yer want?" 
 
 "Ye might dispinse wit that paraqueet conversa 
 tion whin addhressiri the likes av me," a voice 
 replied. " Tis me Cafferty. I have a cablegram 
 Leber give me to deliver " 
 
 "Gawd s truth! Would yer wake the ole ouse 
 with yer ammering?" 
 
 "All right. I ll not say another worrd!" 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 69 
 
 A minute passed; then the same husky voice, the 
 owner of which had evidently descended from her 
 sleeping chamber above, spoke in a steadily rising 
 crescendo from a room just off the veranda: 
 
 " Car-may -lee-ta-a-a ! " 
 
 We can serve no useful purpose by endeavouring 
 to conceal from the reader, even temporarily, the 
 information that Carmelita was the sleeping naiad 
 on the couch; also that she continued to sleep, for 
 hers was that quality of slumber which is the heritage 
 of dark blood and defies any commotion short of 
 that incident to a three-alarm fire. Three times the 
 husky voice addressed Carmelita with cumulative 
 vehemence; but Carmelita slept on, and presently the 
 husky voice ceased to cry aloud for her. Followed 
 the sound of bare feet thudding across the floor. 
 
 Forth from the house came Mother Jenks, a red- 
 faced, coarse-jowled, slightly bearded lady of un 
 doubted years and indiscretion, in curl-papers and 
 nightgown, barefoot and carrying a bucket. One 
 scornful glance at the sleeping Carmelita, and mother 
 Jenks crossed to the fountain plashing in the centre 
 of the patio, filled her bucket, stepped to the veranda 
 and dashed three gallons of tepid water into Carme- 
 lita s face. 
 
 That awakened Carmelita Mother Jenks s raucous 
 "Git up, yer bloody wench! Out, yer ussy, an 
 cook almuerzo. Gawd strike me pink, if I don t give 
 yer the sack for this an* sleepin on my best new 
 blenkit!" being in the nature of a totally unneces 
 sary exordium. 
 
70 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 Carmelita shrieked and fled, while Mother Jenks 
 scuttled along in pursuit like a belligerent old duck, 
 the while she heaped opprobrium upon Carmelita 
 and all her tribe, the republic of Sobrante, its capital, 
 its government officials, and the cable company.- 
 Finally she disappeared into El Buen Amigo with a 
 hearty Cockney oath at her own lack of foresight in 
 ever permitting her sainted Enery to set foot on a 
 foreign shore. 
 
 Once inside, Mother Jenks proceeded down a tiled 
 hallway to the cantina of her hostelry and opened the 
 street door a few inches. Without the portal stood 
 Don Juan Cafetero, of whom a word or two before 
 proceeding. 
 
 To begin, Don Juan Cafetero was not his real 
 name, but rather a free Spanish translation of the 
 Gaelic, John Cafferty. As would be indicated by 
 the song he was singing when first we made his 
 acquaintance, coupled with the unstable condition 
 of his legs, Mr. Cafferty was an exile of Erin with a 
 horrible thirst. He had first arrived in Sobrante 
 some five years before, as section-boss in the employ 
 of the little foreign-owned narrow-gauge railway 
 which ran from Buenaventura on the Caribbean 
 coast to San Miguel de Padua, up-country where the 
 nitrate beds were located. Prior to his advent the 
 railroad people had tried many breeds of section- 
 boss without visible results, until a Chicago man, 
 who had come to Sobrante to install an inter 
 communicating telephone system in the Government 
 buildings, suggested to the superintendent of the 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 71 
 
 road, who was a German, that the men made for 
 bosses come from Erin s isle; wherefore Mr. Cafferty 
 had been imported at a price of five dollars a day 
 gold. Result a marked improvement in the road 
 bed and consequently the train-schedules, and the 
 ultimate loss of the Cafferty soul. 
 
 Don Juan, with the perversity of the Celt, and 
 contrary to precept and example, forbore to curse 
 Sobrante. On the contrary, he liked Sobrante im 
 mediately upon arrival and so stated in public this 
 unusual state of affairs doubtless being due to the 
 fact that his job furnished much of excitement and 
 interest, for his driving tactics were not calculated 
 to imbue in his dusky section-hands a love for the 
 new section-boss; and from the day he took charge 
 until he lost the job, the life of Don Juan Cafetero 
 had been equivalent in intrinsic value to two squirts 
 of swamp water possibly one. 
 
 Something in the climate of Sobrante must have 
 appealed to a touch of laissez faire in Don Juan s 
 amiable nature, for in the course of time he had taken 
 unto himself, without bell or book, after the fashion 
 of the proletariat of Sobrante, the daughter of one 
 Esteban Manuel Enrique Jose Maria Pasqual y 
 Miramontes, an estimable peon who was singularly 
 glad to have his daughter off his hands and no ques 
 tions asked. Following the fashion of the country, 
 however, Esteban had forthwith moved the re 
 mainder of his numerous progeny under the mantle of 
 Don Juan Cafetero s philanthropy, and resigned a 
 position which for many years he had not enjoyed 
 
72 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 to wit: salting and packing green hides at a local 
 abattoir. This foolhardy economic move had so 
 incensed Don Juan that in a fit of pique he spurned 
 his father-in-law (we must call Esteban something 
 and so why split hairs?) under the tails of his camisa, 
 with such vigour as to sever forever the friendly rela 
 tions hitherto existing between the families. Mrs. 
 Cafferty (again we transgress, but what of it?) 
 subsequently passed away in childbirth, and no 
 sooner had she been decently buried than Don Juan 
 took a week off to drown his sorrows. 
 
 In this condition he had encountered Esteban 
 Manuel Enrique Jose Maria Pasqual y Miramontes 
 and called him out of his name for which there ap 
 pears to be little excuse, in view of the many the 
 latter possessed. In the altercation that ensued 
 Esteban, fully convinced that he had received the 
 nub end of the transaction from start to finish, cut 
 Don Juan severely in the region of the umbilicus; 
 Don Juan had thereupon slain Esteban with a .44- 
 calibre revolver, and upon emerging from the rail 
 road hospital a month later had been tried by a 
 Sobrantean magistrate and fined the sum of twenty 
 thousand dollars, legal tender of the Republic of 
 Sobrante. Of course he had paid it off within six 
 months from his wages as section-boss, but the 
 memory of the injustice always rankled in him, and 
 gradually he moved down the scale of society from 
 section-boss to day labourer, day labourer to tropical 
 tramp, and tropical tramp to beach-comber, in which 
 latter state he had now existed for several months. 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 73 
 
 While waiting to round out the brief period of exist 
 ence which drink and the devil had left him, this 
 poor human fragment had become a protege of 
 Ignatz Leber, an Alsatian, manager for a German 
 importing and exporting house, and agent for the 
 cable company. By the grace of the philanthropic 
 Ignatz, Don Juan slept under Leber s warehouse and 
 ate in his kitchen. 
 
 To return to Mother Jenks. 
 
CHAPTER SEVEN 
 
 BEFORE Don Juan could even utter a matu 
 tinal greeting, Mother Jenks laid finger to 
 lip and silenced him. "Go back to Leber s 
 and return in an hour," she whispered. "I ave 
 my reasons for wantin that bloomin cablegram 
 delivered later." 
 
 Don Juan hadn t the least idea what Mother 
 Jenks s reasons might be, but he presumed she was up 
 to some chicanery, and so he winked his bloodshot 
 eye very knowingly and nodded his acquiescence 
 in the program; whereupon Mother Jenks started to 
 close the door. Instantly Don Juan s foot was in the 
 jamb; in a hoarse whisper he said: 
 
 "Whilst ye re askin favours, woman dear, ye 
 might have the kindness to ask me if I have a 
 mouth." 
 
 "Bloomin well I knows yer ave a mouth, for 
 bloomin well I smell yer blawsted breath," Mother 
 Jenks retorted. However, the present was no time to 
 raise an issue with Don Juan, and so she slipped 
 behind the bar of her cantina, poured five fingers of 
 aguardiente, the local brand of disturbance, and 
 handed it to Don Juan through the crack in the door. 
 
 "Here s all the hair off your head," Don Juan 
 Cafetero saluted her amiably. He tossed it off at a 
 
 74 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 75 
 
 gulp, handed Mother Jenks the glass, and departed 
 with a whispered promise to return in an hour. 
 
 When he had gone, Mother Jenks went behind the 
 bar and fortified herself with her morning s morning 
 which rite having been performed, her sleep- 
 benumbed brain livened up immediately. 
 
 "Gord s truth!" the lady murmured. "An me 
 about to turn him adrift for the lawst fortnight! Well 
 for im e allers hadmired the picture o my sainted 
 Enery, as was the spittin image of his own fawther. 
 Evings ! Ell s bells ! But that was a bit of a tight 
 squeak! Just as I m fully con winced e s beat it an 
 I m left oldin the sack, all along o my kindness of 
 eart, e gets the cablegram e s been lookin for this 
 two months past; an e allers claimed as ow any 
 time e got a cablegram it d be an answer to is letter, 
 with money to f oiler! My word, but that was touch 
 an go! An yet Willie s got such a tykin w y about 
 him, I might ave knowed e was a gentleman!" 
 
 Still congratulating herself upon her good fortune 
 in intercepting Don Juan Cafetero, Mother Jenks 
 proceeded upstairs to her chamber, clothed herself, 
 and adjourned to the kitchen, where Carmelita was 
 already engaged in the preparation of the morning 
 meal. After giving orders for an extra special break 
 fast for two, Mother Jenks returned to her cantina, 
 and formally opened the same for the business of that 
 day and night; while a lank Jamaica negro swept out 
 the room and cleaned the cuspidors, she washed and 
 polished her glassware and set her back bar in order. 
 
 To her here came presently, via the tiled hallway, 
 
76 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 the object of her solicitude, a young man on the 
 sunny side of thirty. At the first glance one sus 
 pected this individual to be a member of the Cau 
 casian race; at the second glance one verified this 
 suspicion. He was thin for one of his height and 
 breadth of chest; in colour his countenance resembled 
 that of a sick Chinaman. His hair was thick and 
 wavy but lustreless; his dark blue eyes carried a hint 
 of jaundice; and a generous mouth, beneath an 
 equally generous upper lip, gave ample ground for 
 the suspicion that while Mr. William Geary s speech 
 denoted him an American citizen, at least one of his 
 maternal ancestors had been wooed and won by an 
 Irishman. An old panama hat, sad relic of a prosper 
 ous past, a pair of soiled buckskin pumps, a suit of 
 unbleached linen equally befouled, and last but not 
 least, the remnants of a smile that much hard luck 
 could never quite obliterate, completed his attire 
 and to one a stranger in the tropics would appear 
 to qonstitute a complete inventory of Mr. Geary s 
 possessions. An experienced person, however, would 
 have observed immediately that Mother Jenks s 
 seedy guest had been bitten deeply and often by 
 mosquitoes and was, in consequence, the proprietor 
 of a low malarial fever, with its concomitant chills. 
 
 "Dulce corazon mio, I extend a greeting," he called 
 at the entrance. "I trust you rested well last night, 
 Mother Jenks, and that no evil dreams were born of 
 your midnight repast otfrijoles refritos, marmalade, 
 and arf-an -arf !" 
 
 "Chop yer spoofin , Willie," Mother Jenks sim- 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 77 
 
 pered. "My heye! So I m yer sweet eart, eh? 
 Yer wheedlin blighter, makin love to a girl as is old 
 enough to be yer mother!" 
 
 "A woman," Mr. Geary retorted sagely and not a 
 whit abashed, " is at the apex of her feminine charms 
 at thirty-seven." 
 
 He knew m^ landlady to be not a day under fifty, 
 but such is the ease with which the Irish scatter their 
 blarney, and such the vanity of the gentler sex (for 
 despite Mother Jenks s assault upon Carmelita, we 
 include the lady in that pleasing category), that 
 neither Billy Geary nor Mother Jenks regarded this 
 pretty speech in the light of an observation imma 
 terial, inconsequential and not germane to the matter 
 at issue. For Mother Jenks was the eternal feminine, 
 and it warmed the cockles of her heart to be told 
 she was only thirty-seven, even though reason warned 
 her that the compliment was not garnished with the 
 sauce of sincerity. As for Billy, the sight of Mother 
 Jenks swallowing this specious bait, together with 
 hook, line, and sinker, always amused him and for the 
 nonce took his mind off his own troubles. Neverthe 
 less, there was a deeper reason for his blarney. This 
 morning, watching thejteUtale tinge of pleasure under 
 lying the alcohol-begotten hue of the good creature s 
 face, he felt almost ashamed of his own heartless- 
 ness almost, but not quite. 
 
 Let us take Billy s view of his own case and view 
 his mendacity with a kindly and tolerant eye. For 
 two months he had existed entirely because of the 
 leniency of Mother Jenks in the matter of credit. 
 
78 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 He could not pay her cash, devoutly as he hoped to 
 do some day, and he considered it of the most vital 
 importance that in the interim he should somehow 
 survive. Therefore, in lieu of cash he paid her com 
 pliments, which she snapped up greedily. 
 
 In the cold gray dawn of the morning after Mother 
 Jenks always detected the bug in Billy s amber and 
 vowed to rout him bag and baggage that very day; 
 but when one is fond of blarney, it is hard indeed to 
 destroy the source of it; and while Mother Jenks s 
 courage had mounted to the point of action many a 
 time, in the language of the sporting extra, Billy had 
 always "beaten her to the punch"; for when instinct 
 warned him that Mother Jenks was about to talk 
 business, he could always rout her by declaring she 
 was pencilling her eyebrows or rouging her cheeks. 
 
 An inventive genius was Billy. He never em 
 ployed the same defensive tactics two days in suc 
 cession, and when personal flattery threatened to fail 
 him, a large crayon reproduction of the late Henry 
 Jenks, which hung over the back bar, was a never- 
 failing source of inspiration. 
 
 This was the "sainted Enery" previously referred 
 to by Mother Jenks. He had been a sergeant in Her 
 Brittanic Majesty s Royal Horse Artillery, and upon 
 retiring to the Reserve had harkened to a proposition 
 to emigrate to Sobrante and accept a commission as 
 colonel of artillery with the Government forces then 
 in the throes of a revolutionary attack. The rebels 
 had triumphed, and as a result Enery had been 
 sainted via the customary expeditious route; where- 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 79 
 
 upon his wife had had recourse to her early profes 
 sion of barmaid, and El Buen Amigo had resulted. 
 
 However, let us return to our sheeps, as Mr. 
 Geary would have expressed it. Seemingly the 
 effect of Billy s compliment was instantly evident, 
 for Mother Jenks set out two glasses and a bottle. 
 
 "I know yer a trifler, Willy Geary," she simpered, 
 "but if I do s y it as shouldn t, I was accounted as 
 andsome a barmaid as you d find in Bristol town. I ve 
 lost my good looks, what with grief an worritin since 
 losin my sainted Enery, but I was andsome oncet." 
 
 "I can well believe it, Mother since you are 
 handsome still! For my part," he continued con 
 fidentially, as with shaking hand he filled his brandy- 
 glass, "you ll excuse this drunkard s drink, Mother, 
 but I need it; I had the shakes again last night for 
 my part, I prefer the full-blown rose to the bud." 
 
 Mother Jenks fluttered like a debutante as she 
 poured her drink. They touched glasses, calloused 
 worldlings that they were. 
 
 " Ow," said Mother Jenks, toasting the philander 
 ing wretch. 
 
 "How!" He tossed off his drink. It warmed and 
 strengthened him, after his night of chills and fever, 
 and brazenly he returned to the attack. 
 
 "Changing the subject from feminine grace and 
 charm to manly strength and virtue, I ve been mark 
 ing lately the resolute poise of your martyred hus 
 band s head on his fine military shoulders. There 
 was a man, if I may judge from his photograph, that 
 would fight a wildcat." 
 
80 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 "Oh, m ybe e wouldn t!" Mother Jenks hastened 
 to declare. "You know, Willie, I was present w en 
 they shot im, a-waitin to claim is body. E kisses 
 me good-bye, an says e: Brace up, ol girl. Re 
 member your usband s been a sergeant in Er Maj 
 esty s Royal Orse Artillery, an* don t let the bloody 
 blighters see yer cry. Then e walks out front, with 
 is fine straight back to the wall, draws a circle on is 
 blue tunic with white chalk an says : Shoot at that, 
 yer yeller-bellied bounders, an be damned to yer!" 
 
 "To be the widow of such a gallant son of Mars," 
 Billy declared, "is a greater honour than being the 
 wife of a duke." 
 
 For the sake of Enery s memory Mother Jenks 
 squeezed out a tear. Billy would have egged her on 
 to a lachrymal flood, for he knew she would enjoy it, 
 but at that moment entered Carmelita, to announce 
 breakfast. 
 
 Mother Jenks, recalling her husband s last advice, 
 declined to let even a Sobrantean girl see her weep. 
 She composed herself instantly, filled her glass again, 
 and pushed the bottle to Billy. 
 
 " Ave another peg with Mother, Willie." 
 
 "I ll go you, Mother, although it s really my turn 
 to set em up. I would if I had the price. However, 
 I m expecting action on that concession of mine 
 pretty soon, Mother, and when I get straightened 
 out, they ll date time in the Calle de Concordia 
 from the spending toot I ll inaugurate. Ah, Mother," 
 he added with a note of genuine gratitude and sin 
 cerity, "you ve been awfully good to me. I don t 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 81 
 
 know what I d have done without you." He laid 
 his hand on her fat arm. "Mother, one of these 
 days I ll get mine, and when I do I m going to stake 
 you to a nice little pub back in Bristol." 
 
 She smiled at him with motherly tenderness and 
 shook her head. In a concrete niche in the mortuary 
 of the Catedral de la Vera Cruz the bones of her 
 sainted Enery reposed, and when her hour came st^e 
 would lie beside him. Moreover, she was a tropical 
 tramp. She had grown to like Sobrante, for all her 
 railing against it, and she knew she would never see 
 the chalk cliffs of Albion again. 
 
 "Yer a sweet boy, Willie," she told him, "an* 
 I d trust yer for double the score, s help me. Eving 
 knows I aven t much, but wot I ave I shares freely 
 with them I likes. I ave a brace o duck heggs, 
 am an ot cakes, Willie, an yer 11 breakfuss with 
 Mother. Duck heggs, am an ot cakes, Willie. 
 Ow s that? Eh, yer precious byby." 
 
 Billy s glistening eyes testified to the profundity 
 of his feelings at the prospect of this Lucullan feast. 
 It had been long since Mother Jenks s larder had 
 yielded him anything more stable than brown beans, 
 tortillas, fried onions, and an occasional dab of mar 
 malade, and the task of filling in the corners of his 
 appetite with free tropical fruit had long since grown 
 irksome. 
 
 Mother Jenks preceded him into the shady side 
 of the veranda, where ordinarily she was wont to 
 breakfast in solitary state. Her table was set for 
 two this morning, however, but this extraordinary 
 
82 WEBSTER MAX S MAX 
 
 circumstance was lost sight of by the shameless 
 Billy in the prospect of one more real meal before 
 the chills and fever claimed their own. He flipped 
 an adventurous cockroach off the table and fell to 
 with fine appetite. 
 
 He was dallying with a special brew of coffee, with 
 condensed milk in it, when the Jamaica negro en 
 tered from the cantina to announce Don Juan Cafe- 
 tero with a cablegram. 
 
 "A cablegram!" Mother Jenks cried. "Cord s 
 truth! I ll wager the pub it s for you, Willie." 
 
 "I wonder! Can it be possible it s come at last?" 
 Billy cried incredulously. 
 
 "I d not be surprised," Mother Jenks replied. 
 "Bob" turning to the negro, and addressing him 
 in her own private brand of Spanish "give Don 
 Juan a drink, if e asn t helped imself while yer 
 back is turned, an bring the cablegram ere." 
 
 Within the minute Bob returned with a long yellow 
 envelope, which he handed Mother Jenks. Without 
 so much as a glance at the superscription, she handed 
 it to Billy Geary, who tore it open and read: 
 
 Los Angeles, Calif., U. S. A., 
 August 16, 1913. 
 HENRIETTA WILKTSB, 
 Calle de Concordia, Xo. 10. 
 Buenaventura, 
 Sobrante, C. A. 
 
 Leaving to-day to visit you. Will cable from Xew 
 Orleans exact date arrival. 
 
 DOLORES. 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 83 
 
 The shadow of deep disappointment settled over 
 Billy s face as he read. Mother Jenks noted it 
 instantly. 
 
 "Wot s e got to s y, Willie?" she demanded. 
 
 "It isn t a he. It s a she," Billy replied. "Be 
 sides, the cablegram isn t for me at all. It s for one 
 Henrietta Wilkins, Calle de Concordia, Number 
 Nineteen, and who the devil Henrietta Wilkins may 
 be is a mystery to me. Ever have any boarder by 
 that name, Mother?" 
 
 Mother Jenks s red face had gone white. " En- 
 rietta Wilkins was my maiden nyme, Willie," she 
 confessed soberly, "an there s only one human as ud 
 cable me or write me by that nyme. Gord, Willie, 
 wot s appened?" 
 
 "I ll read it to you, Mother." 
 
 Billy read the message aloud; and when he had 
 finished, to his amazement, Mother Jenks laid her 
 head on the table and began to weep. 
 
CHAPTER EIGHT 
 
 WHEN Billy Geary could reorganize himself, 
 as it were, after the shock incident to his 
 discovery that the cablegram was not for 
 him after all, he turned his attention to Mother 
 Jenks. Without quite realizing why he did so, Billy 
 decided that fear and not grief was at the bottom 
 of the good creature s distress, and in his awkward, 
 masculine way he placed his arm around Mother 
 Jenks s shoulders, shook her gently, and bade her 
 remember that chaos might come and go again, but 
 he, the said William Geary, would remain her true 
 and steadfast friend in any and all emergencies that 
 might occur. 
 
 "Gor bless yer heart, Willie," Mother Jenks 
 sniffled. "If this was only somethink I could hen- 
 trust to a man! But it ain t." 
 
 "Well, suppose you tell me what it is and let me 
 be the judge," Billy suggested. "I haven t got one 
 centavo to rub against the other, and on present form 
 and past performances I m the last man in the world 
 to handle an affair between two women, but I have 
 a head on my shoulders, and nobody ever had reason 
 to suspect that head of being empty. Perhaps, if 
 you care to give me your confidence, I may be of 
 service to you, Mother." 
 
 84 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 85 
 
 "Willie," his landlady wailed, "I dunno wot in 
 ell yer ever goin to think o* me w en I tell ye wot I ve 
 been up to this past fifteen year." 
 
 "Whatever you ve been up to, Mother, it was a 
 kind and charitable deed of that much I am cer 
 tain," Billy replied loftily and to his own surprise 
 sincerely. 
 
 "As Gord is my judge, Willie, it started out that 
 w y," moaned Mother Jenks, and she squeezed Billy s 
 hand as if from that yellow, shaking member she would 
 draw aid and comfort. " Er nyme is Dolores Ruey." 
 
 "Any relation to the Ruey family of Buenaven 
 tura?" 
 
 "A first cousin, Willie. Er father was Don 
 Ricardo Ruey, presidente av this blasted ell on earth 
 w en me an my sainted Enery first come to Buena 
 ventura. E was too good for the yeller-bellied 
 beggars; e tried to do somethink for them an run 
 the government on the square, an they couldn t 
 hunderstand, all along o avin been kicked an 
 cuffed by a long line of bloody rotters. It was Don 
 Ricardo as gives my sainted Enery is commission 
 as colonel in the hartillery. 
 
 "That was all very well, you know, Willie, only 
 Don Ricardo didn t go far enough. If e d only 
 arkened to Enery s advice an imported a lot o 
 bloomin Tommies to serve Enery s guns, im an* 
 Enery never would ave faced that firin -squad. 
 Many s the time Enery s said to me: Enrietta, me 
 art s broke tryin to myke gunners out o them black 
 amoors Don Ricardo gives me to serve the screw- 
 
86 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 guns. They ve been born without a sense o dis 
 tance! Gor bless you, Willie, my sainted Enery 
 ad no bloomin use for a range-finder. E d cast is 
 eye over the ground an then try a shot for distance. 
 M ybe e d be a bit short. *A bit more elevation, 
 amigos, 9 says Enery, an tries again. This time e s 
 a bit over it, m ybe, but the third or fourth shot e as 
 the range an stays right on the target. But then, 
 Willie, as Enery used to s y to me: "Enrietta, how 
 in blazes can I serve six guns? How can a colonel 
 of hartillery come down off is orse an do a gunner s 
 work? It ain t dignified." 
 
 Billy nodded. He had heard that story so often 
 in the past that he knew it by heart; from all he could 
 learn the sainted Enery quite resembled a horse, 
 in that he had room in his head for but one thought 
 at a time. As a gunner-sergeant he was doubtless 
 a loss to the British service, but as a colonel of So- 
 brantean artillery he had tried to forget that once 
 he had been a gunner-sergeant! 
 
 "You ve eard me tell," Mother Jenks continued, 
 " ow the rebels got arf a dozen Harnerican gunners 
 deserters from the navy an blew Enery s bat 
 tery to bits ow the Government forces fell back 
 upon Buenaventura, an as ow w en the dorgs begun 
 to wonder if they mightn t lose, they quit by the 
 undreds an went over to the rebel side, leavin Don 
 Ricardo an Enery an m ybe fifty o the gentry in the 
 palace. In course they fought to a finish; ristocrats, 
 all of them, they ad to die fightin or facin a firin - 
 squad." 
 
WEBSTELV-MAN S MAN 87 
 
 Again Billy nodded. He had heard the tale before, 
 including the recital of the sainted Enery s gallant 
 dash from the blazing palace in an effort to save 
 Don Ricardo s only child, a girl of seven, and of his 
 capture and subsequent execution. 
 
 "That ended the revolution," Mother Jenks con 
 cluded. "But ere s somethink I ve never told a 
 livin soul. Shortly before Enery was hexecuted, 
 e told me where Vd id the youngster in a culvert 
 out on the Malecon; so I ired a four-wheeler an 
 went out an rescued the pore lamb. She d been 
 idin there thirty-six hours an was well-nigh dead, 
 an as there ain t no tellin what a mob o these spig- 
 goties ll do when they re excited, I id er until the 
 harrival o the next fruit steamer, w en I shipped er 
 to New Orleans in care o the stewardess. Hi ad 
 er put in the Catholic convent there, for as Enery 
 said : * Enrietta, keep an eye on the little nipper, an 
 do yer damndest to see she s raised a lydy. Er 
 father was a gentleman, an you never want to forget 
 e made you Mrs. Colonel Jenks. So Hi ve made a 
 lydy out o her, Willie: education, pianner lessons, 
 paintin , singin , an deportmint. After she gradu 
 ated from the convent, I ad her take a course in the 
 Uniwersity o California New Orleans wasn t ealthy 
 for er, an she needed a chynge o climate an for 
 the last two years she s been teachin in the igh 
 school in Los Angeles." 
 
 "And you haven t seen her in all these years?" 
 Geary demanded. 
 
 "Not a look, Willie. She s been after me ever 
 
88 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 since she graduated from the convent to let her 
 come ome an wisit me, but Hi ve told er to wyte 
 that I d be comin soon to wisit her. An now, s help 
 me, she won t wait no longer; she s comin to wisit 
 me! Gor , Willie, she s on her w y!" 
 
 "So this cablegram would indicate," Geary ob 
 served. "Nevertheless, Mother, I m at a loss to 
 know why you should feel so cut up over the im 
 pending visit." 
 
 There was real fear in Mother Jenks s tear-dimmed 
 eyes. "I cawn t let er see me," she wailed. "I 
 wasn t this w y w en my sainted Enery hentrusted 
 the lamb to me; it wasn t until awfter they hexecuted 
 Enery that I commenced to slip an now look at me. 
 Look at me, Willie Geary; look at me, I s y. Wot do 
 yer see? Aw, don t tell me I m young an andsome, 
 for I knows wot I am. I m a frowsy, drunken, dis 
 reputable baggage, with no heducation or nothink. 
 I ve raised er a lydy on account of er bein born a 
 lydy an her father bein good to me an my Enery 
 an all along, hever since she learned to write me a 
 letter, I ve been Enrietta Wilkins to er, an Mother 
 Jenks to every beach-combin beggar in the Carib 
 bean tropics. I ve lied to er, Willie. I ve wrote er 
 as ow er fawther, before e died, give me enough 
 money to heducate er like a lydy " 
 
 Again Mother Jenks s grief overcame her. "An" 
 wot lovin letters my darlin writes me," she sobbed. 
 "Calls me er lovin Aunt Enrietta, an me Gor , 
 Willie, I ain t respectable. She s comin to see me 
 an I cawn t let er. She mustn t know ow I got the 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 89 
 
 money for er heducation sellin ell-fire to a pack 
 of rotten dorgs an consortin with the scum of this 
 ^stinkin ole! Oh, Willie, you ve got to elp me. I 
 cawn t ave er comin to El Buen Amigo to see me, 
 an I cawn t ruin er reputation by callin on er in 
 public at the Otel Mateo. Oh, Gor , Willie, Mother s 
 come a cropper." 
 
 Willie agreed with her. He patted the sinful gray 
 head of his landlady and waited for her to regain her 
 composure, the while he racked his agile brain for a 
 feasible plan to fit the emergency. He realized it 
 would be quite useless to argue Mother Jenks into 
 the belief that she might pull herself together, so to 
 speak, and run the risk of meeting with her ward; 
 for the old woman had been born in the slums of 
 London and raised a barmaid. She knew her place. 
 She vas not a lady and could never hope now to as 
 sociate with one, even in a menial capacity, so there 
 was an end to it! During the past fifteen years, the 
 lower Mother Jenks had sunk in the social scale, even 
 of free-and-easy old Buenaventura, the higher had 
 she raised the one sweet note in her sordid life; not 
 until the arrival of that cablegram did she realize 
 that during those fifteen years she had been raising 
 a barrier between her and the object of her stifled 
 maternal yearnings a barrier which, to her class- 
 controlled mind, could never be swept away. 
 
 "She s been picturin me in er mind all these years, 
 Willie picturin a fraud," wailed Mother Jenks. 
 "If she sees me now, wot a shock she ll get, pore 
 sweetheart an er the spittin himage of a hangel. 
 
90 WEBSTER MAN S MAN t 
 
 And oh, Willie, while she don t remember wot I 
 looked like, think o the shock if she meets me! In 
 er lawst letter she said as ow I was the only hanchor 
 she had in life. Ho, yes. A sweet-lookin hanchor I 
 am an Hi was opin to die before she found hout. 
 I ve got a hanuerism in my eart, Willie, so the sur 
 geon on the mail boat tells *me, an w en I go, I ll 
 go like that!" Mother Jenks snapped her ciga 
 rette-stained fingers. "I ad the doctor come ashore 
 the last time La Estrellita was in, on account o im 
 bein* a Hamerican an up to snuff. An Hi ve got 
 ardenin of the harteries, too. I m fifty-seven, 
 Willie, an since my sainted Enery passed away, I 
 aven t been no bloomin hangel." She wrung her 
 hands. "Oh, w y in ell couldn t them harteries ave 
 busted in time to save my lamb the umiliatin knowl 
 edge that she s be oldin to the likes o me for wot 
 she s got an* ow I got it for er." 
 
 Billy Geary had a bright idea. "Well," he said, 
 "why not die temporarily if you feel that way 
 about it? You could come back from the grave after 
 she s gone." 
 
 But Mother Jenks shook her head. "No," she 
 declared. "While Dolores is self-supportin now, 
 still, if anythink appened an she was to need elp, 
 elp is somethin no ghost can give. Think again, 
 Willie. Gor , lad, w ere s yer brains an you with 
 your stummick filled to bustin with a breakfast fit for 
 a knight o the bawth." 
 
 "Well," Billy countered thoughtfully, "appar 
 ently there s no way of heading her off before she 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 91 
 
 takes the steamer at New Orleans, so we ll take it for 
 granted she ll arrive here in due course. About the 
 time she s due, suppose you run up to San Miguel de 
 Padua for a couple of weeks and leave me to run El 
 Buen Amigo in your absence. I ll play fair with 
 you, Mother, so help me. I ll account for every 
 centavo. I ll borrow some decent clothes from Leber 
 the day the steamer gets in; then I ll go aboard and 
 look over the passenger-list, and if she s aboard, I ll 
 tell her you closed your house and started for Cali 
 fornia to visit her on the last northbound steamer 
 that her cablegram arrived just after you had started; 
 that the cable company, knowing I am a friend of 
 yours, showed me the message and that I took it 
 upon myself to call and explain that as a result of 
 your departure for the United States it will be useless 
 for her to land useless and dangerous, because 
 cholera is raging in Buenaventura, although the 
 port authorities deny it " 
 
 "Willie," Mother Jenks interrupted impressively, 
 a ghost of her old debonair spirit shining through her 
 tears, "yer don t owe me a bloomin sixpence! 
 Yer ve syved the day, syved my reputation, an* 
 syved a lydy s peace o mind. Kiss me, yer precious 
 byby." 
 
 So Billy kissed her gravely and with filial rever 
 ence, for he had long suspected Mother Jenks of* being 
 a pearl cast before swine, and now he was certain of it. 
 
 "I ll send her back to the United States and prom 
 ise to cable you to await her there," Billy continued. 
 "Of course, we can t help it if you and the cablegram 
 
92 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 miss connections, and once the young lady is back 
 in the United States, I dare say she ll have to stay 
 there a couple of years before she can save the price 
 of another sea voyage. And in the meantime she 
 may marry " 
 
 "Or that haneurism or my bally harteries may ave 
 turned the trick before that," Mother Jenks sug 
 gested candidly but joyously. "In course she ll bt 
 disappointed, but then disappointment never lays 
 eavy on a young eart, Willie; an bein disap 
 pointed at not seein a person you ain t really ac 
 quainted with ain t as bad as some disappointments." 
 
 "I guess I know," Billy Geary replied bitterly. 
 "If that cablegram had only been for me! The only 
 thing worth while I have done in my twenty-six 
 years of life was to accumulate the best friend a 
 man ever had and lose him again because I was a 
 fool and couldn t understand things without a blue 
 print! Mother, if my old partner could, by some 
 miracle, manage to marry this Dolores girl, your 
 arteries and your aneurisms might bust and be 
 damned, but the girl would be safe." 
 
 "M ybe," Mother Jenks suggested hopefully, "yer 
 might fix it up for her w en I m gone. From all 
 haccounts Vs no-end a gentleman." 
 
 "He s a he-man," Mr. Geary declared with convic 
 tion. He sighed. "John Stuart Webster, wherever 
 you are, please write or cable," he murmured. 
 
CHAPTER NINE 
 
 THE ancient bromide to the effect that man 
 proposes but God disposes was never better 
 exemplified than in the case of John Stuart 
 Webster, who, having formulated certain daring 
 plans for the morrow and surrendered himself to 
 grateful slumber in his stateroom aboard the Gulf 
 States Limited, awoke on that momentous morn to a 
 distinct apprehension that all was not as it should be 
 with him. His mouth reminded him vaguely of a 
 bird-and-animal store, and riot and insurrection had 
 broken out in the geometric centre of his internal 
 economy. 
 
 "I believe I m going to be too ill to eat breakfast," 
 he told himself. 
 
 By seven o clock this apprehension had crystallized 
 into certainty. Webster had spent much of his life 
 far from civilization, and as a result had found it 
 necessary to acquire more than the layman s knowl 
 edge of rough-and-tumble surgery and the ordinary 
 ills to which mortal is heir; consequently he was 
 sufficient of a jack-leg doctor to suspect he was de 
 veloping a splendid little case of ptomaine poisoning. 
 He was aided in reaching this conclusion by memories 
 of the dinner his friends had given him the night 
 before, and at which he had partaken of a mallard 
 
 93 
 
94 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 duck, killed out of season and therefore greatly to be 
 prized. He recalled the waiter s boast that the said 
 duck had been hung for five days and had reached 
 that state of ripeness and tenderness so greatly de 
 sired by those connoisseurs of food whose fool philos 
 ophy has been responsible for more deaths than most 
 doctors. 
 
 "That brute of a duck was too far gone," Mr. 
 Webster soliloquized bitterly. "And to think I m 
 killed off in the mere shank of my celebration, just 
 because I got so rich and stuck-up I had to tie into 
 some offal to show what a discerning judgment I had 
 in food, not to mention my distinctive appetite. I 
 ought to be knocked on the head with something, 
 and I hope I may be if I ever accept any man s judg 
 ment in opposition to my own, on the subject of ripe 
 mallards. This is what comes of breaking the game 
 laws." 
 
 He decided presently to go into executive session 
 with the sleeping-car conductor, who wired ahead for 
 a doctor to meet the train at the next station. And 
 when the sawbones came and pawed Jack Webster 
 over, he gravely announced that if the patient had 
 the slightest ambition to vote at the next Presidential 
 election, he should leave the train at St. Louis and 
 enter a hospital forthwith. To this heart-breaking 
 program Webster entered not the slightest objection, 
 for when a man is seriously ill, he is in much the same 
 position as a politician to wit: he is in the hands of 
 his friends. A sick man is always very sick or 
 thinks he is, which amounts to the same thing; 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 95 
 
 and as a rule lie thinks of little else save how sick he 
 is. John S. Webster was, in this respect, neither 
 better nor worse than others of his sex, and in his 
 great bodily and mental depression his plans of the 
 night before for getting acquainted with Dolores 
 Ruey occurred to him now as something extremely 
 futile and presumptuous. That young lady was now 
 the subject least in his mind, for she was at most 
 naught but a bright day-dream; whereas his friend 
 Billy Geary was down in Sobrante with a rich wildcat 
 mine waiting to be developed, while the source of 
 development lay on a bed of pain assailed by secret 
 apprehensions that all was over! 
 
 " Poor Billy-boy ! " the sufferer murmured. " He ll 
 wait and wait, and his old Jack-partner won t come! 
 Damn that duck!" 
 
 He had one little stab of pain higher up, and 
 around his heart, as they carried him off the train 
 at St. Louis and stowed him in an ambulance 
 thoughtfully provided for by telegraph. In a 
 nebulous way it occurred to him that Fate had again 
 crossed her fingers when paradise loomed on the 
 horizon; but recalling how very ill he was, he damned 
 the duck. He told himself that even if he should 
 survive (which wasn t possible), there could be no 
 doubt in his mind, after all he had been through, 
 that the good Lord had marked him for a loveless, 
 friendless, childless man; that it was useless to 
 struggle against the inevitable. He felt very, very 
 sorry for himself as the orderlies tucked him into bed 
 and a nurse thrust a thermometer under his tongue. 
 
96 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 "A hundred and four and a quarter," he heard her 
 murmur to the doctor a few minutes later. 
 
 "No bird ever flew so high that he didn t come 
 down to roost," said Mr. Webster aloud. 
 
 The doctor and the nurse exchanged knowing 
 glances. They nodded. t The patient was already de 
 lirious a bad sign. 
 
 "Hey, Doc," the stricken man called. They bent 
 over him. "Send cablegram to Billy Geary tell 
 him come home before that thousand spent 
 money my pocket." 
 
 "Yes, I hear you," the nurse said soothingly. 
 "And the address?" 
 
 "Calle de Concordia, Nineteen, Buenaventura, 
 Sobrante." 
 
 "Say it again," the nurse urged him. "Spell it." 
 Poor girl! She was a native of St. Louis. If Jack 
 Webster had mentioned Ossawatomie or Canan- 
 daigua, he would not have been called upon to go 
 into details and waste his strength. He gasped and 
 wet his lips; she bent to get the message: 
 
 "Damn that duck," he whispered. "She had a 
 green tailor-made suit, and believe me, girl, I d 
 rather sell my Death Valley borax-claims than 
 work them myself. Free-milling gold catch it on 
 amalgamating plates contact between andesite and 
 Silurian limestone Billy knows ducks. I taught 
 him myself. Come, Neddy. All together now, you 
 old pelican. A little close harmony, boys: 
 
 "Let go the peak halyards, 
 Let go the peak halyards, 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 97 
 
 My finger is caught in the block! 
 Leggo!" 
 
 "Sounds like a drinking man," the doctor ob 
 served. "If that s the case, this attack will go hard 
 with him." 
 
 It did. However, life had the habit of going hard 
 with Webster so frequently that fortunately he was 
 trained to the minute, and after three days of heroic 
 battling the doctor awarded Jack the decision. 
 Thereafter they kept him in the hospital ten days 
 longer, "feeding him up" as the patient expressed it 
 at the end of which period Webster, some fifteen 
 pounds lighter and not quite so fast on his feet as 
 formerly, resumed his journey toward New Orleans. 
 
 In u the meantime, however, several things had 
 happened. To begin, Dolores Ruey spent two days 
 wondering what had become of her quondam knight 
 of the whiskers at the end of which period she ar 
 rived in New Orleans with the conviction strong upon 
 her that while her hero might be as courageous as a 
 wounded lion when dealing with men, he was the 
 possessor, when dealing with women, of about two 
 per cent, less courage than a cottontail rabbit. She 
 reproached herself for the wintry glance she had cast 
 upon the poor fellow that night at the Denver railway 
 station; she decided that the amazing Neddy Jerome 
 was an interfering, impudent old fool and that she 
 had done an unmaidenly and brazen deed in replying 
 to his ridiculous telegram, even though she did so 
 under an assumed name. Being a very human young 
 lady, however, she could not help wondering what 
 
98 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 had become of the ubiquitous Mr. Webster, although 
 the fact that he had mysteriously disappeared from 
 the train en route to New Orleans did not perturb 
 her one half so much as it had the disappeared She 
 hjad this advantage over that unfortunate man. 
 Whereas he did not know she was bound for Buena 
 ventura, she knew he was; hence, upon arrival in New 
 Orleans she dismissed him from her thoughts, serene 
 in abiding faith that sooner or later her knight would 
 appear, like little Bo-Peep 9 s lost sheep, dragging his 
 tail behind him, so to speak. The only regret she 
 entertained arose from her disappointment in the 
 knowledge of his real character, and its wide variance 
 from the heroic attributes with which she had en 
 dowed him. She had depended upon him to be a 
 daring devil and he had failed to toe the scratch ! 
 
 Dolores spent a week in New Orleans renewing 
 schoolgirl friendships from her convent days in the 
 quaint old town. This stop-over, together with the 
 one in Denver, not having been taken into considera 
 tion by Mr. William Geary when he and Mother 
 Jenks commenced to speculate upon the approximate 
 date of her arrival in Buenaventura, resulted in the 
 premature flight of Mother Jenks to San Miguel de 
 Padua, a fruitless visit on the part of Billy aboard 
 the Cacique, of the United Fruit Company s line, 
 followed by a hurry call to Mother Jenks to return 
 to Buenaventura until the arrival of the next steamer. 
 
 This tune Billy s calculations proved correct, for 
 Dolores did arrive on that steamer. It is also worthy 
 of remark here that shortly after boarding the vessel 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 99 
 
 and while La Estrellita was snoring down the Mis 
 sissippi, Miss Dolores did the missing Webster the 
 signal honour of scanning the purser s passenger list 
 in a vain search for his name. 
 
 At Buenaventura the steamer anchored in tlie 
 roadstead; the port doctor came aboard, partook of 
 his customary drink with the captain, received a 
 bundle of the latest American newspapers and maga 
 zines, nosed around, asked a few perfunctory ques 
 tions, and gave the vessel pratique. Immediately 
 she was surrounded by lighters manned by clamor 
 ous, half-naked Sobranteans, each screaming in a 
 horrible patois of English, Spanish, and good Ameri 
 can slang perfervid praises of the excellence of his 
 service compared with that of his neighbour. Do 
 lores was particularly interested in the antics of one 
 fellow who had a sign tacked on a short signal mast in 
 his lighter. "I am a poor man with a large family, 
 and my father was an American," the legend ran. 
 "Kind-hearted Americans will patronize me to the 
 exclusion of all others." 
 
 Dolores had made up her mind to heed this pa 
 thetic appeal, when she observed a gasolene launch 
 shoot up to the landing at the foot of the companion- 
 ladder and discharge a well-dressed, youthful white 
 man. As he came up the companion, the purser 
 recognized him. 
 
 "Howdy, Bill," he called. 
 
 "Hello, yourself," Mr. William Geary replied, and 
 Dolores knew him for an American. " Do you hap 
 pen to have as a passenger this trip a large, interest- 
 
100 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 ing person, by name John Stuart Webster?" added 
 Billy Geary. 
 
 " I don t know, Billy. I ll look over the passenger- 
 list." 
 
 "No hope," Billy replied mournfully. "If Jack 
 Webster was aboard he d have got acquainted with 
 you. However, take a look-see to make certain." 
 
 "Friend of yours?" the purser queried. 
 
 "You bet. Likewise guide and philosopher. He 
 should have been here on the last steamer cabled 
 me he was coming, and I haven t heard a word from 
 him since. I m a little worried." 
 
 "I ll get the list," the purser announced, and to 
 gether they moved off toward his office. Dolores fol 
 lowed, drawn by the mention of that magic name 
 Webster, and paused n front of the purser s office to 
 lean over the rail, ostensibly to watch the cargadores 
 in their lighters clustering around the great ship, 
 but in reality to learn more of the mysterious Web 
 ster. 
 
 "Blast the luck," Billy Geary growled, "the old 
 sinner isn t here. Gosh, that s worse than having a 
 note called on a fellow. By the way, do you happen 
 to have a Miss Dolores Ruey aboard?" 
 
 Dolores pricked up her little ears. What possible 
 interest could this stranger have in her goings or 
 comings? 
 
 "You picked a winner this time, Bill," she heard 
 the purser say. "Stateroom Sixteen, boat-deck, 
 starboard side. You ll probably find her there, pack 
 ing to go ashore." 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 101 
 
 "Thanks," Billy replied and stepped out of the 
 purser s office. Dolores turned and faced him. 
 
 "I am Miss Ruey," she announced. "I heard 
 you asking for me." Her eyes carried the query 
 she had not put into words: "Who are you, and 
 what do you want?" Billy saw and understood, and 
 on the instant a wave of desolation surged over him. 
 
 So this was the vision he had volunteered to meet 
 aboard La Estrellita, and by specious lie and hypo- 
 critic mien, turn her back from the portals of Buena 
 ventura to that dear old United States, which, Billy 
 suddenly recalled with poignant pain, is a sizable 
 country in which a young lady may very readily be 
 lost forever. At the moment it occurred to Mr. 
 Geary that the apotheosis of rapture would be a mid 
 night stroll in the moonlight along the Malecon, with 
 the little waves from the Caribbean lapping and 
 gurgling against the beach, while afar, in some bosky 
 retreat, a harp with a flute obbligato sobbed out 
 " Nita, Juanita" or some equally heart-throb bal 
 lad. Yes, that would be quite a joyous journey 
 with Dolores Ruey. 
 
 Billy, with the quick eye of youth, noted that 
 Dolores was perfectly wonderful in a white flannel 
 skirt and jacket, white buck boots, white panama 
 hat with a gorgeous puggaree, a mannish little linen 
 collar, and a red four-in-hand tie. From under that 
 white hat peeped a profusion of crinkly brown hair 
 with a slightly reddish tinge to it; her eyes were big 
 and brown and wide apart, with golden flecks in 
 them; their glance met Billy s hungry gaze simply, 
 
102 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 directly, and with a curiosity there was no attempt 
 to hide. Her complexion was that peculiar shade of 
 olive, with a warm, healthy, underlying tinge that 
 nobody could possibly hope to describe, but which 
 fits in so beautifully with brown eyes of a certain 
 shade. Her nose was patrician; her beautiful short 
 upper lip revealed the tips of two perfect, milk-white 
 front teeth: she was, Billy Geary told himself, a god 
 dess before whom all low, worthless, ornery fellows 
 like himself should grovel and die happy, if per 
 chance she might be so minded as to walk on their 
 faces! He was aroused from his critical inventory 
 when the houri spoke again: 
 
 "You haven t answered my question, sir!" 
 
 "No," said Billy, "I didn t. Stupid of me, too. 
 I was staring, instead because, you see, it isn t 
 often we poor expatriated devils down here climb out 
 of Hades long enough to view the angels ! However, 
 come to think of it, you didn t ask me any question. 
 You looked it. My name is Geary William H. 
 Geary, by profession a mining engineer and by nature 
 an ignoramus, and I have called to deliver some dis 
 appointing news regarding Henrietta Wilkins." 
 
 "Is she " 
 
 " She is. Very much alive and in excellent health 
 or rather was, the last time it was my pleasure and 
 privilege to call on the dear lady. But she isn t in 
 Buenaventura now." Mentally Billy asked God to 
 forgive him his black-hearted treachery to this win 
 some girl. He loathed the task he had planned and 
 foisted upon himself, and nothing but the memory of 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 103 
 
 Mother Jenks s manifold kindnesses to him in a day, 
 thanks to Jack Webster, now happily behind him, 
 could have induced him to go through to the finish. 
 Mentally clinging to the memory of his obligations 
 to Mother Jenks, Billy ruthlessly smothered his finer 
 instincts and with breaking heart prepared to do or 
 die. 
 
 "Why, where is she?" Dolores queried, and Billy 
 could have wept at the fright in those lovely brown 
 eyes. 
 
 He waved his hand airily. "Quien sabef" he 
 said. "She left three weeks ago for New Orleans 
 to visit you. I dare say you passed each other on the 
 road here, here, Miss Ruey, don t cry. By golly, 
 this is a tough one, I know, but be brave and we ll 
 save something out of the wreck yet." 
 
 He took a recess of three minutes, while Dolores 
 dabbed her eyes and went through sundry other 
 motions of being brave. Then he proceeded with his 
 nefarious recital. 
 
 "When your cablegram arrived, Miss Ruey, natur 
 ally Mrs. Wilkins was not here to receive it, and as I 
 was the only person who had her address, the cable- 
 agent referred it to me. Under the circumstances, 
 not knowing where I could reach you with a cable 
 informing you that Mrs. Wilkins was headed for 
 California to see you, I had no other alternative but 
 let matters take their course. I decided you might 
 arrive on La Estrellita, so I called to welcome you to 
 our thriving little city, and, as a friend of about two 
 minutes standing, to warn you away from it." 
 
104 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 Billy s mien, as he voiced this warning, was so 
 singularly mysterious that Dolores s curiosity was 
 aroused instantly and rose superior to her grief. 
 "Why, what s the matter?" she demanded. 
 
 Billy looked around, as if fearful of being over 
 heard. He lowered his voice. " We re going to have 
 one grand little first-class revolution," he replied. 
 "It s due to bust almost any night now, and when it 
 does, the streets of San Buenaventura will run red 
 with blood. I shudder to think of the fate that 
 might befall you, alone and unprotected in the city, 
 in such event." 
 
 Dolores blanched. " Oh, dearie me," she quavered. 
 "Do they still have revolutions here? You know, 
 Mr. Geary, my poor father was killed in one." 
 
 "Yes, and the same old political gang that shot 
 him is still on deck," Billy warned her. " It would be 
 highly dangerous for a Ruey, man or woman, to show 
 his or her nose around Buenaventura about now. 
 Besides, Miss Ruey, that isn t the worst," he con 
 tinued, for a whole-hearted lad was Billy, who never 
 did anything by halves. While he was opposed to 
 lies and liars on broad, general principles, neverthe 
 less whenever the exigencies of circumstance com 
 pelled him to backslide, his Hibernian impulsiveness 
 bade him spin a yarn worth while. "The city is 
 reeking with cholera," he declared. 
 
 "Cholera!" Dolores s big brown eyes grew Digger 
 with wonder and concern. Are there any other fatal 
 diseases prevalent, Mr. Geary?" 
 
 "Well, we re not advertising it, Miss Ruey, but if 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 105 
 
 I had an ^nemy to whom I wanted to slip a plain 
 or fancy case of bubonic plague, I d invite him to 
 visit me at Buenaventura." 
 
 "How strange the port authorities didn t warn us 
 at New Orleans!" Dolores suggested. 
 
 "Tish! Tush! Fiddlesticks and then some. The 
 fruit company censors everything, Miss Ruey, and the 
 news doesn t get out. The port authorities here 
 would never admit the truth of such reports, because 
 it would be bad for business " 
 
 "But the port doctor just said the passengers could 
 go ashore." 
 
 "What s a human life to a doctor? Besides, he s 
 on the slush-fund pay-roll and does whatever the 
 higher-ups tell him. You be guided by what I tell 
 you, Miss Ruey, and do not set foot on Sobrantean 
 soil. Even if you had a guarantee that you could 
 escape alive, there isn t a hotel in the city you could 
 afford to sleep in; Miss Wilkins s house is closed 
 up, and Miss Wilkins s servants dismissed, and er 
 well, if you stay aboard La Estrellita, you ll have 
 your nice clean stateroom, your well-cooked meals, 
 your bath, and the attentions of the stewardess. 
 The steamer will be loaded in two days; then you go 
 back to New Orleans, and by the time you arrive 
 there I ll have been in communication by cable with 
 Mother Jenks I mean " 
 
 "Mother who?" Dolores demanded. 
 
 "A mere slip of the tongue, Miss Ruey. I was 
 thinking of my landlady. I meant Mrs. Wil- 
 kins " 
 
106 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 "You mean Miss Wilkins," Dolores corrected him 
 smilingly. 
 
 "So I do. Of course, Miss Wilkins. Well, I ll 
 cable her you re on your way back, and if you ll 
 leave me your New Orleans address, I ll have her get 
 in touch with you, and then you can have your nice 
 little visit far from the madding crowd s ignoble strife 
 and the death-dealing sting of the yellow-fever 
 mosquito." 
 
 "I m so awfully obliged to you, Mr. Geary. 
 You re so kind, I m sure I d be a most ungrateful 
 girl not to be guided by you accordingly. You 
 wouldn t risk any friend of yours in this terrible 
 place, would you, Mr. Geary?" 
 
 "Indeed, I would not. By permitting anybody I 
 thought anything of to come to this city, I should feel 
 guilty of murder." 
 
 "I m sure you would, Mr. Geary. Nevertheless, 
 there is one point that is not quite clear in my mind, 
 and I wish you d explain " 
 
 "Command me, Miss Ruey." 
 
 "If this is such a frightful place, why are you so 
 anxious, if I may employ such language, to horns- 
 woggle your dearest friend, Mr. John S. Webster, 
 into coming down here? Do you want to kill him 
 and get his money or what?" 
 
 Billy s face flamed at thought of the embarrassing 
 trap his glib tongue had led him into. He cursed 
 himself for a star-spangled jackass, and while he was 
 engaged in this interesting pastime Dolores spoke 
 again. 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 107 
 
 "And by the way, which is it? Miss Wilkins or 
 Mrs. ? You ve called her both, and when I reminded 
 you she was a Miss, you agreed with me, whereas she 
 is nothing of the sort. She s a Mrs. Then you 
 blurted out something about a Mother Jenks, and 
 finally, Mr. Geary, it occurs to me that for a com 
 plete stranger you are unduly interested in my wel 
 fare. I m not such a goose as to assimilate your 
 weird tales of death from disease. I might have 
 accepted the revolution, because I know it s the 
 national outdoor sport down here, and I might have 
 eccepted the cholera, because it wouldn t surprise 
 me; but when you so artlessly throw in bubonic 
 plague and yellow fever for good measure, Mr. Geary, 
 you tax my credulity. It occurs to me that if your 
 friend John S. Webster can risk Buenaventura, I can 
 also." 
 
 "You you know that old tarantula?" Billy 
 gasped. "Why I I came out to warn him off the 
 grass, too." 
 
 Dolores walked a step closer to Billy and eyed him 
 disapprovingly. "I m so sorry I can t believe that 
 statement," she replied. "With the exception of 
 your tendency toward fiction, you re rather a pre 
 sentable young man, too. It s really too bad, but it 
 happens that I was standing by the companion-ladder 
 when you came aboard and spoke to the purser; when 
 you asked him if Mr. Webster was aboard, your face 
 was alight with eagerness and anticipation, but when 
 you had reason to believe he was not aboard, you 
 looked so terribly disappointed I felt sorry for you." 
 
108 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 " Well, of course I would have been delighted to meet 
 the old boy," Billy began, but she interrupted him. 
 
 "Mr. Geary, you re about as reliable as a Los 
 Angeles thermometer and if you ve ever lived in a 
 town the main asset of which is climate, you know 
 just how reliable you are. Now, let us understand 
 each other, Mr. Geary : If you think I m the kind of 
 simple, trusting little country maid who would come 
 within half a mile of the land of her birth and then 
 run back home because somebody said Boo! you 
 are not nearly so intelligent as you look. I m going 
 ashore, if it s the last act of my life, and when I get 
 there I m going to interview the cable agent; then 
 I m going to call at the steamship office and scan 
 the passenger list of the last three north-bound 
 steamers, and if I do not find Henrietta Wilkins s 
 name on one of those passenger lists I m going up to 
 Calle de Concordia Number Nineteen " 
 
 "I surrender unconditionally," groaned Billy. 
 "I m a liar from beginning to end. I overlooked my 
 hand. I forgot that while you were born in this 
 country and bred from several generations of So- 
 branteans, you were raised in the U. S. A. I beg 
 of you to believe me, however, when I tell you that I 
 only told you those whoppers because I was in honour 
 bound to tell them. Personally, I don t want you to 
 go away at least, not until I m ready to go away, 
 too! Miss Ruey, my nose is in the dust. On my 
 lying head there is a ton of ashes and a thousand 
 running yards of sackcloth. There is a fever in my 
 brain and a misery in my heart " 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 109 
 
 "And contrition in your face," she interrupted him 
 laughingly. "You re forgiven, Mr. Geary on one 
 condition." 
 
 "Name it," he answered. 
 
 "Tell me everything from beginning to end." 
 
 So Billy told her, for there are some women in this 
 world to whom a man with a poker face, the imagina 
 tion of a Verne, and the histrionic art of an Irving 
 cannot nay, dare not tell a lie. "I would much 
 rather have been visited with a plague of boils, like 
 our old friend, the late Job, than have to tell you this, 
 Miss Ruey," Bill concluded his recital. "Man pro 
 poses, but God disposes, and you re here and bound 
 to learn the truth sooner or later. Mother isn t a 
 lady and she knows it, but take it from me, Miss 
 Ruey, she s a grand old piece of work. She s a scout 
 a ring-tailed sport a regular individual and game 
 as a gander." 
 
 "In other words," Dolores replied smilingly, "she 
 has a heart of gold." 
 
 "Twenty-four carat, all wool and a yard wide," 
 Billy declared, mixed-metaphorically. 
 
 "And I mustn t call at El Buen Amigo, Mr. 
 Geary?" 
 
 "Perish the thought! Mother must call on you. 
 El Buen Amigo is what you might term a hotel for 
 tropical tramps of the masculine sex. Nearly all 
 of Mother s guests have a past, you know. They re 
 the submerged white tenth of Sobrante." 
 
 "Then my benefactor must call to see me here?" 
 Billy nodded. "When will you bring her here?" 
 
110 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 Billy reflected that Mother Jenks had been up 
 rather late the night before and that trade in the 
 cantina of El Buen Amigo had been unusually brisk; 
 so since he desired to exhibit the old lady at her 
 best, he concluded it might be well to spar for 
 wind. 
 
 "To-morrow at ten," he declared. Dolores in 
 clined her head. Something told her she had better 
 leave all future details to the amiable William. 
 
 "I take it you are a guest at El Buen Amigo, Mr. 
 Geary," she continued. 
 
 "Oh, yes. I ve been a guest for about two weeks 
 now; before that I was an encumbrance. Now I m 
 paying my way thanks to an old side-kicker of 
 mine, Jack Webster." 
 
 "But surely you re not a tropical tramp, Mr. 
 Geary?" 
 
 "I was, but Jack Webster reformed me," Billy 
 answered quizzically. "You know power of wealth 
 and all that." 
 
 "I remember you inquired for your friend Mr. 
 Webster when you came aboard the steamer." 
 
 "I remember it, too," Billy countered ruefully. 
 "I can t imagine what s become of him. I suppose 
 I ll have a cable from him any day, though, telling 
 me he ll be along on the next steamer. Miss Ruey, 
 did you ever go to meet the only human being in the 
 world and discover that for some mysterious reason 
 he had failed to keep the appointment? If you ever 
 have, you ll know just how cheerful I felt when I 
 didn t find Jack s name on the passenger list. Miss 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 111 
 
 Ruey, you ll have to meet old John Stuart the minute 
 he lights in Buenaventura. He s some boy." 
 
 "Old John Stuart?" she queried. "How old?" 
 
 "Oh, thirty-nine or forty on actual count, but one 
 of the kind that will live to be a thousand and then 
 have to be killed with an axe. He s coming to So- 
 brante to help me put over a mining deal." 
 
 "How interesting, Mr. Geary! No wonder you 
 were disappointed." 
 
 The last sentence was a shaft deliberately launched; 
 to Dolores s delight it made a keyhole in Billy Geary s 
 heart. 
 
 "Don t get me wrong, Miss Ruey," he hastened 
 to assure her. "I have a good mine, but I d trade it 
 for a hand-shake from Jack! The good Lord only 
 published one edition of Jack, and limited the edition 
 to one volume; then the plates were melted for the 
 junk we call the human race." 
 
 "Oh, do tell me all about him," Dolores pleaded. 
 Billy, always interested in his favourite topic, beamed 
 with boyish pleasure. "No," he said, "I ll not tell 
 you about him, Miss Ruey. I ll just let him speak 
 for himself. We used to be as close to each other as 
 peas in a pod, back in Colorado, and then I made a 
 monkey of myself and shook old Jack without even 
 saying good-bye. Miss Ruey, my action didn t even 
 dent his friendship for me. Two weeks ago, when I 
 was sick and penniless and despairing, the possessor 
 of a concession on a fortune but without a centavo 
 in my pockets to buy a banana, when I was a veritable 
 beach-comber and existing on the charity of Mother 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 Jenks, I managed finally to communicate with old 
 Jack and told him where I was and what I had. 
 There s his answer, Miss Ruey, and I m not ashamed 
 to say that when I got it I cried like a kid." And 
 Billy handed her John Stuart Webster s remarkable 
 cablegram, the receipt of which had, for Billy Geary, 
 transformed night into day, purgatory into paradise. 
 Dolores read it. 
 
 "No wonder you love him," she declared, and 
 added artlessly: "His wife must simply adore him." 
 
 " He has no wife to bother his life, so he paddles 
 his own canoe, " Billy recited. "I don t believe the 
 old sour-dough has ever been in love with anything 
 more charming than the goddess of fortune. He s 
 womanproof." 
 
 "About Mrs. Jenks," Dolores continued, abruptly 
 changing the subject. "How nice to reflect that 
 after she had trusted you and believed in you when 
 you were penniless, you were enabled to justify her 
 faith. 
 
 "You bet!" Billy declared. "I feel that I can 
 never possibly hope to catch even with thejold 
 Samaritan, although I did try to show her how much 
 I appreciated her." 
 
 "I dare say you went right out and bought her an 
 impossible hat," Dolores challenged roguishly. 
 
 " No, I didn t f or a very sufficient reason. Pown 
 here the ladies do not wear hats. But I ll tejl ,you 
 what I did buy her, Miss Ruey and oh, by Geo?xc. 
 I m glad now I did it. She ll wear them to-mor 
 when I bring her to see you. I bought her a new 
 
,ir. William H. Geary" the girl remarked that night, 
 * "/ know now why your friend Mr. Webster sent that 
 .4 cablegram. I think you re a scout, too" 
 

WEBSTER MAN S MAN 113 
 
 black silk dress and an old lace collar, and a gold 
 breast-pin and a tortoise-shell hair comb and hired 
 an open carriage and took her for an evening ride 
 on the Malecon to listen to the band concert." 
 
 "Did she like that?" 
 
 "She ate it up," Billy declared with conviction. 
 "I think it was her first adventure in democracy." 
 
 Billy s pulse was still far from normal when he 
 reached El Buen Amigo, for he was infused with a 
 strange, new-found warm, h that burned like malarial 
 fever but wasn t. He wasted no preliminaries on 
 Mother Jenks, but bluntly acquainted her with the 
 facts in the case. 
 
 Mother Jenks eyed him a moment wildly. " Gord s 
 truth!" she gasped; she reached for her favourite 
 elixir, but Billy got the bottle first. 
 
 "Nothing doing," he warned this strange publican. 
 "Mother, you re funJdng it and what would your 
 sainted Enery say to that? Do you want that 
 angel to kiss you and get a whiff of this brandy?" 
 
 Mother Jenks s eyes actually popped. "Gor , 
 Willie," she gasped, " aven t Hi told yer she s a 
 lydy ! Me kiss the lamb ! Hi trusts, Mr. Geary, as 
 ow I knows my plyce an can keep it." 
 
 "Yes, I know," Billy soothed the frightened old 
 woman, "but the trouble is Miss Dolores doesn t 
 know hers and something tells me if she does, she ll 
 forget it. She ll take you in her arms and kiss you, 
 sure as death and taxes." 
 
 And she did! "My lamb, my lamb," sobbed 
 Mother Jenks the next morning, and rested her old 
 
114 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 cheek, with its rum-begotten hue, close to the rose- 
 tinted ivory cheek of her ward. "Me wot I am 
 an to think " 
 
 "You re a sweet old dear," Dolores whispered, 
 patting the gray head; "and I m going to call you 
 Mother." 
 
 "Mr. William H. Geary," the girl remarked that 
 night, "I know now why your friend Mr. Webster 
 sent that cablegram. I thhik you re a scout, too." 
 
 For reasons best know^i to himself Mr. Geary 
 blushed furiously. "I I d better go and break 
 the news to Mother," he suggested inanely. She 
 held out her hand; and Billy, having been long 
 enough in Sobrante to have acquired the habit, bent 
 his malarial person over that hand and kissed it. 
 As he went out it occurred to him that had the lobby 
 of the Hotel Mateo been paved with eggs, he must 
 have floated over them like a Wraith, so light did he 
 feel within. 
 
CHAPTER TEN 
 
 WEBSTER reached New Orleans at the end 
 of the first leg of his journey, to discover 
 that in the matter of sailings he was not 
 fortunate. He was one day late to board the Atlanta 
 a banana boat of the Consolidated Fruit Com 
 pany s line plying regularly between New Orleans and 
 that company s depots at Limon and San Buena 
 ventura which necessitated a wait of three days for 
 the steamer La Estrellita of the Caribbean Mail Line, 
 running to Caracas and way ports. 
 
 This delay annoyed him, for he was the kind of 
 man who, once he has made up his mind to embark 
 upon a venture, is impatient to be up and doing. 
 Accordingly, he decided to visit the ticket office of 
 the Caribbean Mail Line immediately and avoid the 
 rush in case the travel should be heavy in which 
 event a delay of an hour might be fatal for should 
 he be informed that the space on La Estrellita was 
 entirely sold out, the knowledge would, he knew, set 
 his reason tottering on its throne. 
 
 The steamship office was in Canal Street. Webster 
 arrived there during the luncheon hour, due to which 
 fact he found but one clerk on duty at the ticket 
 counter when he entered. This clerk was waiting 
 on two well-dressed and palpably low-bred sons of 
 
 115 
 
116 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 the tropics, to whom he had just displayed a pas 
 senger list which the two were scanning critically. 
 Their interest in it was so obvious that unconsciously 
 Webster peeped over their shoulders (no difficult 
 task for one of his stature) and discovered it to be 
 the passenger list of the steamer La Estrellita. They 
 were conversing together in low tones and Webster, 
 who had spent many years of his life following his 
 profession in Mexico, recognized their speech as the 
 bastard Spanish of the peon. 
 
 The clerk glanced up, caught Webster s eye and 
 nodded to indicate that he would attend him directly. 
 
 "No hurry, old timer," Webster told him, with the 
 bluff, free-and-easy democracy of the man of broad, 
 unkenned horizons. "Just save a place on that pas 
 senger list for my John Hancock when our friends 
 here have finished with it." 
 
 He sat down in the long wall seat and waited until 
 the pair, having completed their scrutiny of the list, 
 turned to pass out. He glanced at them casually. 
 
 Theirs were faces ordinary enough south of the 
 Rio Grande but not likely to pass unnoticed in a 
 northern crowd. One was a tall thin man whose 
 bloodshot eyes were inclined to "pop" a little infal 
 lible evidence in the Latin-American that he is 
 drinking more hard liquor than is good for him. He 
 was smooth-shaven, of pronounced Indian type, and 
 wore considerable expensive jewellery. 
 
 His companion was plainly of the same racial 
 stock, although Webster suspected him of a slight 
 admixture of negro blood. He was short, stocky, 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 117 
 
 and aggressive looking; like his companion, bejewelled 
 :and possessed of a thin, carefully cultivated mous 
 tache that seemed to consist of about nineteen hairs 
 on one side and twenty on the other. Evidently 
 once upon a time, as the story books have it, he had 
 been shot. Webster suspected a Mauser bullet, 
 fired at long range. It had entered his right cheek, 
 just below the malar, ranged downward through his 
 mouth and out through a fold of flabby flesh under 
 his left jowl. It must have been a frightful wound, 
 but it had healed well except at the point of entrance, 
 where it had a tendency to pucker considerably, 
 thus drawing the man s eyelid down on his cheek 
 and giving to that visual organ something of the 
 appearance of a bulldog s. 
 
 Both men observed Webster s swift but intense 
 appraisal of them, and he of the puckered eye 
 perhaps because he was the cynosure of that scrutiny 
 and morbidly sensitive of his facial disfigurement - 
 replied with a cool, sullen stare that was almost bel 
 ligerent. 
 
 Webster gazed after them whimsically as he ap 
 proached the counter. 
 
 "I d hate to wake up some night and find that 
 hombre with the puckered eye leaning over me. To 
 what branch of the genus Greaser do those two horse- 
 thieves belong?" he queried. 
 
 "Central America, I take it," the clerk answered. 
 "They appear interested in the names of passengers 
 bound for Caribbean ports. Looking for a friend, I 
 suppose." 
 
118 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 "Hardly. I speak their kind of Spanish and a 
 peon doesn t refer to his friends in the free-and-easy 
 language these fellows employed. By the way," 
 he continued, suddenly apprehensive, "do you get 
 much of that paraqueet travel on your line?" 
 
 "About 80 per cent, of it is off colour, sir." 
 
 Webster pondered the 80-per-cent. probability of 
 being berthed in the same stateroom with one of 
 these people and the prospect was as revolting to him 
 as would be an uninvited negro guest at the dining 
 table of a southern family. He had all a Westerner s 
 hatred for the breed. 
 
 "Well, I want a ticket to San Buenaventura," he 
 informed the clerk, "but I don t relish the idea of a 
 Greaser in the same stateroom with me. I wonder 
 if you couldn t manage to fix me up with a state 
 room all to myself, or at least arrange it so that in the 
 event of company I ll draw a white man. I can 
 stand a slovenly white man where a clean peon 
 would be unbearable, although peon or caballero 
 these people are apt to be tarred with the same stick. 
 I don t care for any of them in mine." 
 
 "I m sorry, sir, but I cannot guarantee you abso 
 lute privacy nor any kind of white man. It s pretty 
 mixed travel to all Central American ports." 
 
 "How many berths in your first-class staterooms?" 
 
 "Two." 
 
 Webster smiled brightly. He had found a way 
 out of the difficulty. "I ll buy em both, son," he 
 announced. 
 
 "I cannot sell you an entire stateroom, sir. It s 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 119 
 
 against the orders of the company to sell two berths 
 to one man. The travel is pretty brisk and it s 
 hardly fair to the public, you know." 
 
 "Well, suppose I buy one ticket for myself and the 
 other for well, for my valet, let us say. Of course," 
 he added brightly, "I haven t engaged the valet 
 yet and even should I do so I wouldn t be at all sur 
 prised if the rascal missed the boat!" 
 
 The clerk glanced at him with a slow smile, and 
 pondered. "Well," he said presently, "it s a poor 
 rule that hasn t its exception, and when it comes to 
 killing cats, strangulation with a butter-ball isn t 
 the only method. If you care to buy a ticket for 
 your valet, I m sure I shouldn t worry whether or not 
 he catches the boat. If my records show that the 
 space is sold of two men and the purser collects two 
 tickets, I think you ll be pretty safe from intrusion." 
 
 "To the harassed traveller," said Mr. Webster, 
 "a meeting with a gentleman of your penetration is 
 as refreshing as a canteen of cool water in the desert. 
 Shoot!" and he produced a handful of gold. 
 
 "I will provided I have one empty cabin," and 
 the clerk turned from the counter to consult his 
 record of berths already sold and others reserved 
 but not paid for. Presently he faced Webster at 
 the counter. 
 
 " The outlook is very blue," he announced. " Every 
 name on the passenger list has a preponderance of 
 vowels in it. However, I have one berth in No. 34 
 reserved by a gentleman who was to call for it by 
 two o clock to-day." He looked at his watch. "It 
 
120 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 is now a quarter of one. If the reservation isn t 
 claimed promptly at two o clock I shall cancel it and 
 reserve for you both berths in that room. If you 
 will be good enough to leave me your name and ad 
 dress I will telephone you after that hour. In the 
 meantime, you may make reservation of the other 
 berth in the same stateroom. I feel very confident 
 that the reservation in No. 34 will not be called for, 
 Mr. er " 
 
 "Webster John S. Webster. You are very kind, 
 indeed. I m at the St. Charles." 
 
 "Be there at a quarter after two, Mr. Webster, 
 and you will hear from me promptly on the minute," 
 the clerk assured him; whereupon Webster paid for 
 one berth and departed for his hotel with a feeling 
 that the clerk s report would be favourable. 
 
 True to his promise, at precisely a quarter after 
 two, the ticket clerk telephoned Webster at his hotel 
 that the berth in No. 34 had been cancelled and the 
 entire stateroom was now at his disposal. 
 
 "If you will be good enough to give me the name 
 of your valet," he concluded, "it will not be necessary 
 for you to come down for your tickets, Mr. Webster. 
 I will fill in both names on my passenger manifest and 
 send the tickets to your hotel by messenger immedi 
 ately. You can then sign the tickets I have already 
 signed them as witness and pay the messenger." 
 
 "Well, I haven t engaged that valet as yet," 
 Webster began, but the other interrupted cheerfully : 
 
 "What s the odds? He s going to miss the boat, 
 anyhow. All I require is a name." 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 121 
 
 "That ought to be a simple request to comply 
 with. Let me see! If I had a valet I think I should 
 want him to be called Andrew or Martin." 
 
 "I read a book once, Mr. Webster, and the valet 
 in that book was called Andrew Bowers." 
 
 "Bowers is a fine old English name. Let us seek no 
 further. Andrew Bowers it is." 
 
 "Thank you. All you have to do then is to re 
 member to sign the name, Andrew Bowers, to one 
 ticket. Don t forget your valet s name now, and ball 
 everything up," and the clerk hung up, laughing. 
 
 Half an hour later a boy from the steamship office 
 arrived with the tickets, collected for them, and de 
 parted, leaving John Stuart Webster singularly 
 pleased with himself and at peace with the entire 
 world. 
 
(CHAPTER ELEVEN 
 
 A "LARGE" dinner at Antoine s that nigh 
 (Webster had heard of Antoine s dinners, hot] 
 large and small and was resolved not to leave 
 New Orleans until he had visited the famous restaur 
 ant), and a stroll through the picturesque old Frencl 
 quarter and along the levee next day, helped to ren 
 der his enforced stay in New Orleans delightful 
 interesting, and instructive. Webster was one o: 
 those distinctful individual types to whom a cham 
 ber of horrors would be productive of more enjoy 
 ment than the usual round of "points of interest. 5 
 Experience had demonstrated to him that sue! 
 points usually are uninteresting and wearing on the 
 imagination, for the reason that the tourist trappers 
 and proprietors of automobile buses, who map ou 
 the tours have no imagination themselves. Conse 
 quently, Webster preferred to prowl around quietly 
 on little tours of discovery, personally conducte< 
 by himself. The search for obscure restaurants o 
 unquestioned merit was with him almost a mania 
 and since in quaint New Orleans the food and drink 
 specialist finds his highest heaven, no cloud marked 
 the serenity of his delightful peregrinations. 
 
 The next day would be Sunday, and Webster 
 planned an early morning visit to the old French 
 
 122 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 123 
 
 market, around which still lingers much of the pic 
 turesque charm and colourful romance of a day that 
 is done that echo of yesterday, as it were, which 
 has left upon New Orleans an individuality as dis 
 tinct as that which the olden, golden, godless days 
 have left upon San Francisco. 
 
 He rose before six o clock, therefore; found a taxi, 
 with the driver sound asleep inside, at the curb in 
 front of the hotel; gave the latter his instructions, 
 and climbed in. 
 
 It being Sunday morning New Orleans slept late. 
 Save for the few early morning worshippers hurrying 
 to mass mostly servants in a hurry to return to 
 their kitchens and cook breakfast the streets were 
 deserted. The languorous air of dawn was redolent 
 of the perfume of orange, rose, and sweet olive; from 
 ! the four corners of the old town the mellow chimes of 
 i the Catholic church bells pealed their sweet, insistent 
 call to the faithful ; an atmosphere of subtle peace and 
 sanctity pervaded the silent streets and awoke in 
 John Stuart Webster s heart a vague nostalgia. 
 
 Perhaps it was because so much of his life had 
 been spent in lonely mountain or desert camps, or 
 perhaps it was because this taxi ride through the 
 pleasant southern dawn was so typical of the swift 
 passing of the youth which had gone from him before 
 he had had an opportunity to taste, even moderately, 
 of its joys and allurements. He sighed a little re 
 gretful sigh. 
 
 "That s you, Johnny Webster," he told himself, 
 "breezing along through life like a tin-canned dog; 
 
124 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 passing the sweet and the beautiful and battling 
 with the harsh and unlovely; here to-day and gone 
 to-morrow, a poor harried devil with your trunk on 
 your back, a slave to the call of gold; restless, in a 
 great hurry to get there and an equal hurry to leave 
 for the new diggings, and all the time Life passes you 
 by and you don t grab so much as a tail feather! 
 On such a morn as this Eve entered the Garden of 
 Eden, while I, consummate idiot, shut myself up in a 
 taxi to watch a bill of expense run up on the clock, 
 while sniffing myrrh and incense through this con 
 founded window. I ll get out and walk!" 
 
 He was opposite Jackson Square and the cloying 
 sweetness of palmetto, palm, and fig burdened the air. 
 Above the rumble of the taxi he could hear the dis 
 tant babel of voices in the French market across the 
 square, so he halted the taxicab, alighted, and handed 
 the driver a bill. 
 
 "I want to explore this square," he said. He had 
 recognized it by the heroic statue of General Jackson 
 peeping through the trees. "I ll walk through the 
 square to the market, and you may proceed to the 
 market and meet me there. Later we will return 
 to the hotel." 
 
 The chauffeur nodded, and Webster, every fibre 
 of his alert, healthy body once more tingling with the 
 sheer joy of living, entered the square, found a path 
 that wound its way through the shrubbery, and came 
 out at length in the main pathway, close to the 
 Jackson memorial statue. 
 
 A Creole girl starry-eyed, beautiful, rich with the 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 125 
 
 glorious colouring of her race passed him bound for 
 the cathedral across the square, as Webster thought, 
 for she carried a large prayer book on her arm. To 
 Webster she seemed to fit perfectly into her sur 
 roundings, to lend to them the last, final touch of 
 beauty, the apotheosis of peace, and again the nos 
 talgic fever submerged the quiet joy with which he 
 had approached his journey through the square. 
 His glance followed the girl down the walk. 
 
 Presently she halted. A young man rose from a 
 bench where evidently he had been waiting for her, 
 and bowed low, his hat clasped to his breast, as only 
 a Frenchman or a Spanish grandee can bow. W eb- 
 ster saw the Creole girl turn to him with a little ges 
 ture of pleasure. She extended her hand and the 
 young man kissed it with old-fashioned courtesy. 
 
 John Stuart Webster knew now what was missing 
 in his scheme of things, as with reverent and wistful 
 eyes he watched their meeting. 
 
 "Forty years old," he thought, "and I haven t 
 spoken to a dozen women that caused me a second 
 thought, or who weren t postmistresses or biscuit 
 shooters! Forty years old and I ve never been in 
 love! Spring time down that little path and Indian 
 summer in my old fool heart. Why, I ought to be 
 arrested for failure to live!" 
 
 The lovers were walking slowly, arm in arm, back 
 along the path by which the girl had come, so with a 
 courtesy and gentleness that were innate in him, 
 Webster stepped out of sight behind the statue of 
 Old Hickory; for he did not desire, by his mere 
 
126 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 presence, to intrude a discordant note in the perfect 
 harmony of those two human hearts. He knew they 
 desired that sylvan path to themselves; that evi 
 dently they had sought their early morning tryst in 
 the knowledge that the square was likely to be de 
 serted at this hour. Therefore, to provoke self- 
 consciousness in them now savoured to John Stuart 
 Webster of a high crime and misdemeanour, for which 
 reason he was careful to keep General Jackson be 
 tween himself and the lovers until they had gone by. 
 
 The young man was speaking as they passed; his 
 voice was rich, pleasant, vibrant with the earnestness 
 of what he had to say: with a pretty little silver- 
 mounted walking stick he slashed at spears of grass 
 alongside the path; the girl was crying a little. 
 Neither of them had seen him, so he entered a path 
 that led from them at right angles. 
 
 He had proceeded but a few feet along this trail 
 when, through a break in the shrubbery ahead of 
 him, he saw two men. They were crossing Webster s 
 path and following a course paralleling that of the 
 lovers in the broad main walk. Brief as was his 
 glimpse of them, however, Webster instantly recog 
 nized the two Central Americans he had seen in the 
 steamship ticket office two days previous. 
 
 They were not walking as walk two men abroad 
 at this hour for a constitutional. Neither did they 
 walk as walk men churchward bound. A slight, 
 skulking air marked their progress, and caused Web 
 ster to wonder idly what they were stalking. 
 
 He turned into the path down which the two men 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 127 
 
 had passed, not with the slightest idea of shadowing 
 them, but because his destination lay in that direc 
 tion. The Central Americans were approximately 
 fifty yards in advance of him as he turned in their 
 wake, and at sight of them his suspicion that they 
 were stalking something was quickened into belief. 
 
 Both men had forsaken the gravelled path and 
 were walking on the soft velvet of blue grass lawn 
 I that fringed it! 
 
 "Perhaps I d better deaden my hoof beats also," 
 John Stuart Webster soliloquized, and followed 
 suit immediately. 
 
 He had scarcely done so when the men ahead of him 
 paused abruptly. Webster did likewise, and respond 
 ing subconsciously, perhaps, to the remembrance 
 of the menace in the glance of the man with the 
 puckered eye he stepped out of sight behind a broad 
 oak tree. Through the trees and shrubbery he could 
 still see the lovers, who had halted and evidently 
 were about to part. 
 
 Webster saw the young man glance warily about; 
 then, apparently satisfied there was none to spy upon 
 them, he drew the girl gently toward him. She 
 clung to him for nearly a minute, sobbing; then he 
 raised her face tenderly, kissed her, pressed her from 
 him, and walked swiftly away without looking back. 
 
 It was a sweet and rather touching little tableau; 
 to John Stuart Webster, imaginative and possessed 
 of a romantic streak in his nature, it was more than a 
 tableau. It was a moving picture! 
 
 "I suppose her old man objects to the young fel- 
 
128 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 low," lie muttered to himself sympathetically, "and 
 he can t come near the house. They ve met here for 
 the fond farewell, and now the young fellow s going 
 out West to make his fortune, so he can come back and 
 claim the girl,. Huh ! If he wants her, why the devil 
 doesn t he take her? I d tell her old man I d picked 
 on him for my father-in-law, and then if he didn t 
 like me I d let the old fellow rave; and see how much 
 good it would do him. But the French are different; 
 they always let the old folks step in and rock the 
 boat Hello! By Judas priest! Now I know 
 what those two paraqueets are up to. One of them 
 is the father of that girl. They ve been spying on the 
 lovers, and now they re going to corner the young 
 fellow and shingle him for his nerve." 
 
 The girl had stood for a moment, gazing after her 
 companion, before she turned with her handkerchief 
 to her eyes, and continued on her way to the cathe 
 dral. Webster had observed that the two men ahead 
 of him paid no attention to her, but pressed eagerly 
 forward after the man. 
 
 Webster could look across about thirty yards of 
 low shrubbery at the girl as she passed. He heard 
 her sobbing as she stumbled blindly by, and he was 
 distressed about her, for all the world loves a lover 
 and John Stuart Webster was no exception to this 
 universal rule. 
 
 "By George, this is pretty tough," he reflected. 
 "That young fellow treated that girl with as much 
 gentleness and courtesy as any gentleman should, 
 and I m for him and against this idea of corporal 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 129 
 
 punishment. Don t you worry, Tillie, my dear. 
 I m going to horn into this game myself if it goes too 
 far." 
 
 The two dusky skulkers ahead of him, having come 
 to another crosspath, turned into it and came out on 
 the main path in the rear of the young man. Web 
 ster noticed that they were walking twice as fast as 
 when he had first observed them, and more than ever 
 convinced that presently there might be work for a 
 strong man and true, he hastened after them. 
 
 As he came out into the main walk again, he 
 noticed that the pair were still walking on the grass. 
 He padded gently along behind them. 
 
 The four were now rapidly approaching the old 
 French market, and. the steadily rising babel of voices 
 speaking in French, Italian, Spanish, Creole patois 
 and Choc taw, was sufficient to have drowned the 
 slight noise of the pursuit, even had the young man s 
 mind not been upon other things, and the interest of 
 the two Central Americans centred upon their quarry, 
 to the exclusioa of any thpught of possible inter 
 ruption. 
 
 Webster felt instinctively that the two men would 
 rush and make a concerted attack from the rear. 
 He smiled. 
 
 "I ll just fool you two hombres a whole lot," he 
 thought, and stooping, picked up a small stone. On 
 the instant the two men, having approached within 
 thirty feet of their quarry, made a rush for him. 
 
 Their charge was swift, but swift though it was, 
 the little stone which John Stuart Webster hurled was 
 
130 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 swifter. It struck the young man fairly between the 
 shoulderblades with a force sufficient to bring him 
 out of hjs sentimental reverie with a jerk, as it were. 
 He whirled, saw the danger that threatened him, and 
 sprang to meet it. 
 
 "Bravo!" yelled Webster, and ran to his aid, for 
 he had seen now that it was to be knife work. 
 Tragedy instead of melodrama. 
 
 The man with the puckered eye closed in with such 
 eagerness it was apparent to Webster that here was 
 work to his liking. The young man raised his light 
 cane, but Pucker-eye did not hesitate. He merely 
 threw up his left forearm to meet the expected blow 
 aimed at his head, lunged forward and slashed vi 
 ciously at the young man s abdomen. The latter 
 drew back a step, doubled like a jack-knife, and 
 brought his cane down viciously across the knuckles 
 of his assailant s right hand. 
 
 "So it is thou, son of a pig," he called pleasantly 
 in Spanish. "I fooled you that time, didn t I?" he 
 added in English. "Thought I would aim for your 
 head, didn t you?" 
 
 The blow temporarily paralyzed the assassin s 
 hand ; he dropped the knife, and as he stooped to re 
 cover it with his left hand, the young man, before 
 retreating from Pop-eye, kicked Pucker-eye in the 
 face and quite upset him. 
 
 "Stop it!" shouted Webster. 
 
 Pop-eye turned his head at the outcry. The man 
 he was attacking fell into the position of a swords 
 man en garde, and thrust viciously with the ferule 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 131 
 
 at the face of the pop-eyed man, who, disregarding 
 Webster s approach, seized the cane in his left hand 
 and with a quick, powerful tug actually drew his 
 victim toward him a foot before the latter let go the 
 stick. 
 
 Before he could give ground again Pop-eye was 
 upon him. He grasped the young man by the lat- 
 ter s left arm and held him, while he drew back for 
 the awful disembowelling stroke; as his long arm 
 sped forward the hook of John Stuart Webster s 
 heavy cane descended upon that flexed arm in the 
 brook of the elbow, snagging it cleverly. 
 
 The knife never reached its destination! 
 
 "You would, would you?" said Webster reproach 
 fully, and jerked the fellow violently around. The 
 man he had rescued promptly struck Pop-eye a terrible 
 blow in the face with his left hand and broke loose 
 from the grip that had so nearly been his undoing; 
 whereupon Webster tapped the assassin a meditative 
 tap or two on the top of his sinful head for good 
 measure and to awaken in him some sense of the im 
 propriety and futility of resistance, after which 
 Webster turned to discuss a similar question of 
 ethics with Pucker-eye. 
 
 The scar-cheeked man was on his knees, groping 
 groggily for his knife, for he had received a severe 
 kick under the chin, and for the nonce was far 
 from dangerous. Stooping, Webster picked up the 
 knife; then with knife and cane grasped in his left 
 hand he seized Pucker-eye by the nape with his right 
 and jerked him to his feet. The assassin stood glow- 
 
132 WEBSTER MAN S IAN 
 
 ering at him in a perfect frenzy of brut/sh, inarticulate 
 fury. 
 
 "Take the knife away from the other fellow before 
 he gets active again," Webster called over his shoul 
 der. "I ll manage this rascal. We ll march them 
 over to the market and turn them over to the police." 
 He spoke in Spanish. 
 
 "Thanks, ever so much, for my life," the young 
 man answered lightly, and in English, "but where I 
 come from it is not the fashion to settle these argu 
 ments in a court of law. To call an officer is con 
 sidered unclublike; to shoot a prisoner in this country 
 is considered murder, and consequently I have but 
 one alternative and I advise you, my good friend, 
 to have a little of the same. I m going to run like 
 the devil." 
 
 And he did. He was in full flight before Webster 
 could glance around, and in an instant he was lost to 
 sight among the trees. 
 
 "That advice sounds eminently fair and reason 
 able," Webster yelled after him, and was about to 
 follow when he observed that the young man had 
 abandoned his pretty little silver-chased walking 
 stick. 
 
 "That s too nice a little stick to leave to these 
 brigands," he thought, and forthwith possessed him 
 self of it and the pop-eyed man s knife, after which 
 he tarried not upon the order of his going but went, 
 departing at top speed. 
 
 The young man he had saved from being butchered 
 was right. An entangling alliance with the police 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 133 
 
 was, decidedly, not to John Stuart Webster s liking, 
 for should he, unfortunately, form such an alliance, 
 he would be haled into court as a witness and per 
 haps miss the steamer to San Buenaventura. 
 
 "Drat it," he soliloquized, as he emerged from the 
 square and observed his taxi parked at the entrance 
 to the market, "I came through that square so fast 
 1 haven t the slightest idea what the last hah* of it 
 looks like. That s what I get for mixing in a little 
 Donnybrook that s none of my business." 
 
 He had planned to spend an hour in the market, 
 drink a cup of cafe noir, smoke a cigarette, and return 
 to his hotel in time for a leisurely breakfast, but his 
 recent bout with grim reality had blunted the edge 
 of romance. He ordered his driver to take him back 
 to the hotel, sprang inside and congratulated himself 
 on his lucky escape. 
 
CHAPTER TWELVE 
 
 WEBSTER S trunk went aboard the steamer 
 early the following morning, and at noon 
 he entered a taxi with his hand baggage and 
 was driven to the levee where La Estrellita lay tug 
 ging gently at her mooring lines. Owing to the 
 congestion of freight and traffic the chauffeur stopped 
 his cab a little distance from the gangplank, where 
 Webster discharged him with a liberal tip. 
 
 The latter, however, swung his passenger s bag 
 and suitcase to the ground, picked them up and 
 started for the gangplank. 
 
 "Never mind my baggage, lad," Webster called 
 after him. "One of the deck boys will care for it." 
 
 The chauffeur turned. "You ve been very gen 
 erous with me, sir," he answered, "so I think I had 
 better carry your baggage aboard. If you permit a 
 deck boy to handle it, you merely have to give another 
 tip, and that would be sheer wanton waste. Why 
 shouldn t I earn the one you gave me?" 
 
 "I hadn t figured it out that way, son, so here s 
 another half dollar for being the only existing speci 
 men of your species in captivity. My stateroom 
 is No. 34, upper deck, port side," Webster an 
 swered, smiling. The man took the tip eagerly and 
 hurried toward the gangplank; the quartermaster 
 
 134 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 135 
 
 on duty shouldered a way for him and he darted 
 aboard. 
 
 Webster followed leisurely. At the gangplank the 
 purser s clerk halted him, examined his tickets and 
 punched them. 
 
 "Where is the other man? he asked. "You have 
 two tickets here." 
 
 "Oh, that blamed valet of mine," Webster answered, 
 and glanced around as if in search of that mythical 
 functionary. "It would be like the stupid fellow to 
 miss the boat," he added. "When he comes " 
 
 Webster ceased speaking abruptly. He was look 
 ing straight into the malevolent orbs of Pucker-eye, 
 who was standing just behind the clerk at the foot 
 of the gangplank. 
 
 "I wonder if Pop-eye s around, also," Webster 
 thought, and he faced about. Pop-eye was standing 
 in back of him, leaning over the railing of the gang 
 way. 
 
 "Which is the valet?" the purser s clerk asked, 
 scanning the names on the tickets. 
 
 "Andrew Bowers." 
 
 "All right, Mr. Webster," the other answered, with 
 that genial camaraderie that seems inseparable from 
 all of his calling. " W r hen Andrew comes I ll send him 
 aboard." 
 
 He started to pass the tickets back to Webster, 
 but a detaining hand rested on his arm, while a dark 
 thumb and forefinger lifted the trailing strips of 
 tickets. Pucker-eye was examining them also. 
 
 The purser s clerk drove his elbow backward vio- 
 
 \ 
 
136 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 lently into Pucker-eye s midriff and shook him off 
 roughly. 
 
 "What do you mean, you black-and-tan hound?" 
 he demanded. "Since when did you begin to O. K. 
 my work?" 
 
 Pucker-eye made no reply to this stern reproof. 
 He^ accepted the elbow with equanimity, and faced 
 Webster with an evil smile that indicated mutual 
 recognition. 
 
 "Bueno," he said, with such genuine satisfaction 
 that Webster could not help demanding: 
 
 "Por que es bueno ? (Why is it good?)" 
 
 " We meet the sen or first in the teeket office. We 
 meet the seiior again yesterday morning, no? After, 
 we remember we have meet the senor in the teeket 
 office ! Quien sabe ? The senor he ees sail on La 
 Estrellita for San Buenaventura, no?" 
 
 "So you came nosing around to see about it, eh? 
 Doing a little plain gumshoe work, I see." 
 
 Pucker-eye bowed. By the simple exercise of 
 courage and bad manners he had looked at John 
 Stuart Webster s ticket and was now familiar with his 
 name and destination. 
 
 The object of this solicitude had little difficulty in 
 guessing the reason behind it all, and he was not 
 happy. He would have preferred that the incident of 
 their former meeting should not be held against him; 
 he wished most devoutedly that his part in the ruc 
 tion in Jackson Square on Sunday morning might 
 have been forgotten by all ccncerned, and this revival 
 of the unpleasant episode was slightly disconcerting. 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 137 
 
 As a usual thing he was loth to interject himself 
 in the affairs of other people, and had a deep-seated 
 animosity against those who did ; he would have pre 
 ferred to round out his existence without having 
 to take into consideration the presence of a twin 
 Nemesis. However, since the fat was in the fire, 
 so to speak, Webster felt that there was nothing for 
 him to do save brazen things out as best he could, 
 so he glowered darkly at Pucker-eye and said: 
 
 "Well, you scoundrelly cutthroat, what are you 
 going to do about it? Try a little of your knife work 
 on me, I suppose?" 
 
 Pucker-eye did not answer, but his beady glance 
 wavered and shifted before the cool, contemptuous 
 menace of Webster s blue eyes. 
 
 "Listen, hombre," Webster continued. "I know 
 your kind of people like a nigger knows cologne. I 
 know what you d like to do to me in exchange for 
 what I did to you yesterday morning, but you take a 
 tip from me and don t try it, or one of these days 
 they ll be walking slow behind you and your com- 
 pafiero, and you won t know it!" 
 
 The fellow grinned the kind of grin that is com 
 posed of equal parts of ferocity and knowledge of 
 superior strength. That grin did more to disconcert 
 Webster than the knowledge that he had earned for 
 himself two bloodthirsty and implacable enemies, 
 for Pucker-eye was the first of his breed that Webster 
 had ever seen smile under insult. That cool smile 
 infuriated him. 
 
 Pucker-eye took out a cigarette case, selected a 
 
138 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 cigarette, and presented the case to Webster. His 
 bad manners in selecting his own cigarette first was 
 deliberate, as Webster knew. It was the Latin- 
 American s method of showing his contempt. 
 
 "We shall meet again, Meester Webstaire," he 
 said. "May I offer the sefior a cigarette for the 
 what you Americans call the keepsake? No?" 
 He smiled brightly and closed his puckered eye in a 
 knowing wink. 
 
 Webster took his tickets from the purser, folded 
 them, placed them in his pocket and for a few seconds 
 regarded Pucker-eye contemptuously. 
 
 "When we meet again, you scum," he retorted 
 quietly, " you shall have no difficulty in remembering 
 me. You may keep your cigarette." 
 
 His long, powerful right arm shot out; like a for 
 ceps his thumb and forefinger closed over Pucker- 
 eye s rather flat nose; he squeezed, and with a shrill 
 scream of agony Pucker-eye went to his knees. 
 
 Still holding the wretch by his proboscis, Webster 
 turned quickly in order that his face might be toward 
 Pop-eye. 
 
 "Pop-eye," he said, "if you take a hand in this, 
 I ll twist your nose, too, and afterward I ll throw you 
 in the river." 
 
 He turned to Pucker-eye. 
 
 "Up, thou curious little one," he said in Spanish, 
 and jerked the unhappy rascal to his feet. The 
 latter clawed ineffectually at the terrible arm which 
 held him, until, presently discovering that the harder 
 he struggled the harder Webster pinched his nose, 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 139 
 
 he ceased his struggles and hung limply, moaning with 
 pain and rage in the grip of the American. 
 
 "Good!" Webster announced, slacking his grip a 
 little. With his left hand he deftly extracted a hair 
 from each flank of the screaming little scoundrel s 
 scant moustache, and held them before the latter s 
 tear-filled eyes. 
 
 "My friend," he said gently, "mark how the gringo 
 gives his little dark brother a lesson in deportment. 
 Behold, if I have given thee a souvenir of our meet 
 ing, I also have taken one. By this pinched and 
 throbbing nose shall I be remembered when I am 
 gone; by these hairs from thy rat s moustache shall I 
 remember thee. Go, and thrust not that nose into 
 a gringo s business again. It is unsafe." 
 
 He released Pucker-eye, nodded brightly to the 
 purser s clerk and quartermaster, who, spellbound 
 and approving, had watched him mete out retribu 
 tion according to his code, and went aboard, just as 
 an assistant steward came hurrying along the deck 
 beating a lusty solo on a triangle the signal for all 
 non-passengers to go ashore. 
 
 Webster made his way through the crowd to his 
 room, looked in, saw that his baggage was there, and 
 walked around on the starboard side to join in the gen 
 eral farewell of all on board to the crowd on the levee. 
 
 At the shore end of the gangplank Pucker-eye and 
 Pop-eye still waited. The unfortunate Pucker-eye 
 was weeping with pain and futile rage and humilia 
 tion, but Webster noticed that Pop-eye s attention 
 was not on his friend but upon each passenger that 
 
140 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 boarded the ship, of which there were the usual 
 number of late arrivals. As each passenger ap 
 proached, Pop-eye scanned him with more than 
 casual interest. 
 
 Webster smiled. "Looking for that valet they 
 heard me talking about," he reflected. "Pop-eye, 
 you re a fine, capable lad. I thought you had the 
 brains of the two. You re not going away until you ve 
 had a chance to size up the reinforcements at my 
 command, are you?" 
 
 Promptly at one o clock the captain mounted the 
 bridge and ordered the gangplank drawn ashore. 
 The breastline was cast off; with a long-drawn bellow 
 from her siren the wheel of La Estrellita commenced 
 to churn the muddy water and her bow swung gently 
 outboard, while the stern line acted as a spring. 
 With the stern line slackened and cast overboard the 
 vessel pushed slowly out into the stream where the 
 current caught her and swung her in a wide arc. 
 Webster watched Pucker-eye and Pop-eye leave the 
 landing arm in arm. Pop-eye was sporty enough to 
 wave at him, and Webster, not to be outdone in 
 kind, waved back. 
 
 He lighted a cigar and leaned over the rail as the 
 steamer, gathering speed, swept down river. 
 
 "Good-bye, you golden fizz and chicken gumbo," 
 he called, as the city receded and the low, wooded 
 shores below the city came into view. He had for 
 gotten Pucker-eye and Pop-eye in the flood of poig 
 nant regret that swept over h m at the memory of 
 the peerless Antoine! 
 
CHAPTER THIRTEEN 
 
 WHEN he had finished his cigar he cast the 
 stump overboard, watched it until it disap 
 peared astern, and then went around to 
 state-room No. 34. As he stepped in, and closed the 
 door a masculine voice said very pleasantly : 
 
 "How do you do?" 
 
 Mr. Webster looked up and beheld a young man, 
 arrayed in a very fancy pair of light blue silk pyjamas, 
 stretched at his ease in the upper berth. In his right 
 hand he held an open book; his left hand grasped his 
 bare right foot, which he was rubbing comfortably; 
 in his mouth he held an aromatic Turkish cigarette. 
 He was very much at home, no doubt of that, for he 
 was smiling in the friendliest fashion imaginable. 
 
 John Stuart Webster stared at the stranger for 
 several seconds and concluded he was invading the 
 sanctity of another s stateroom. "Excuse me," he 
 said, "I guess I m in the right church but the wrong 
 pew," and he stepped out and looked for the num 
 ber on the stateroom. To his surprise it was No. 
 34 after all, so he stepped back into the stateroom 
 and favoured the stranger with another scrutiny. 
 
 "It does appear to me, my friend," he said pres 
 ently, "that I detect something strangely familiar 
 about your pyjamas." 
 
 141 
 
142 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 "I wouldn t be the least bit surprised, Mr. Web 
 ster. I found them in your suitcase." 
 
 "Well, how do you do?" Webster declared. 
 
 "Pretty well, all things considered. May I offer 
 you one of your own cigarettes? I found them in the 
 suitcase also, and can recommend them highly." 
 
 * Thank you very much . " Webster helped himself 
 to a cigarette and sat down on the settee. Fell a 
 silence of perhaps half a minute. Then: 
 
 "I dislike to appear inquisitive," Webster began, 
 "but the fact is, neighbour, I m curious to know 
 where you got that book. I observe you are reading 
 Samuel Butler s Way of all Flesh/ and that the 
 book is slightly damaged. Recently I purchased 
 such a book in " 
 
 "Pray do not take the trouble to explain," the 
 other answered airily. "I discovered this excellent 
 book in your suitcase also. In fact, for me, that 
 suitcase has proved to be a repository of treasures." 
 
 John Stuart Webster s neck came out of his collar 
 with the suddenness of a turtle snapping at a fly; 
 he drew himself up beside the top berth until his 
 face was on a level with his unbidden guest s, upon 
 whom he bent a look of mingled emotions. On his 
 part the stranger returned his gaze with grave inter 
 est, and when the silence threatened to become em 
 barrassing he said : 
 
 "Will you have the goodness to press that button? 
 I think we should drink a bumper to our better ac 
 quaintance and I have no doubt but that the bar 
 keeper on this packet can manufacture a golden fizz. 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 143 
 
 Do you care for the famous New Orleans golden 
 fizz?" 
 
 "It is a wonderful institution," Webster replied, 
 "and I ll have one. I need it to sustain me, for I 
 am faint with amazement." He pressed the button. 
 " While the golden fizz is fizzing," he continued, " sup 
 pose you let me have a look at your ticket." 
 
 "Ticket?" echoed his visitor. "I haven t any 
 ticket. A kind gentleman bought one for me and 
 has it in his possession. Do you, sir, by any chance, 
 happen to be that philanthropic individual?" 
 
 "Well, I ll be " 
 
 "Hush!" the stranger warned, raising an admoni 
 tory finger. "No profanity, please. I have been 
 tenderly reared and cuss words will only shock me and 
 clog the atmosphere. I m here to do you and do you 
 a delicate brown, so bear up, kind sir, and take your 
 walloping like a sport." 
 
 "Who the devil are you?" John Stuart Webster 
 demanded. 
 
 "I regret I have no card, but even if I had it 
 would be no kindness to inflict upon an American 
 gentleman the cognomen my parents honoured me 
 with, for it is long and many-jointed, like a peanut, 
 and embodies the names of all the saints in the 
 calendar. Moreover, just at present I am travel 
 ling under an alias. I am known as Mr. Andrew 
 Bowers." 
 
 "And your occupation?" Webster managed to 
 articulate. 
 
 "Valet de chambre to that prince of gentlemen, 
 
144 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 Mr. John S. Webster," the other replied with a mis 
 chievous gleam in his dark eyes. 
 
 Mr. Webster sat down limply on the settee. He 
 was undecided whether to roar with laughter or 
 shriek with rage; while he struggled for a decision 
 Andrew Bowers blew smoke rings at the ceiling. 
 
 "Haven t I seen you before?" Webster queried 
 presently. 
 
 "I wouldn t be surprised. I drove you down to 
 the steamer in a taxi half an hour ago. You will 
 recall that the taxi driver carried your luggage 
 aboard." 
 
 Webster gazed around the stateroom. "Where 
 have you hidden your livery?" he demanded. 
 
 "I wrapped it in a newspaper; then, seeking a 
 moment when the deck outside was deserted, I 
 stepped forth in my I beg your pardon, your 
 pyjamas and tossed it overboard." 
 
 "But apparently you did not bring aboard with 
 you a suit of clothes to take the place of your livery? " 
 
 "Quite true lamentably so, Mr. Webster. Per 
 haps you will accept my desperate need as an excuse 
 for borrowing your pyjamas. I notice you have 
 another suit of them. Fortunate man ! " 
 
 When confronted by something mysterious it was 
 not John Stuart s habit to ask innumerable questions, 
 and for the space of two minutes he gave himself up 
 to deduction and a close scrutiny of his companion. 
 
 Andrew Bowers was a man of perhaps thirty years, 
 five feet ten inches tall, and apparently in excellent 
 health. He might have weighed a hundred and 
 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 145 
 
 seventy pounds and he was undeniably handsome. 
 His head was nobly formed and covered with thick, 
 wavy hair, shiny and black as ebony; his eyes were 
 darkiblue; the eyebrows, thick but fine and silky, 
 almost met over the bridge of a thin, high nose that 
 was just a trifle too long for his face. Webster 
 decided it was the nose of a thinker. Andrew Bow- 
 ers s forehead was broad and high and his head was 
 thick forward of the ears, infallible sign of brains; 
 his mouth and chin were full of determination, al 
 though capable of a smile of singular sweetness; while 
 the skin on his legs was milk-white, his hands arid 
 face were tanned to the colour of a manzanita stick, 
 seeming to indicate that he had lived an outdoor 
 life. 
 
 While Webster was wondering whether his com 
 panion was merely a high-class tramp or an abscond 
 ing bank cashier, a knock sounded on the stateroom 
 door. He opened it and the purser stood in the 
 entrance. 
 
 "Tickets, please?" he announced. 
 
 Webster surrendered both tickets, receiving in 
 turn two seat checks for the dining saloon, and the 
 purser passed on to the next cabin. 
 
 Andrew Bowers smiled a small, prescient smile, 
 but said nothing and presently John Stuart Webster 
 broke the silence. "Well," he ordered "sing the 
 song or tell the story." 
 
 "I noticed you surrendered my ticket to the 
 purser," the young man answered irrelevantly, "and 
 I am glad of that. I take it as prima facie evidence 
 
146 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 that you have made up your mind to accept my com 
 pany." 
 
 You re too infernally cool and cocksure, my 
 friend," Webster warned him testily. "I pride 
 myself on a sense of humour and I dearly love a joke 
 until it s carried too far, but be advised in time, young 
 man, and don t try to play horse with me. I haven t 
 made up my mind to accept your company, although, 
 provided you do not rub my fur the wrong way, I 
 may decide to put up with you, for whether you are a 
 decayed gentleman or an engaging scoundrel, you 
 are, at least, intelligent and impressive, clean, white, 
 resourceful, and pleasant. However, my acceptance 
 or non-acceptance of you is a subject for future dis 
 cussion, since at present we have some fiduciary mat 
 ters before us. You owe me fifty dollars for your 
 ticket, Andrew Bowers, and in view of the fact that I 
 never saw you before to-day, suppose we start the 
 voyage by squaring the account." 
 
 Andrew Bowers sat up in the berth and let his legs 
 drape over the side. "Mr. Webster," he began 
 seriously, "had I sung my song or told my story be 
 fore you surrendered that ticket to the purser I 
 might have found myself in a most embarrassing 
 predicament. If, prior to the arrival of the purser to 
 collect the tickets, you had handed my ticket to me, 
 saying: Here is your ticket, Mr. Bowers. Be 
 kind enough to reimburse me to the extent of fifty 
 dollars, I should have been compelled to admit then, 
 as I do now, that I haven t fifty dollars. Fortunately 
 for me, however, you surrendered the ticket to the 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 147 
 
 purser before acquainting yourself with the state of 
 my fortunes ; the voyage has commenced and whether 
 you like it or not, my dear sir, I am your guest from 
 now until we reach San Buenaventura. Rather an 
 interesting situation, don t you think?" 
 
 John Stuart Webster was of Scotch ancestry. He 
 had an hereditary regard for his baubees. He was a 
 business man. Prodigal spender though he was and 
 generous to a fault, the fact remained that he always 
 made it a point to get value received, and he was 
 prodigal with his own money; he preferred that the 
 privilege of prodigality with the Websterian funds 
 should remain an inalienable prerogative of the sole 
 surviving member of the Webster family. He gazed 
 contemplatively now upon his devil-may-care, un 
 bidden guest, torn between a desire to whisk him 
 out of the berth and shake him until his teeth fell out, 
 and another to be just and patient, in the hope that 
 some great extenuating circumstance might be ad 
 duced to account for this impudent daylight robbery. 
 Mr. Webster had been deluded, cheated, robbed, and 
 pillaged many a time and oft in the course of his 
 rather eventful career, but he had yet to meet the 
 man who, having swindled him out of fifty dollars, 
 had the effrontery to add insult to injury by exhibit 
 ing a perfectly obvious intention of making him like 
 it. Indeed, John Stuart Webster was obsessed with a 
 secret fear that the smiling bandit in the upper berth 
 was going to succeed in his nefarious design, and, in 
 the contemplation of this unheard-of contretemps, 
 the genial John was struck temporarily speechless. 
 
148 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 "The last cent I had in the world went to that 
 taxi person whose taxi I borrowed and whose old 
 uniform I purchased," Andrew Bowers supplemented 
 his confession. 
 
 "You asked me to ring for two golden fizzes," 
 Webster reproached him. "Am I to be stuck for 
 the drinks? Not satisfied with rooking me for a 
 first-class passage to San Buenaventura you plan to 
 tack on extras, eh?" 
 
 "Oh, I ll pay for the drinks," Andrew Bowers 
 assured him. 
 
 "How can you, if you gave your last cent to that 
 taxi driver?" 
 
 "You tipped me very liberally for carrying your 
 baggage aboard," Andrew Bowers retorted slyly. 
 
 "Ouch!" cried Mr. Webster, and laughed. The 
 very next instant he was provoked at himself for 
 having done so. That laugh gave the brigand An 
 drew a decided advantage, for it placed Webster on 
 defensive ground. He was convinced of this when 
 the brigand said: 
 
 "Thanks for that laugh, Mr. Webster. It arouses 
 hope in my sad heart. I have outraged your 
 patience, your privacy, and your pocketbook yet 
 you laughed. Bueno. I will be equally good- 
 natured and forgive you for questioning my sincerity 
 in the matter of dispensing my hospitality; even the 
 little slur cast on my veracity in the matter of my 
 finances shall pass unnoticed." 
 
 "I think you re too cool, young man," Webster 
 retorted. "Just a tr fle too cocksure. Up to the 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 149 
 
 present moment you have proffered no evidence 
 why you should not be adjudged a cad, and I do not 
 like cads and must decline to permit one to occupy 
 the same stateroom at my expense. You are clever 
 and amusing and I laughed at you, but at the same 
 time my sense of humour is not so great as to cause me 
 to overlook your impudence and laugh with you. 
 Now, if you have anything to say, say it quickly, be- 
 ca i ise you re going to go away from here in a hurry." 
 
 "I plead guilty to the indictment, Mr. Webster, 
 and submit as an excuse the fact that desperate cir 
 cumstances require desperate measures. I am not 
 begging my way, neither am I beating it, for the rea 
 son that both forms of travel are repugnant to me. I 
 .am merely taking advantage of certain fortuitous 
 circumstances to force you, an entire stranger, to 
 extend to me a credit of fifty dollars until we reach 
 San Buenaventura when you will be promptly reim 
 bursed. I had thought," he added sadly, "that 
 my face might prove ample security for a fifty -dollar 
 loan. There has never been a crook in my family 
 and I have never been charged with a penal offence or 
 been in jail." 
 
 "It is not my habit," Webster retorted stiffly, 
 "to extend credit to strangers who demand it." 
 
 "I do not demand it, sir. I beg it of you, and be 
 cause I cannot afford to be refused I took care to ar 
 range matters so that you would not be likely to 
 refuse my request. Really, I do not mean to be cock 
 sure and impudent, but before you throw me out I d 
 like to let you in on a secret about yourself." 
 
150 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 "Well?" 
 
 "You re not going to throw me out." 
 
 "Why not?" 
 
 "Because you can t." 
 
 "That s fighting talk. Now, just to prove to you 
 the depth of error in which you flounder, young man, 
 I am about to throw you out." And he grasped 
 Andrew Bowers in the grip of a grizzly bear and 
 whisked him out of the top berth. 
 
 "Wait one second," his helpless victim cried. "I 
 have something to say before you go any further." 
 
 "Say it," Webster ordered. "Your tongue is the 
 only part of you that I cannot control." 
 
 "When you throw me out on deck," Andrew 
 Bowers queried, "do your pyjamas go with me? 
 Does the hair go with the hide?" 
 
 "They cost me sixteen dollars in Salt Lake City, 
 but good lord, yes. I can t throw you out mother 
 naked; damn it, I can t throw you out at all." 
 
 "Didn t I tell you so? Be a good fellow and turn 
 me loose." 
 
 "Certainly for the time being. You ll stay 
 locked in this stateroom while I have a talk with the 
 captain. He ll probably dig up a shirt, a pair oj 
 dungarees, and some old shoes for you and set you 
 ashore before we get out of the river. If he doesn t 
 do that he ll keep you aboard and you ll shovel coa 
 for your passage." 
 
 "But I m Andrew Bowers and the purser has col 
 lected my first-class ticket!" 
 
 "What of it? I shall declare and with truth 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 151 
 
 that you are not Andrew Bowers, that you are not 
 my valet, and that I did not buy the ticket for you. 
 
 dare you to face the captain in my pyjamas and 
 prove you aren t a stowaway." 
 
 "You would win on that point," the baffling guest 
 admitted, " but it is a point you will not raise. Why? 
 Because I have another trump up my kimono." He 
 climbed back into the upper berth and from that 
 vantage point gazed down benevolently upon John 
 Stuart Webster. "I m disappointed in you," he 
 continued sadly. "I thought you d show a little 
 normal human curiosity about me and you haven t. 
 You do not ask questions or I could explain, while 
 I cannot volunteer information without seeming to 
 seek your pity, and that course would be repugnant 
 to me. I have never shovelled coal, although I dare 
 say I could manage to earn my passage as a stoker; 
 indeed, I daresay I shall have to, if you insist on being 
 belligerent, and if you insist I shall not oppose you. 
 Iain hoping, however, that you will not insist, but that 
 you will, on the contrary, accept my word of honour 
 that you shall be reimbursed two hours after you 
 land in San Buenaventura." 
 
 "New music to your song, my friend, but the same 
 old words," Webster retorted, and stepped to the 
 stateroom door. "You re doomed to shovel coal 
 or go ashore." 
 
 "Listen. If I go ashore, your responsibility for 
 my life ceases, Mr. Webster, but if the chief engineer 
 happens to be short one coal-passer and the captain 
 sends me down to the stokehole, your responsibility 
 
152 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 for my death begins, for I ll be put ashore publicly at 
 San Buenaventura and two hours later I ll be facing a 
 firing squad in the cemetery of the Catedral de la 
 Vera Cruz." 
 
 " Gosh," John Stuart Webster murmured dazedly, 
 "I m afraid I can t take a chance like that for fiftv 
 dollars." 
 
 A knock sounded on the door and Webster opened 
 it. A waiter stood in the entrance. "Did you ring, 
 sir?" he queried. 
 
 "I did," replied John Stuart Webster. "Bring up 
 two glasses and a quart of the best wine aboard the 
 ship." 
 
 The waiter hastened away and Webster turned to 
 face the little, cryptic, humorous smile that made his 
 travelling companion so singularly boyish and attrac 
 tive. 
 
 " You win, son," W ebster declared. "I m whipped 
 to a frazzle. Any time I m sitting in back of a royal 
 flush and the other fellow bluffs me out of the pot, 
 I always buy the wine. W r hen it arrives we shall 
 drink to our better acquaintance. Pending its ar 
 rival, please be advised that you are welcome to my 
 pyjamas, my cigarettes, my book, and my stateroom. 
 You are my guest and you owe me nothing, except, 
 perhaps, your confidence, although I do not insist 
 upon that point. Where I come from every man 
 kills his own snakes." 
 
 And he held up his hand for Andrew Bowers to 
 shake. 
 
 "Mr. Webster," the latter declared feelingly, "I 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 153 
 
 am not a lord of language, so I cannot find words to 
 thank you. I agree with you that you are entitled 
 to my confidence. My name is " 
 
 "Tut, tut, my boy. Your name is Andrew Bow 
 ers, and that identifies you sufficiently for the time 
 being. Your face is a guaranty of your character 
 and entitles you to a nominal credit." 
 
 "But " 
 
 "Make me no buts. I care not who you are; 
 perhaps what I do not know will not distress me. 
 When I suggested that I was entitled to a measure of 
 your confidence, I meant on a few minor points only 
 points on which my curiosity has been abnormally 
 aroused." 
 
 "Very well, my friend. Fire away." 
 
 "Are you an American citizen?" 
 
 "No, I am a citizen of Sobrante." 
 
 "You have assured me that you are not a crook; 
 consequently I know you are not fleeing from the 
 United States authorities. You had no money to 
 pay for your passage to San Buenaventura so you 
 schemed to make me pay your way. Hence I take 
 it that your presence in the capital of your native 
 country is a matter of extreme importance and that 
 the clerk in the ticket office of the Caribbean Mail 
 Line is a friend of yours." 
 
 "Quite true. He knew my need." 
 
 " You were under surveillance and could not leave 
 New Orleans for San Buenaventura unless you left 
 secretly. When I purchased both berths in this 
 stateroom and the ticket clerk knew I held a first- 
 
154 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 class ticket for a valet that was not, he decided to 
 saw off on me a valet that was. So he gave you my 
 name and the name of my hotel, you arranged mat 
 ters with the taxi starter and the taxi driver and drove 
 me to the steamer. Disguised in the livery of a 
 chauffeur and carrying hand baggage you hoped to 
 get aboard without being detected by your enemies 
 who watched the gangplank." 
 
 Andrew Bowers nodded. 
 
 "Do you think you succeeded?" Webster con 
 tinued. 
 
 "I do not know, Mr. Webster. I hope so. If I 
 did not well, the instant this steamer drops anchor 
 in the roadstead at San Buenaventura, she will be 
 boarded and searched by the military police, I will 
 be discovered and He shrugged. 
 
 "Lawn party in the cemetery, eh?" Webster sug 
 gested. 
 
 Andrew Bowers reached under his pillow and 
 produced two heavy automatic pistols and a leathern 
 box containing five clips of cartridges. These he 
 exhibited in silence and then thrust them back under 
 the pillow. 
 
 "I see, Andrew. In case you re cornered, eh? 
 Well, I think I would prefer to die fighting myself. 
 However, let us hope you will not have to face any 
 such unpleasant alternative." 
 
 "I m not worried, Mr. Webster. Somehow, I 
 think I ran the gauntlet safely." 
 
 "But why did you throw your livery overboard?" 
 
 "It was of no further use to me. A chauffeur on 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 155 
 
 shipboard would be most incongruous, and the sight 
 of the livery hanging on yonder peg would be cer 
 tain to arouse the curiosity of the room steward. 
 And I m not going to appear on deck throughout the 
 voyage. Might meet somebody who knows me." 
 
 "But you ll have to have some clothes in which to 
 go ashore, you amazing man." 
 
 "Not at all. The steamer will arrive in the har 
 bour of San Buenaventura late in the afternoon 
 too late to be given pratique that day. After dark I 
 shall drop overboard and endeavour to swim ashore, 
 and in view of that plan clothes would only prove an 
 embarrassment. I shall land in my own country 
 naked and penniless, but once ashore I shall quickly 
 find shelter. I ll have to risk the sharks, of course." 
 
 "Man-eaters?" 
 
 "The bay is swarming with them." 
 
 "You re breaking my heart," Webster declared 
 sympathetically. "I suppose you re going to feign 
 illness throughout the voyage." 
 
 " Not the kind of illness that will interfere with my 
 appetite. I have prescribed for myself a mild attack 
 of inflammatory rheumatism, as an excuse for re 
 maining in bed and having my meals brought to me. 
 This service, of course, will necessitate some slight 
 expense in the way of tips, but I am hoping you will 
 see your way clear to taking care of that for your 
 guest." 
 
 Silently Webster handed Andrew Bowers ten dol 
 lars in silver. "That ought to hold you," he de 
 clared. "For the rest, you re up to some political 
 
156 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 skullduggery in Sobrante, and what it is and what s 
 your real name are two subjects in which I am not 
 interested. I am on a vacation and intend to amuse 
 myself. If I find you as amusing as you appear at 
 the outset of our acquaintance I shall do my best to 
 break the tedium of your confinement in this state 
 room and if I find you dull I shall leave you to your 
 own devices. Let us talk anything but business and 
 personalities and let it be understood that you are 
 my valet, Andrew Bowers. That s all I know about 
 you and that s all I care to know about you. In fact, 
 the less I know about you the less will I have to 
 explain in the event of your sudden demise." 
 
 "Fair enough," quoth Andrew Bowers. "You re 
 a man after my own heart. I thank you." 
 

 CHAPTER FOURTEEN 
 
 PRIOR to leaving New Orleans, Webster had 
 cabled Billy Geary that he was taking pas 
 sage on La Estrellita and stating the ap 
 proximate date of his arrival at San Buenaventura 
 which information descended upon that young man 
 with something of the charm of a gentle rainfall over 
 a hitherto arid district. He had been seeing Dolores 
 Ruey at least once a day ever since her return to 
 Sobrante; indeed, only the fear that he might wear 
 out his welcome prevented him from seeing her twice a 
 day. He was quick, therefore, to seize upon Webster s 
 cablegram as an excuse to call upon Dolores and explain 
 the mystery surrounding his friend s nonappearance. 
 
 "Well, Dolores," he began, in his excitement call 
 ing her by her first name for the first time, "they say 
 it s a long lane that hasn t got a saloon at the end of 
 it. I ve heard from Jack Webster." 
 
 " What s the news, Bill? " Dolores inquired. From 
 the first day of their acquaintance she had been grow 
 ing increasingly fond of Geary; for nearly a week she 
 had been desirous of calling him Bill, which is a com 
 fortable name and, to Dolores s way of thinking, a 
 peculiarly appropriate cognomen for such a distinctly 
 American young man. At mention of the beloved 
 word he glanced down at her pleasurably. 
 
 157 
 
*58 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 "Thank you," he said. "I m glad you got around 
 to it finally. Those that love me always call me 
 Bill." 
 
 "You called me Dolores." 
 
 "I move we make it unanimous. I m a foe to 
 formality." 
 
 " Second the motion, Bill. So am I when I care 
 to be and in our case your formality is spoiling our 
 comradeship. And now, with reference to the ex 
 traordinary Senor Webster " 
 
 "Why, the poor old horse has been down with 
 ptomaine poisoning. They carried him off the train 
 at St. Louis and stood him on his head and pumped 
 him out and just did manage to cancel his order for 
 a new tombstone. He says he s feeding regularly 
 again and has booked passage on La Estrellita, so we 
 can look for him on the next steamer arriving." 
 
 "Oh, the poor fellow!" Dolores murmured so 
 fervently that Billy was on the point of hurling his 
 heart at her feet on the instant. 
 
 The thousand dollars Webster had cabled Billy 
 "for a road-stake" had been dwindling rapidly under 
 the stimulus of one continous opportunity to spend 
 the same in a quarter where it was calculated to 
 bring the most joy. The pleasures of the Sobrantean 
 capital were not such that the average Yankee citizen 
 might be inspired to prefer them with any degree of 
 enthusiasm, but such as they were, Dolores Ruey 
 had them all. In a country where the line between 
 pure blood and mixed is drawn so strictly as it is in 
 Sobrante, Billy Geary was, of course, a social impos- 
 
 

 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 159 
 
 sibility. He was a Caucasian who would shake 
 hands and have a drink with a gentleman whose 
 nails showed blue at the bases, for all his white skin 
 and in the limited upper-class circles of Buenaven 
 tura, where none but pure-bred descendants of pure 
 bred Castilians intermingled, the man or woman who 
 failed, however slightly, to remember at all times 
 that he was white, was distinctly persona non grata. 
 The first time Billy appeared in public riding in 
 the same victoria with Mother Jenks and Dolores, 
 therefore, he was fully aware that for the future 
 Dolores Ruey was like himself, socially defunct in 
 Sobrante. However, he did not care, for he had a 
 sneaking suspicion Dolores was as indifferent as he; 
 in fact, he took a savage delight in the knowledge 
 that the girl would be proscribed, for with Dolores 
 cut off from all other society she must, of necessity, 
 turn to him throughout her visit. So, up to the night 
 La Estrellita, with John Stuart Webster on board, 
 dropped anchor on the quarantine-ground, Mr. 
 Geary was the unflagging ballyhoo for a personally 
 conducted tour of Dolores Ruey s native land within 
 a radius of fifteen miles about Buenaventura. He 
 was absolutely bogged in the quagmire of his first 
 love affair, but until his mining concession should 
 amply justify an avowal of his passion, an instinctive 
 sense of the eternal fitness of things reminded Billy 
 of the old proverb that a closed mouth catches no 
 flies. And in the meantime (such is the optimism of 
 youth) he decided there was no need for worry, for 
 when a girl calls a fellow Bill, when she tells him he s 
 
160 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 a scout and doesn t care a whoop for any society ex 
 cept his caramba! it s great! 
 
 A wireless from Webster warned Billy of the 
 former s imminent arrival. Just before sunset Billy 
 and Dolores, riding along the Malecon, sighted a blur 
 of smoke far out to sea a blur that grew and grew 
 until they could make out the graceful white hull 
 of La Estrellita, before the swift tropic night de 
 scended and the lights of the great vessel shim 
 mered across the harbour. 
 
 Too late to clear quarantine to-night," Billy 
 mourned, as he and Dolores rode back to her hotel. 
 "All the same, I m going to borrow the launch of; 
 my good friend Leber and his protege Don Juan 
 Cafetero, and go out to the steamer to-night. I can 
 heave to a little way from the steamer and welcome 
 the old rascal, anyhow; he ll be expecting me to do 
 that, and I wouldn t disappoint him for a farm." 
 
 Fortunately, good little Leber consented to Billy s-i 
 request, and Don Juan Cafetero was sober enough 
 to turn the engine over and run the launch. From 
 the deck of the steamer Webster, smoking his post 
 prandial cigar, caught sight of the launch s red and 
 green sidelights chugging through the inky blackness; 
 as the little craft slid up to within a cable s-length of 
 the steamer and hove to, something told Webster 
 that Billy Geary would soon be paging him. He 
 edged over to the rail. 
 
 "That you, Bill?" he shouted. 
 
 "Hey! Jack, old pal!" Billy s delighted voice an 
 swered him. 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 161 
 
 "I knew you d come, Billy boy." 
 
 "I knew you d know it, Johnny. Can t come 
 aboard, you know, until the ship clears, but I can 
 lie off here and say hello. How is your internal 
 mechanism?" 
 
 " Grand. I ve got the world by the tail on a down 
 hill haul once more, son. However, your query 
 reminds me I haven t taken the medicine the doctor 
 warned me to take after meals for a couple of weeks. 
 Wait a minute, Bill, until I go to my stateroom and do 
 my duty by my stomach." 
 
 For ten minutes Billy and Don Juan Cafetero 
 bobbed about in the launch; then a stentorian voice 
 shouted from the steamer. "Hey, you! In the 
 launch, there. Not so close. Back off." 
 
 Don Juan kicked the launch back fifty feet. " That 
 will do!" the voice called again. 
 
 "Hello!" Billy soliloquized. "That s Jack W T eb- 
 ster s voice. I ve heard him bossing a gang of 
 miners too often not to recognize that note of com 
 mand. Wonder what he s up to. I thought he 
 acted strangely preferring medicine to me the min 
 ute I hailed him !" 
 
 While he was considering the matter, a voice 
 behind him said very softly and indistinctly, like a 
 man with a harelip: 
 
 "Mr. Geary, will you be good enough to back your 
 launch a couple of hundred feet? When I m certain 
 I can t be seen from the steamer, I ll come aboard." 
 
 Billy turned, and in the dim light of his binnacle 
 lamp observed a beautiful pair of white hands grasp- 
 
162 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 ing the gunwale on the starboard quarter. He 
 peered over and made out the head and shoulders of a 
 man. 
 
 "All right," he replied in a low voice. "Hang 
 where you are, and you ll be clear of the propeller." 
 
 He signalled Don Juan, who backed swiftly away, 
 while Billy doused the binnacle lamp. 
 
 "That ll do," the thick voice said presently. "Bear 
 a hand, friend, and I ll climb over." 
 
 He came, as naked as Mercury, sprawled on his 
 belly in the cockpit, opened his mouth, spat out a 
 compact little roll of tinfoil, opened it and drew out 
 a ball of paper which he flattened out on the floor 
 of the cockpit and handed up to Billy. 
 
 "Thank you," he said, very courteously and dis 
 tinctly now. "My credentials, Mr. Geary, if you 
 please." 
 
 Billy re-lighted the lamp and read: 
 
 DEAR BILLY: 
 
 I do not know the bearer from Adam s off ox; all I know 
 about him is that he has all the outward marks of a gentle 
 man, the courage of a bear-cat, a sense of humor and a head 
 for which the Presidente of Sobrante will gladly pay a 
 considerable number of pesos oro. Don t give up the head, 
 because I like it and we do not need the money yet. 
 Take him ashore without anybody knowing it; hide him, 
 clothe him, feed him then forget all about him. 
 
 Ever thine, 
 
 J. S. WEBSTER. 
 
 "Kick the boat ahead again, Cafferty," Billy 
 ordered quietly. He turned to the late arrival. 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 163 
 
 "Mr. Man, your credentials are all in apple-pie 
 order. Do you happen to know this bay is swarming 
 with man-eating sharks?" 
 
 The man raised a fine, strong, youthful face and 
 grinned at him. "Hobson s choice, Mr. Geary," he 
 replied. "Afloat or ashore, the sharks are after me. 
 Sir, I am your debtor." He crawled into the cabin 
 and stretched out on the settee as John Stuart 
 Webster s voice came floating across the dark waters. 
 
 "Hey, Billy!" 
 
 "Hey, yourself!" 
 
 "Everything well with you, Billy?" 
 
 "All is lovely, Jack, and the goose honks high. 
 By the way, that friend of yours called with his letter 
 of introduction. I took care of him." 
 
 "Thanks. I suppose you ll call for me in that 
 launch to-morrow morning? " 
 
 "Surest tiling you know, Jack. Good-night, old 
 top." 
 
 "Good-night, Billy. See you in the morning." 
 
 Don Juan Cafetera swung the launch and headed 
 back for the city. At Leber s little dock Billy 
 stepped ashore, while Don Juan backed out into the 
 dark bay again in order to avoid inquisitive visitors. 
 Billy hastened to El Buen Amigo and returned pres 
 ently with a bundle of clothes; at an agreed signal 
 Don Juan kicked the launch into the dock again and 
 Billy went aboard. 
 
 "Hat, shirt, necktie, duck suit, white socks, and 
 shoes," he whispered. " Climb into them, stranger." 
 
 Once more the launch backed out in the bay, where 
 
164 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 Webster s protegS dressed at his leisure, and Billy 
 handed Don Juan a couple of pesos. 
 
 "Remember, John," he cautioned the bibulous 
 one as they tied up for the night, "nothing unusual 
 happened to-night." 
 
 " Divil a thing, Misther Geary. Thank you, sor," 
 the Gaelic wreck replied blithely and disappeared in 
 the darkness, leaving Billy to guide the stranger to 
 El Buen Amigo, where he was taken into the con 
 fidence of Mother Jenks and, on Billy s guarantee 
 of the board bill, furnished with a room and left to 
 his own devices. 
 
 John Stuart Webster came down the gangplank 
 into Leber s launch hard on the heels of the port 
 doctor. 
 
 "You young horse-thief," he cried affectionately. 
 "I believe it s the custom down this way for men to 
 kiss each other. We ll dispense with that, but 
 
 by " He folded Billy in a paternal embrace, 
 
 then held him at arm s length and looked him over. 
 
 "Lord, son," he said, "you re as thin as a snake. 
 I ll have to feed you up." 
 
 As they sped toward the landing, he looked Billy 
 over once more. "I have it," he declared. "You 
 need a change of climate to get rid of that malaria. 
 Just show me this little old mining claim of yours, 
 Bill, and then hike for God s country. Three months 
 up there will put you right again, and by the time you 
 get back, we ll be about ready to weigh the first clean- 
 up." 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 165 
 
 Billy shook his head. "I d like to mighty well, 
 lack," he replied, "but I just can t." 
 
 "Huh! I suppose you don t think I m equal to 
 the task of straightening out this concession of yours 
 and making a hummer out of it, eh?" 
 
 The young fellow looked across at him sheepishly. 
 "Mine?" he jeered. "Who s talking about a mine. 
 I m thinking of a girl!" 
 
 "Oh!" 
 
 "Some girl, Johnny." 
 
 "I hope she s not some parrakeet," Webster ban 
 tered. "Have you looked up her pedigree?" 
 
 "Ah-h-h!" Billy spat over the side in sheer disgust. 
 "This is an American girl born here, but white 
 raised in the U. S. A. I ve only known her three 
 weeks, but ah!" And Billy kissed his hand into 
 space. 
 
 "Well, I m glad I find you so happy, boy. I sup 
 pose you re going to let your old Jack-partner give 
 her the once-over and render his report before you 
 make the fatal leap eh?" 
 
 "Sure! I want you to meet her. I ve been telling 
 her all about you, and -she s crazy to meet you." 
 
 "Good news! I had a good friend once twice 
 three times and lost him every time. Wives get so 
 suspicious of their husband s single friends, you know, 
 so I hope I make a hit with your heart s desire, Billy. 
 When do you pull off the wedding?" 
 
 "Oh," said Billy, "that s premature, Jack. I 
 haven t asked her. How could I until I m able to 
 support her?" 
 
166 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 "Look here, son," Webster replied, "don t you 
 go to work and be the kind of fool I was. You get 
 married and take a chance. If you do, you ll have a 
 son sprouting into manhood when you re as old as I. 
 A man ought to marry young, Bill. Hang the odds. 
 I know what s good for you." 
 
 At the hotel, while Webster shaved and arrayed 
 himself in an immaculate white duck suit, with a 
 broad black silk belt, buck shoes, and a Panama hat, 
 Billy sent a note to Dolores, apprising her that John 
 Stuart Webster had arrived and would she be good 
 enough to receive them? 
 
 Miss Ruey would be that gracious. She was wait 
 ing for them in the veranda just off the patio, out 
 wardly calm, but inwardly a foment of conflicting 
 emotions. As they approached she affected not to 
 see them and turning, glanced in the opposite direc 
 tion; nor did she move her head until Billy s voice, 
 speaking at her elbow, said: 
 
 "Well, Dolores, here s my old Jack-partner waiting 
 to be introduced. Jack, permit me to present Miss 
 Dolores Ruey." 
 
 She turned her face and rose graciously, marking 
 with secret triumph the light of recognition that 
 leaped to his eyes, hovered there the hundredth part 
 of a second and departed, leaving those keen, quiz 
 zical blue orbs appraising her in the most natural 
 manner imaginable. Webster bowed. 
 
 "It is a great happiness to meet you, Miss Ruey, 3 
 he said gravely . 
 
 Dolores gave him her hand. "You have doubt- 
 
WEBSTERMAN S MAN 167 
 
 less forgotten, Mr. Webster, but I think we have met 
 before." 
 
 "Indeed!" John Stuart Webster murmured inter 
 estedly. " So stupid of me not to remember. Where 
 did we meet?" 
 
 "He has a profound sense of humour," she solilo 
 quized. "He s going to force me into the open. 
 Oh, dear, I m helpless." Aloud she said: "On the 
 train in Death Valley last month, Mr. Webster. 
 You came aboard with whiskers." 
 
 W T ebster shook his head slowly, as if mystified. "I 
 fear you re mistaken, Miss Ruey. I cannot recall 
 the meeting, and if I ever wore whiskers, no human 
 being would ever be able to recognize me without 
 them. Besides, I wasn t on the train in Death Valley 
 last month. I was in Denver so you must have 
 met some other Mr. Webster." 
 
 She flushed furiously. "I didn t think I could be 
 mistaken," she answered a trifle coldly. 
 
 "It is my misfortune that you were," he replied 
 graciously. "Certainly, had we met at that time, I 
 should not have failed to recognize you now. Some 
 how, Miss Ruey, I never have any luck." 
 
 She was completely outgeneralled, and having the 
 good sense to realize it, submitted gracefully. "He s 
 perfectly horrible," she told herself, "but at least he 
 can lie like a gentleman and I always did like that 
 kind of man." 
 
 So they chatted on the veranda until luncheon 
 was announced and Dolores left them to go to her 
 room. 
 
168 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 "Well?" Billy queried the moment she was out of 
 earshot. "What do you think, Johnny?" 
 
 "I think," said John Stuart Webster slowly, "that 
 you re a good picker, Bill. She s my ideal of a fine 
 young woman, and my advice to you is to marry 
 her. I ll grub-stake you. Bill, this stiff collar is 
 choking me; I wish you d wait here while I go to my 
 room and rustle up a soft one." 
 
 In the privacy of his room John Stuart Webster 
 sat down on his bed and held his head in his hands, 
 for he had just received a blow in the solar plexus 
 and was still groggy; there was an ache in his head, 
 and the quizzical light had faded from his eyes. 
 Presently, however, he pulled himself together and 
 approaching the mirror looked long at his weather- 
 beaten countenance. 
 
 "Too old," he murmured, "too old to be dreaming 
 dreams." 
 
 He changed to a soft collar, and when he descended 
 to the patio to join Billy once more he was, to all 
 outward appearances, his usual unperturbed self, 
 for his was one of those rare natures that can derive 
 a certain comfort from the misery of self-sacrifice 
 and in that five minutes alone in his room John 
 Stuart Webster had wrestled with the tragedy of 
 his life and won. 
 
 He had resolved to give Billy the right of way on 
 the highway to happiness. 
 
CHAPTER FIFTEEN 
 
 ECE in the afternoon of the day of his arrival 
 in Buenaventura, in the cool recess of the deep 
 veranda flanking the western side of the patio 
 of the Hotel Mateo, John Stuart Webster sat in a 
 wicker chair, cigar in mouth, elbows on knees, hands 
 clasping a light Malacca stick, with the end of which 
 he jabbed meditatively at a crack in the recently 
 sprinkled tiled floor, as if punctuating each bitter 
 thought that chased its predecessor through his 
 somewhat numbed brain. 
 
 In Mr. Webster s own whimsical phraseology, his 
 clock had been fixed, on the instant he recognized in 
 the object of his youthful partner s adoration the 
 same winsome woman he had enthroned in his own 
 secret castle of love. From that precise second 
 Billy s preserve was as safe from encroachment by his 
 friend as would be a bale of Confederate currency in 
 an armour-steel vault on the three-thousand-foot 
 level of a water-filled mine. Unfortunately for 
 Webster, however, while he knew himself fairly well, 
 he was not aware of this at the time. Viewed in the 
 light of calmer reflection, Mr. Webster was quite 
 certain he had made a star-spangled monkey of 
 himself. 
 
 He sought solace now in the fact that there had 
 
 169 
 
170 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 been mitigating circumstances. Throughout the 
 entire journey from the steamer to the hotel, Billy 
 had not once mentioned in its entirety the name of 
 his adored one. In any Spanish-American country 
 the name Dolores is not so uncommon as to excite 
 suspicion; and Webster, who had seen the mercurial 
 William in and out of many a desperate love affair 
 in the latter s brittle teens and early twenties, at 
 tached so little importance to this latest outbreak of 
 the old disease that it did not occur to him to cross- 
 examine Billy, after eliciting the information that 
 the young man had not lost his heart to a local 
 belle. 
 
 The knowledge that Billy s inamorata was an 
 American girl served to clear what threatened to be 
 a dark atmosphere, and so Webster promptly had 
 dismissed the subject. 
 
 Any psychologist will tell one that it is quite pos 
 sible for a person to dream, in the short space of a 
 split second, of events which, if really consummated, 
 would involve the passage of days, weeks, months, 
 or even years! Now, Jack Webster was an extra 
 fast thinker, asleep or awake, and in his mind s eye, 
 as he sat there in the patio, he had a dreadful vision 
 of himself with a delicate spray of lilies of the valley 
 in the lapel of his dress coat, as he supported the 
 malarial Billy to the altar, there to receive the prom 
 ise of Dolores to love, honour, and obey until death 
 them did part. As the said Billy s dearest friend 
 and business associate as the only logical single 
 man available the job was Webster s without a 
 
WEBSTERMAN S MAN 171 
 
 struggle. Diablo ! Why did people persist in re 
 ferring to such runners-up in the matrimonial handi 
 cap as best men, when at the very least calculation 
 the groom was the winner? 
 
 That wedding party was the very least of the fu 
 ture events Mr. Webster s hectic imagination con 
 jured up. In the course of time (he reflected), a 
 baby would doubtless arrive to bless the Geary house 
 hold. Godfather? John Stuart Webster, of course. 
 And when the fruit of that happy union should be 
 old enough to "ride horsey," who but the family 
 friend would be required to get down on all fours and 
 accommodate the unconscious tyrant? Boy or girl, 
 it would make no difference; whichever way the cat 
 jumped, he would be known as Uncle Jack; Billy 
 would drag him up to the house once or twice a week, 
 and he would go for the sake of the baby; then they 
 would make him stay all night, and Mrs. Billy would 
 sigh and try to smile when she detected cigarette 
 ashes on the chiffonier in the spare bedroom infal 
 lible sign that there was a bachelor about. Besides, 
 happily married women have a mania for marrying 
 off their husband s bachelor friends, and Mrs. Billy 
 might scout up a wife for him a wife he didn t want 
 and 
 
 No, he would not be the family friend. Nobody 
 should ever Uncle Jack him if he could help it, and 
 the only way to avoid the honour would be to eschew 
 the job of best man, to resolve, in the very beginning 
 of things, to beware of entangling friendships. Thus, 
 as in a glass darkly, John Stuart Webster, in one 
 
172 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 illuminating moment, saw his future, together with 
 his sole avenue of escape. 
 
 All too forcibly Webster realized that Billy s bally- 
 hooing must have created a favourable impression 
 in Dolores s mind prior to the arrival of the victim; 
 hence it seemed reasonable to presume that when she 
 discovered in Billy Geary s Jack Webster her own 
 soiled, ragged, bewhiskered, belligerent, battered 
 knight, Sir John Stuart Webster of Death Valley, 
 California, U. S. A., extreme measures would have to 
 be taken instantly to save the said Webster from 
 being spattered with a dear old friendship in the 
 future and a dear old friendship with Dolores Ruey 
 was something he did not want, had never figured on, 
 and shuddered at accepting. All things considered, 
 it had appeared wise to him to challenge, politely 
 but firmly, her suggestion that they had met. 
 
 Of course, Webster had not really thought all this 
 at the time; he had felt it and acted entirely upon 
 instinct. A little private cogitation, however, had 
 served to straighten out his thinking apparatus and 
 convince him that he had acted hastily wherefore 
 he would (a still, small voice whispered) repent at 
 leisure. Dolores had not pressed the question (he 
 was grateful to her for that), and for as long as five 
 minutes he had congratulated himself on his success 
 in "putting it over" on her. Then he had caught 
 her scrutinizing the knuckles of his right hand; fol 
 lowing her glance, he had seen that the crests of two 
 knuckles were slightly bluish and tender, as new skin 
 has a habit of showing on tanned knuckles. With a 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 173 
 
 sinking heart he had recalled how painfully and 
 deeply he had lacerated those knuckles less than a 
 month before on the strong white teeth of a fat male 
 masher, and while the last ugly shred of evidence had 
 dropped off a week before, nevertheless to the critical 
 and discerning eye there was still faint testimony of 
 that fateful joust just sufficient to convict! 
 
 He had glanced at her swiftly ; she had caught the 
 glance and replied to it with the faintest possible 
 gleam of mischievous challenge in her glorious brown 
 orbs; whereupon John Stuart Webster had imme 
 diately done what every honest male biped has been 
 doing since Adam told his first lie to Eve blushed, 
 and had drawn a little taunting smile for his 
 pains. 
 
 As Solomon once remarked, the wicked flee when 
 no man pursueth; and that smile had scarcely faded 
 before John Stuart Webster had unanimously re 
 solved upon the course he should have pursued in 
 the first place. He would investigate Billy s mining 
 concession immediately; provided it should prove 
 worth while, he would finance it and put the property 
 on a paying basis; after which he would see to it that 
 the very best doctors in the city of Buenaventura 
 should inform Billy, unofficially and in the strictest 
 confidence, that if he desired to preserve the life of 
 Senor Juan Webstaire, he should forthwith pack that 
 rapidly disintegrating person off to a more salubrious 
 climate. 
 
 Having made his decision, John Stuart Webster 
 immediately took heart of hope and decided to lead 
 
174 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 trumps. He leaned over and slapped Billy Geary s 
 knee affectionately. 
 
 "Well, Bill, you saffron-coloured old wreck, how 
 long do you suppose it will take for you to pick up 
 enough strength and courage to do some active min 
 ing? You re looking like food shot from guns." 
 
 "Billy needs a vacation and a change of climate," 
 Dolores declared with that motherly conviction all 
 womankind feels toward a sick man. 
 
 "So I do, Dolores," Billy replied. "And I m 
 going to take it. Up there in the hills back of San 
 Miguel de Padua, the ubiquitous mosquito is not, the 
 climate is almost temperate and tis there that I 
 would be." 
 
 "You can t start too soon to please me, Billy," 
 Webster declared. "I m anxious to get that prop 
 erty on a paying basis, so I can get out of the coun 
 try." 
 
 "Why, Johnny," the amazed Billy declared, "I 
 thought you would stay and help run the mine." 
 
 "Indeed! Well, why do you suppose I spent so 
 much time teaching you how to run a mine, you 
 young idiot, if not against just such a time as this? 
 You found this concession and tied it up; I ll finance 
 it and help you get everything started; but after that, 
 I m through, and you can manage it on salary and 
 name the salary yourself. You have a greater inter 
 est in this country than I, W 7 illiam; and so with your 
 kind permission we ll hike up to that concession to 
 morrow and give it the double-O; then, if I can O. K. 
 the property, we ll cable for the machinery I ordered 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 175 
 
 just before I left Denver, and get busy. We ought 
 to have our first clean-up within ninety days. What 
 kind of labour have you in this country? Anything 
 worth while? If not, we ll have to import some white 
 men that can do things." 
 
 "Gosh, but you re in a hurry," Billy murmured. 
 He had been long enough in Sobrante to have ac 
 quired a touch of the manana spirit of the lowlands, 
 and he disliked exceedingly the thought of having his 
 courtship interrupted on a minute s notice. 
 
 "You know me, son. I m a hustler on the job," 
 Webster reminded him brutally; "so the sooner you 
 start, the sooner you can get back and accumulate 
 more malaria. What accommodations have you up 
 there?" 
 
 "None, Jack." 
 
 "Then you had better get some, Billy. I think 
 you told me we have to take horses at San Miguel de 
 Padua to ride in to the mine." Billy nodded. 
 "Then you had better buy a tent and bedding for 
 both of us, ship the stuff up to San Miguel de Padua, 
 go up with it and engage horses, a good cook, and a 
 couple of reliable mozos. When you have everything 
 ready, telegraph me and I ll come up." 
 
 "Why can t you come up with me?" Billy de 
 manded. 
 
 "I have to see a man, and write some letters and 
 
 send a cablegram and wait for an answer. I may 
 
 have to loaf around here for two or three days. By 
 
 the wa.v, what did you do for that friend I sent to 
 
 letter of introduction?" 
 
176 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 "Exactly what you told me to do, Johnny/* 
 
 " Where is he now? " 
 
 "At El Buen Amigo the same place where I m 
 living." 
 
 "All right. We ll not discuss business any more, 
 because we have finished with the business in hand 
 at least I have, Billy. When you get back to your 
 hostelry, you might tell my friend I shall expect him 
 over to dine with me this evening, if he can manage it." 
 
 For an hour they discussed various subjects; then 
 Billy, declaring the siesta was almost over and the 
 shops reopening as a consequence, announced his 
 intention of doing his shopping, said good-bye to 
 Dolores and Webster, and lugubriously departed on 
 the business in hand. 
 
 "Why are you in such a hurry, Mr. Webster?" 
 Dolores demanded. "You haven t been in Buena 
 ventura six hours until you ve managed to make me 
 perfectly miserable." 
 
 "I m terribly sorry. I didn t mean to." 
 
 "Didn t you know Billy Geary is my personal 
 property?" 
 
 "No, but I suspected he might be. Bill s generous 
 that way. He never hesitates to give himself to a 
 charming woman." 
 
 "This was a case of mutual self-defense. Billy 
 hasn t any standing socially, you know. I believe 
 he has been seen shooting craps isn t that what vou 
 call it? with gentlemen of more or less colour; then 
 he appeared in public with me, minus a chap 
 eron " 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 177 
 
 "Fooey!" 
 
 "Likewise fiddlesticks! I should have had the 
 entree to the society of my father s old friends but for 
 that; when old Mrs. General Maldonado lectured 
 me (the dear, aristocratic soul conceived it to be her 
 duty) on the impropriety of appearing on the Male- 
 con with Billy and my guardian, who happens to be 
 Billy s landlady, I tried to explain our American 
 brand of democracy, but failed. So I haven t been 
 invited anywhere since, and life would have been very 
 dull without Billy. He has been a dear and you 
 have taken him away." 
 
 Webster laughed. "Well, be patient, Miss Ruey, 
 and I ll give him back to you with considerably more 
 money than he will require for your joint comfort. 
 Billy in financial distress is a joy forever, but Billy 
 in a top hat and a frock coat on the sunny side of 
 Easy Street will be absolutely irresistible." 
 
 "He s a darling. Ever since my arrival he has 
 dedicated his life to keeping me amused." She rose. 
 "Despite your wickedness, Mr. Webster, I am going 
 to be good to you. Billy and I always have five 
 o clock tea here in the veranda. Would you care to 
 come to my tea-party?" 
 
 "Nothing could give me greater pleasure," he as 
 sured her. 
 
 She nodded brightly to him. "I m going to run 
 up to my room and put some powder on my nose," 
 she explained. 
 
 "But you ll return before five o clock?" Webster 
 was amazed to hear himself plead. 
 
178 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 "You do not deserve such consideration, but I ll 
 come back in about twenty minutes," she answered 
 and left him in the spot where we find him at 
 the opening of this chapter, in pensive mood, jab 
 bing his Malacca stick into a crack in the tiled 
 floor. 
 
 Presently Webster shuddered. "Good heavens," 
 he soliloquized, "what a jackass-play I made when I 
 declined to admit we had met before. What harm 
 could I have accomplished by admitting it? I must 
 be getting old, because I m getting cowardly. I m 
 afraid of myself! When I met that girl last month, 
 it was in a region that God forgot and I was a 
 human caterpillar, which a caterpillar is a hairy, 
 lowly, unlovely thing that crawls until it is meta 
 morphosed into a butterfly and flies. Following out 
 the simile, I am now a human butterfly, not recog 
 nizable as the caterpillar to one woman out of ten 
 million; yet she pegs me out at first. Gad, but she s 
 a remarkable girl! And now I m in for it. I ve 
 aroused her curiosity; and being a woman, she will 
 not rest until she has fathomed the reason back of 
 my extraordinary conduct. I think I m going to be 
 smeared with confusion. A spineless man like you, 
 Johnny Webster, stands as much show in a battle of 
 wits with that woman as a one-legged white man at 
 a coon cakewalk. I m afraid of her, and I m afraid 
 of myself. I m glad I m going up to the mine. I ll 
 go as quickly as I can, and stay as long as I 
 
 can." 
 
 As Webster viewed the situation, his decision to see 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 179 
 
 as little as possible of Dolores during his brief stay in 
 Sobrante was a wise one. The less he saw of her (he 
 told himself), the better for his peace of mind, for he 
 was forty years old, and he had never loved before. 
 For him this fever that burned in his blood, this 
 delicious agony that throbbed in his heart and all 
 on the very ghost of provocation were so many 
 danger-signals, heralds of that grand passion which, 
 coming to a man of forty, generally lasts him the 
 remainder of his natural existence. 
 
 "This certainly beats the Dutch!" he murmured, 
 and beyond the peradventure of a doubt, it did. He 
 reflected that all of his life the impulses of his gener 
 ous nature had been his undoing. In an excess of 
 paternalism he had advised Billy to marry the girl 
 and not permit himself to develop into a homeless, 
 childless, loveless man such as Exhibit A, there 
 present; following his natural inclination to play any 
 game; red or black, he had urged Billy to marry the 
 girl immediately and had generously offered a liberal 
 subsidy to make the marriage possible, for he dis 
 liked any interference in his plans to make those he 
 loved happy. And now 
 
 Webster was forced to admit he was afraid of 
 himself. His was the rapidly disappearing code of 
 the old unfettered West, that a man shall never 
 betray his friend in thought, word, or deed. To John 
 Stuart Webster any crime against friendship was the 
 most heinous in all the calendar of human frailty; 
 even to dream of slipping into Billy s shoes now 
 would be monstrous; yet Webster knew he could not 
 
180 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 
 afford a test of strength between his ancient friend 
 ship for Billy and his masculine desire for a perfect 
 mate. Remained then but one course: 
 
 "I must run like a road-runner," was the way 
 Webster expressed it. 
 

 
 CHAPTER SIXTEEN 
 
 DOLORES had been gone an hour before 
 Webster roused from his bitter introspection 
 sufficiently to glance at his watch. "Hum- 
 m-m!" he grunted disapprovingly. 
 
 "Oh, I ve been here fully half an hour," Dolores s 
 voice assured him. He turned guiltily and found 
 her leaning against the jamb in a doorway behind 
 him and farther down the veranda. She was gazing 
 at him with that calm, impersonal yet vitally inter 
 ested glance that had so captivated him the first time 
 he saw her. 
 
 "Well, then" bluntly "why didn t you say 
 so?" 
 
 "The surest way to get oneself disliked is to in 
 trude on the moods of one s friends. Moreover, I 
 wanted to study you in repose. Are you quite 
 finished talking to yourself and fighting imaginary 
 enemies? If so, you might talk to me for a change; 
 I ll even disagree with you on any subject, if opposi 
 tion will make you any happier." 
 
 He rose and indicated the chair. "Please sit 
 down, Miss Ruey. You are altogether disconcerting 
 too confoundedly smart. I fear I m going to be 
 afraid of you until I know you better." 
 
 She shrugged adorably and took the proffered 
 
 181 
 
182 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 chair. "That s the Latin in her that shrug," 
 Webster thought. "I wonder what other mixtures 
 go to make up that perfect whole." 
 
 Aloud he said : "So you wanted to study me in re 
 pose ? Why waste your time ? I am never in repose. 
 
 "Feminine curiosity, Mr. Webster. Billy has 
 talked so much of you that I wanted to see if you 
 measured up to the specifications." 
 
 "I don t mind your looking at me, Miss Ruey, 
 but I get fidgety when you look through me." He 
 was glad he said that, because it made her laugh 
 more immoderately, Webster thought, than the 
 circumstances demanded. Nevertheless he had an 
 insane desire to make her laugh like that again, to 
 watch her mobile features run the gamut from sweet, 
 nunlike repose to mirthful riot. 
 
 "I can t help it really," she protested. "You re 
 so transparent." 
 
 Mr. Webster reflected that doubtless she was right. 
 Men in his fix generally were pitifully obvious. 
 Nevertheless he was nettled. "Oh, I m not so sure 
 of that. I was just accusing myself of being a 
 bonehead, and bone is opaque." 
 
 "Perhaps I have an X-ray eye," she replied de 
 murely. "However, just to show you how easy you 
 are to read, I ll not look at your silly head. Just 
 let me have your hand, and I ll tell you all about 
 yourself." 
 
 "Is there any charge?" 
 
 "Yes, a nominal one. However, I guarantee a 
 truthful reading; if, when I am through, you are not 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 183 
 
 wholly satisfied, you do not have to pay the price. 
 jls that a satisfactory arrangement?" 
 
 "Right as a fox," he declared, and held out his 
 great calloused hand. He thrilled as she took it in 
 f both of hers, so soft and beautiful, and flattened it 
 tout, palm upward, on her knee. "A fine, large, use- 
 iful hand," she commented musingly. "The cal 
 louses indicate recent hard manual toil with a pick 
 and shovel; despite your recent efforts with soap and 
 f brush and pumice-stone, there still remain evidences 
 of some foreign matter ingrained in those callous 
 spots. While, of course, I cannot be certain of my 
 ! diagnosis without a magnifying glass, I venture the 
 conjecture that it is a mineral substance, and your 
 1 hands are so tanned one can readily see you have been 
 working in the sun in a very hot sun, as a matter 
 of fact. Inasmuch as the hottest sun I ever felt was 
 in Xjgath Valley, as I crossed it on the train last 
 1 month, yonr hand tells me you have been there. 
 
 "The general structure of the hand indicates that 
 you are of a peace-loving disposition, but are far 
 from being a peace-at-any-price advocate." She 
 flipped his hand over suddenly. "Ah, the knuckles 
 confirm that last statement. They tell me you will 
 fight on provocation; while your fingers are still stiff 
 and thick from your recent severe labours, neverthe 
 less they indicate an artistic nature, from which I 
 deduce that upon the occasion when you were in 
 conflict last your opponent received a most artistic 
 thrashing." 
 
 Webster twitched nervously. "Skip the coarse 
 
184 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 side of my nature," he pleaded, "and tell me some 
 thing nice about myself." 
 
 "I am coming to that. This line indicates that 
 you are very brave, gentle, and courteous. You are 
 quick and firm in your decisions, but not always 
 right, because your actions are governed by your 
 heart instead of your head. Once you have made a 
 decision, you are reckless of the consequences. Your 
 lifeline tells me you are close to fifty-three years of 
 age " 
 
 "Seeress, you re shooting high and to the right," 
 he interrupted, for he did not relish that jab about his 
 age. "I ll have you know I was forty years old last 
 month, and that I can still do a hundred yards in 
 twelve seconds flat in my working clothes." 
 
 "Well, don t feel peeved about it, Mr. Webster. 
 I am not infallible; the best you can hope for from 
 me is a high percentage of hits, even if I did shoot high 
 and to the right that time. In point of worldly exper 
 ience you re a hundred and six years old but I 
 lopped off fifty per cent, to be on the safe side. To 
 continue: You are of an extremely chivalrous nature 
 particularly toward young ladies travelling without 
 chaperons; you are kind, affectionate, generous to a 
 fault, something of a spendthrift. You will always 
 be a millionaire or a pauper, never anything be 
 tween at least for any great length of time." 
 
 "You ve been talking to that callow Bill Geary." 
 Mr. Webster s face was so red he was sensible of a 
 distinct feeling of relief that she kept her face bent 
 over his hand. 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 185 
 
 "I haven t. He s been talking to me. One may 
 safely depend upon you to do the unexpected. 
 Y our matrimonial line is unbroken, proving you have 
 never married, although right here the line is some 
 what dim and frayed." She looked up at him sud 
 denly. "You haven t been in love, have you?" she 
 queried with childlike insouciance. "In love and 
 disappointed?" 
 
 He nodded, for he could not trust himself to speak. 
 
 "How sad!" she cooed sympathetically. "Did 
 she marry another, or did she die?" 
 
 "She she yes, she died." 
 
 " Cauliflower-tongue, in all probability, carried her 
 off, poor thing! However, to your fortune: You 
 are naturally truthful and would not make a deliber 
 ate misstatement of fact unless you had a very potent 
 reason for it. You are sensitive to ridicule; it irks 
 you to be teased, particularly by a woman, although 
 you would boil in oil rather than admit it. You 
 never ask impertinent questions, and you dislike 
 those who do; you are not inquisitive; you never 
 question other people s motives unless they appear to 
 have a distinct bearing on your happiness or pros 
 perity; you resent it when anybody questions your 
 motives, and anybody who knows your nature will 
 not question them. However, you have a strong 
 sense of sportsmanship, and when fairly defeated, 
 whether in a battle of fists or a battle of wits, you 
 never hold a grudge, which is one of the very nicest 
 characteristics a man can have " 
 
 "Or a woman," he suggested feebly. 
 
186 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 "Quite right. Few woman have a sense of sports 
 manship." 
 
 "You have." 
 
 "How do you know?" 
 
 "The witness declines to answer, on the ground 
 that he might incriminate himself; also I object to 
 the question because it is irrelevant, immaterial, and 
 not cross-examination." 
 
 "Accepted. You stand a very good chance of 
 becoming a millionaire in Sobrante, but you must 
 beware of a dark man who has crossed your path " 
 
 " Which one? " Webster queried mirthfully. "All 
 coons look alike to me Greasers also." 
 
 "Mere patter of our profession, Mr. Webster," she 
 admitted, "tossed in to build up the mystery element 
 and simulate wisdom. Fortune awaited you in the 
 United States, but you put it behind you, at the call 
 of friendship, for a fortune in Sobrante. Now you 
 have reconsidered that foolish action and at this mo 
 ment you are contemplating sending a cablegram to a 
 fat old man who waddles when he walks, recalling 
 your decision not to accept a certain proposition of a 
 business nature. However, you are too late. The 
 fat old man with the waddle has made other arrange 
 ments, and if you want to make money, you ll re 
 main in Sobrante. I think that is all, Mr. Webster. " 
 
 He was gazing at her with an expression composed 
 of equal parts of awe, amazement, consternation, 
 adoration, and blank stupidity. 
 
 "Well," she queried innocently, "to quote Billy s 
 colloquial style: did I put it over?" 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 187 
 
 You did very well for an amateur, but I m a 
 loubting Thomas. I have to poke my finger into 
 the wound, so to speak, before I ll believe. About 
 ;his fat old man who waddles when he walks: a really 
 topnotch palmist could tell me his name." 
 
 Well, I m only an amateur, but still I think I 
 night, to quote Billy again, make a stab at it. A 
 ittle while ago you said I had a strong sense of 
 jportsmanship. Do you care to bet me about ten 
 lollars I cannot give you the fat party s initials 
 jail three of them?" 
 
 He gazed at her owlishly. She was the most per 
 
 fectly amazing girl he had ever met; he was certain 
 
 she would win the ten dollars from him, but then it 
 
 was worth ten dollars to know for a certainty whether 
 
 ishe was perfect or possessed of a slight flaw; so he 
 
 I silently drew forth a wallet that would have choked a 
 
 cow and skinned off a ten-dollar gold certificate of 
 
 the United States of America. 
 
 "I m game," he mumbled. "To quote Billy 
 again : Put up or shut up . " 
 
 "The fat gentleman s initials are E. P. J." 
 
 "By the twelve apostles, Peter, Simon - " 
 
 "Don t blaspheme, Mr. Webster." 
 
 He stood up and shook himself. " When you order 
 the tea," he said very distinctly, "please have mine 
 Icold. I need a bracer after that. Take the ten. 
 
 %irri8 si gj-s-jqoi oi aqii TMI Jid one; 
 
 
188 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 added to what you ve got makes just a little bit 
 more/" she carolled, swaying her lithe, beautiful 
 body and snapping her fingers like a cabaret dancer. 
 
 He could have groaned with the futility of his) 
 overwhelming desire for her; it even occurred to him 
 what a shame it was to waste a marvel like her on ai 
 callow young pup like Billy, who had fought so many 
 deadly skirmishes with Dan Cupid that a post-im-j 
 pressionistic painting of the Geary heart must re-! 
 semble a pincushion. Then he remembered that 
 this was an ungenerous, a traitorous thought, andj 
 that he had not paid the lady her fee. 
 
 "Well, what s the tariff?" he asked. 
 
 "You really feel that I have earned a professional s 
 fee?" 
 
 "Beyond a doubt." 
 
 She stood a moment gazing thoughtfully down at 
 the tip of her little toe, struggling to be quite cool 
 and collected in the knowledge that she was about to 
 do a daring, almost a brazen thing wondering with 
 a queer, panicky little fluttering of her heart if he 
 would think any the less of her for it. 
 
 "Well I that is- 
 
 "The cauliflower ear is not unknown among pugil 
 ists in our own dear native land, but the cauliflower 
 tongue appears to blossom exclusively in Sobrante," 
 he suggested wickedly. 
 
 She bit her lips to repress a smile. "Since you 
 have taken Billy away from me this evening, I shall 
 make you take Billy s place this evening. After 
 dinner you shall hire an open victoria with two little 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 189 
 
 white horses and drive me around the Malecon. 
 There is a band concert to-night." 
 
 "If it s the last act of my wicked life! " he promised 
 fervently. Strange to relate, in that ecstatic mo 
 ment no thought of Billy Geary marred the perfect 
 serenity of what promised to be the most perfectly 
 serene night in history. 
 
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN 
 
 THEY were seated at the tiny tea table when 
 the sound of feet crunching the little shell- 
 paved path through the patio caused Webster 
 and Dolores to turn their heads simultaneously. 
 Coming toward them was an individual who wore 
 upon a head of flaming red a disreputable, conical- 
 crowned straw sombrero; a soiled cotton camisa with 
 the tails flowing free of his equally soiled khaki 
 trousers, and sandals of the kind known as alpargates 
 made from the tough fibre of a plant of the cactus 
 family and worn only by the very lowliest peons 
 completed his singular attire. 
 
 " Hello ! " Webster murmured whimsically. " Look 
 who s here!" 
 
 "One of Billy s friends and another reason why he 
 has no social standing," Dolores whispered. "I be 
 lieve he s going to speak to us." 
 
 Such evidently appeared to be the man s intention. 
 He came to the edge of the veranda, swept his ruin 
 of ^hat from his red head and bowed with Castilian 
 expjmsiveness . 
 
 "Yer pardon, Miss, for appearin before you." 
 
 She smiled her forgiveness to what Webster now 
 perceived to be an alcoholic wreck. He was about 
 to dismiss the fellow with scant ceremony, when 
 
 190 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 191 
 
 Dolores, with that rich sense of almost masculine 
 humour a humour that was distinctly American 
 said sweetly: 
 
 "Mr. Webster, shake hands with Don Juan 
 Cafetero, bon vivant and man about town. Don 
 Juan, permit me to present Mr. Webster, from some 
 where in the United States. Mr. Webster is a mining 
 partner of our mutual friend Mr. William Geary." 
 
 A long, sad descent into the Pit had, however, 
 imbued Don Juan with a sense of his degradation; he 
 was in the presence of a superior, and he acknowl 
 edged the introduction with a respectful inclination 
 of his head. 
 
 "Tis you I ve called to see, Misther Webster, sor," 
 he explained. 
 
 "Very well, old-timer. In what way can I be of 
 service to you?" 
 
 " Tis the other way around, sor, if ye plaze, an* 
 for that same there s no charrge, seein ye re the 
 partner, av that fine, kind gintleman, Misther Geary 
 Sure tis he that s the free-handed lad wit his money 
 whin he has it, God bless him, an may the heavens 
 be his bed, although be the same token I can see wit* 
 the half av an eye that tis yerself thinks nothin av a 
 dollar, or five, for that matther. However, sor, that s 
 neither here nor there. Did ye, whilst in New Or 
 leans, have d alings wit a short, shtout spiggoty wit 
 a puckered scar undher his right eye?" 
 
 John Stuart Webster suddenly sat up straight and 
 gazed upon the lost son of Erin with grave interest. 
 "Yes," he replied, "I seem to recall such a man." 
 
192 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 " Only another proof of my ability as a palmist," 
 Dolores struck in. "Remember, Mr. Webster, I 
 warned you to beware of a dark man that had 
 crossed your path." 
 
 "An well he may, Miss well he may," Don Juan 
 agreed gloomily. " Tis none av me business, sor, 
 but would ye mind tellin me just what ye did to 
 that spiggoty?" 
 
 "Why, to begin, last Sunday morning I interrupted 
 this pucker-eyed fellow and a pop-eyed friend of his 
 while engaged in an attempt to assassinate a white, 
 inoffensive stranger. The following day, at the 
 gangplank of the steamer, we met again; he poked his 
 nose into my business, so I squeezed his nose until 
 he cried; right before everybody I did it, Don Juan, 
 and to add insult to injury, I plucked a few hairs from 
 his rat s moustache one hair per each pluck." 
 
 "I d a notion ye did somethin to him, sor. Now, 
 thin, listen to me: I m not much to look at, but I m 
 white. I m an attashay, as ye might say, av Ignatz 
 Leber him that do have the import an export 
 house at the ind av the Calle San Rosario, forninst 
 the bay. Also he do have charrge av the cable 
 office, an whin I m sober enough, I deliver cable- 
 grajns for Leber. Now, thin, ye ll recall we had a 
 bit av a shower to-day at noon?" 
 
 Dolores and Webster nodded. Don Juan, after 
 glancing cautiously around, lowered his voice and 
 continued: "I was deliverin a cablegram for Leber, 
 an me course took me past the palace gate which, 
 be the same token, has sinthry-boxes both inside an 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 193 
 
 out, wan on each side av the gate. The sinthry 
 was not visible as I came along, an what wit the 
 shower comin as suddint as that, an me wit a 
 wardrobe that s not so extinsive I can afford to get 
 it wet, I shtepped into wan av the outside sintry- 
 boxes till the rain should be over, an what wit a 
 dhrink av aguardiente I d took to brace me for the 
 thrip, an the mimory av auld times, I fell asleep. 
 
 "Dear knows how long I sat there napping; all 
 I know is that I was awakened by the sound av three 
 men talkin at the gate, an divil a worrd did they 
 say but what I heard. They were talkin in Spanish, 
 but I undhershtood thim well enough. He s at 
 the Hotel Mateo, says wan voice, an his name is 
 Webster Jawn Webster. He s an American, an a 
 big, savage-lookin lad at that, so take, me advice an 
 be careful. Do ye two keep an eye on him wherever 
 he goes, an if he should shtep out at night an 
 wandher t rough a dark shtreet, do ye two see to it 
 that he s put where he ll not interfere again in Don 
 Felipe s affairs. No damn gringo beggin yer par 
 don, Miss can intherfere in the wurrk av the 
 Intilligince Bureau at a time like this, in addition to 
 insultin our honoured chief, wit out the necessity 
 av bein measured for a coffin. Si, mi general, 
 says another lad, an To be sure, mi general, says a 
 thirrd ; an wit that the gineral, bad cess to him, wint 
 back to the palace an the other two walked on up the 
 calle an away from the sinthry -box." 
 
 "Did you come out and follow them?" Webster 
 demanded briskly. 
 
194 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 "Faith, I did. Wan av them is Francisco Ar- 
 redondo, a young cavalry lootinint, an the other wan 
 is Captain Jose Benevides, him that do be the best 
 pistol-shot an swordsman in the spiggoty army. 
 Twas him that kilt auld Gineral Gonzales in a djuel 
 a month ago." 
 
 "What kind of looking man is this Benevides, my 
 friend?" 
 
 "A tall, thin young man, wit* a dude s moustache 
 an a diamond ring on his right hand. He do be 
 whiter nor most. Have a care would ye meet 
 him around the city an let him pick a fight wit 
 ye. An have a care, sor, would ye go out av a 
 night." 
 
 "Thank you, Don Juan. You re the soul of kind 
 ness. What else do you know?" 
 
 "Well," Don Juan replied with a naive grin, "I 
 did know somethin else, but shure, Misther Geary 
 advised me to forget it. I was wit him in the 
 launch last night." 
 
 Webster stepped out of the veranda and laid a 
 friendly hand on Don Juan Cafetero s shoulder. 
 "Don Juan," he said gently, "I m going back to the 
 United States very soon. Would you like to come 
 with me?" 
 
 Don Juan s watery eyes grew a shade mistier, if 
 possible. He shook his head. "Whin I m dhrunk 
 here, sor," he replied, "no wan pays any attintion to 
 me, but in America they d give me ten days in the 
 hoosgow wanst a week. Thank you, sor, but I ll 
 shtay here till the finish." 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 195 
 
 / There are institutions in America where hopeless 
 inebriates, self-committed, may be sent for a couple 
 of years. I believe 6 per cent, are permanently 
 cured. You could be one of the six and I d cheer 
 fully pay for it and give you a good job when you 
 come out." 
 
 Don Juan Cafetero shook his red head hopelessly. 
 He knew the strength of the Demon and had long 
 since ceased to fight even a rear-guard action. 
 Webster put a hand under the stubbly chin and tilted 
 Don Juan s head sharply. "Hold up your head," he 
 commanded. "You re the first of your breed I ever 
 saw who would admit he was whipped. Here s 
 five dollars for you five dollars gold. Take it 
 and return with the piece intact to-morrow morning, 
 Don Juan Cafet6ro." 
 
 Don Juan Cafet6ro s wondering glance met Web 
 ster s directly, wavered, soeght the ground, but at a 
 jerk on his chin came back and stayed. Thus for 
 at least ten seconds they gazed at each other; then 
 Webster spoke. "Thank you," he said. 
 
 "Me name is John J. Cafferty," the lost one quav 
 ered. 
 
 "Round one for Cafferty," Webster laughed. 
 "Good-bye now, until nine to-morrow. I ll expect 
 you here, John, without fail." And he took the 
 derelict s hand and wrung it heartily. 
 
 I HA .qoorf nwo gitf HOT 
 
196 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 "Do you attach any importance to Don Juan s 
 story?" she asked anxiously. 
 
 "Yes, but not so much as Don Juan does. How 
 ever, to be forewarned is to be forearmed." He 
 sighed. "I am the innocent bystander," he ex 
 plained, "and I greatly fear I have managed to snarl 
 myself up in a Sobrantean political intrigue, when I 
 haven t the slightest interest either way. However, 
 that s only one more reason why I should finish my 
 work here and get back to Denver." 
 
 "But how did all this happen, Mr. Webster?" 
 
 "Like shooting fish in a dry lake, Miss Ruey," 
 Webster replied, and related to her in detail the story 
 of his adventure with the Sobrantean assassins in 
 Jackson Square and his subsequent meeting with 
 Andrew Bowers aboard La Estrellita. 
 
 Dolores laughed long and heartily as Webster 
 finished his humorous recital. "Oh, you re such a 
 very funny man," she declared. "Billy told me 
 God only made one Jack Webster and then destroyed 
 the mold ; I believe Billy is right. But do tell me what 
 became of this extraordinary and unbidden guest." 
 
 "The night the steamer arrived in port, Billy and 
 Don Juan came out in a launch to say Hello/ so I 
 seized upon the opportunity to tell Andrew to jump 
 overboard and swim to the launch. Gave him a 
 little note to Billy carried it in his mouth in 
 structing Billy to do the right thing by him and 
 Billy did it. I don t know what Andrew is up to and 
 I don t care. Where I was raised we let every man 
 roll his own hoop. All I hope u that they don t 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 197 
 
 shoot Andrew. If they do, I fear I ll weep. He s 
 certainly a skookum lad. Do you know, Miss 
 Ruey, I love anybody that can impose on me make 
 a monkey out of me, in fact and make me like it?" 
 
 "That s so comforting," she remarked dryly. 
 
 Webster looked at her sharply, suspiciously; her 
 words were susceptible of a dual interpretation. 
 Her next sentence, however, dissipated this impres 
 sion. "Because it confirms what I told you this 
 afternoon when I read your palm," she added. 
 
 "You didn t know how truly you spoke when you 
 referred to the dark man that had crossed my path. 
 He s uncomfortably real drat him!" 
 
 "Then you are really concerned?" 
 
 "Not at all, but I purpose sleeping with one eye 
 open. I shan t permit myself to feel concerned 
 .until they send more than two men after me say 
 eight or ten. A husky American ought to be willing 
 to give these spiggoties a pull in the weights." 
 
 His indifference appalled her; she leaned forward 
 impulsively and laid a hand on his forearm. "But 
 you must heed Don Juan s warning," she declared 
 seriously. " You must not go out alone at night." 
 
 He grinned boyishly. "Of course not, Miss Ruey. 
 You re going to ride out with me this evening." 
 
 "I m not. Don Juan s report has spoiled all 
 that. I ll not subject you to risk." 
 
 "Very well; then I shall drive out alone." 
 
 "You re a despot, Mr. Webster a regular despot." 
 
 "Likewise a free agent." 
 
 "I ll go with you." 
 
198 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 "I thought so." 
 
 "You re you re- 
 
 He rose while she was searching for the right word. 
 "Will you excuse me until after dinner, Miss Ruey? 
 I d love to stay and chat with you, even though it 
 does appear that presently we shall be calling each 
 other names, but the fact of the matter is well, I am 
 in a very serious predicament, and I might as well 
 start right now to prepare to meet any emergency. 
 For what hour shall I order the carriage?" 
 
 "Seven-thirty. After all, they ll not dare to mur 
 der you on the Malecon." 
 
 "I agree with you. It will have to be done very 
 quietly, if at all. You ve been mighty nice to me this 
 afternoon, seeress; I shall be grateful right up to the 
 moment of dissolution." 
 
 "Speak softly but carry a big stick," she warned 
 him. 
 
 "A big gun," he corrected here, " two of them, in 
 fact." 
 
 " Sensible man ! I m not going to worry about you, 
 Mr. Webster." She nodded her permission for him 
 to retire, and as he walked down the veranda and 
 into the hotel, her glance followed him with pardon 
 able feminine curiosity, marking the breadth of his 
 shoulders, the quick, springy stride, the alert, erect 
 poise of his head on the powerful neck. 
 
 "A doer of deeds are you, John Stuart Webster," 
 she almost whispered. "As Kipling would say: 
 * Wallah ! But you are a man ! " ^ 
 
 \A. stealthy footstep sounded below the verq ,^a: 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 199 
 
 she turned and beheld Don Juan Cafetero, his hat in 
 his left hand, in his right a gold-piece which he held 
 toward her. 
 
 "Take it, allanah," he wheezed in his hoarse, 
 drunkard s whisper. "Keep it f r me till to-morrow, 
 for sorra wan av me can I trust to do that same an 
 be the same token I can t face that big man wit out 
 it." 
 
 "Why not, Don Juan?" 
 
 He hung his red head. "I dunno, Miss," he 
 replied miserably. "Maybe tis on account av him 
 the eye av him the way av him divil such a man 
 did I ever meet God bless him! Shure, Misther 
 Geary do be the fine lad, but he he " 
 
 "Mr. Geary never put a big forefinger under your 
 chin and bade you hold up your head. Is that it?" 
 
 " Tis not what he did, Miss, but the way he did it. 
 All the fiends av hell ll be at me this night to shpend 
 what he give me and I I m afraid " 
 
 He broke off, mumbling and chattering like a man 
 in the grip of a great terror. In his agony of body 
 and spirit, Dolores could have wept for Don Juan 
 Cafetero, for in that supreme moment the derelict s 
 soul was bare, revealing something pure and sweet 
 and human, for all his degradation. How did Jack 
 Webster know? wondered Dolores. And why did he 
 so confidently give an order to this human flotsam 
 and expect it to be obeyed? And why did Don Juan 
 Cafetero come whining to her for strength to help 
 obey it? Through the murk of her girlish un- 
 .stication and scant knowledge of human nature 
 
200 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 these and other questions obtruded themselves, the 
 while she gazed down at Don Juan s dirty, quivering 
 hand that held the coin toward her. And presently 
 the answer came a quotation long since learned and 
 forgotten : 
 
 Be noble and the nobleness that lies in other men, 
 
 Sleeping but never dead, 
 
 Will rise in majesty to meet thine own. 
 
 "I will not spoil his handiwork," she told herself, 
 and she stepped down off the veranda to a position 
 directly in front of Don Juan. "That wouldn t be 
 playing the game," she told him. "I can t help you 
 deceive him. You are the first of your breed 
 
 "Don t say it," he cried. "Didn t he tell me 
 wanst?" 
 
 "Then make the fight, Don Mr. Cafferty." She 
 lowered her voice. "I am depending on you to stay 
 sober and guard him. He needs a faithful friend so 
 badly, now that Mr. Geary is away." She patted 
 the grimy hand and left him staring at the ground. 
 Presently he sighed, quivered horribly, and shambled 
 out of the patio on to the firing-line. And when he 
 reported to Jack Webster at nine o clock next morn 
 ing, he was sober, shaking horribly and on the verge 
 of delirium tremens, but tightly clasped in his right 
 hand he held that five-dollar piece. Dolores, who 
 had made it her business to be present at the inter 
 view, heard John Stuart Webster say heartily: 
 
 "The finest thing about a terrible fight, friend 
 Cafferty, is that if it is a worth-while battle, the 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 201 
 
 spoils of victory are exceedingly sweet. You are 
 how about to enjoy one fourth of the said spoils 
 a large jolt of aguardiente / You must have it to 
 steady your nerves. Go to the nearest cantina and 
 buy one drink; then come back with the change. 
 By that time I shall have breakfasted and you and I 
 will then go shopping. At noon you shall have an 
 other drink; at four o clock another; and just before 
 retiring you shall have the fourth and last for this 
 day. Remember, Caff erty : one jolt no more and 
 then back here with the exact change." 
 
 As Don Juan scurried for salvation, Webster 
 turned to Dolores. "He ll fail me now, but that 
 will not be his fault but mine. I ve set him too great 
 a task in his present weakened condition. In the 
 process of exchanging American gold for the local 
 shin-plasters, he ll skin me to death and emerge from 
 the transaction with a full quart bottle in excess of 
 his drink. Nevertheless, to use a colloquial expres 
 sion, I have the Caff erty goat and I m going to 
 keep it." 
 
 Webster went immediately to his room, called for 
 pen and paper, and proceeded at once to do that 
 which he had never done before to wit, prepare 
 his last will and testament. For the first time in 
 his career death threatened while he had money in 
 his possession, and while he had before him for per 
 formance a task requiring the expenditure of money, 
 his manifest duty, therefore, was to guarantee the 
 performance of that task, win, lose, or draw in the 
 game of life; so in a few brief paragraphs John Stuart 
 
202 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 Webster made a holographic will and split his bank 
 roll equally between the two human beings he cared 
 for most Billy Geary and Dolores Ruey. "Bill s a 
 gambler like me," he ruminated; "so I ll play safe. 
 The girl is a conservative, and after Bill s wad is 
 gone, he d be boiled in oil before he d prejudice hers." 
 
 Having made his will, Webster made a copy of it. 
 The original he placed in an envelope, sealed, and 
 marked: "Last Will and Testament of John S. 
 Webster, of Denver, Colorado, U. S. A. To be 
 delivered to William H. Geary upon the death of the 
 testator." The copy he also placed in an envelope 
 marked: "From Jack. Not to be opened until 
 after -my death." This envelope he then enclosed 
 in a larger one and mailed to Billy at Calle de Con- 
 cordia No. 19. 
 
 Having made his few simple preparations for 
 death, Mr. Webster next burrowed in his trunk, 
 brought forth his big army-type automatic pistol 
 and secured it in a holster under his arm, for he 
 deemed it unwise and provocative of curiosity to 
 appear in immaculate ducks that bulged at the right 
 hip. Next he filled two spare clips with cartridges 
 and slipped them into his pocket, thus completing 
 his few simple preparations for life. 
 
 He glanced out the window at the sun. There 
 would still be an hour of daylight; so he descended 
 to the lobby, called a carriage and drove to the resi 
 dence of the American consulate. 
 
 Lemuel Tolliver, formerly proprietor of a small 
 retail wood and coal yard in Hastings, Nebraska, was 
 
WEBSTERMAN S MAN 203 
 
 the consul. He talked through his nose, employed 
 double negatives, chewed tobacco, wore celluloid 
 cuffs and collar, and received Mr. Webster in his 
 shirt sleeves. He was the type of small-town peanut 
 politician who never forgets for an instant that to be 
 an American is greater than to be a king, and who 
 strives assiduously to exhibit his horrible idea of 
 American democracy to all and sundry, to his own 
 profound satisfaction and the shame of his visiting 
 countrymen. 
 
 He glanced at the card which Webster had sent 
 in by his clerk. "Well, sir!" he began briskly. 
 "Delighted to know you, Mr. Webster. Ain t there 
 nothin I can do for you?" 
 
 "Thank you. There is. This is my will. Please 
 put it in your safe until I or my executor shall call for 
 it." 
 
 " What ! " boomed the Honourable Tolliver . " You 
 ain t thinkin o dyin , are yuh?" he laughed. 
 
 "Listen," Webster urged him, and Mr. Tolliver 
 helped himself to a fresh bite of chewing-tobacco and 
 inclined his head. Briefly, but without omitting a 
 single important detail, Webster told the consul of 
 his adventure in New Orleans with the secret service 
 representative of the Republic of Sobrante. "And 
 not an hour since," he concluded, "I was informed, 
 through a source I consider reliable, that I am in 
 momentary danger of assassination at the hands of 
 two men whose names I know." 
 
 "Well, don t tell me nothin about it," Mr.Tolliver 
 interrupted. "I m here on Government affairs, not 
 
204 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 to straighten out private quarrels. If you re figurin 
 on gittin killed, my advice to you is to git out o the 
 country P. D. Q." 
 
 "You overlook the fact that I didn t come here for 
 advice, my dear Mr. Consul," Webster reminded him 
 with some asperity. "I m not at all afraid of getting 
 killed. What is worrying me is the certainty that 
 I ll get there first with the most guns, and if I should, 
 in self-defense, be forced to eliminate two Sobrantean 
 army officers, I want to know what you re going to do 
 to protect me. I want to make an affidavit that my 
 life is in danger; I want my witness to make a similar 
 affidavit, and I want to file those affidavits with you, 
 to be adduced as evidence to support my plea of self- 
 defense. In other words, I want to have these affi 
 davits, with the power of the United States back of 
 them, to spring in case the Sobrantean government 
 tries to railroad me for murder and I want you to 
 spring them for me." 
 
 "I won t do nothin o the kind," Mr. Tolliver 
 declared bluntly. "You got plenty o chance to get 
 out o this country an save international complica 
 tions. La Estrellita pulls out to-morrow mornin , 
 an you pull with her, or stay an take your own 
 chances. I ain t prejudicin my job by makin 
 myself nux vomica to the Sobrantean government 
 an that s just what will happen if I mix up in this 
 private quarrel." 
 
 "But, my dear Mr. Consul, I am going into busi 
 ness here the mining business. I have every right 
 in this country, and it is your duty to protect my 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 205 
 
 rights while here. I can t side-step a fight just to 
 hold you in your job." 
 
 "It s a matter outside my jurisdiction," Mr. Tol- 
 liver declared with such a note of finality in his voice 
 that Webster saw the uselessness of further argument. 
 
 "All right," he replied, holding his temper as best 
 he could. "I m glad to know you think so much of 
 your job. I may live long enough to find an oppor 
 tunity to kick you out of it and run this consulate 
 myself. I ll send my affidavits direct to the State 
 department at Washington; you take orders from 
 Washington, I dare say." 
 
 "When I get them. Good day." 
 
 John Stuart Webster left the American consulate 
 in a frenzy of inarticulate rage in the knowledge that 
 he was an American and represented in Sobrante by 
 such an invertebrate as the Honourable Lemuel Tol- 
 liver. At the Hotel Mateo he dismissed the carriage, 
 climbed the three short steps to the entrance and was 
 passing through the revolving portal, when .from his 
 rear some one gave the door a violent shove, with the 
 result that the turnstile partition behind him col 
 lided with his back with sufficient force to throw him 
 against the partition in front. Instantly the door 
 ceased to pivot, with Webster locked neatly in the 
 triangular space between the two sections of the re 
 volving door and the jamb. 
 
 He turned and beheld in the section behind him an 
 officer of the Sobrantean army. This individual, 
 observing he was under Webster s scrutiny, scowled 
 and peremptorily motioned to Webster to proceed 
 
206 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 
 
 which the latter did, with such violence that the door, 
 
 continuing to revolve, caught up with the Sobrantean 
 
 and subjected him to the same indignity to which he 
 
 had subjected Webster. 
 
 Once free of the door, Webster waited just inside 
 the lobby for the Sobrantean to conclude his precipi 
 tate entrance. When he did, Webster looked him 
 over with mild curiosity and bowed with great con 
 descension. "Did any gentleman ever tell the senor 
 that he is an ill-mannered monkey? " he queried coolly 
 in excellent Spanish. "If not, I desire to give the 
 senor that information, and to tell him that his size 
 aflone prevents me from giving him a nice little 
 spanking." 
 
 "Pig!" the rude one answered hotly. His olive 
 features paled with anger, he trembled with emotion 
 and seemed undecided what to do seeing which 
 Webster grinned at him tantalizingly. That decided 
 him. No Latin- American, with the exaggerated ego 
 of his race, can bear even a suspicion of ridicule. 
 The officer walked fiercely toward Webster and 
 swung his arm toward the latter s face in an effort 
 to land a slap that was "meant." 
 
 Webster merely threw back his head and avoided 
 the blow; his long left arm shot out and beat down 
 the Sobrantean s guard; then Webster s right hand 
 closed around the officer s collar. "Come to me, 
 thou insolent little one," he crooned, and jerked his 
 assailant toward him, gathered him up in his arms, 
 carried him, kicking and screaming with futile rage, 
 out into the patio and soused him in the fountain. 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 "Now, then, spitfire, that will cool your hot head, 
 I trust," he admonished his unhappy victim, and 
 returned to the hotel. At the desk he paused. 
 
 "Who was that person I just bathed?" he in 
 quired of the excited clerk. 
 
 "Ah, senor, you shall not long be kept in ignor 
 ance," that functionary informed him. "That is 
 the terrible Captain Benavides 
 
 "Do you know, I had a notion it was he?" Web 
 ster replied ruminatively. "Well, I suppose I m 
 in for a duel now," he added to himself as he climbed 
 the stairs to his room. "I think that will be most 
 interesting." 
 
 John Stuart Webster changed into dry clothing 
 and descended to the dining room. Miss Ruey was 
 already seated at her table and motioned him to the 
 seat opposite her, and as he sat down with a contented 
 little sigh, she gazed at him with a newer and more 
 alert interest. 
 
 "I hear you ve been having adventures again," 
 she challenged. "The news is all over the hotel. 
 I heard it from the head waiter." 
 
 "Coffee and pistols for two at daylight," he an 
 swered cheerily. "Whenever I see trouble coming 
 and realize that I cannot possibly avoid it, I generally 
 take the bull by the horns, so to speak, and go forth 
 to meet it. I have discovered from experience that 
 the surprise of the attack generally disorganizes the 
 other fellow, for few people care to fight an eager 
 enemy. I see you have sampled the soup. Is it 
 good?" 
 
206 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 "Excellent. I marvel that your appetite is so 
 keen, considering the gloomy outlook." 
 
 "Oh, there won t be any trouble," he assured her. 
 "Duelling is silly, and I wouldn t engage in it on a bet. 
 By the way, I have made my will, just to be on the 
 safe side. Will you be good enough to take charge of 
 it until after the funeral? You can turn it over to 
 Billy then." 
 
 She fell readily into the bantering spirit with which 
 he treated this serious subject. Indeed, it was quite 
 impossible to do otherwise, for John Stuart Webster s 
 personality radiated such a feeling of security, of 
 absolute, unbounded confidence in the future and dis 
 dain for whatever of good fortune or ill the future 
 might entail, that Dolores, found it impossible not to 
 assimilate his mood. 
 
 At seven-thirty, after a delightful dinner, the 
 memory of which Mr. Webster was certain would 
 linger under his foretop long after every other 
 memory had departed, he escorted her to the open 
 carriage he had ordered, and for two hours they 
 circled the Malecon with the elite of Buenaventura, 
 listening to the music of the band, and during the 
 brief intermissions, to the sound of the waves lapping 
 the beach at the foot of the broad driveway. 
 
 "This," said John Stuart Webster, as he said good 
 night to Dolores in the lobby, "is the end of a perfect 
 day." 
 
 It wasn t, for at that precise moment a servant 
 handed him a card, and indicated a young man 
 seated in an adjacent lounging-chair, at the same time 
 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 209 
 
 volunteering the information that the visitor had been 
 awaiting Serior Webster s return for the past hour. 
 
 Webster glanced at the card and strode over to the 
 young man. "I am Mr. Webster, sir," he an 
 nounced civilly in Spanish. "And you are Lieuten 
 ant Arredondo?" 
 
 The visitor rose, bowed low and indicated he was 
 that gentleman. "I have called, Mr. Webster," 
 he stated in most excellent English, "in the interest 
 of my friend and comrade, Captain Benavides." 
 
 "Ah, yes! The fresh little rooster I ducked in the 
 fountain this evening. Well, what does the little 
 squirt want now? Another ducking?" 
 
 Arredondo flushed angrily but remembered the 
 dignity of his mission and controlled his temper. 
 "Captain Benavides has asked me to express to 
 you the hope that you, being doubtless a man of 
 honour 
 
 "Stop right there, Lieutenant. There is no doubt 
 about it. I am a man of honour, and unless you are 
 anxious to be ducked in the fountain, you will be more 
 careful in your choice of words. Now, then: You 
 are about to say that, being a man of honour 
 
 "You would accord my friend the satisfaction 
 which one gentleman never fails to accord another." 
 
 "That lets me out, amigo" Webster laughed. 
 "Benavides isn t a gentleman. He s a cutthroat, 
 a murdering little black- and-tan hound. Do I under 
 stand he wants me to fight a duel with him?" 
 
 Lieutenant Arredondo could not trust himself to 
 speak, and so he bowed profoundly. 
 
210 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 "Very well, then, Lieutenant," Webster agreed. 
 "I ll fight him." 
 
 "To-morrow morning at five o clock." 
 
 "Five minutes from now if you say so." 
 
 " Captain Benavides will be grateful for your will 
 ing spirit, at least," the second replied bitterly. 
 "You realize, of course, Mr. Webster, that as the 
 challenged party, the choice of weapons rests with 
 you." 
 
 "Certainly. I wouldn t have risked a duel if the 
 choice lay with the other fellow. With your permis 
 sion, my dear sir, we ll fight with Mauser rifles at a 
 thousand yards, for the reason that I never knew a 
 greaser that could hit the broad side of a brewery 
 at any range over two hundred and fifty yards. 
 Webster chuckled fiendishly. 
 
 Lieutenant Arredondo bit his lips in anger and 
 vexation. "I cannot agree to such an extraordinary 
 duel," he complained. " Have you no other choice? 
 
 "Well, since a fight at long range doesn t suit you, 
 suppose we have one at close range. I propose that 
 our seconds handcuff us together by our left wrists, 
 give each of us a knife and leave us alone in a room for 
 a couple of minutes." 
 
 "My friend, Captain Benavides, sir, is not a 
 butcher," Arredondo reminded Mr. Webster acidly. 
 "In such a fight as you describe, he would be at a 
 
 d tfMTj] ffl^rWf ii 
 
 g^lB t bfflffi tefe&w* a 
 
 brains out." . T [briuo *cnq bwod yd OK brm ./bsoqa 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 "It is the custom in Sobrante for gentlemen to 
 fight with rapiers." 
 
 "Oh, dry up, you sneaking murderer," Webster 
 exploded. "There isn t going to be any duel except 
 on my terms so you might as well take a straight tip 
 from headquarters and stick to plain assassination. 
 You and Benavides have been sent out by your su 
 perior to kill me you got your orders this very after 
 noon at the entrance to the government palace and 
 I m just not going to be killed. I don t like the way 
 you part your hair, and I despise a man who uses 
 cologne and wears his handkerchief up his sleeve; so 
 beat it, boy, while the going is good." He pointed 
 toward the hotel door. "Out, you blackguard!" 
 he roared . Vaya ! 
 
 Lieutenant Arredondo rose and with dignified 
 mien started for the door. Webster followed, and as 
 his visitor reached the portal, a tremendous kick, 
 well placed, lifted him down to the sidewalk. Shriek 
 ing curses, he fled into the night; and John Stuart 
 Webster, with a satisfied feeling that something 
 accomplished had earned a night s repose, retired to 
 his room and his mauve silk pyjamas, and slept the 
 sleep of a healthy, conscience-free man. It did occur 
 to him that the morrow would almost certainly bring 
 forth something unpleasant, but that prospect did 
 not worry him. John Stuart Webster had a religion 
 all his own, and one of the principal tenets of this 
 faith of his was an experience-born conviction that 
 to-morrow is always another day. 
 
 At about the same hour Neddy Jerome, playing 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 solitaire in the Engineers Club in Denver, was the 
 recipient of a cablegram which read : 
 
 If W. cables accepting reply rejecting account job filled 
 othervv r ise beans spilled. Implicit obedience spells victory. 
 
 HENRIETTA. 
 
 Neddy Jerome wiped his spectacles, adjusted them 
 on his nose and read this amazing message once more. 
 "Jumped-up Jehosophat!" he murmured. "If she 
 hasn t followed that madcap Webster clear to Buena 
 ventura! If she isn t out in earnest to earn her fee, 
 I m an orang-outang! By thunder, that s a smart 
 woman. Evidently she has Jack winging; he is will 
 ing to return and go to work for me, but for reasons 
 of her own she doesn t want him to win too easy a 
 victory. Well, I guess she knows her own game bet 
 ter than I do; so I should worry how she plays it. 
 Implicit obedience spells victory. Victory means 
 that crazy Webster takes the job I offered him. All 
 right! I ll be implicitly obedient." 
 
 Two hours later Neddy Jerome received another 
 cablegram. It was from John Stuart Webster and 
 read as follows : 
 
 Hold job ninety days at latest may be back before. If 
 satisfactory cable. 
 
 Again Mr. Jerome had recourse to the most power 
 ful expletive at his command. "Henrietta knew 
 he was going to cable and beat the old sour-dough 
 to it," he soliloquized. He was wrapped in pro- 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 213 
 
 found admiration of her cunning for as much as five 
 minutes; then he indicted this reply to his victim: 
 
 Time, tide and good jobs wait for no man. Sorry. 
 Job already filled by better man. 
 
 When John Stuart Webster received that cable 
 gram the following morning, he cursed bitterly not 
 because he had lost the best job that had ever been 
 offered him, but because he had lost through playing 
 a good hand poorly. He hated himself for his idiocy. 
 
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN 
 
 FOR fully an hour after retiring John Stuart 
 Webster slept the deep, untroubled sleep of a 
 healthy, un worried man; then one of the many 
 species of "jigger" which flourish just north and south 
 of the equator crawled into bed with him and promptly 
 proceeded to establish its commissary on the inner 
 flank of the Websterian thigh, where the skin is thin 
 and the blood close to the surface. As a consequence, 
 Mr. Webster awoke suddenly, obliterated the in 
 truder and got out of bed for the purpose of anointing 
 the injured spot with alcohol which being done, an 
 active search of the bed resulted in the discovery of 
 three more jiggers and the envelopment of John 
 Stuart Webster s soul in the fogs of apprehension. 
 Wide awake, he sat on the edge of the bed, massaging 
 his toes and wondering what he should do about it. 
 From a contemplation of his own case his mind wan 
 dered to Dolores Ruey. He wondered if the jiggers 
 were picking on her, too poor girl! Strange that 
 Billy hadn t warned him against these infernal in 
 sects probably it was because Billy resided at El 
 Buen Amigo, where, for some mysterious reason, the 
 jigger was not. 
 
 "Tis an evil land, filled with trouble," he mused 
 as he lighted a cigarette. "I wish Bill were here to 
 
 214 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 215 
 
 advise me. He s been long enough in this country 
 to know the lay of the ground and all the government 
 officials. He ought to be able to straighten this deal 
 out and assure the higher-ups that I m not butting 
 in on their political affairs. But Bill s up-country 
 and here I am under surveillance and unable to leave 
 the hotel to talk it over with Andrew Bowers, the 
 only other white expert I know of in town. And by 
 the way, they re after Andrew, too ! I wonder what 
 for." 
 
 He smoked two more cigarettes, the while he pon 
 dered the various visible aspects of this dark mess in 
 which he found himself floundering. And finally 
 he arrived at a decision. He was well assured that 
 his every movement was being watched and reported 
 upon; doubtless the fact that he had gone to bed at 
 ten o clock had already been noted! "These chaps 
 aren t thorough, though," Webster decided. " They ll 
 see me safely to bed and pick me up again in the 
 morning so I ll take a chance that the coast is clear, 
 slip out now and talk it over with Andrew." 
 
 He looked at his watch eleven-thirty. [Hur 
 riedly he dressed, strapped on his automatic pistol, 
 dragged his bed noiselessly to the open window and 
 tied to the bed-leg the rope he used to lash his trunk; 
 then he lowered himself out the window. The length 
 of rope permitted him to descend within a few feet 
 of the ground, and he dropped with a light thud on to 
 the soft earth of the patio. The thrifty landlord had 
 already turned out all the electric lights, and the patio 
 was dark. 
 
216 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 Webster made his way to the street unnoticed, 
 circled the block, found a policeman seated sound 
 asleep on the curb of the narrow sidewalk, woke him 
 up and inquired for the Calle de Concordia; and ten 
 minutes later he appeared before the entrance of El 
 Buen Amigo just as Mother Jenks was barring it for 
 the night. 
 
 "I am Mr. Webster," he announced, " Mr. 
 Geary s friend from the United States." 
 
 Mother Jenks, having heard of him, was of course 
 profoundly flustered to meet this toff who so care 
 lessly wired his down-and-out friends pesos oro in 
 lots of a thousand. Cordially she invited him within 
 to stow a peg of her best, which invitation Mr. 
 W ebster promptly accepted. 
 
 "To your beautiful eyes," Webster toasted her. 
 "And now would you mind leading me to the quarters 
 of Billy s friend Mr. Bowers?" 
 
 Mother Jenks looked at him sharply. " Wot s up, 
 sir?" she asked. 
 
 "Blessed if I know, Mrs. Jenks. I ve come to 
 find out." 
 
 "Then you ve not come a second too soon, sir. 
 E s leavin at daylight. I d better hannounce you, 
 sir. E s particular wot company e receives." 
 
 She shuffled away, to return presently with the 
 news that Mr. Bowers was in his room and would be 
 delighted to receive Mr. Webster. Mother Jenks 
 led Webster to the door, knocked, announced him and 
 discreetly withdrew. 
 
 "My dear W r ebster!" cried Andrew Bowers en- 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 217 
 
 thusiastically, and he drew his late fellow-passenger 
 into the room. Webster observed that Andrew was 
 not alone. "I want to see you privately," he said. 
 "Didn t know you had company, or I wouldn t have 
 intruded." 
 
 "Well, I knew I had company, didn t I? Come in, 
 you crazy fellow, and meet some good friends of mine 
 who are very anxious to meet you," He turned to a 
 tall, handsome, scholarly looking man of about forty, 
 whose features, dress, and manner of wearing his 
 whiskers proclaimed him a personage. "Dr. Eliseo 
 Pacheco, I have the honour to present Mr. John S. 
 Webster, the American gentleman>of whom you have 
 heard me speak." 
 
 Doctor Pacheco promptly leaped to his feet and 
 bowed with ostentatious reverence; then suddenly, 
 with Latin impulsiveness, he advanced upon Web 
 ster, swept aside the latter s outstretched hand, 
 clasped John Stuart Webster in fraternal embrace, 
 and to the old sour-dough s inexpressible horror, 
 kissed him upon the right cheek after which he 
 backed off, bowed once more, and said in Spanish : 
 
 "Sir, my life is yours." 
 
 "It is well he gave it to you before you took it," 
 Andrew said in English, and he laughed, noting 
 Webster s confusion. "And this gentleman is Col 
 onel Pablo Caraveo." 
 
 "Thunder, I m in for it again," Webster thought 
 and he was, for the amiable colonel embraced 
 Webster and kissed his left cheek before turning to 
 Andrew. 
 
218 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 "You will convey to our guest, in English, Don 
 Ricardo, assurances of my profound happiness in 
 meeting him," he said in Spanish. 
 
 "The Colonel says you re all to the mustard," 
 Andrew at once interpreted merrily. 
 
 "Rather a liberal translation," Webster retorted in 
 Spanish, whereat Colonel Caraveo sprang up and 
 clapped his hands in delight. Evidently he had 
 looked forward with considerable interest to meeting 
 Webster and had had his contentment clouded by 
 the thought that Andrew s gringo friend could not 
 speak Spanish. 
 
 "Your happiness, my dear Colonel," Webster 
 continued, "is extravagant grief compared with my 
 delight in meeting a Sobrantean gentleman who has 
 no desire to skewer me." He turned to Andrew. 
 "While introductions are in order, old son, suppose 
 you complete the job and introduce yourself. I m 
 always suspicious of a man with an alias." 
 
 "Then behold the death of that impudent fellow 
 Andrew Bowers, late valet de chambre to this eminent 
 mining engineer and prince of gentlemen, Mr. John 
 Stuart Webster. Doctor Pacheco, will you be good 
 enough to perform the operation?" 
 
 "This gentleman," said the doctor, laying his hand 
 on Andrew s shoulder, "is Don Ricardo Luiz Ruey, 
 a gentleman, a patriot, and the future president of our 
 
 you think you could give me some little 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 219 
 
 approximate date on which you will assume office? 
 By the nine gods of war, I never wanted a friend at 
 court so badly as I want one to-night." 
 
 Doctor Pacheco, Colonel Caraveo, and Ricardo 
 Ruey exchanged glances and laughed heartily. "I 
 must introduce him to Captain Benavides and Lieu 
 tenant Arredondo," the Colonel said slyly. 
 
 "What!" Webster was amazed. "You know 
 about it already?" 
 
 "Better than that, friend Webster. We knew 
 about it before it happened. That is, we knew it 
 was going to happen," Ricardo informed him. 
 
 Webster sat down and helped himself from a box 
 of cigars he found on Ricardo s bureau. "I feel I 
 am among friends at last," he announced between 
 preliminary puffs; "so listen while I spin a strange 
 tale. I ve been the picture of bad luck ever since I 
 started for this infernal this wonderful country of 
 yours. After leaving Denver for New Orleans, I 
 came within a whisker of dying of ptomaine poison 
 ing. Then in New Orleans I took a Sunday-morning 
 stroll in Jackson Square and came across two men 
 trying to knife another. In the interest of com 
 mon decency I interfered and won a sweeping 
 victory, but to my amazement the prospective 
 , corpse took to his heels and advised me to do the 
 same " 
 
 Ricardo Ruey sprang for John Stuart Webster. 
 "By George," he said in English, "I m going to hug 
 you, too. I really ought to kiss you, because I m 
 that man you saved from assassination, but too 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 long in the U. S. A., I suppose; I ve lost the customs 
 of rny country." 
 
 "Get out," yelled Webster, fending him off. "Did 
 you lose anything in that fracas?" 
 
 "Yes, a Malacca stick." 
 
 "I have it." 
 
 "Holy Moses! Jack I m going to call you Jack 
 why didn t you say something about this while we 
 were on the steamer together?" 
 
 "Why, we played crib and dominoes most of the 
 way down, when I wasn t seasick, and we talked 
 about other things. By the way, Ricardo I m 
 going to call you Rick for short do you happen to 
 have any relatives in this country?" 
 
 "Yes, a number of second and third cousins. One 
 lot bears the same family name." 
 
 "No relatives in the United States?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 "Coming down on the steamer, I didn t like to 
 appear curious, but all the time I wanted to ask you 
 one question." 
 
 "Ask it now." 
 
 "Are you a Sobrantean?" 
 
 "I was born in this country and raised here until I 
 was fourteen." 
 
 "But you re why, hang it, you re not a Latin?" 
 
 "No, I m a mixture, with Latin predominating. 
 My forbears were pure Castilians from Madrid, and 
 crossed the Western Ocean in caravels. It s been a 
 matter of pride with the house of Ruey to keep the 
 breed pure, but despite all precautions, the family 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 tree has been grafted once with a Scotch thistle, 
 twice with the lily of France, and once with the 
 shamrock of Ireland. My mother was an Irish 
 
 woman." 
 
 "You alibi yourself perfectly, Ricardo, and my 
 curiosity is appeased. Permit me to continue my 
 tale," he added in Spanish; and forthwith he related 
 with humorous detail his adventure at the gang 
 plank of the steamer that had borne him and Ricardo 
 Ruey south. Ricardo interrupted him. "We know 
 all about that, friend Webster, and we knew the two 
 delightful gentlemen had been told off to get you 
 unofficially." 
 
 "How did you find out?" 
 
 "A leak in the Intelligence Bureau, of which /our 
 friend Colonel Caraveo is an assistant chief." 
 
 "Explain," Webster demanded peremptorily. 
 "Why all this intrigue extending to two countries 
 and private individuals?" 
 
 "Certainly. The Sobrantean revolutionary junta 
 has headquarters in New Orleans. It is composed of 
 political exiles, for Sarros, the present dictator of 
 Sobrante, rules with an iron hand, and has a cute 
 little habit of railroading his enemies to the cemetery 
 via the treason charge and the firing-squad. Quite 
 a quaint fellow, Sarros! Robs the proletariat and 
 spends it on the army with a lavish hand, and so in 
 sheer gratitude they keep him in office. Besides, it s 
 a sign of bad luck to oppose him at the regular elec 
 tions. Well, he he killed my father, who was the 
 best president this benighted country ever had, and I 
 
28 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 consider it my Christian duty to avenge my father 
 and a patriotic duty to take up the task he left 
 unfinished the task of making over my country. 
 
 "In Sobrante, as in most of the countries in Central 
 America, there are two distinct classes of people 
 he aristocrats and peons and the aristocrat fattens 
 on the peon, as he has had a habit of doing since 
 Adam. We haven t any middle class to stand as a 
 buffer between the two which makes it a sad propo 
 sition. My father was an idealist and a dreamer 
 and he dreamed of reform in government and a 
 solution of the agrarian problem which confronts all 
 Latin-America. Moreover, he trusted the common 
 people and one should not trust this generation of 
 peons. We must have fifty years of education free 
 and compulsory first. 
 
 "My father headed a revolution that was brief 
 and practically bloodless, and the better to do the 
 task he had set himself, he created a dictatorship 
 with himself as dictator this because he was shy 
 on good cabinet and legislative material, the kind he 
 could trust to play fair with the people." 
 
 Ricardo paused. "You are interested in all this, 
 my friend?" he asked. 
 
 "It has an old, familiar sound, but crack along." 
 
 "My father, being human, erred. He trusted one 
 Pablo Sarros, an educated peon, who had commanded 
 the government forces under the regime my father 
 overthrew. My tender-hearted parent discovered 
 that Sarros was plotting to overthrow him; but 
 instead of having him shot, he merely removed him 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 223 
 
 from command. Sarros gathered a handful of 
 bandits, joined with the old government forces my 
 father had conquered, hired a couple dozen Yankee 
 artillerymen and he won out. My father was 
 captured and executed; the palace was burned, and 
 my sister perished in the flames. I m here to pay 
 off the score." 
 
 "A worthy ambition! So you organized the 
 revolutionary junta in New Orleans, eh?" 
 
 Ricardo nodded. " Word of it reached Sarros, and 
 he sent his brother Ilaoul, chief of the Intelligence 
 Bureau, to investigate and report. As fast as he re 
 ported, Colonel Caraveo reported to me. Sarros 
 and his gang are just a little bit afraid of me, because 
 he s about as popular with the people as a typhus 
 epidemic, and strange to say, this curiously mercurial 
 people have not forgotten the brief reign of his 
 predecessor. My father s son possesses a name to 
 conjure with. Consequently it was to the interest 
 of the Sarros administration that I be eliminated. 
 They watched every boat; hence my scheme for 
 eluding their vigilance which, thanks to you, worked 
 like a charm." 
 
 "But," Webster complained, "I m not sitting in 
 the game at all, and yet I m caught between the upper 
 and nether millstones." 
 
 "That is easy to explain. You interfered that 
 morning in Jackson Square; then Raoul Sarros met 
 you going aboard the steamer for Buenaventura and 
 you manhandled him ; and naturally, putting two and 
 two together, he has concluded that you are not only 
 
 
224 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 his personal enemy but also a friend and protector of 
 mine and consequently an enemy of the state." 
 
 "And as a consequence I m marked for slaughter? " 
 
 "The first plan considered," said Colonel Caraveo, 
 gravely, " was for Captain Benavides, who is an expert 
 swordsman and a marvellous pistol-shot, to pick a 
 quarrel with you." 
 
 "No hope, Colonel. I manhandled em both and 
 declined to fight on their terms. I suppose now I ll 
 just naturally be assassinated." 
 
 "It would be well, my friend," Doctor Pacheco 
 suggested, "to return to the United States until 
 after Ricardo and his friends have eliminated your 
 Nemesis." 
 
 "How soon will that happy event transpire?" 
 
 "In about sixty days we hope to be ready to strike, 
 Mr. Webster." 
 
 "We are recruiting our men secretly," Ricardo 
 explained. "Our base is back in the hills beyond 
 San Miguel de Padua. I m going up there to-mor 
 row." 
 
 "I was going up to San Miguel de Padua in a day 
 or two myself, Rick, but I ll be hanged if I know what 
 to do now. I m beginning to worry and that s a 
 new experience with me." 
 
 Colonel Caraveo cleared his throat. "I under 
 stand from Ricardo that you and another American 
 are interested in a mining concession, Mr. Web 
 ster." 
 
 Webster nodded. 
 
 " T ~ x1 --- * a private landholder, 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 or did your friend secure it from the Sarros govern 
 ment?" 
 
 "From the government. We pay ten per cent, 
 royalty, on a ninety-nine-year lease, and that s all I 
 know about it. I have never seen the property, 
 and my object in coming was to examine it and, if 
 satisfied, finance the project." 
 
 "If you will return to your hotel, my dear sir," 
 Colonel Caraveo suggested, "and remain there until 
 noon to-morrow, I feel confident I can guarantee you 
 immunity from attack thereafter. I have a plan to 
 influence my associates in the Intelligence Office." 
 
 "Bully for you, Colonel. Give me sixty days in 
 which to operate, and I ll have finished my job in 
 Sobrante and gotten out of it before that gang of 
 cutthroats wakes up to the fact that I m gone. I 
 thank you, sir." 
 
 "The least we can do, since you have saved 
 Ricardo s life and rendered our cause a great service, 
 is to save your life," Colonel Caraveo replied. 
 
 " This is more comfort than I had hoped for when 
 I came here, gentlemen. I am very grateful, I 
 assure you. Of course this little revolution you re 
 cooking up is no affair of mine, and I trust I need not 
 assure you that your confidence is quite safe with 
 me." 
 
 The Doctor and the Colonel immediately rose 
 and bowed like a pair of marionettes. Webster 
 turned to Ricardo. 
 
 "Have you had any experience in revolutions, my 
 son?" he asked. 
 
226 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 Ricardo nodded. "I realized I had to have ex 
 perience, and so I went to Mexico. I was with 
 Madero through the first revolution." 
 
 "How are you arming your men?" 
 
 "Mannlichers. I ve got five thousand of them. 
 Cost me twelve dollars each. I ve got twenty mil 
 lion rounds of cartridges, twenty-five machine- 
 guns, and a dozen three-inch field-guns. I have 
 also engaged two hundred American ex-soldiers to 
 handle the machine-guns and the battery. These 
 rascals cost me five dollars a day gold, but they re 
 worth it; they like fighting and will go anywhere to 
 get it and are faithful." 
 
 "You are secretly mobilizing in the mountains, 
 eh?" Webster rubbed his chin ruminatively. "Then 
 I take it you ll attack Buenaventura when you strike 
 the first blow?" 
 
 "Quite right. We must capture a seaport if we 
 are to re volute successfully." 
 
 "I m glad to know that. I ll make it my business 
 to be up in the mountains at the time. I m for peace, 
 every rattle out of the box. Gentlemen, you ve 
 cheered me wonderfully. I will now go home and 
 leave you to your evil machinations; and, the good 
 Lord and the jiggers willing, I shall yet glean a night s 
 sleep." 
 
 He shook hands all around and took his departure. 
 
 Mother Jenks was waiting for Webster at the foot 
 of the stairs. He paused on the threshold. 
 
 "Mrs. Jenks," he said, "Billy tells me you have 
 been very kind to him. I want to tell you how much 
 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 227 
 
 I appreciate it and that I stand willing to reciprocate 
 any time you are in need." 
 
 Mother Jenks fingered her beard and reflected. 
 " Ave you met Miss Dolores Ruey, sir? " she queried. 
 
 "Your ward? Yes." 
 
 " Ow does the lamb strike you, Mr. Webster?" 
 
 " I have never met many women; I have known few 
 intimately; but I should say that Miss Dolores Ruey 
 is the marvel of her sex. She is as beautiful as she is 
 good, as good as she is intelligent, and as intelligent 
 as she can be." 
 
 "She s a lydy, sir," Mother Jenks affirmed proudly. 
 "An I done it. You can see with arf a heye wot I 
 am, but for all that, I ve done my dooty Jby her. 
 From the day my sainted Enery e was a colonel o 
 hartillery under President Ruey, Dolores s father 
 hescaped from the burnin palace with er an told 
 me to raise er a lydy for the syke of her father, as was 
 the finest gentleman this rotten country ll ever see, 
 she s been my guidin star. She s self-supportin 
 now, but still I ain t done my whole dooty by her. 
 I want to see er married to a gentleman as ll main 
 tain er like a lydy." 
 
 "Well, Mrs. Jenks, I think you will live to see that 
 worthy ambition, attained. Mr. Geary is head over 
 heels in love with her." 
 
 "Aye. Willie s a nice lad I could wish no better; 
 but wot e s got e got from you, an where ll e be if 
 is mine doesn t p y big? Now, with you, sir, it s 
 different. You re a bit oldern Billy, an more settled 
 an serious; you ve made yer fortune, so Willie tells 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 me, an , not to go beatin about the bally bush, I s y, 
 wot s the matter with you an her steppin over the 
 broomstick together? You might go a bloomin* 
 sight farther an fare wuss." 
 
 "Too old, my dear schemer, too old!" John Stuart 
 replied smilingly. "And she s in love with Billy. 
 Don t worry. If he doesn t make a go of this mining 
 concession, I ll take care of his finances until he can 
 do so himself. I do not mind telling you, in strictest 
 confidence, that I have made my will and divided my 
 money equally between them." 
 
 "Gord bless you, for a sweet, kind gentleman," 
 Mother Jenks gulped, quite overcome with emotion. 
 
 Hastily Webster bade Mother Jenks good-night 
 and hurried away to escape a discussion on such a 
 delicate topic with Billy s blunt and single-minded 
 landlady. His mind was in a tumult. So it was 
 that he paid no attention to a vehicle that jogged by 
 him with the cochero sagging low in his seat, half 
 asleep over the reins, until a quick command from 
 the closed interior brought the vehicle to an abrupt 
 halt, half a block in advance of Webster. 
 
 Save for an arc-light at each end of the block, the 
 Calle de Concordia was dim; save for Webster, the 
 carriage and the two men who piled hurriedly out at 
 the rear of the conveyance, the Calle de Concordia 
 was devoid of life. Webster saw one of the men hur 
 riedly toss a coin to the cochero; with a fervent " Gra- 
 cias, mi capitan," the driver clucked to his horse, 
 turned the corner into the Calle Elizondo and disap 
 peared, leaving his late passengers facing Webster 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 229 
 
 and calmly awaiting his approach. He was within 
 twenty feet of them when the taller of the two men 
 spoke. 
 
 " Good evening, my American friend. This meet 
 ing is a pleasure we scarcely hoped to have so soon. 
 For the same we are indebted to Lieutenant Arre- 
 dondo, who happened to look back as we passed you, 
 and recognized you under the arc-light." 
 
 Webster halted abruptly; the two Sobrantean 
 officers stood smiling and evidently enjoying his dis 
 comfort. Each carried a service revolver in a closed 
 holster fastened to his sword-belt, but neither had as 
 yet made a move to draw seeing which, Webster 
 felt sufficiently reassured to accept the unwelcome 
 situation with a grace equal to that of his en 
 emies. 
 
 "What? You two bad little boys up this late! 
 I m surprised," he replied in Spanish. He folded 
 his arms, struck an attitude and surveyed them as 
 might an indignant father. "You kids have been 
 up to some mischief," he added, as his right hand 
 closed over the butt of his automatic, where it lay 
 snuggled in the open bolster under his left arm be 
 tween his shirt and coat. " Can it be possible you are 
 going to take advantage of superior numbers and the 
 fact that you are both armed, to force me into a duel 
 on your terms, my dear Captain Benavides?" 
 
 By a deferential bow, the unwholesome Benavides 
 indicated that such were his intentions. "Then," 
 said Webster, "as the challenged party I have the 
 choice of weapons. I choose pistols." 
 
30 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 "At what range? " the Lieutenant asked with mock 
 interest. 
 
 "As we stand at present. I m armed. Pull your 
 hardware, you pretty pair of polecats, and see if you 
 can beat me to the draw." 
 
 Captain Benavides s jaw dropped slightly; with 
 a quiet, deliberate motion his hand stole to his holster- 
 flap. Lieutenant Arredondo wet his lips and glanced 
 so apprehensively at his companion that Webster 
 was aware that here was a situation not to his liking. 
 
 "You should use an open holster," Webster 
 taunted. " Come, come unbutton that holster-flap 
 and get busy." 
 
 Benavides s hand came away from the holster. He 
 was not the least bit frightened, but his sense of 
 proportion in matters of this kind was undergoing a 
 shake-up. 
 
 "In disposing of any enemy in a gun fight, so a 
 professional killer once informed me," Webster con 
 tinued, "it is a good plan to put your first bullet 
 anywhere in the abdomen; the shock of a bullet 
 there paralyzes your opponent for a few seconds and 
 prevents him from returning the compliment, and 
 in the interim you blow his brains out while he lies 
 looking at you. I have never had any practical 
 experience in matters of this kind, but I don t mind 
 telling you that if I must practise on somebody, the 
 good Lord could not have provided two more de 
 lightful subjects." 
 
 He ceased speaking, and for nearly half a minute 
 the three men appraised each other. Benavides was 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 231 
 
 smiling slightly; Arredondo was fidgeting; Webster s 
 glance never faltered from the Captain s nervous 
 hand. 
 
 "You would be very foolish to draw," Webster 
 then assured Benavides. "If I am forced to kill you, 
 it will be with profound regret. Suppose you two 
 dear, sweet children run along home and think this 
 thing over. You may change your mind by to-mor 
 row morn " 
 
 The Captain s hand, with the speed of a juggler s, 
 had flown to his holster; but quick as he was, Web 
 ster was a split-second quicker. The sound of his 
 shot roared through the silent calle, and Benavides, 
 with his pistol half drawn, lifted a bloody, shattered 
 hand from the butt as Webster s automatic swept in 
 a swift arc and covered Arredondo, whose arms on the 
 instant went skyward. 
 
 "That wasn t a half -bad duel," Webster remarked 
 coldly. "Are you not obliged to me, Captain, for 
 not blowing your brains out for disregarding my 
 finer instincts and refraining from shooting you first 
 through the abdomen? Bless you, my boy, I ve 
 been stuck for years in places where the only sport 
 consisted in seeing who could take a revolver, shoot 
 at a tin can and roll it farthest in three seconds. Let 
 me see your hand." 
 
 Benavides sullenly held up that dripping member, 
 and Webster inspected it at a respectful distance. 
 "Steel-jacket bullet," he informed the wounded man. 
 "Small hole didn t do much damage. You ll be 
 just as well as ever in a month." 
 
232 WEBSTERMAN S MAN 
 
 He helped himself to Arredondo s gun, flipped 
 out the cylinder, and slipped all six cartridges into his 
 palm. Similarly he disarmed Benavides, expressed 
 his regret that circumstances had rendered it impera 
 tive to use force, and strolled blithely down the calle. 
 In the darkened patio he groped along the wall until he 
 found the swinging rope by which he had descended 
 from his room whereupon he removed his shoes, 
 tied the laces together, slung them around his neck, 
 dug his toes into the adobe wall and climbed briskly 
 to his room. 
 
, CHAPTER NINETEEN 
 
 THE next morning Webster waited until 
 Dolores appeared and then accompanied her 
 into the dining room for breakfast. 
 
 "Well, how did you pass your first night in Buena 
 ventura?" she inquired, in the manufacture of break 
 fast conversation. 
 
 "Not very well. Jiggers bit me and woke me up, 
 and finally I fell into a trance and had a vision 
 about you. After that I couldn t get to sleep again. 
 I was fairly bursting to see you at breakfast and read 
 your palm. I ve just discovered a wonderful system." 
 
 "Show me," she flashed back at him, and she 
 extended her little hand. He picked it up gravely 
 and with the dull tine of a fork made a great show of 
 tracing the lines on her palm. 
 
 "You are about twenty-four years old, and your 
 ancestors were pure-bred Castilians who came from 
 Madrid, crossing the Atlantic in caravels. Ever 
 since the first Ruey landed on this coast the family 
 has been identified with the government of the coun 
 try in one way or another. Also, Scotch, French, and 
 Irish blood has been infused into the tribe; your 
 mother was an Irish woman. When you were quite 
 a little girl, your father, Don Ricardo Ruey, at that 
 time president of Sobrante, failed to suppress a 
 
234 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 revolution and was cornered in the government 
 palace, which was set afire. 
 
 "Through the bravery and devotion of a cockney 
 gentleman, Colonel Henry Jenks, an artillery officer 
 in your father s army, you were saved from perishing 
 in the burning palace. Colonel Jenks turned you 
 over to his spouse, now known as Mother Jenks, 
 with instructions to raise you a lydy, and Mother 
 Jenks has carried out those instructions. Colonel 
 Jenks and your father were executed, and Mother 
 Jenks sent you to the United States to be educated. 
 You had a brother, Ricardo Luis Ruey, older than 
 yourself by seven or eight years, I should judge. 
 In some mysterious manner you and your brother 
 lost track of each other, and at the present moment 
 he believes you perished in the flames that gutted the 
 government palace. 
 
 "You are of a proud, independent nature; you 
 work at something-.for a living, and inasmuch as you 
 haven t been able to set aside a great deal of money 
 from your earnings, you are planning to terminate 
 your visit to your native land at an early date and 
 return to the United States for the purpose of getting 
 back to work. These plans, however, will never be 
 consummated. 
 
 "Why? Because you are to be married to a nice 
 man and live happily ever afterward; and about sixty 
 days from now, if all goes well, I, John S. Webster, 
 am going to introduce you to your long-lost brother 
 Ricarda You will first see Ricardo riding at the 
 head of his victorious rebel troops as he enters Buena- 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 235 
 
 ventura. He will be the next president of this 
 wretched country, if, fortunately, he is not killed in 
 the revolution he is now fomenting against his father s 
 ancient enemy. Your brother does not know you are 
 living, and it will be a proud and happy day for me 
 when I bring him to you. In the interim, what do 
 you purpose having for breakfast? Ham and eggs 
 sunny side up, an omelette or a cereal?" 
 
 He released her hand and favoured her with the 
 boyish grin that always had the effect of stripping 
 the years from him as one strips the husk from a ripe 
 ear of corn. She was gazing at him in wide-eyed 
 amazement. 
 
 "Oh, don t doubt me," he pleaded. "It will all 
 come out just as I have told you. Of course, I don t 
 go in for telling fortunes very often; I m a slow old 
 horse to start, but once I sneak into the collar, some 
 thing has to give." 
 
 "Is my brother really alive?" 
 
 "He was as late as midnight last night. Do you 
 recall the chap I saved from being assassinated in 
 New Orleans?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "Your worthy brother. And do you recall the 
 chauffeur whose passage to this port I was forced to 
 pay?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "The same individual. I sent him ashore in the 
 launch with Billy, and he has been housed at El Buen 
 Amigo, but left early this morning for the back- 
 country to open a recruiting office." 
 
230 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 "And you have known this all along and wouldn t 
 tell me?" she reproved him. 
 
 "Didn t discover it until after I had left him last 
 night; then I put two and two together and made 
 four." 
 
 "Oh, I can hardly believe it." 
 
 "I never lie." 
 
 "Never?" 
 
 "I mean on serious matters. And you needn t 
 cry about it, Miss Ruey. I do not purpose being the 
 bearer of welcome news and having my breakfast 
 ruined for my reward." 
 
 She reached across the little table and squeezed 
 his big brown hand impulsively. "You re the most 
 wonderful man I ever knew. And does my poor 
 brother know I am living, Mr. Webster?" 
 
 "No and I m not going to tell him. I think it 
 will be much nicer to restore you to each other on the 
 steps of the government palace on the day when the 
 Ruey faction comes into its own again. That will 
 make his victory all the sweeter. I am the innocent 
 bystander who started this little drama, and by jingo, 
 I want to finish it. Why, it has been years and years 
 since I ve had any real sport." 
 
 "You re so kind!" 
 
 "Not at all. My discovery of "your brother was 
 as accidental as falling downstairs." And he 
 related to her his interview with Ricardo, whose 
 statements, when compared with the information 
 gleaned from Mother Jenks, had proved so illumin 
 ating. "By the way," he continued, "where was 
 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 237 
 
 Ricardo when your father s ship of state went on the 
 rocks?" 
 
 "At school in a military academy in Kentucky. 
 At least, so I was informed by my cousins here shortly 
 after my arrival, and prior to losing caste with them 
 because of my association, unchaperoned, with 
 Billy." 
 
 "It is a marvellous mix-up, which Ricardo can 
 doubtless explain, Miss Ruey. I know he believes 
 his sister perished with her father; Mother Jenks 
 didn t know where he was and couldn t communicate 
 with him and there you are. However, little old 
 Jack Fix-it will bring you together again in due 
 course. In the interim, how about those eggs? 
 Straight up or flip em?" 
 
 She beamed across at him. "We are going to be 
 such good, true friends, aren t we?" she urged. He 
 almost shivered, but managed a hypocritical nod. 
 "While we have only known each other twenty -four 
 hours, it seems a great deal longer than that prob 
 ably because Billy has told me so much about you, 
 and you re so comfortable and easy to get ac 
 quainted with, and I I can t very well express my 
 gratitude for what you ve done for what you re 
 going to do." Her voice faltered; she smiled ro 
 guishly through the tears of her emotion. "If I 
 were only Billy, now, I could put my arm across your 
 shoulders and settle the matter by saying: Johnny, 
 you old horsethief, you re all right. " 
 
 "The best thing to do would be to cease puffing 
 me up with importance. And now, before we climb 
 
238 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 out of the realm of romance and the improbable to 
 the more substantial plane of things for breakfast, 
 just one brief word of caution. Now that I have 
 told you your brother lives and is in Buenaventura, 
 forget it until I mention it again, because his presence 
 here is his secret, not ours." 
 
 "All right, Caliph," she agreed. "I think I shall 
 call you that hereafter. Like the late Caliph Haroun 
 Al Raschid, it appears you have a habit of prowling 
 around o nights in queer places, doing good deeds for 
 your subjects. But tell me about my brother. 
 Describe him to me." 
 
 "Not now. Here comes the head waiter with a 
 cablegram for me, I think." 
 
 That functionary came to their table and handed 
 one of the familiar yellow envelopes to each of them. 
 
 "We ll excuse each other," Dolores suggested. 
 She read: 
 
 Go you if I lose. You are a good, game little scout, and 
 I like you fine. 
 
 JEROME. 
 
 She glanced across at Webster, whose face was a 
 conflicting study of emotions in which disappoint 
 ment and amazement appeared to predominate. 
 "You ancient scoundrel," she heard him murmur. 
 
 "What ho, Caliph! Unpleasant news?" she ven 
 tured. 
 
 "Yes and no. I had one of the finest jobs in the 
 world all staked out and now the boss cables me it s 
 filled by a better man." 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 239 
 
 "What are you going to do about it?" 
 
 "Well as soon as I ve had my breakfast, I m 
 going to cable Neddy Jerome and tell him I m satis 
 fied satisfied to stay here and satisfied he s a liar. 
 You see, Miss Ruey, he objected vigorously to my 
 coming here in the first place wanted me to take a 
 thirty-day vacation and then manage the Colorado 
 Consolidated Mines Company, Limited, for him. 
 I like Neddy and would have been glad to go to work 
 for his company, but of course Billy comes first, and 
 so I declined the offer. Later I changed my mind, 
 and last night I cabled him I d accept if he d wait 
 sixty days possibly ninety; and now he replies that 
 he s sorry, but the job is filled by a better man. 
 That s why I know he s a liar." 
 
 "I see. You figure there isn t a better mining 
 engineer than you eh, Caliph? " 
 
 He looked at her reproachfully. "No, but Neddy 
 Jerome does, and I know he does because he has 
 taken the trouble to tell me so more than once. 
 And as a rule Neddy inclines toward the truth. 
 
 However, it s just as well " He paused, staring 
 
 hard at her. " By the way, you foretold this ! Why, 
 this is amazing." 
 
 She could now have wept with laughter. "Well" 
 soberly "I told you some other things equally 
 amazing, did I not?" 
 
 "Yes, you told me other things more or less inter 
 esting, but you/oretold this. How do you account 
 for that?" 
 
 "The witness declines to answer, on the ground 
 
240 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 that she may incriminate herself and be burned for a 
 witch. " 
 
 "Remarkable woman!" 
 
 "You were about to remark that it is just as 
 well " 
 
 "That Neddy s reconciled to losing me, because 
 since cabling him yesterday evening I ve changed 
 my mind again. I m going to stay here now." 
 
 "Indeed! Why?" 
 
 "Just to be obstinate. Apparently I m not wanted 
 here by the powers that be; so just to rile them I m 
 going to hang around Sobrante the way Grant hung 
 around Richmond and argue the question with them. 
 By the way, I see you received a cablegram also. 
 Better news than mine, I hope." 
 
 She nodded. "I have a little business deal on back 
 home. Haven t got a great deal invested, but it 
 looks as if I might make ten thousand dollars." 
 
 He arched his eyebrows and favoured her with a 
 little disapproving grunt. Sounded like the pros 
 pectus of a fake mining promoter yes, by thunder, 
 that was it. Dolores was a school teacher, and school 
 teachers and doctors are ever the mainstay of a 
 swindler s sucker list. 
 
 "You won ten dollars from me yesterday," he 
 challenged. "Bet you another ten I can tell you the 
 nature of your investment." 
 
 " Go you, if I lose! " Unconsciously she was learn 
 ing the argot of the male of the species, as exemplified 
 in Neddy Jerome s cablegram. 
 
 "It s a mining property." 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 241 
 
 "You win. It is," she answered truthfully, start 
 ing to open her purse. 
 
 "Quartz or placer?" 
 
 "I don t know. Explain." 
 
 He chuckled at her ignorance. "Quartz is gold- 
 bearing rock, and placer is gold-bearing gravel." 
 
 "Then my mining property is placer, because it 
 has lots of sand." 
 
 "I knew it, I knew it," he warned her solemnly, 
 and he shook an admonitory finger at her. "Black 
 sand, eh? Is the gold very fine?" 
 
 "I think it is." 
 
 "Then you re stung good and deep so don t 
 delude yourself into thinking you have ten thousand 
 dollars coming. I never knew a proposition for 
 saving the fine gold in black sand that didn t turn 
 out to be a fizzle. It s the hardest thing in the world 
 to save. Now, listen: You tell me the name of the 
 flim-flam artist that got you into this deal, and when 
 I get back to the United States I ll investigate the 
 company; if it s an out-and-out swindle, I ll take 
 that promoter by the throat and choke your money 
 out of him, the scoundrel! It is just these fly-by- 
 night fellows that ruin the finest gambling game in 
 the world and scare off investors in legitimate mining 
 propositions." 
 
 "Oh, you mustn t really, Caliph. He s an old 
 man, and I only did it to help him out." 
 
 "There should be no sentiment in business, Miss 
 Ruey." 
 
 "Oh, well, let s be cheerful and hopeful, Caliph, 
 
242 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 and discuss a more important subject." She was 
 very serious now, for by her meddling she had, she 
 realized, so arranged matters that at a time when 
 John Stuart Webster s very life depended upon his 
 immediate departure from Buenaventura, he was 
 planning to stay and face the music, just to be obsti 
 nate. "You must reconsider your latest decision 
 to remain in this country," she insisted. "Your 
 life may be the price of liberty of action, you 
 know." 
 
 " Give me liberty or give me death, " quoted 
 Webster. 
 
 "But isn t Billy capable of developing the mine 
 after you advance the cash?" 
 
 "I wouldn t advance him a cent for Irs mine until 
 I had investigated it myself." 
 
 "Then you should make some arrangements to 
 safeguard yourself while making the investigation, 
 and leave Sobrante immediately thereafter. Isn t 
 that a sensible proposition?" 
 
 "Very if I felt like leaving Sobrante. But I do 
 not. If that mining concession is a potential winner, 
 I ll have to stick around and make a winner out of it 
 before I go away and leave Bill in charge. Besides, 
 I m worried about Bill. He s full of malarial fever, 
 and last night I got thinking about him and decided 
 to send him back to the Colorado mountains for a 
 few months. This country is going to be in the 
 throes of a revolution ; the chances are we will not be 
 able to do much with our property until the war is 
 over, and I will be able to do that little. I want 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 243 
 
 some regular doctors to work on Bill so he ll be fit 
 when he gets back on the job." 
 
 As a matter of fact, this idea of sending Billy to 
 the United States had but that moment occurred to 
 Jack Webster; he reflected now that this plan was 
 little short of an inspiration. It would give Billy 
 and Dolores an opportunity to marry and have a 
 honeymoon; it would leave him free of her disturbing 
 presence, and enable him to leave Sobrante when the 
 Gearys should return. He resolved to speak to Billy 
 about it. 
 
 Dolores s voice broke in upon his cunning reflec 
 tions. "But Billy tells me you already have a for 
 tune sufficient for the needs of a caliph without a 
 court. Why risk your precious life to acquire more? 
 Money isn t everything in life." 
 
 "No, but the game is." 
 
 "What game? Mining?" 
 
 "The game of life." 
 
 "But this is the game of death." 
 
 "Which makes life all the sweeter if I can beat the 
 game. Perhaps I can better illustrate my point of 
 view with a story. Some years ago I was sent to 
 Arizona to examine a mining property and report 
 upon it; if I advised its purchase, my principals were 
 prepared to buy at my valuation. Well, when I 
 arrived, I found a miserable shanty close to a shaft 
 and dump, and in the shanty I found a weather- 
 beaten couple. The woman was probably forty but 
 looked fifty. The man had never been anything 
 but a hard-rock miner four dollars a day had been 
 
244 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 the limit of his earnings in any one day until he 
 stumbled on some float, traced it up, and located the 
 claims I was there to examine and try to buy. 
 
 "His wife had been a miner s daughter, knowing 
 nothing but drudgery and poverty and continuing 
 that existence after marriage. For twenty years she 
 had been darning her husband s socks, washing his 
 clothes, and cooking his meals. Even after they un 
 covered the ledge, it wasn t worth any more than 
 the country rock to them unless they could sell it, 
 because the man had neither the money nor the 
 ability to develop it himself. He even lacked the 
 ability to sell it, because it requires real ability to 
 unload any kind of a mine for a million dollars, and 
 real nerve on the part of the man who buys. I 
 examined the mine, decided it was cheap at a million 
 dollars, and so reported to my principals. They wired 
 me to close, and so I took a sixty-day option in order 
 to verify the title. 
 
 "Well, time passed, and one bright day I rode up 
 to that shanty with a deed and a certified check for a 
 million dollars in my pocket; whereupon I discovered 
 the woman had had a change of heart and bucked 
 over the traces. No, siree! She would not sign 
 thet there deed and inasmuch as the claim was 
 community property, her signature was vitally neces 
 sary. She asked me so many questions, however, as 
 to the size of the stamp mill we would install and how 
 many miners would be employed on the job, that 
 finally I saw the light and tried a shot in the dark. 
 "My dear Mrs. Skaggs," I said, "if you ll sign this 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 245 
 
 deed and save us all a lot of litigation over this option 
 you and your husband have given me, I ll do some 
 thing handsome. I will on my word of honour I ll 
 give you the exclusive boarding-house privilege at 
 this mine." 
 
 "And what did she say, Caliph?" 
 
 "She said: Give me the pen, Mr. Webster, and 
 please excuse my handwriting; I m that nervous in 
 business matters." 
 
 Dolores s silvery laughter rippled through the room. 
 "But I don t see the point," she protested. 
 
 "We will come to it presently. I was merely ex 
 plaining one person s point of view. You would not, 
 of course, expect me to have the same point of view as 
 Mrs. Skaggs, of Arizona." 
 
 "Certainly not." 
 
 "All right! Listen to this! In 1907, at the height 
 of the boom times in Goldfield, Nevada, I was worth 
 a million dollars. On the first day of October I could 
 have cashed in my mining stocks for a million and 
 I had a lot of cash in bank, too. But I d always 
 worked so hard and been poor so long that my wealth 
 didn t mean anything to me. I wanted the exclusive 
 privilege of more slavery, and so I staked a copper 
 prospect, which later I discovered to consist of un 
 counted acres of country rock and about twenty-five 
 dollars worth of copper stain. In order to save a 
 hundred dollars I did my own assessment work, drove 
 a pick into my foot, developed blood-poison, went to 
 the hospital, and was nice and helpless when the panic 
 came along the middle of the month. The bank went 
 
240 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 bust, and my ready cash went with it; I couldn t 
 give my mining stocks away. Everybody knew I 
 was a pauper everybody but the doctor. He per 
 sisted in regarding me as a millionaire and sent me a 
 bill for five thousand dollars." 
 
 "How perfectly outrageous! Why, Caliph, I 
 would have let him sue me." 
 
 "I would have, too but I didn t. I induced him 
 to settle for one hundred thousand shares of stock in 
 my copper prospect. The par value was a dollar a 
 share, and I was going to sell a block at ten cents, 
 but in view of his high professional standing I let 
 him have it for a nickel a share. I imagine he still 
 has it. I bought back later all the other stock I 
 sold, because the property was worthless, and in 
 order to be a sport I offered him five hundred dollars 
 for his block, but he thought I was trying to swindle 
 him and asked five thousand." 
 
 "Oh, Caliph!" 
 
 "Wonderful game, isn t it this game of life. 
 So sweet when a fellow s taking chances! Now that 
 I am fairly prosperous again, the only thing in life 
 that really matters is the uncertainty as to whether, 
 when finally I do leave Sobrante, I shall ride to the 
 steamship landing in a hack or a hearse." 
 
 "But you could go in a hack this morning and 
 avoid that uncertainty." 
 
 "The millionaire drudge I told you of could have 
 gone to live in a pretty villa on the Riviera, but she 
 chose a miner s boarding-house." 
 
 "Then why," she persisted, "did you leave the 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN S47 
 
 United States with the firm intention of remaining 
 in Sobrante indefinitely, change your mind before 
 you were here eight hours, and cable this Neddy 
 Jerome person you would return in sixty or ninety 
 days and the following morning decide to remain, 
 after all!" 
 
 "My dear young lady, if I changed my clothes as 
 often as I change my mind, the what-you-may-call- 
 9 em chaps that manufacture Society Brand clothes 
 couldn t keep me dressed." 
 
 "But why?" 
 
 "That," he answered gravely, "is a secret." 
 
 "Women delight to pry into men s secrets." 
 
 "I know it. Had a friend once married. Every 
 night after dinner he used to sit and stare into the 
 fire and his wife used to ask him what he was thinking 
 about. He would look up at her owlishly and tell 
 her it was something he couldn t explain to her, 
 because she d never understand it and that was all 
 he would tell her, although right frequently, I dare 
 say, he felt like telling her something she could under 
 stand ! She brooded over his secret until she couldn t 
 stand it any more, and one day she packed her duds 
 and flew home to mother. He let her stay there three 
 months, and finally one day he sent her a blueprint 
 of what he d been thinking about." 
 
 "What was it?" 
 
 "An internal-combustion engine. You see, until 
 she left him, he d never been able to get set to 
 figure out something in connection with the inlet 
 va l v 
 
248 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 "Stop right there, Caliph. I m rebuked. I ll let 
 you get set to think 
 
 "I didn t mean that. You let me get set yesterday 
 and I figured it all out then and last night and a 
 minute ago. I don t care to do any more thinking 
 to-day. Please talk to me." 
 
 "And you refuse to tell me why you cabled your 
 friend Jerome?" 
 
 "You will never know. I told you it s a se 
 cret." 
 
 "Bet you I find out." 
 
 "How much? That ten thousand dollars you 
 expect to make from the flour-gold in your black- 
 sand claim? And by the way, ten dollars, please. 
 I won it for guessing you were interested in a mining 
 proposition." 
 
 She returned to him the bill she had won from him 
 the day before. "Ten thousand dollars suits me. 
 Of course I haven t got the money just now, and this 
 is what Billy calls a finger-bet, but if I lose, I guaran 
 tee to pay. Are we betting even money? I think 
 that is scarcely fair. Under the circumstances I 
 should be entitled to odds." 
 
 "Nothing doing! No odds on a bet of this nature 
 to a seeress who has already jarred me from soul to 
 vermiform appendix by making good! You know 
 too blamed much already, and how you discovered 
 it is a problem that may drive me crazy yet." 
 
 After breakfast they repaired to the veranda to 
 await the result of Webster s experiment with Don 
 Juan Cafetero. Sure enough, the wreck had again 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 249 
 
 returned; he was seated on the edge of the veranda 
 waiting for them; as they approached, he held up a 
 grimy, quivering hand, in the palm of which lay 
 a five-dollar gold-piece. 
 
 "What?" Mr. Webster said, amazed. "Still un 
 changed!" 
 
 "I thried to change it at half a dozen cantinas," 
 Don Juan wheezed, "but divil a bit av systim did 
 any av thim have. Wan offered this in spiggoty 
 money an the other offered that, an sure if I d 
 taken the best that was offered me in exchange, ye 
 might have t ought I d tuk more nor wan dhrink." 
 
 "Bravo! Three long, loud, raucous cheers for 
 Don Juan Cafetero!" Dolores cried. "That s just 
 exactly what he expected you to do, Don Juan." 
 
 " Give a dog a bad name, an twill shtick to him," 
 the derelict replied resignedly. 
 
 "Was it a terrible task to come back without a 
 drink, Don Juan?" 
 
 He shivered. "A shky-blue kangaroo wit a pink 
 tail an green ears chased me into this patio, ma am." 
 
 "You re very brave, Cafferty. How does it feel 
 to win back your self-respect?" Webster asked him. 
 
 "Beggin the young leddy s pardon it feels like 
 hell, sor." 
 
 " Caliph, don t be cruel," Dolores pleaded. " Call 
 a waiter and give Don Juan what you promised 
 him." 
 
 So Webster went into the hotel bar and returned 
 presently with a bottle of brandy and a glass, which 
 he filled and held out toward Don Juan. "One of 
 
250 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 the paradoxes of existence, Don Juan," he observed, 
 "lies in the fact that so many of the things in life 
 that are good for us are bad for us. This jolt will 
 disperse the menagerie and quiet your nerves, but 
 nevertheless it is a nail in your coffin." 
 
 Don Juan proved himself a true Hibernian soldier 
 of misfortune by jesting under fire. "Whilst ye 
 have the hammer in yer hand, sor, dhrive in an 
 other," he pleaded. Webster declined, however, and 
 returned the bottle to the bar, where he had it marked 
 for Don Juan and set aside, for it was his opinion, 
 evolved from a vast experience with hard-drinking 
 miners, that the only cure for poor, diseased Don 
 Juan lay in a judicious application of hair from the 
 dog that had bitten him. 
 
 "And this is another reason why I must stay here 
 longer than I intended," he said softly to Dolores, 
 indicating Don Juan with his thumb. "He s just 
 about ready to be poured back into the bottle, and 
 I m going to see if I cannot restore him to his original 
 solid state. Experiments in chemistry always did 
 fascinate me." 
 
 He bade her adieu, and accompanied by his pro 
 tege, strolled uptown on a shopping tour. Here he 
 outfitted Don Juan neatly but not gaudily and added 
 to his own personal effects two high-power sporting 
 rifles, three large-calibre automatic pistols, and a 
 plentiful supply of ammunition after which he re 
 turned to the hotel, first having conducted Don Juan 
 to a barber shop and given him instructions to report 
 for orders and his midday drink the instant he should 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 have acquired the outward evidences of respecta 
 bility. 
 
 At the hotel Webster found two messages awaiting 
 him. One was from Billy Geary, up at San Miguel 
 de Padua, advising him that everything was in readi 
 ness for a trip to the mine; the other was a note from 
 Ricardo Ruey, but signed with his alias of Andrew 
 Bowers. Webster read: 
 MY DEAR FRIEND : 
 
 Permit me to congratulate you on your marksmanship 
 last night and to commend your forbearance in winging a 
 gent where killing was not only justified but to be en 
 couraged. You have, so I am authoritatively informed, 
 completely buffaloed your two gentlemen. They cannot, 
 in our own classical English, "quite make you." 
 
 However, this letter is not all gossip. A certain higher- 
 up has at length been convinced that it would be extremely 
 inadvisable to eliminate you now. It has been pointed 
 out to this person that you are a prom. cit. up in your 
 neck of the woods and dangerous to monkey with person 
 ally and because such monkeying may lead to unpleasant 
 complications with your paternal government. A far 
 more artistic and effective way of raising hell with you has 
 been suggested to this higher-up individual, and he has 
 accepted it. Indeed, the plan pleased him so much that 
 he laughed quite heartily. Really, it is quite diabolical, 
 but remember, he who laughs last laughs best and I m 
 the villain in this sketch. 
 
 Barring accidents, my dear Webster, you are good for at 
 least six weeks of existence. Beyond that I dare not 
 guarantee you. 
 
 Thine, 
 ANDREW BOWERS. 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 "That makes it nice," the recipient of this com 
 forting communication soliloquized. He went up 
 to his room, packed a duffle-bag with such belongings 
 as he would find necessary during a prolonged stay in 
 the mountains, and at luncheon was fortunate enough 
 to find Dolores in the dining room when he entered. 
 Again she motioned him to the vacant chair opposite 
 to her. 
 
 "I m going up to San Miguel de Padua this after 
 noon," he announced as he took his seat. A look of 
 extreme anxiety clouded her lovely face, and he 
 noticed it. "Oh, there s no risk," he hastened to 
 assure her. "That scamp of a brother of yours, 
 through his friends in high places, has managed to 
 get me a reprieve." He handed her Ricardo s letter. 
 
 She looked up, much relieved, from her perusal. 
 "And how long do you expect to be gone, Caliph?" 
 
 "Quite a while. I ll be busy around that dratted 
 concession for a couple of weeks, surveying and assay 
 ing and what-all; then, while waiting for our ma 
 chinery and supplies to arrive from the United States, 
 I shall devote my spare time to hunting and fishing 
 and reforming Don Juan Cafetero. The cool hills 
 for mine." 
 
 "What a selfish, unsociable programme!" she re 
 flected. "I wonder if it will occur to him to come 
 down here once in a while and take me for a drive on 
 the Malecon and talk to me to keep me from dying 
 of ennui before I meet Ricardo. I ll wait and see if 
 he suggests it." 
 
 However, for reasons best known to himself and 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 253 
 
 the reader, Mr. Webster made no such interesting 
 suggestion; so she decided that while he was tre 
 mendously nice, he was, nevertheless, a very queer 
 man and thoroughly exasperating. 
 
 Before leaving that day Webster turned over to 
 her a steamer-trunk filled with books, and with 
 something of the feeling of a burglar about to rob a 
 bank, asked her if she would care to ride down to 
 the station with him. " Sort of speeding the parting 
 guest, you know," he explained comfortably, for 
 somehow, at that moment, he felt a trifle untrue to 
 Billy Geary. Of course, Dolores, having nothing 
 more pleasurable or exciting to do, would and did. 
 At the station they found Don Juan waiting in charge 
 of the baggage. 
 
 Just before the train pulled out John Stuart W T eb- 
 ster took Dolores s hand. "Good-bye, Seeress," he 
 said very soberly. "The trail forks here for the first 
 time possibly the last, although I ll try to be on 
 hand to make good on my promise to present you to 
 your brother the day he occupies the palace. How 
 ever, if I shouldn t be in town that day, just go up and 
 introduce yourself to him. It s been wonderful to 
 have met you and known you, even for such a brief 
 period. I shall never forget you and the remark 
 able twenty-four hours just passed." 
 
 "I shall not soon forget them myself, Caliph nor 
 you," she added. "Haven t you been a busy little 
 cup of tea, Caliph! Within twenty-four hours after 
 landing, you have changed your mind three times, 
 lost the best job in the world, had your fortune told, 
 
254 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 been marked for slaughter, acquired a new-found 
 friend and commenced actively and with extraor 
 dinarily good results the work of reforming him, 
 soused a gentleman in the fountain, spurned another 
 with the tip of your boot, rode with me around the 
 Malecon and listened to the band concert, bundled 
 poor Billy off to San Miguel de Padua, received a 
 challenge to fight a duel, accepted it, had it rejected, 
 engaged in a street fight and shot a man through 
 the hand, discovered my brother presumed to be 
 dead, and received a reprieve from your enemies, 
 while they perfect new plans for destroying you. 
 Really, you are quite a caliph." 
 
 "Oh, there s a dash of speed in the old horse yet, 
 Miss Ruey," he assured her laughingly. "Now lis 
 ten: don t tell anybody about your brother, and don t 
 tell Billy about my adventures since he left for San 
 Miguel de Padua." 
 
 "But I m not liable to see Billy " 
 
 "Yes, you are extremely liable. I m going to 
 send him back to you as soon as I can spare him, be 
 cause I know you ll be lonesome and bored to death 
 in this lonesome town, and Bill is bully good com 
 pany. And I don t want you to tell him about the 
 mess I m in, because it would only worry him; he 
 can t aid me, and the knowledge that I was in any 
 danger, real or fancied, would be sufficient to cause 
 him to rebel against my plans for his honeym for 
 his vacation. He d insist on sticking around to 
 protect me." He looked d,own at her little hand 
 where it rested in his, so big and brown and hard; 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 255 
 
 with his free hand be patted her hand paternally. 
 "Good-bye, Seeress," he said again; and turning to 
 the steps, he leaped aboard just as the train started 
 to move out of the station. 
 
 "Go good-bye Caliph," she called mournfully. 
 Then to herself: " Bless his heart, he did remember I d 
 be terribly lonely, after all. He isn t a bit queer, but 
 oh, dear, he is so exasperating. I could bump his kind 
 old head against a wall ! She turned her back on the 
 train, fearful that from where he clung on the steps 
 he could, even at that distance, see the sudden rush 
 of tears that blinded her. However, Don Juan Cafe- 
 tero, with his rubicund nose to the window of the 
 last coach, did see them saw her grope toward the 
 carriage waiting to take her back to the hotel. 
 
 "Why, shure, the poor darlint s cryin ," he re 
 flected. "Be the Great Gun an Athlone! Shure I 
 t ought all along twas Billy Geary she had her eye 
 on God love him! An be the same token, didn t 
 she tell me I was to shtay sober an* take care av 
 Misther Webster? Hah-hah-a-a-a ! Well! I ll say 
 nothin an I ll be neuthral, but but but " 
 
 From which it may be inferred that romance was 
 not yet burned out of Don Juan s Gaelic soul. He 
 would be "neuthral," but but but he reserved 
 the right to butt in ! 
 
CHAPTER TWENTY 
 
 THROUGHOUT the slow, tortuous journey, 
 while the train crept up and ever upward into 
 the hills, Don Juan entertained his patron 
 with alternate snatches of the song closest to his 
 heart (or rather his stomach) "The Cruiskeen 
 Lawn," which, liberally translated for the benefit 
 of those not familiar with the Gaelic, means "the 
 morning s morning." Between verses the outcast 
 suggested the advisability of a drink to ward off ap 
 proaching faintness or discoursed most learnedly on 
 the roadbed, which was a tribute to his efficiency as 
 a section-boss in his other incarnation. 
 
 Arrived at San Miguel de Padua about midnight, 
 Webster found the climate temperate, in fact, de 
 cidedly cool. Billy was waiting for them and was 
 properly amazed, but not scandalized when Don 
 Juan Cafetero, abusing the station hands in a horrible 
 hodgepodge of English and Spanish, superintended 
 the landing of the baggage on the platform. 
 
 "I had to bring him with me," Webster explained. 
 "I m going to wean him, and after that baby quits 
 crying for his bottle, believe me, Bill, we ll have the 
 prince of a foreman for our mine. Quite a character, 
 is Don Juan, when you dig down into him." 
 ^ "Dig far enough into that ruin and you ll find fire- 
 
 256 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 257 
 
 crackers," Billy admitted. "However, John, I m 
 afraid he won t exploo^. The powder s damp. How 
 did you leave Dolores?" 
 
 "Fit as a fiddle, Bill." 
 
 "How does she stack up on better acquaintance, 
 Johnny?" 
 
 "She s a skookum lass. She sent her love and I 
 promised to send you back to her P. D. Q. So 
 don t bother me with talk about her. If you think 
 you re going to sit by my bed half the night and talk 
 about your heart s desire, you ve another guess com 
 ing. You ll see her again in a week or ten days, I 
 hope." 
 
 "No? Is that so, Johnny? Bully for you, you 
 old wampus cat. Tell Don Juan to steer you over to 
 the Globo de Oro. He knows the place. I ve got 
 to go and hire a mule or some other quadruped for, 
 Don Juan if we re to avoid a late start in the morn 
 ing. Good-night, old fellow." 
 
 They were up at daybreak, and with three heavily 
 laden pack-mules in charge of two semi-naked mozos, 
 while the cook jogged comfortably along on his big 
 splay feet in the rear, they set out for Billy s con 
 cession. From San Miguel de Padua they turned 
 west on a splendid highway paved with limestone 
 blocks and \Vinding up into the hills on an easy 
 gradient. 
 
 "Government built, this, I dare say," Webster 
 suggested as they trotted along side by side. 
 
 Billy nodded. "It is the only evidence I have 
 observed of an inclination on the part of President 
 
258 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 Sarros to give the lowly peon a run for his taxes. 
 This highway stretches froiL. San Miguel de Padua 
 to the western national boundary; I imagine Sarros 
 built it with some idea of enabling him to get there 
 first with the most guns in the event of war with his 
 neighbours on the Pacific side. Quite a rare plucked 
 un, is Sarros to quote Mother Jenks." 
 
 "Are [you acquainted with] him, Bill? What kind 
 of a bird is he?" 
 
 "Oh, yes, indeed, I know him. We re great 
 amigos. I m the man that taught him the folly of 
 betting too heavily on two pair after the draw. He 
 has Indian blood in him quite a little of it, in fact; 
 but he is well educated. Speaks French, Spanish, 
 and English very fluently. He s a short man and 
 wears high-heeled boots to make himself look taller 
 than he really is. He is crafty, suspicious, sensitive, 
 and possessed of a sense of humour only his humour 
 is tinged with cruelty. He d steal a cross off a grave 
 and kill his best friend as quickly, should political 
 expediency demand it, ab you or I would kill a rattle 
 snake. He has a rattling good intelligence-depart 
 ment, pays liberally for information, and keeps down 
 rebellion by the simple process of locating the ring 
 leaders and shooting them. He bumped off old 
 General Morelos some six weeks ago did it on mere 
 suspicion, too." 
 
 "You must have come to Sobrante mighty well 
 recommended to get into the good graces of the 
 scoundrel." 
 
 "Not at all ! Sarros is a peculiar man. It pleases 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 259 
 
 him to pose as a democrat and mingle freely with the 
 proletariat accompanied, however, by a strong 
 bodyguard. Frequently he visits the cafes in Buena 
 ventura and fraternizes with all and sundry. I met 
 him first in a joint known as The Frenchman s, where 
 he used to come to watch the drawing for the lottery. 
 I was there matching another American for half- 
 dollars, and Sarros edged up, all interest, and horned 
 in on the game. Before the session was over we d 
 swapped cards, and the instant he learned I was a 
 mining man and down here to give Sobrante the once 
 over, he invited me up to the palace for dinner. 
 Our acquaintance quickly ripened into friendship 
 on his part. It seems he likes to have enterprising 
 Americans come to Sobrante and exploit the coun 
 try, because experience has demonstrated that if the 
 visitors develop a good thing, there is always a rake- 
 off in it for Sarros." 
 
 Webster nodded. "Same old game anywhere you 
 go south of the Rio Grande," he replied. 
 
 "I had a couple of thousand dollars I d saved on a 
 job I had down in Rhodesia, so I was enabled to put 
 up a big front. I received government permission 
 to prospect government lands, and " 
 
 "Do you pay a royalty to the government, Bill?" 
 
 "Five per cent." 
 
 "How about the president s rake-off?" 
 
 "Oh, that s unofficial, of course, but it s understood 
 we pay him 5 per cent, of our output." 
 
 "Anybody else to take care of?" 
 
 "No, that cleans up the gang. Loaiza, the Minis- 
 
260 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 ter of the Interior, wanted in, but I kicked like a bay 
 steer and Sarros shooed him off." 
 
 "A fine lot of bandits to do business with!" Web 
 ster declared disgustedly. "Still, it s their way of 
 doing business, and much as we dislike that kind of 
 business, we ll have to do it that way or not at all. The 
 government ought to get 10 per cent, of our gross 
 output, and Sarros ought to be shot. However, I 
 dare say we can stand for the blackmail if, as you say, 
 you have twelve-dollar ore." 
 
 "Wait and assay it yourself," Billy assured him. 
 
 For thirty miles they followed the government 
 highway, and then debouched to the southwest along 
 a neglected road just wide enough to accommodate 
 the clumsy oxcarts of the peons. The country was 
 sparsely settled and evidently given over to stock- 
 raising. By degrees the road lost itself in the tall, 
 dry grass, and became a faint trail which led into a 
 forest of fir and other woods, with a good deal of 
 mahogany and with very little underbrush. Billy 
 rode in front, following through the timber a trail 
 of his own blazing; and on the afternoon of the third 
 day they dropped swiftly into a bare brown valley 
 lying between timbered hills, displaying here and 
 there the red stain of oxide of iron, from which evi 
 dence Webster knew he was in a mineral country. 
 Billy pointed to a yellow mound at the base of one of 
 the toes of the range flanking the valley on the south. 
 
 "There s the claim," he announced. "You can 
 see the dump from here." 
 
 A ribbon of green ran down a canon from the south 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 261 
 
 ^ out into the brown, parched valley, where it 
 
 suddenly disappeared. 
 
 "Sink," Billy elucidated, folio whig the direction 
 of his friend s gaze and divining his thoughts. " That 
 creek lies entirely on our concession about thirty 
 miner s inches of water, I should judge. It disap 
 pears in the sands out there at the end of the green 
 streak, but the irrigation along its banks has been 
 sufficient to insure plenty of good feed for our stock." 
 
 Darkness had descended on the valley by the time 
 they had pitched camp and eaten supper. They 
 were up at dawn the following morning, however, 
 and immediately after breakfast Jack Webster went 
 to his duffle-bag and brought forth a dozen little can 
 vas sacks and a prospector s hammer. "Now then, 
 William, my son," he announced, "light the lantern 
 and we ll see if you ve forgotten all I taught you about 
 mining." 
 
 They clambered up the dump to a point where two 
 light steel rails projected over the edge. On top of 
 the dump, lying beside the rails, were two small, 
 rusty, steel ore cars; the rails led from the edge of the 
 dump to the mouth of a tunnel in the hillside and 
 disappeared therein. 
 
 Webster stood a moment, looking round him. 
 "How did you happen to locate this ledge?" he de 
 manded. "Was it grass-root stuff, with an out 
 cropping here at the foot of the hill? No, of course it 
 wasn t. You haven t enough ore on the dump. 
 What the devil were you driving at?" 
 
 "Only a small portion of that dump is mine, Jack, 
 
262 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 and I didn t locate the ground originally. I came 
 into this valley from the south, and as I worked up 
 the range, I found a bald spot close to the top of the 
 hill, and a gallows-frame over an abandoned shaft. 
 Naturally, I went down the shaft to see why it had 
 been abandoned. To my surprise, I found a twelve- 
 foot vein of free-milling ore, on a contact between 
 andesite and Silurian limestone. The ledge stood 
 straight up and down, which seemed to argue great 
 depth." 
 
 "Somebody had found an outcropping on top of 
 that hill," Webster declared with conviction, "and 
 sunk a shaft on the vein to open it up and determine 
 its width and direction. How deep was this old 
 shaft? Thirty or forty feet? " 
 
 "Thirty-two feet. I figured it out just that way, 
 too. After determining approximately which way 
 the ledge was pitching, I made up my mind I d have 
 a tunnel driven to cut the ledge at right angles at 
 the foot of the hill, since no practical man would 
 mine from the top of a hill and hoist his ore through 
 a shaft, when he could mine from the bottom and 
 haul his ore out on cars through a tunnel. So I came 
 prowling down into the valley and found this tunneL 
 The work had been abandoned for a couple of years, 
 and after examining the tunnel I thought I knew 
 why. They had failed to cut the ledge as they ex 
 pected." 
 
 "Hum-m! And what did you do, Bill? " 
 
 "I got my transit and ran a line from the shaft on 
 the hill, following the direction in which the ledge 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 263 
 
 was running, and marked out the exact point toward 
 the base 0f the hill where I would start my tunnel to 
 cut the ledge. To my surprise, I discovered my 
 predecessor had selected that identical spot. So I 
 verified my calculations and then sat down to think 
 it over." 
 
 1 "You should have suspected a fault immediately." 
 Webster chided the younger man. "This is a vol 
 canic country " 
 
 "Well," Billy interrupted, "I suspected a fault, 
 but not immediately. Remember Fm fifteen years 
 your junior, professor. I remembered that frequent 
 and violent earthquakes occur in this country, and 
 it seemed to me a reasonable hypothesis to blame 
 some ancient and particularly violent seismic dis 
 turbance, which had faulted the vein and set it over a 
 considerable distance. According to my calculation, 
 that other man should have cut the vein at eighty- 
 three feet yet he had gone on one hundred and two 
 before quitting. So I got half a dozen peons and 
 drove ahead nineteen feet on the other fellow s 
 tunnel; and by Heck, Johnny, I cut the vein!" 
 
 "Bully boy! And then?" 
 
 "I drifted ten feet on the vein, and the ore sud 
 denly gave out. It stopped just like that, proving 
 I d come to the upper end of the vein where it had 
 faulted; so I just worked up and around, stopeing 
 and sinking a winze here and there, until just about 
 the time my cash reserve was getting pretty low I 
 picked up the true vein and opened it up for the full 
 width. Come in, and I ll show you." 
 
264 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 They entered the tunnel, to the signal dismay of 
 dozens of large bats. When they reached the vein, 
 Webster broke off samples of the ore every three or 
 four feet, crawled after Billy up through the stope 
 and back to the true vein, from the face of which he 
 also took numerous samples; then he crawled out 
 into the sunshine again, hot, dirty, and perspiring. 
 
 "Billy, you ll be a real miner yet; see if you 
 won t," was all the praise he tendered his youthful 
 partner, standing beside him in anticipation of a 
 compliment, as Webster got out his portable assay 
 outfit. 
 
 For three days Webster worked, determining the 
 values of each sample, only to find that his assays 
 confirmed Billy s. Then he visited the old shaft on 
 top of the hill, assayed samples procured there, 
 roamed the range in the immediate vicinity, marking 
 with expert eye the timber he would find so useful 
 and close at hand when stulls and lagging for the 
 tunnel should be needed; then he selected a site 
 where the waters of the stream could be impounded 
 in a little draw far up the hillside, and returned to 
 camp to render his final report. 
 
 "You were right, son," he announced. "This 
 mine is a humdinger and no mistake; if you and I live 
 ten years we ll be worth ten millions between us 
 maybe more." 
 
 Billy s jaundiced eyes glowed hungrily. "We ll 
 put in a hundred stamps " 
 
 "Well, we ll try ten for a starter," Webster inter 
 rupted dryly, "and add more as the mine pays its 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 265 
 
 way. Our first consideration is the building of about 
 ten miles of road through that timber, and repairs to 
 that old dirt road connecting with the Grand High 
 way. I noticed there isn t much hard rock work to 
 do, however, and we ll shoot the trees out of our way 
 with dynamite. After we have a passable trail 
 broken into this valley it won t take long to haul in 
 our freight from the railroad at San Miguel de Padua. 
 We ll cut all our frame- and foundation-timbers for 
 the stamp-mill right here on the ground, and our other 
 buildings will all be adobe. We ll have to put in a 
 concrete dam up there on the hill and build a flume 
 to the stamps. Oh, yes, my son, we ll run the stamps 
 by water power. We ll have a five-hundred-foot 
 drop at an ample angle, with the last hundred feet 
 almost perpendicular; believe me, when the water 
 comes through the penstock, anything in front will 
 have to get out of the way. The same power will 
 operate a little electric-light plant to light the grounds 
 and buildings and workings, run the drills, and so on. 
 Yes, it s the sweetest mining proposition on earth- 
 only, like all high-class goods, it has one flaw when 
 you examine it closely." 
 
 "You re crazy," Billy challenged. "Name the 
 flaw!" 
 
 "Sarros!" Webster replied smilingly. "That 
 scoundrel makes a gamble out of an otherwise sure 
 thing. However," he added, recalling the note re 
 ceived from Ricardo Ruey just before his departure 
 from Buenaventura and reflecting that to be fore 
 warned is to be forearmed, "we ll accept the gamble. 
 
 
266 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 That rascal can t live forever, and he may be elimi 
 nated before he causes us any trouble." 
 
 "What will it tost us to get this mine on a paying 
 basis, Johmyr* 
 
 ^Wellr/oack home, I d figure on spending at least 
 & hupfdred thousand dollars; but I dare say, taking 
 , consideration the low cost of labour hi Sobrante 
 the raw, natural resources of power and timber 
 right on the ground, we ought to put this deal over 
 for fifty thousand at the outside. Praise be, I have 
 cash enough to do the trick without calling in any 
 help, and such being the case, we ll not waste any time 
 but hojp to the job in a hurry and make the fur fly." 
 
 "All right, Jack. What s the programme?" 
 
 "Well, first off, son, I m not going to stay in this 
 country and lose myself managing this mine. 
 That s your job, because you re young and unimport 
 ant in your profession and have the ability to get 
 away with the job. You can afford to spend the 
 next fifteen years here, but I cannot. I can only 
 afford to come down here every couple of years and 
 relieve you for a vacation." 
 
 "That s the way I figured it, Jack." 
 
 "All right then, Bill, let us start in by giving you 
 your first vacation . If you re going to dig in here and 
 make the fur fly, you ve got to be in tip-top physical 
 condition and you are thin and gaunted and full of 
 chills and fever. Just before I left Buenaventura I 
 cashed a draft for five thousand dollars on my letter 
 of credit at the Banco Nacional, and placed it to the 
 credit of your account there, 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 267 
 
 "To-morrow morning you will take your horse, 
 one pack-mule, and one mozo and ride for San Miguel 
 de Padua, where you will take the train for Buena 
 ventura. In Buenaventura you may do what you 
 blame please, but if I were you, boy, I d try to get 
 married and go back to the U. S. A. for my honey 
 moon. And when I finally hit a town that con 
 tained some regular doctors I d let them paw me over 
 and rebabbit me and overhaul my bearings and put 
 me in such nice running order I d be firing on all 
 twelve cylinders at once. 
 
 "And when I was feeling tip-top once more I d 
 wire old John Stuart Webster and tell him so, after 
 which I d stand by for a cable from the said sour 
 dough inviting me to return and take up my labours." 
 
 Billy s wan yellow face lighted up like a sunrise on 
 the desert. "I guess that plan s kind of poor," he 
 announced feelingly. "You re right, Jack. I m in 
 rotten condition and I ought to be right before I 
 start. Still, if I should arrange to get married before 
 I leave, I d like mighty well to have a good man and 
 true see me safely over the hurdles." 
 
 "That s nice, son, but I haven t time to be your 
 best man. Arranging the honeymoon lets me out, 
 Bill. I m in a hurry to finish here and get back, so 
 the sooner we both start our prospective jobs the 
 sooner we ll finish. Have a quiet little marriage, Bilf, 
 without any fuss or feathers or voices breathing o er 
 Eden. What are the odds, provided you get hitched 
 properly? Besides, I m in mortal dread of that town 
 ,f Buenaventura, The sewer system is bad; it s 
 
268 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 rotten with fever; and you d better get that girl out 
 of it P. D. Q., and the quicker the better. Myself, 
 I prefer to stay up here in these mountains in a tem 
 perate climate where there are no mosquitoes." 
 
 Billy saw that Webster was serious and would re 
 sent any interference in his plans. "All right, Jack," 
 he assented. "You re the boss." 
 
 "Fine. Now, Bill, you listen to father and be 
 guided accordingly. When you get to Buenaventura, 
 wire the Bingham Engineering Company, of Denver, 
 using my name, and tell them to add to my order 
 given them last month and held for shipping direc 
 tions, twelve dozen picks, twelve dozen shovels, 
 twelve dozen mattocks, say, six dozen axes, brush 
 knives, a big road plow, and whatever other things 
 you happen to think of and which would come in 
 handy when building our road. Also, when you get 
 to New Orleans, buy a ton of dynamite and an ade 
 quate supply of fuse and fulminating caps, pay for it 
 and ship it to me at Buenaventura. Further, look 
 around in New Orleans and buy a stanch three ton 
 motor truck. We ll need it for getting in sup 
 plies from San Miguel de Padua. Pay for the truck 
 also, and if you go broke and cannot reach me by 
 I cable, wire Neddy Jerome at the Engineers Club in 
 Denver and kick his eye out in my honoured name. 
 
 "I guess that s about all of your job, Bill. As for 
 me, I ll camp right here. I ll have a deal of survey 
 ing to do and I plan to sweat the booze out of that 
 Cafferty person. I ll make Don Juan my chain man 
 and run the tail off him. Then I ll be busy w th 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 preliminary plans, arranging for labour . vxi, 
 
 and when I m idle I ll go hunting." 
 
 In conformity with this plan, therefore, Billy 
 said good-bye to his friend and packed out for San 
 Miguel de Padua bright and early next morning. 
 During the following ten days Webster managed to 
 keep himself fairly busy around the camp at the 
 mine; then for a week he hunted and fished, and 
 finally, when that began to pall on him, his agile mind 
 returned to business and the consideration of the 
 possibility of a flaw in Billy s title to the claim; where 
 upon he suddenly decided to return to Buenaventura 
 and investigate that title fully before proceeding to 
 throw dollars right and left. While socially he was 
 wildly prodigal with his dollars, in business matters 
 no Scotchman was more canny or more careful of his 
 baubees. 
 
 At the head of his little cavalcade, therefore, he 
 rode out one morning for the railroad, whereat 
 Providence, in its inscrutable wisdom, ordained that 
 en route he should fall in with no less a personage 
 than Don Ricardo Luiz Ruey, ne Andrew Bowers. 
 Ricardo was mounted, armed, and alone, and at 
 sight of Webster he shouted with delight and spurred 
 toward him. 
 
 "What the devil! You, Rick, the g ^ernment 
 cut-up. What are you doing in these parts?" 
 Webster rode up and shook hands. 
 
 "Oh, I m Robin Hooding it around this part of the 
 country. It is so secluded, you know, and Sarros 
 hasn t any friends or any telegraph lines or any gar- 
 
270 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 risons up this way. I heard in San Miguel de Padua 
 that you were camped yonder, and I was on my way 
 over to confer with you on matters of state." 
 
 "You ll have to confer as we ride along. How 
 does your business progress, Rick?" 
 
 "Beyond my wildest expectations. By the way, 
 I need your help, friend Webster." 
 
 "I ll do anything within reason, Rick." 
 "I figured you would, so I have already imposed 
 on your good nature to a slight extent. Met your 
 friend Geary at El Buen Amigo a couple of weeks 
 ago, just before he sailed for the United States. 
 He was telling me you had to have a lot of tools for 
 road building, so I cabled in a secret cipher to the So- 
 brantean revolutionary junta in New Orleans to ship 
 these tools to you immediately. They arrived on 
 the last trip of the Atlanta and now repose in Leber s 
 warehouse waiting for you to call and remove them." 
 "You scoundrel! What have you sent me?" 
 "A couple of hundred rifles and three machine- 
 guns, branded axes, picks, shovels, plows, and so on. 
 I also ran in three cases of ammunition, labelled 
 grindstones, two more cases disguised as bolts, and 
 quite several thousand labelled nails in kegs. I 
 should feel rather sorry for you if my friend Sarros 
 should got suspicious and investigate, but I haven t 
 any fear that he will. You see, he knows you re 
 here on legitimate business. He has investigated and 
 learned that you are a bona fide mining engineer of 
 considerable reputation and then, you know, your 
 friend Geary dickered with him for the concession. 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 271 
 
 The mining property you are about to develop belongs 
 to the people, not to Sarros; yet he has bartered it 
 away and will divert the royalty to his own pocket 
 instead of the public treasury." 
 
 "Hum-in-m! What do you want me to do with 
 all those munitions consigned to me?" 
 
 "Arrange with Leber to keep them there until you 
 get ready to build your road into the mine. I want 
 them there when my American mercenaries arrive in 
 Buenaventura. By the way, you are going to import 
 these mercenaries for me. They are American min 
 ers and road-builders in the employ of the Honda 
 Mining & Development Company, which is to be the 
 name of your enterprise. I hope you ll like the name, 
 Webster. I picked it out myself." 
 
 "You cool scoundrel! You re making a cat s paw 
 out of me." 
 
 "That is because you happen to be so handy for 
 my purpose. You see my plan, do you not? I m 
 going to attack Buenaventura from within and with 
 out. I m going to come down on Sarros like a wolf on 
 the fold, and the job is scheduled for next Saturday 
 night a week." 
 
 "Look here, Rick, my boy, I have no desire to mix 
 in the politics of this country." 
 
 "You have some desire, however, to mix in its 
 wealth," Ricardo reminded him. 
 
 "Well?" 
 
 "I m the only man that can help you. By the 
 way, do not order your machinery shipped until 
 after I am seated firmly on the throne of my fathers." 
 
272 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 "It s been framed with Sarros to let you spend your 
 money on that concession and get the mine in run 
 ning order; then a fake suit, alleging an error in the 
 government survey, will be filed. It will be claimed 
 that the concession given your friend Geary is, by 
 virtue of erroneous government surveys, the prop 
 erty of a citizen of Sobrante. The courts here do as 
 Sarros tells them. You are to be kicked out, busted, 
 and despairing, and your nicely equipped little 
 mine will be taken over as a government monopoly 
 and run for the benefit of the government, to wit, 
 Sarros and his satellites. We had to cook up a dirty 
 deal like that to save your life. Of course, now that I 
 have warned you in time, you are safe. We schemed 
 a proposition, however, that worked both ways. It 
 enabled us to save you and to save us, by permitting 
 the shipment, free of suspicion, of arms for the rebels 
 that are to attack the city from within. Naturally 
 I had to cache their arms within the city and that 
 was a hard problem until you happened along. 
 Thank you, fairy godfather." 
 
 "My thanks are due you, Ricardo. I m for you, 
 first, last, and all the time, and against this Sarros 
 outfit. By the way, how do you purpose moving 
 your machine-guns?" 
 
 " We ll have to carry them, I guess." 
 
 "Well, I ll have a small auto-truck delivered in 
 Buenaventura by that time. You might arrange to 
 armour it with sheet steel; and with a couple of ma 
 chine-guns mounted in it, and a crew of resolute 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 273 
 
 Americans behind the machine-guns, you could caper 
 from one end of the city to the other and clear a path 
 for your infantry/ 
 
 "Thsnk you, my friend. I ll borrow the motor 
 truck and arrange to armour it. That s a bully 
 idea. Are you bound for Buenaventura now?" 
 
 Webster nodded. "Then," Ricardo suggested, 
 "I ll meet you in my room at El Buen Amigo next 
 Wednesday night at eleven and explain the details 
 of my plans to you if you care to hear them. I 
 think they re air-tight myself, but somehow I think 
 I d feel more certain of them if you approve them." 
 
 "I ll be there, Rick, and the day you run that out 
 law Sarros off the grass you ll know why I am for 
 you." 
 
 "Good-bye, old man. You will never know how 
 grateful you have made me." 
 
 Ruey shook hands with Webster and rode off 
 through the timber, leaving John Stuart Webster to 
 pursue the even tenor of his way, until at length 
 he arrived once more in Buenaventura and sought 
 accommodations at the Hotel Mateo. And there, 
 as he entered the lobby and gazed through a glass 
 door across the patio and into the veranda, he saw 
 that which disturbed him greatly. In a big wicker 
 rocker Dolores Ruey sat, rocking gently and busily 
 stitching on a piece of fancy work! 
 
 Billy Geary gone back to the United States, and 
 Dolores was still in Buenaventura! Amazing! Why, 
 what the devil did Billy mean by letting her have her 
 own way like that? Of course they hadn t been 
 
274 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 married, or she would not now be out there on the 
 veranda, and of course they hadn t quarrelled, because 
 that was an impossibility, and of course Billy had 
 departed alone for the U. S. A., else he would have 
 returned to their camp in the hills back of San Miguel 
 de Padua. 
 
 "Well, I know what I m going to do," Webster 
 decided. "I m not going to be led into temptation 
 while Billy s not on the job so I ll not put up at the 
 Hotel Mateo after all. I ll just sneak around to 
 El Buen Amigo and fix it with that old Mother Jenks 
 not to tip off my presence in town to Dolores Ruey 
 until I can get the lay of the land and see what the 
 devil has happened to all my well-laid plans." 
 
 He retreated out the front door and called a car 
 riage, into which he was about to step, bag and 
 baggage, when Don Juan Cafetero came rushing up 
 in great excitement. "Sure, where are ye goin now, 
 sor. Is there no room for ye in the Hotel Mateo?" 
 
 "Their beds have jiggers in them, and I just re 
 membered that," Webster fibbed. "Hop in, John, 
 and we ll drive around to Mr. Geary s lodgings in 
 El Buen Amigo." 
 
 "But I come t rough the patio just now," Don 
 Juan explained, "an who should I meet but the 
 young leddy." 
 
 " You infernal scoundrel ! Did you tell her I was in 
 town?" 
 
 " Sure I did, sor. An why not? " 
 
 "None of your infernal business. You ve spoiled 
 everything. You re a muddle-headed monkey and 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 275 
 
 I ve a great notion to let you get drunk again. Take 
 the baggage back into the hotel." 
 
 Don Juan Cafetero, greatly humbled and rebuffed, 
 stepped aside and watched Webster stride back into 
 the hotel. " God love ye, sor," he mumbled, "know- 
 in what I know, is it likely I d let ye make a monkey 
 out av her or yerself? Ye made yer plans wit 
 Misther Geary wit out consultin her. Now go, ye 
 grrand big divil, an find out why she kicked yer 
 schame to smithereens." And with a solemn and 
 knowing wink at the duffle-bag, Don Juan picked 
 that article up and followed after his master. 
 
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE 
 
 JOHN STUART WEBSTER S agile brain was the 
 repository of many conflicting emotions as he 
 bathed, shaved, and changed from his soiled 
 khaki field clothes to a suit of ducks before present 
 ing himself before Dolores. 
 
 Had Billy s courage forsaken him at the last 
 minute, with the result that he had gone back to the 
 United States without having settled the question of 
 Dolores s future? Had he proposed and been re 
 jected, or had he proposed, been accepted, and had his 
 plans for an immediate marriage vetoed by Dolores? 
 
 In either event, why had Billy failed to leave a note 
 for him at the Hotel Mateo, or mailed him a letter 
 to the Globo de Oro at San Miguel de Padua, advising 
 him of the change in the plan of action outlined for 
 him by Webster? 
 
 If Dolores had accepted him, then Billy Geary 
 was just the sort of impulsive youth who could not 
 rest until he had advised Webster of his luck; on 
 the other hand, Billy was susceptible, in matters of 
 love, to the deep melancholia which is as distinct 
 a characteristic of the Hibernian nature as wit and 
 light-heartedness, and in the event of disappointment 
 he would not be apt to rush to his partner with the 
 news; a feeling of chagrin would prompt him to keep 
 
 276 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 277 
 
 his own counsel, to go away and stay away until he 
 had Smothered the ache and could return and meet 
 Dolores without restraint and embarrassment. 
 
 In the simplicity of his single-hearted devotion 
 Webster was puzzled to understand how any woman 
 in her right mind could fail to fall in love with Billy 
 Geary. To begin, he was a fine-looking lad and 
 would look finer when the chills and fever had been 
 eradicated; he was far from being a runt, mentally 
 or physically; he was gentle, well-mannered, kind, 
 with the gift of turning a pretty speech to a woman 
 and meaning it with all his heart and soul. A man he 
 was, from heels to hair, and a man with prospects 
 far above the average. To Webster s way of think 
 ing, the girl who married Billy might well count her 
 self fortunate. 
 
 Dolores greeted him with unaffected pleasure. 
 "Well, Caliph!" she said. Just that. It made 
 Webster sensible of a feeling of having returned to 
 her after an absence of several years. "I m so glad 
 to see you, Miss Ruey," he replied, and added boldly, 
 "particularly since I didn t expect to." 
 
 She knew what her reply would lead to; neverthe 
 less, with that dissimulation which can only be prac 
 tised in perfection by a clever and beautiful woman, 
 she answered with equal boldness: "Indeed! Pray 
 why?" 
 
 "Well, for a pretty good reason, I think. A few 
 weeks ago, after examining Bill s concession very 
 thoroughly, I told him he was a potential millionaire. 
 Now, while I disclaim any appearance of braggadocio, 
 
278 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 when John Stuart Webster, E.M., makes any mine 
 owner a report like that, he is apt to be taken very 
 seriously. And having made Bill a potential mil 
 lionaire and arranged to give him three or four 
 months vacation back home, I had a notion he d 
 present to you a very valid reason why you should 
 accompany him." 
 
 "You are very frank, Caliph." 
 
 "That s because I m curious. You do not mind 
 being equally frank with an old cuss like me, do you, 
 and telling me just why Bill s plans miscarried? Be 
 cause he had a certain dream, and told me about it, 
 and I did my little best to make it come true. You 
 see, Miss Ruey, I m a lot older than Bill, and I ve 
 known him since he was eighteen years old; I feel a 
 responsibility toward him that is almost paternal." 
 
 "I think I understand, Caliph. It would be very 
 difficult, I think, for anybody to meet Billy without 
 being attracted toward him. He s one of the dearest, 
 most lovable boys in the world and he did do me 
 the signal honour of asking me to marry him. So 
 there!" 
 
 "Well, and why didn t you?" 
 
 She smiled at his blunt insistence on forcing the 
 issue. "For a number of exrjlent reasons, Caliph. 
 In the first place, he wanted me to marry him im 
 mediately and I wasn t ready to leave Sobrante, 
 while Billy was. Indeed, it was highly necessary 
 that he should leave immediately, for the sake of his 
 health, and I had Billy s interest at heart sufficiently 
 to insist upon it. You seem to forget that when a 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 279 
 
 girl marries she must make some preparation for the 
 event, and if she has any close relatives, such as a 
 brother, for instance, she likes to have that relative 
 present at the ceremony. You will recall, Caliph, 
 that I have a brother and that you have promised to 
 introduce me to him very shortly. Much as you love 
 BiUy, would you insist upon depriving me of the joy 
 of meeting my brother on the day of his triumph 
 on the day of the triumph of our family just to 
 please Billy by marrying him on ten minutes notice, 
 and leaving on a honeymoon next day? That is 
 what you would refer to as crowding my hand and 
 joggling my elbow." 
 
 "By Judas, I never thought of that, Miss Ruey," 
 the repentant Webster answered. "In fact, I wasn t 
 thinking of anybody s interest in this matter but 
 BiD s. 
 
 "Not even of mine, Caliph?" reproachfully. 
 
 "That goes without saying. Could I have done 
 anything nicer for you than fix it for Bill so he would 
 be in position to marry you? Here you are, prac 
 tically alone in the world at least you were when Bill 
 met you and fell in love with you and I know that 
 boy so well I was convinced, after meeting you, that 
 his future happiness and yours would best be con 
 served if you married him. I hope you do not think 
 I was presumptuous in thinking this, or that I am 
 presumptuous now in speaking my mind so frankly. 
 I realize this is a most unusual conversation " 
 
 "Quite to be expected of an unusual man, Caliph. 
 And I do not think you were one bit presumptuous. 
 
280 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 It was wonderfully dear of you, and I am profoundly 
 grateful that Billy and I have such a true, unselfish 
 friend, whose first thought is for our happiness. I 
 knew I was going to like you before Billy introduced 
 us and I think more of you than ever, now that I 
 know you re a dear, blundering old matchmaker. Of 
 course you realize how badly I felt to think I couldn t 
 accede to Billy s plan. Billy s such a dear, it* quite 
 broke my heart to disappoint him, but a little tem 
 porary unhappiness will not ruin Billy, will it? It 
 makes me feel blue to talk about it, Caliph." 
 
 "Not at all, not at all, Miss Ruey. Bill is one of 
 the impulsive, whirlwind kind, up in the clouds to 
 day and down in the slough of despond to-morrow. 
 He ll survive the shock. Of course, it would have 
 been pretty nice if your affairs had permitted you to 
 accompany Bill; I never had a honeymoon myself, 
 but it must be a great institution, and I was all 
 wrapped up in the notion of seeing Bill have what 
 I d never had myself a honeymoon and a wife and 
 kids and money enough to enjoy em all the way that 
 God intended a real man and woman to enjoy them. 
 However, I m glad to know everything will come out 
 all right. Seeing you here gave me a momentary 
 chill; thought a cog had slipped somewhere, so I 
 helped myself to Cupid s license and asked. A man 
 cannot learn very much from a woman unless he 
 asks questions, can he? I mean on the subject of 
 love." 
 
 She smiled a little, wistful, knowing smile, "No, 
 Caliph," she answered seriously, "somehow the 
 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 281 
 
 Master of Things ordained that on the subject of 
 love man must do all the talking." 
 
 "Yes, but on the other hand, woman has the last 
 word as usual. However, the only thing in your 
 case and Billy s that worries me is the thought that 
 since Bill left his magnet behind he will be drawn 
 back here before he is in the kind of shape, physically, 
 that I want him to be in before he relieves me on the 
 
 H 
 
 job so I can go away." 
 
 "Do not worry on that point, Caliph. I am your 
 ally there; between us both I think we can manage him. " 
 
 "Fine business! Miss Ruey, if that boy Bill ever 
 gets a notion in his head that you haven t forgotten 
 more than he ll ever know, I ll break his neck. And 
 with those few kind words we ll dismiss William 
 until you care to talk about him again, although if 
 you re as deep in love as Bill you ll not stay off the 
 subject very long. 
 
 "How is Don Juan Cafetero, Caliph?" 
 
 "Coming out in the wash and without his colours 
 
 running. I ve sweated the booze out of him, hiking 
 
 him over the hills, and bullied him into eating solids, 
 
 I and a few days ago I shut off the firewater forever, I 
 
 hope. However, I ll have to watch him very closely 
 
 for a long time yet particularly in town. Out at 
 
 the mine he ll be away from temptation. Hard work 
 
 is the best cure for Don Juan. There s a deal of 
 
 i truth in the old saying that Satan will find mischief 
 
 I for idle hands to do. I imagine you ve been rather 
 
 idle lately. Hope you haven t been into mischief." 
 
 "I haven t been idle. I ve made several dresses 
 
282 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 for Mother Jenks and done a lot of fancy work and 
 begun the study of my mother tongue. If my 
 brother should become president of this country, 
 it would ill become his sister not be able to speak 
 Spanish. By the way, Billy told me you were going 
 to remain up in the hills quite a while yet. What 
 brought you back to town so soon?" 
 
 "Expected I d have some freight arriving shortly: 
 besides, I wanted to make certain the title to Bill s 
 property didn t have any flaws in it." 
 
 "How long will you remain in Buenaventura?" 
 
 Considering the fact that he was no longer subject 
 to temptation, since the object of his temptation was 
 now definitely promised to his friend Billy, Webster 
 suddenly decided to remain until the political atmos 
 phere should be cleared, although prior to his con 
 versation with Dolores he had cherished a definite 
 plan to go back to the hills within forty-eight hours. 
 He could not suppress an ironic grin, despite the 
 pain and misery of his predicament, as he reflected 
 how often, of late, he had made up his mind to a 
 definite course of action, only to change it promptly 
 at some new whim of fate. 
 
 "I m going back," he replied soberly, "after I have 
 kept my promise and introduced you to your brother 
 in the government palace. If I cannot introduce 
 him to you there, the title to our mining concession 
 will be clouded, in which event it will not be necessary 
 for Billy or myself to fuss with it further." 
 
 He related to her the information gleaned from her 
 brother two days previously. 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 283 
 
 " It s no use for an individual to fight a government 
 despot in courts controlled by the latter," he con 
 cluded. "Your brother must win and depose the 
 Sarros; then with the title to the property certified 
 by the government as without a flaw, I may dare to 
 spend fifty thousand dollars developing it." 
 
 "And if my brother doesn t win?" 
 
 "I may never have an opportunity to present 
 you to him. We mustn t be squeamish about this 
 matter, Miss Ruey. If Ricardo doesn t turn the 
 trick, he may go the way of his father, unless he can 
 manage to get out of the country." 
 
 She was silent a minute, digesting this grim alter 
 native. " And you ? " she queried presently. "What 
 will happen to you? As I understand it, you are 
 existing now under a temporary license." 
 
 "I shall endeavour to leave also with dignity. I 
 can always land a pretty good job back home, and 
 wherever I m superintendent the next best job be 
 longs to Billy. The Lord is our shepherd; we shall 
 not want." 
 
 "As I understand it, then, Caliph, Ricardo hopes 
 to win his revolution when he strikes the first blow." 
 
 "I think so. I dare say Ricardo hopes to take 
 Sarros by surprise, bottle the city garrison up in the 
 cuartel and the government palace and there besiege 
 them. Having secured nominal control of a seaport, 
 he can import arms and ammunition; also he can 
 recruit openly, and at his leisure hunt down the out 
 lying garrisons. The Sarros crowd doesn t suspect 
 his presence in Sobrante, and by a quick, savage 
 
. 
 
 284 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 stroke he should be able to jerk this one-horse govern 
 ment up by the heels in jig time particularly since 
 the citizenry feel no loyalty toward the Sarros regime 
 and are only kept in subjection through fear and lack 
 of a leader. I m going to play Ricardo to win, if he 
 isn t killed in the opening row, for I m certain he ll 
 lead his men." 
 
 "I dare say he is greatly like his father not afraid 
 to die for his country," she replied presently. "I 
 am glad to be here when he takes that risk." 
 
 " Oh, but you mustn t be here," Webster protested. 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 "Because there ll be street fighting probably o 
 a desperate character, and I understand your coun 
 trymen go rather war-mad and do things not sanc 
 tioned by the Hague tribunal. If there s a steamer 
 "n port at the time I ll put you aboard her until the 
 issue is decided. She ll have to remain in port be 
 cause while the fighting goes on she cannot load or 
 discharge." 
 
 "I could go to the American consulate," she sug 
 gested. 
 
 "You could but you ll not. That consul would 
 give you up to the first mob that called for you and 
 I m not so certain that even the sister of an arch- 
 traitor (for patriots and revolutionists are always 
 traitors when they lose) would be safe from the 
 Sarros fury. However, I m going to see Ricardo to 
 morrow night and learn the details of his plan of 
 campaign; after that I ll be able to act intelligently." 
 
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO 
 
 RICARDO RUEY, with Doctor Pacheco and 
 Colonel Caraveo, were engaged in consulta 
 tion when Jack Webster, having left the 
 Hotel Mateo via his bedroom window in order to 
 iavoid possible espionage and made his way to El 
 jBuen Amigo on foot, was announced by Mother 
 Jenks. The three conspirators greeted him joyously, 
 las indeed they should, for his loyal friendship had 
 Ithus far been one of their principal bulwarks. 
 
 "Well," Webster inquired, after greeting them and 
 Icarefully closing the door behind him, "here I am in 
 Beunaventura, marking time and, like Mr. Micawber, 
 waiting for something to turn up." 
 
 "You will not be required to wait long," Colonel 
 Caraveo assured him. "Thanks to your kindly 
 offices, the trap is already baited." 
 
 "Our friend Ruey has, since our first meeting, 
 insisted on dispensing with my consent when using 
 me to promote his enterprises, Colonel. Strange to 
 say, I have been unable to berate him for his impu 
 dence. I was down at Leber s warehouse this after 
 noon. You have enough road-making tools con 
 signed to me there to build a pretty fair highway to 
 the gates of the government palace, I should say. 
 I hope you have all pondered the result to me, an 
 
 285 
 
86 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 innocent bystander, if your enemies should take a 
 notion to open one of those cases of shovels." 
 
 Colonel Caraveo favoured him with a benignant 
 smile. "You forget, my friend, that I am second in 
 command in the Intelligence Department, and that 
 during the absence of your particular friend Raoul 
 Sarros, in New Orleans, I am first in command. 
 Since I already know what those cases contain, nat 
 urally I shall not take the trouble to investigate." 
 
 " Well, that s a comfort, Colonel." 
 
 "You have investigated your mining concession, 
 Webster?" Ricardo Ruey asked. 
 
 "You bet." 
 
 "What did you find?" 
 
 "A couple of millions in sight." 
 
 Ricardo shook his head slowly. "It is not ini 
 sight, old man," he reminded Webster. "Without 
 our aid and you cannot have our aid unless oun 
 revolution is successful, when you shall have it freely 
 your millions are, most positively, not in sight. 
 If you want those millions, friend Webster, there is 
 but one way to get them and that is to close your 
 eyes and play our game to the limit." 
 
 "It seems to me I ve been showing a pretty willing 
 spirit right along and that without being consulted 
 in the matter, Rick." 
 
 "You re one man in a million. I wonder if you d 
 go further about forty thousand dollars further. 
 to be exact." 
 
 "I might, but I never go it blind for a wad like 
 that. What s your trouble? " 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 287 
 
 "The revolution will fail if you decide to deny 
 my request. I realize I have the most amazing 
 presumption to ask anything of you, and yet I am 
 moved to stake my all on your goodness of heart, 
 having already had ample evidence of that goodness. 
 In other words, I am going to apply the old principle 
 of driving a willing horse to death. 
 
 "The individual in charge of the funds of the revo 
 lutionary junta in New Orleans was murdered last 
 night; the funds were deposited to his credit as 
 agent in a certain bank, and before the junta <jan 
 obtain legal possession of them again the psycholo 
 gical time for their use will have passed. 
 
 "We have a steamer chartered, and two hundred 
 men, whose business it is to fight under any flag at 
 five dollars gold per day and no questions asked, are 
 now marking time on the Isle of Pines, off the coast 
 of Cuba, waiting for our steamer to call for them and 
 land them, with their rifles and ammunition and six 
 seventy -five-millimeter field-guns and some rapid-fire 
 Maxims, at San Bruno, some eighteen miles up the 
 coast from here. 
 
 " The guns and munitions are now in Tampa, hav 
 ing been shipped to our agent there on sight draft, 
 with bill of lading attached; the steamer is chartered 
 and en route to Tampa from Norfolk, Virginia, and 
 we must pay the owners ten thousand dollars the 
 day she begins taking on her cargo, and ten thousand 
 dollars before she unloads it on lighters at San Bruno. 
 
 "We must also pay two hundred men one month s 
 pay in advance that is, thirty thousand dollars; 
 
288 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 
 we cannot meet this expense and still take up that 
 sight draft now awaiting our attention in the bank 
 at Tampa. 
 
 "In return for this favour to the pro visional govern 
 ment of Sobrante, you shall have the note of the 
 provisional government, signed by the provisional 
 president, myself, and the provisional cabinet, Doctor 
 Pachecho, Colonel Caraveo, and two other gentlemen 
 whom you will meet in due course unless in the in 
 terim they should be killed. And as a bonus for 
 saving this country from a brutal dictator, who is 
 pillaging its resources for his personal profit, you shall 
 have a deed of gift to that mining concession you and 
 your friend Geary are so desirous of working; also 
 the title shall be certified by the government and the 
 Supreme Court of Sobrante and absolutely secured 
 to you against future aggression in the event that 
 the new regime should be overthrown at some future 
 date. Also you have my profound gratitude and 
 that of my people." 
 
 "Tell me your plan of campaign," Webster sug 
 gested. 
 
 "In a secret rendezvous in the mountains I have 
 one thousand picked men my father s veterans. 
 They are armed with modern rifles and machetes. 
 The nitrate company, which has been suffering from 
 heavy export duties imposed by Sarros, would help 
 us financially, I think, but it is not well for a provi 
 sional government to begin by asking financial favours 
 of a huge foreign corporation; so, much to the sur 
 prise of their local manager, to whom I have con- 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 289 
 
 fided my plans, I have merely asked for the loan 
 of all the rolling stock of the railroad for one night. 
 It will be mobilized at San Miguel de Padua by next 
 Saturday night; my troops will arrive late the same 
 afternoon and entrain at once. 
 
 "In the interim all telephone and telegraph com 
 munications with Buenaventura will be severed. 
 The night previous our steamer will have discharged 
 her cargo of men and munitions at San Bruno; a 
 chain of outposts will at once be established and all 
 communication with the capital will be shut off. 
 
 "On Saturday night, also, the Consolidated Fruit 
 Company s steamer La EstreUita will make port with 
 thirty Americans in her steerage. These men will 
 be road-makers and miners imported by Mr. J. S. 
 Webster, and in order to make certain that they will 
 come, you have already ordered them by cable. I 
 took the liberty of seeing to it that the cable signed 
 by you was sent to New Orleans several days ago, and 
 as part of the bluff of keeping all of your movements 
 under surveillance, a copy of this cablegram was fur 
 nished to the subordinate of our good Colonel Cara*- 
 veo, charged with reporting on your movements. 
 We have arranged with the port doctor to give La 
 EstreUita a clean bill of health the very night she 
 arrives. Hence the ship s authorities will not be 
 suspicious, I hope, when we remove our men after 
 dark and house them in Leber s warehouse, where 
 they will spend the night unpacking those spades, 
 picks, and shovels of yours and getting the factory 
 grease off them. 
 
290 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 "At four o clock in the morning various citizens 
 of Sobrante, with rebellion in their hearts, will begin 
 to mobilize at Leber s warehouse, where they will be 
 issued rifles and ammunition and where they will wait 
 until the action is opened to the south by the detach 
 ment from San Bruno, which, having marched from 
 San Bruno the night before, will have arrived outside 
 the city, and will be awaiting the signal from me. If 
 will attack from the west cautiously. 
 
 "Now, there are five thousand government troops 
 in the city and in various cantonments on the out 
 skirts. These cantonments are to be rushed and set 
 afire; I figure that the confusion of our sudden attack 
 will create a riot particularly when I do something 
 that isn t very popular as a war feature down this 
 way, and that is charge and keep on coming. Down 
 this way, you know, Webster, a battle consists in a 
 horrible wastage of ammunition at long range, and 
 casualties of three killed and twelve wounded. The 
 good, old-fashioned charge isn t to their liking; they 
 hate cold steel. * 
 
 "These government troops will start to fall back 
 on the city, only to find themselves flanked by a 
 fierce artillery fire from the San Bruno contingent; the 
 troops from the arsenal, the Guards at the palace 
 and the Fifteenth Regiment of Infantry, now sta 
 tioned at the Cuartel de Infanteria, next the govern 
 ment palace, will be dispatched post haste to repulse 
 the attack, and four hundred men, with the machine- 
 gun company waiting in Leber s warehouse, will 
 promptly move upon them from the rear and capture 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 291 
 
 the arsenal. There are a few thousand rifles and a 
 lot of ammunition stored there; I miss my guess if, 
 as soon as the news of its capture by the rebels spreads 
 through the city (and I shall have men to spread it), 
 I shall not have a few thousand volunteers eager to 
 help overthrow Sarros. 
 
 "When the government troops find themselves 
 under the kind of shell-fire I ve prepared for them, 
 and with machine guns and Maxims playing on them, 
 in close formation frotn the rear, they ll surrender in 
 droves if they live to surrender. 
 
 "Once cut off from the arsenal and the palace, 
 Sarros must fight his way out of the city in order to 
 have the slightest chance to suppress the rebellion, 
 for he will have no refuge in the city. And with the 
 railroad and all the rolling stock in our hands, with 
 out a commissary for his troops, without a base of 
 supplies, even should the government troops fight 
 then* way through, they leave the city in my hands 
 and I ll recruit and arm my men and hunt them down 
 like jack -rabbits at my leisure. Once let the arsenal 
 and the palace fall into my hands, once let me pro 
 claim myself provisional president, once let the people 
 know that Ricardo Ruey, the Beloved, lives again 
 in the person of his son, and I tell you, Webster, this 
 country is saved." 
 
 "You lead the army from San Miguel de Padua, 
 Ricardo. Wholeads the detachment from San Bruno ? " 
 
 "Colonel Caraveo." 
 
 "And the machine-gun company from Leber s 
 warehouse?" 
 
 1 
 
292 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 "Doctor Pacheco. How do you like my plan of 
 campaign?" 
 
 "It couldn t be any better if I had planned it my 
 self. You might accept my suggestion and armour 
 that little motor truck of mine. It arrived^ on yes 
 terday s steamer." 
 
 "And some armour sheet steel with it sheet steel 
 already loopholed for the barrels of the two machine 
 guns it will carry!" Doctor Pacheco cried joyously. 
 
 "Have you provided a chauffeur, Doctor?" 
 
 "I have likewise an armoured sheet-steel closet 
 for him to sit in while chauff curing. " 
 
 "Don t forget the oil and gasoline," Webster cau 
 tioned him quizzically. 
 
 "How about that loan to the provisional govern 
 ment?" Ricardo demanded pointedly. 
 
 Webster did not hesitate. After all, what was 
 money to him now? Moreover, he was between the 
 devil and the deep sea, as it were. Billy had gone 
 away, his hopes raised high, already a millionaire 
 after the fashion of mining men, who are ever ready 
 to count their chicks before they are hatched, pro^ 
 vided only they see the eggs. Besides, there was 
 Dolores. Full well Webster realized that Billy, 
 tossed back once more into the jaws of the well- 
 known wolf of poverty, would not have the courage 
 upon his return to Sobrante to ask Dolores to share 
 his poverty with him; should the revolution fail, 
 Ricardo Ruey would be an outcast, a hunted man 
 with a price on his head, and in no position to care 
 for his sister, even should he survive long enough to 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 293 
 
 know he had a sister. Webster thought of her so 
 sweet, so winsome, so brave and trusting, so worthy 
 of all that the world might hold for her of sweetness 
 and comfort. She would be alone in the world if he, 
 John Stuart Webster, failed her now more than ever 
 she needed a man s strength and affection to help 
 her navigate the tide-rips of life, for life to a woman, 
 alone and unprotected and dependent upon her labour 
 for the bread she must eat, must contain, at best, 
 a full measure of terror and despair and loneliness. 
 He pictured her through a grim processional of years 
 of skimping and petty sacrifices and all because he, 
 John Stuart Webster, had hesitated to lend a dreamer 
 and an idealist a paltry forty thousand dollars with 
 out security. 
 
 No, there was no alternative. As they say in 
 Mexico, Ricardo had him tiron, meaning there was 
 no escape. If his friendship for Billy was worth a 
 sou, it was worth forty thousand dollars; if his silent, 
 unrequited love for Dolores Ruey was worthy of 
 her, no sacrifice on his part could be too great, pro 
 vided it guaranteed her happiness. 
 
 "Ruined again," he sighed. "This is only another 
 of those numerous occasions when the tail goes with 
 the hide. How soon do you want the money?" 
 
 Ricardo Luiz Ruey leaned forward and gazed 
 very earnestly at John Stuart Webster. "Do you 
 really trust me that much, my friend?" he asked 
 feelingly. "Remember, I am asking you for forty 
 thousand dollars on faith." 
 
 "Old sport," John Stuart Webster answered, "y u 
 
294 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 went overboard in Buenaventura harbour and took 
 a chance among those big, liver-coloured, hammer- 
 headed sharks. And you did that because you had 
 a cause you thought worth dying for. I never knew 
 a man who had a cause that was worth dying for who 
 would even espouse a cause worth swindling for. 
 You win only I want you to understand one thing, 
 Ricardo: I m not doing this for the sake of saving 
 that mining concession the Sarros government* gave 
 my friend Geary. I m above doing a thing like this 
 for money for myself. It seems to me I must do 
 it to guarantee the happiness of two people I love: 
 my friend Geary and the girl he s going to marry. I 
 reject your promissory note and your promise of a 
 deed of gift for that concession, and accept only your 
 gratitude. There are no strings to this loan, be 
 cause it isn t a loan at all. It s a bet. If you lose, 
 I ll help you get out of the country and absolve you 
 of any indebtedness to me. We ll just make a new 
 book and start making bets all over again, Rick. 
 However, if you should win, I know you ll reimburse 
 me from the national treasury." 
 
 "And you do not desire a bonus?" 
 
 "Nothing that will cost the citizens of this country 
 one penny of their heritage. I m going to bet this 
 money bet it, understand, not loan it, because a 
 loan predicates repayment at some future date, and 
 for the sake of my self-respect as a business man I d 
 hate to make a bum loan of that magnitude on no 
 security. However, if you want to be a sport and 
 grant me a little favour in return, you can." 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 295 
 
 "Name it, friend." 
 
 "As soon as you have been recognized by the 
 United States, I want you to have your ambassador 
 in Washington make representations to my govern 
 ment that the present American consul in Sobrante 
 is not acceptable to your government. That fellow 
 is a disgrace to my native land and I want him fired." 
 
 "It shall be my first official act after freeing my 
 country from a tyrant s yoke." 
 
 "Another little favour also, Ricardo." This time 
 Webster spoke in English. 
 
 "Fire away." 
 
 "After I give you this money, I don t want the 
 Doctor and the Colonel to kiss me to show how grate 
 ful they are." 
 
 "You wonderful fellow! Jack Webster, if I had a 
 sister I should want her to marry you." 
 
 "Shows how little you d think of your sister 
 staking her to a sentimental jackass. Shall I cable 
 the money to New Orleans in the morning? I have a 
 letter of credit for my entire bank-roll, and I can give 
 a draft at the Banco Nacional, and have them cable a 
 New Orleans bank." 
 
 "That will do very nicely." 
 
 "To whom shall I cable the money?" 
 
 "Send it to the Picayune National Bank of New 
 Orleans, with instructions to credit account Number 
 246, J. E. P., trustee. In this little game we are 
 playing, my friend, it is safer to deal in numbers and 
 initials rather than names. The local cable office 
 leaks quite regularly." 
 
296 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 "Very well, Ricardo, I ll attend to it first thing 
 in the morning. Where are you going to armour that 
 motor truck?" 
 
 "If you ll have it run over to the nitrate company s 
 machine shop at the railway terminus the foreman 
 there will attend to the job and keep the truck under 
 cover until Friday night, when they ll run it back 
 to Leber s warehouse for the machine guns Sunday 
 morning." 
 
 "Is Leber in on this deal?" 
 
 "He is not. What Leber doesn t know will no 
 worry him. He doesn t live in his warehouse, you 
 know. We re just going to take possession after 
 dark, when the water-front is absolutely deserted. 
 There s a concert on the Malecon that night, and 
 everybody who can ride or walk will be out there 
 listening to it." 
 
 Webster nodded his approval of Ricardo s clever 
 plans. "All right, old man, go to it and win, or 
 there ll be several new faces whining around the devil, 
 not the least of which will be mine. When you 
 charge, remember you re charging for my forty 
 thousand dollars and go through with it. ; I worked 
 rather hard for that forty thousand, and if I must 
 lose it, I do not want to do it in a half-hearted fight. 
 Give me, at least, a bloody run for my money. I ll 
 have a reserved seat somewhere watching the game." 
 
 "If you ll take my advice, you ll go aboard La 
 Estrellita and stay there until the issue is decided. 
 When the first gun is fired, it signals the open season 
 on mining engineers who butt in on affairs of state." 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 297 
 
 "What! And me with a healthy bet down on the 
 result! I hope I m a better sport than that." 
 
 "You re incorrigible. Be careful, then, and don t 
 get yourself potted by a stray bullet. When these 
 brownies of mine get excited, they shoot at every 
 head in sight." 
 
 "Shall I see you fellows before the blow-off?" 
 
 "I scarcely think so." 
 
 "Then if you re through with me, I ll bid you all 
 good-bye and good luck. I ll have dinner with you 
 in the palace Sunday evening." 
 
 "Taken." 
 
 "May I bring a guest?" 
 
 "By all means." 
 
 Webster shook hands with the trio and departed 
 fdr his hotel. For the first time in many years he 
 vjss heavy of heart, crushed. "Neddy Jerome was 
 rigLc," he soliloquized. "This is the last place on 
 e*rth for me to have come to. I ve made Neddy 
 sore on me, and he s lost patience and put another 
 man in the job he promised me; I ve raised Billy s 
 hopes sky-high and had to bet forty thousand dollars 
 to keep them there; I ve been fool enough to fall in 
 love with my friend s fiancee; I m a human cat s-paw, 
 and the finest thing I can do now is to go out next 
 Sunday morning with that machine-gun company 
 from Leber s warehouse and get killed. And I 
 would, too, in a holy second, if killing a dozen of these 
 spiggoties were part of a mining engineer s business. 
 I just don t belong in this quarrel and I cannot kill 
 for pleasure or profit. All I get out of this deal is 
 
298 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 gratitude and empty honour, where I dreamed of 
 love and a home in my old age. John Stuart Web 
 ster, the family friend ! Well, after all, it isn t every 
 old sour-dough that has an opportunity to be a 
 liberator, and even if I have lost Dolores, I have 
 this melancholy satisfaction: I have a rattling good 
 chance of getting that scrubby American consul." 
 
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE 
 
 THE following morning Webster informed Do 
 lores fully of his interview with her brother and 
 his confreres the night before, concealing from 
 her only the fact that he was financing the revolu 
 tion and his reasons for financing it. He was still 
 depressed, and Dolores, observing his mood, forbore 
 to intrude upon it. Intuitively she realized that 
 when a man is worried and harassed by matters he 
 cannot or dares hot divulge, he dislikes being talked 
 to, but prefers to be alone and wrestle with them in 
 silence. Accordingly she claimed the prerogative of 
 her sex a slight headache and retreated to her 
 room, jn the privacy of which she was suddenly very 
 much surprised to find herself weeping softly because 
 John Stuart Webster was unhappy and didn t deserve 
 to be. 
 
 It was impossible, however, for Webster long to 
 remain impervious to the note of ridiculousness un 
 derlying the forthcoming tragic events. Here was a 
 little two-by-four poverty-stricken hot-bed of ignor 
 ance and intrigue calling itself a republic, a little 
 stretch of country no larger than a couple of big 
 western counties, about to indulge in the national 
 pastime of civil war and unable to do it except by 
 grace of an humble citizen of a sister republic! 
 
 299 
 
300 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 Five thousand ignorant, ill-equipped, ill-drilled 
 semi-brigands calling themselves soldiers, entrusted 
 with the task of enabling one of their number, to ride, 
 horse and dog, over a million people! 
 
 How farcical! No wonder Ricardo, with his 
 northern viewpoint, approached his patriotic task 
 with gayety, almost with contempt. And when 
 Webster recalled that the about-to-be-born provi 
 sional government had casually borrowed from him 
 the sum of forty thousand dollars in order to turn 
 the trick borrowing it, forsooth, in much the same 
 spirit as a commuter boarding his train without the 
 necessary fare hails a neighbour and borrows ten 
 cents his natural optimism asserted itself and he 
 chuckled as in fancy he heard himself telling the 
 story to Neddy Jerome and being branded a iiar for 
 his pains. 
 
 "Well, I ve had one comfort ever since I first saw 
 that girl," he reflected philosophically. "While I ve 
 never been so unhappy in all my life before, or had 
 to tear my soul out by the roots so often, things have 
 been coming my way so fast from other directions 
 that I haven t had much opportunity to dwell on 
 the matter. And for these compensating offsets, 
 good Lord, I thank thee." 
 
 He was John Stuart Webster again when Dolores 
 saw him next; during the succeeding days his mood 
 of cheerfulness and devil-may-care indifference never 
 left him. And throughout that period of marking 
 time Dolores was much in his society, a condition 
 which he told himself was not to his liking but which, 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 301 
 
 nevertheless, he could not obviate without seeming 
 indifferent to her happiness. And to permit his 
 friend s fiancee to languish in loneliness and 
 heart-break did not appear to John Stuart Webster 
 as the part of a true friend or a courtly gentleman 
 and he remembered that she had once called him 
 that. 
 
 They rode together in the cool of the morning; 
 they drove together on the Malecon in the cool of 
 the evening; chaperoned by Don Juan Cafetero and 
 a grinning Sobrantean, they went shark-fishing in 
 Leber s launch; they played dominoes together; they 
 discussed, throughout the long, lazy, quiet afternoons, 
 when the remainder of their world retired for the 
 siesta, books, art, men, women, and things. 
 
 And not once, throughout those two weeks of 
 camaraderie, did the heart-racked Webster forget for 
 a single instant that he was the new friend, destined 
 to become the old friend; never, to the girl s watchful 
 eyes, did he betray the slightest disposition to estab 
 lish their friendly relations on a closer basis. 
 
 Thus did the arrival of The Day find them. To 
 ward sunset they rode out together along the bay 
 shore and noted far out to sea the smear of smoke that 
 marked the approach of La Estrellita on schedule 
 time. As they jogged homeward in the dusk, her 
 red and green side-lights were visible as she crept 
 into the harbour; above the sobbing murmur of the 
 Caribbean wavelets they heard the scream of her 
 winches and the rattle of chain as her anchor bit 
 the bottom. 
 
302 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 "You will go aboard her to-night," Webster said 
 very quietly to Dolores. 
 
 "And you?" 
 
 "I shall go aboard with you. I have arranged 
 with Don Juan for him to stay ashore and to come 
 out in Leber s launch with the first reliable news of 
 the conflict. If Ricardo wins the city, he wins the 
 revolution, and you and I will then go ashore to 
 dine with him in the palace. If he loses the city, 
 he loses the revolution, and we will both do well to 
 remain aboard La Estrellita." 
 
 "And in that event, what will become of my 
 brother?" 
 
 "I do not know; I forgot to ask him, but if he sur 
 vives, I imagine he ll have sense enough to know he s 
 whipped and will retreat on San Bruno, fighting a 
 rear-guard action, embark aboard the steamer that 
 brought his men there, and escape." 
 
 "But he has so few men," she quavered. 
 
 "Two hundred of them are white soldiers of for 
 tune and you must remember how Walker man 
 handled Nicaragua with that number of men." 
 
 "I m worried about Mother Jenks." 
 
 "I have asked Mother Jenks to dine with us at 
 seven-thirty this evening, and have ordered a carriage 
 to call for her. When she comes I ll tell her every 
 thing; then, if she wishes to stay ashore, let her. 
 She s been through more than one such fracas and 
 doesn t mind them at all, I dare say." 
 
 And in this Webster was right. Mother Jenks 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 303 
 
 listened in profound silence, nodding her approval, as 
 Webster related to her the story of the advent in the 
 country of Ricardo Ruey and his plans, but without 
 revealing the identity of Andrew Bowers. 
 
 At the conclusion of his recital the old publican 
 merely said : " Gor bli me ! " 
 
 After a silence she added: "My sainted Enery 
 used to s y the proper hodds for a white man in a 
 bally row o this nature was forty to one. The 
 spiggoty, says e, shoots from is ip, but the wisitin 
 brother s spent is prenticeship at the butts some- 
 w ere or other an as bloomin well learned to sight 
 an old his breath arf in an arf out when e pulls. 
 Gor , but how my sainted Enery would henjoy bein 
 ere this night to elp with the guns." She sighed. 
 
 "How about a little bottle of wine to drink peace to 
 your sainted Henry and luck to The Cause? " Webster 
 suggested. 
 
 "That s wot I calls talkin ," Mother Jenks re 
 sponded promptly, and Webster, gazing reflectively 
 at the old lady s beard, wondered why she had not 
 been born a man. 
 
 Dolores, fearful for her benefactor s safety, urged 
 Mother Jenks to accompany them out aboard La 
 Estrellita, but the old dame indignantly refused, 
 and when pressed for a reason gave it with the utmost 
 frankness: "They ll be tykin Sarros, an when they 
 tyke im they ll back him ag in the same wall he 
 backed my sainted Enery and your father against, 
 my dear. I ve a notion that your father s son ll 
 let Mrs. Colonel Enery Jenks come to the party." 
 
304 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 At ten o clock Webster accompanied Mother Jenks 
 home in the carriage, which he dismissed at El Buen 
 Amigo with instructions to return to the hotel 
 while he continued afoot down the Calle San Rosario 
 to the bay, where Leber s huge corrugated-iron ware 
 house loomed darkly above high-water mark. If 
 there was light within, it was not visible, but Webster, 
 pausing and listening at one corner of the great struc 
 ture, could hear the confused murmur of many voices, 
 with an occasional hearty oath in English rising 
 above the murmur. 
 
 He slipped along in the deep shadow of the ware 
 house wall and out on the end of the little dock, 
 where he satisfied himself that Leber s launch was 
 at its moorings; then he went back to the warehouse 
 and whistled softly, whereupon a man crawled out 
 from under the structure and approached him. It 
 was Don Juan Cafetero. 
 
 "They re all inside," he whispered and laid finger 
 on lip. "A lad came down at eight o clock, took 
 Leber s launch an wint out to the steamer afther 
 thim. They got in half an hour ago, an divil a 
 sowl the wiser save meself." 
 
 " Thank you, John. Now that I know the coast is 
 clear and the launch ready, I ll go back to the hotel 
 for Miss Ruey." 
 
 "Very well, sor," Don Juan replied, and crawled 
 back under the warehouse. 
 
 Half an hour later the sound of hoofbeats warned 
 him of the approach of Webster and Dolores in a 
 carriage, and he came forth, loaded in the launch 
 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 305 
 
 such baggage as they had been enabled to bring, and 
 held the gunwale of the boat while his passengers 
 stepped aboard. 
 
 While Don Juan cast off the painter, Webster 
 primed the motor and turned it over; with a snort it 
 started, and under Webster s guidance the launch 
 backed swiftly out into the bay, where Don Juan 
 lighted the side-lights and riding-light, and loafed off 
 into the darkness. 
 
 About a half a mile off shore Webster throttled 
 down the motor until the launch barely made steerage 
 way. "It would never do to go aboard the steamer 
 before the fracas started ashore," he explained to 
 Dolores. "That would indicate a guilty knowledge 
 of coming events, and in the event of disaster to the 
 rebel arms it is just possible Sefior Sarros might have 
 pull enough, if he hears of our flight six hours in ad 
 vance of hostilities, to take us off the steamer and ask 
 us to explain. So we ll just cruise slowly around and 
 listen; the attack will come just before dawn; then 
 shortly thereafter we can scurry out to the steamer 
 and be welcomed aboard for the sake of the news we 
 bring." 
 
 She did not answer, and Webster knew her thoughts 
 were out where the arc-lights on the outskirts of 
 Buenaventura met the open country out where 
 the brother she could scarcely remember and whom, 
 until a month previous, she had believed dead, would 
 shortly muster his not too numerous followers. 
 
 In the darkness Webster could hear the click of 
 her beads as she prayed; on the turtle deck forward 
 
306 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 Don Juan Cafetero sprawled, thinking perchance of 
 his unlovely past and wondering what effect the 
 events shortly to transpire ashore would have on his 
 future. He wished Webster would relent and offer 
 him a drink some time within the next twenty-four 
 hours. In times of excitement like the present a man 
 needs a drop to brace him up. 
 
 Five times the launch slipped lazily down the 
 harbour along the straggling two mile water-front; 
 five times it loafed back. The moon, which was in 
 the first quarter, sank. For the hundredth time 
 Don Juan Cafetero chanted dolorously "The Death 
 of Sarsfield" and the tuneful glories of the late 
 O Donnel Abu and then to Webster s alert ear there 
 floated across the still waters the sound of a gentle 
 purring the music of an auto-truck. He set the 
 launch in toward Leber s little dock, and presently 
 they saw the door of Leber s warehouse open. Men 
 with lanterns streamed forth, lighting the way for 
 others who bore between them heavy burdens. 
 
 "They re emplacing the machine guns in the 
 motor- truck," he whispered to Dolores. "We will 
 not have to wait long now. It s nearly four o clock." 
 
 Again they backed out into the bay until they could 
 see far out over the sleeping city to the hills beyond 
 in the west. Presently along the side of those hills 
 the headlight of a locomotive crept, dropping swiftly 
 down grade until it disappeared in the lowlands. 
 
 A half -hour passed; then to the south of the city 
 a rocket flared skyward; almost instantly another 
 flared from the west, followed presently by a murmur, 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 307 
 
 scarcely audible, as of a muffled snare drum, punc 
 tuated presently by a louder, sharper, insistent puck- 
 puck-puck-puck that, had Webster but known it, was 
 the bark of a Maxim- Vickers rapid-fire gun throw 
 ing a stream of shells into the cantonments of the 
 government troops on the fringe of the city. 
 
 Webster s pulse quickened. He was possessed of 
 that feeling which actuates a small boy to follow the 
 fire-engines. "There goes the tillery to the south, 
 sor," Don Juan called, and even as he spoke, a shell 
 burst gloriously over the government palace, the 
 white walls of which were already looming over the 
 remainder of the city, now faintly visible in the ap 
 proaching dawn. 
 
 "That was to awaken our friend Sarros," Webster 
 cried. "I ll bet a buffalo nickel that woke the old 
 horsethief up. There s another and another." 
 
 The uproar swelled, the noise gradually drifting 
 around the city from west to south, forming, seem 
 ingly, a semicircle of sound. "The government 
 troops are up and doing now," Webster observed, 
 and speeded up his motor. "I think it high time 
 we played the part of frightened refugees. When 
 that machine-gun company with its infantry escort 
 starts up through the city from Leber s warehouse 
 it may encounter early opposition and I ve heard 
 that Mauser bullets kill at three miles. Some strays 
 may drop out here in the bay." 
 
 He speeded the launch toward La Estrellita, and 
 as the craft scraped in alongside the great steamer s 
 companion landing, her skipper ran down the ladder 
 
SOS WEBSTER MAX S MAN 
 
 to greet them and inquire eagerly of the trend of 
 events ashore. 
 
 "We left in a hurry the instant it started," Web 
 ster explained. "As Americans, we didn t figure we 
 had any interest in that scrap, either way." He 
 handed Dolores out on the landing stage, tossed their 
 baggage after her and followed; Don Juan took the 
 wheel, and the launch slid out and left them there. 
 
 At the head of the companion ladder Webster 
 paused and turned for another look at Buenaventura. 
 To the west three great fires now threw a lurid light 
 skyward, mocking an equally lurid light to the east, 
 that marked the approach of daylight. He smiled. 
 "Those are the cantonment barracks burning," he 
 whispered to Dolores. " Ricardo is keeping his word. 
 He s driving the rats back into their own holes." 
 
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR 
 
 THE weeks of clean living, of abstention from 
 his wonted daily alcoholic ration, had in 
 spired in Don Juan Cafetero a revival of his 
 all but defunct interest in life; conversely, in these 
 stirring times, he was sensible of an equally acute 
 interest in Sobrantean politics, for he was Irish; and 
 flabby indeed is that son of the Green Little Isle who, 
 wherever he may be, declines to take a hand in any 
 public argument. For the love of politics, like the 
 love of home, is never dead in the Irish. It is instinct 
 with them the heritage, perhaps, of centuries of 
 oppression and suppression, which nurtures rather 
 than stifles the yearning for place and power. Now 
 as Don Juan turned Leber s launch shoreward and 
 kicked the motor wide open, he, too, descried against 
 the dawn the glare of the burning cantonments west 
 of the city, and at the sight his pulse beat high with 
 the lust of battle, the longing to be in at the death in 
 this struggle, where the hopes and aspirations of those 
 he loved were at stake. 
 
 Two months previously a revolution would have 
 been a matter of extreme indifference to Don Juan; 
 he would have reflected that it was merely the outs 
 trying to get in, and that if they succeeded, the sole 
 benefit to the general public would be the privilege 
 
 309 
 
310 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 of paying the bill. It was all very well, perhaps, 
 to appoint a new jefe politico, if only for the sake of 
 diversion, but new or old they "jugged" or booted 
 Don Juan Cafetero impartially from time to time; 
 the lowliest peon could shoulder the derelict off the 
 narrow sidewalks, while the policeman on the beat 
 looked on and grinned. Consequently, drunk or 
 sober, Don Juan would not have fought with or for 
 a Sobrantean, since he knew from experience that 
 either line of activity was certain to prove unprofit 
 able. To-day, however, in the knowledge that he 
 had an opportunity to fight beside white men and 
 perchance even up some old scores with the Guardia 
 Civil, it occurred suddenly to Don Juan that it 
 would be a brave and virtuous act to cast his lot 
 with the Ruey forces. He was a being reorganized 
 and rebuilt, and it behooved him to do something 
 to demonstrate his manhood. 
 
 Don Juan knew, of course, that should the rebels 
 lose and he be captured, he would be executed; yet 
 this contingency seemed a far-fetched one, in view of 
 the fact that he had John Stuart Webster at his back, 
 ready to finance his escape from the city. Also 
 Don Juan had had an opportunity, in the hills above 
 San Miguel de Padua, for a critical study of Ricardo 
 Ruey and had come to the conclusion that at last a 
 real man had come to liberate Sobrante; further, Don 
 Juan had had ocular evidence that John Stuart Web 
 ster was connected with the revolution, for had he 
 not smuggled Ruey into the country? It was some 
 thing to be the right-hand man of the president of 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 311 
 
 a rich little country like Sobrante; it was also some 
 thing to be as close to that right-hand man as Don 
 Juan was to his master, Webster; consequently 
 self-interest and his sporting code whispered to Don 
 Juan that it behooved him to demonstrate his loyalty 
 with every means at his command, even unto his 
 heart s blood. 
 
 "Who knows," he cogitated as the launch bore him 
 swiftly shoreward, "but what I ll acquit meself with 
 honour and get a fine job undher the new adminis- 
 thration? Tis the masther s fight, I m thinkin ; 
 then, be the same token, tis John Joseph Cafferty s, 
 win, lose or dhraw; an may the divil damn me if I 
 fail him afther what he s done for me. Sure, if 
 Gineral Ruey wins, a crook av the masther s finger 
 will make me jefe politico. An if he does hoo-roo ! 
 Hoo-ray!" 
 
 With his imagination still running riot, Don Juan 
 made the launch fast to the little dock, down which 
 he ran straight for the warehouse, where the Ruey 
 mercenaries were still congregated, busily wiping the 
 factory-grease from the weapons which had just been 
 distributed to them from the packing-cases. A sharp 
 voice halted him, he paused, panting, to find himself 
 looking down the long blue barrel of a service pistol. 
 
 "Who are you, and what are you doing here?" 
 the man behind the weapon demanded brusquely. 
 
 "I m Private John J. Cafferty, the latest recruit 
 to the Ruey army," Don Juan answered composedly. 
 "Who did ye think I was? Private secreth ry to 
 that divil Sarros? Man, dear, lower that gun av 
 
312 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 yours, for God knows I m nervous enough as it is. 
 Have ye somethin ye could give me to fight wit, 
 avic?" 
 
 The man who had challenged him a lank, 
 swarthy individual from the Mexican border looked 
 him over with twinkling eyes. "You ll do, Cafferty, 
 old-timer," he drawled, "and if you don t, you ll wish 
 you had. There s a man for every rifle just now, but 
 I wouldn t be surprised if there d be a right smart 
 more rifles than men before a great while. Help 
 yourself to the gun o the first man that goes down; 
 in the meantime, hop into that there truck and keep 
 the cartridge belt for the machine guns full up. 
 You re just in time." 
 
 Without further ado Don Juan climbed into the 
 truck. A little citadel of sheet steel had been built 
 around the driver s seat, with a narrow slit in front 
 through which the latter peered out. The body of 
 the truck had been boxed in with the same material 
 and housed two machine guns, emplaced, and a crew 
 of half a dozen men crouched on the floor, busily en 
 gaged in loading the belts. Four motor bicycles, 
 with sturdy, specially built side-cars attached, and 
 a machine gun in each side-car, were waiting near 
 by, together with a half-dozen country carts loaded 
 with ammunition cases and drawn by horses. 
 
 "How soon do we start?" Don Juan demanded 
 anxiously, as he crowded in beside one of his new 
 found comrades. 
 
 "I believe," this individual replied in the unmis 
 takable accents of an Oxford man, " that the plan is 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 313 
 
 to wait until five o clock; by that time all the govern 
 ment troops that can be spared from the arsenal 
 and palace will have been dispatched to the fighting 
 now taking place west of the city. Naturally, the 
 government forces aren t anticipating an attack from 
 the rear, and .so they will, in all probability, weaken 
 their base. I believe that eases our task; certainly 
 it will save us many men." 
 
 Don Juan nodded his entire approval to this shrewd 
 plan of campaign and fell to stuffing cartridges in the 
 web belting, the while he whistled softly, unmusically, 
 and with puffing, hissing sounds between his snaggle 
 teeth, until a Sobrantean gentleman (it was Doctor 
 Pacheco) came out of the warehouse and gave the 
 order to proceed. 
 
 They moved out silently, the Sobrantean rebels 
 falling into line behind the auto-truck, the motorcycle 
 battery, and the transport-carts, all of which were in 
 charge of the machine gun company. They marched 
 along the water-front for four blocks and then turned 
 up a side street, which happened to be the Calle de 
 Concordia, thus enabling Mother Jenks, who was 
 peering from the doorway of El Buen Amigo, to see 
 them coming. 
 
 "Hah!" she muttered. " Enery, they re comin . 
 The worm is turnin , Enery; fifteen years you ve 
 wyted for vengeance, my love, but to-d y you ll get 
 it." 
 
 She waddlea out into the street and held up her 
 hand in a gesture as authoritative and imperious as 
 that of a traffic officer. "Batter-r-ry alt!" she 
 
314 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 croaked. She had heard the late Enery give that 
 command often enough to have acquired the exact 
 inflection necessary to make an impression upon men 
 accustomed to obeying such a command whenever 
 given. Instinctively the column slowed up; some 
 of the Foreign Legion, old coast-artillerists, no doubt, 
 came to a halt with promptness and precision; all 
 stared at Mother Jenks. 
 
 "Ow about arf a dozen cases o* good brandy for 
 the wounded?" Mother Jenks suggested. "An 
 ow about a bally old woman for a Red Cross nurse? " 
 
 "You re on, ma am," the foreign leader replied 
 promptly, and translated the old lady s suggestion to 
 Doctor Pacheco, who accepted gracefully and thanked 
 Mother Jenks in purest Castilian. So a detail of six 
 men was told off to carry the six cases of brandy out 
 of El Buen Amigo and load them on the ammunition 
 carts; then Mother Jenks crawled up into the ar 
 moured truck with the machine-gun crew, and the 
 column once more took up its line of rapid march. 
 
 The objective of this unsuspected force within the 
 city was, as Ricardo Ruey shrewdly suspected it 
 might be, poorly garrisoned. Usually a force of 
 fully five hundred men was stationed at the national 
 arsenal, but the sharp, savage attack from the west, 
 so sudden and unexpected, had thrown Sarros into 
 a panic and left him no time to plan his defence 
 carefully. His first thought had been to send all his 
 available forces to support the troops bearing the 
 brunt of the rebel attack, and it was tremendously 
 important that this should be done very promptly, 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 315 
 
 in view of the lack of information concerning the 
 numerical force of the enemy; consequently he had 
 reduced the arsenal force to one hundred men and 
 retained only his favorite troop of the Guards and 
 one company of the Fifteenth Infantry to protect the 
 palace. 
 
 Acting under hastily given telephonic orders, the 
 commanding officer at the cantonment barracks had 
 detailed a few hundred men to fight a rear-guard 
 action while the main army fell back in good order 
 behind a railway embankment which swept in a 
 wide arc around the city and offered an excellent 
 substitute for breastworks. This position had scarcely 
 been attained before the furious advance of the rebels 
 drove in the rear guard, and pending the capture of 
 the arsenal, Ricardo realized his operations were at 
 an impasse. Promptly he dug himself in, and the 
 battle developed into a brisk affair* of give and take, 
 involving meagre losses to both factions but an ap 
 palling wastage of ammunition. 
 
 The arsenal, a large, modern concrete building 
 with tremendously thick walls reinforced by steel, 
 would have offered fairly good resistance to the 
 average field .battery. Surrounding it on all four 
 sides was a reinforced concrete wall thirty feet high, 
 with machine-gun bastions at each corner and a plat 
 form along the wall, inside and twenty-five feet from 
 the ground, which afforded foot room for infantry 
 which could use the top five feet of the wall for pro 
 tection while firing over it. There was but one 
 entrance, a heavy, barred steel gate which was always 
 
316 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 kept locked when it was not necessary to have it 
 opened for ingress or egress. Given warning of an 
 attack and with sufficient time to prepare for it, 
 one hundred of the right sort of fighting men could 
 withstand an indefinite siege by a force not provided 
 with artillery heavier than an ordinary field gun. 
 With a full realization of this, therefore, Ricardo 
 and his confreres had designed to accomplish by 
 strategy that which could not be done by the limited 
 forces at their command. 
 
 The tread of marching men, the purr of the motor 
 cycles and the armoured truck, during the progress 
 of the invaders up the Calle de Concordia, aroused 
 the dwellers in that thoroughfare. Those who ap 
 peared in their doorways, however, as promptly 
 disappeared upon recognizing this indubitable evi 
 dence of local disturbance. As the column ap 
 proached the neighbourhood of the arsenal, three 
 detachments broke away from the main body and 
 disappeared down side streets, to turn at right angles 
 later and march parallel with the main command. 
 Each of these detachments was accompanied by one 
 unit of the motorcycle-mounted machine-gun bat 
 tery with its white crew; two blocks beyond the 
 arsenal square each detachment leader so disposed 
 his men as to offer spirited resistance to any sortie 
 that might be made by the troops from the palace 
 in the hope of driving off the attackers of the arsenal. 
 
 Having thus provided for protection during its 
 operations, the main body nominally under Doctor 
 Pacheco but in reality commanded by the chief of the 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 317 
 
 machine-gun company, proceeded to operate. With 
 the utmost assurance in the world the armoured 
 truck rolled down the street to the arsenal entrance, 
 swung in and pointed its impudent nose straight at 
 the iron bars while the hidden chauffeur called loudly 
 and profanely in Spanish upon the sentry to open 
 the gate and let him in that there was necessity 
 for great hurry, since he had been sent down from the 
 palace by the presidente himself, for machine guns to 
 equip this armoured motor-car. The sentry im 
 mediately called the officer of the guard, who peered 
 out, observed nothing but the motor-truck, which 
 seemed far from dangerous, and without further ado 
 inserted a huge key in the lock and turned the bolt. 
 The sentry swung the double gates ajar, and with a 
 prolonged and raucous toot of its horn the big car 
 loafed in. The sentry closed the gate .again, while 
 the officer stepped up to turn the key in the lock. 
 Instead, he died with half a dozen pistol bullets 
 through his body, while the sentry sprawled beside 
 him. 
 
 The prolonged toot of the motor-horn had been 
 the signal agreed upon to apprise the detachment 
 waiting in a secluded back street that the truck was 
 inside the arsenal wall. With a yell they swept 
 
 i out of the side street and down on the gate, through 
 which they poured into the arsenal grounds. At 
 sound of the first shot at the gate, the comandante 
 
 I of the garrison, which had been drawn up in double 
 rank for reveille roll call, realized he was attacked 
 and that swift measures were necessary. Fortu- 
 
318 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 nately for him, his men were standing at attention 
 at the time, preparatory to receiving from him one of 
 those ante-battle exhortations so dear to the Latin 
 soul. 
 
 A sharp command, and the little garrison had 
 fixed bayonets; another command, and they were 
 in line of squads; before the auto-truck could be 
 swung sideways to permit a machine gun to play on 
 the Sobranteans in close formation, the latter had 
 thrown out a skirmish line and were charging;, while 
 from the guardhouse window, just inside the gate, 
 a volley, poured into the unprotected rear of the 
 truck following its passage through the gate, did 
 deadly execution. The driver, a bullet through his 
 back, sagged forward into his steel-clad citadel; both 
 machine-gun operators were wounded, and the truck 
 was stalled. The situation was desperate. 
 
 "I m a gone goose," mourned Don Juan Cafetero, 
 and he leaped from the shambles to the ground, with 
 some hazy notion of making his escape through the 
 gate. He was too late. Two men, riding tandem 
 on a motorcycle with a machine gun in the specially 
 constructed side-car, appeared in the entrance and 
 leaped off; almost before Don Juan had time to 
 dodge behind the motor-truck to escape possible 
 wild bullets, the machine gun was sweeping the on 
 coming skirmish line. Don Juan cheered as man 
 after man of the garrison pitched on his face, for the 
 odds were rapidly being evened now, greatly to the 
 pleasure of the men charging through the gate to 
 support the machine gun. Out into the arsenal 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 319 
 
 yard they swept, forcing the machine-gun crew to 
 cease firing because of the danger of killing their own 
 men ; with a shock bayonet met bayonet in the centre 
 of the yard, and the issue was up for prompt and 
 final decision. 
 
 Don Juan s Hibernian blood thrilled; he cast about 
 for a weapon in this emergency, and his glance rested 
 on the body of the dead officer beside the gate. To 
 possess himself of the latter s heavy "cut-and- 
 thrust" sword was the work of seconds, and with a 
 royal good will Don Juan launched himself into the 
 heart of the scrimmage. He had a hazy impression 
 that he was striking and stabbing, that others were 
 striking and stabbing at him, that men crowded 
 and breathed and pressed and swore and grunted 
 around him, that the fighting-room was no better 
 than it might have been but was rapidly improving. 
 Then the gory fog lifted, and Doctor Pacheco had 
 Don Juan by the hand; they stood together in the 
 arsenal entrance, and the little Doctor was explaining 
 to the war-mad Don Juan that all was over in so far 
 as the arsenal was concerned the survivors of the 
 garrison having surrendered that now, having the 
 opportunity, he, Doctor Pacheco, desired to thank 
 Don Juan Cafetero for his life. Don Juan looked at 
 him amazedly, for he hadn t the slightest idea what 
 the Doctor was talking about. He spat, gazed 
 around at the litter of corpses on the arsenal lawn, 
 and nodded his red head approvingly. 
 
 In an incredibly short space of time the news that 
 the arsenal had been captured and that Sarros was 
 
320 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 besieged in the palace spread through the city. The 
 sight of the red banner of revolution floating over 
 the arsenal for the first time in fifteen years brought 
 hundreds of willing recruits to the rebel ranks, as 
 Ricardo Ruey had anticipated; these were quickly 
 supplied with arms and ammunition; by ten o clock 
 a battalion had been formed and sent off, together 
 with the machine-gun company, to connect with the 
 San Bruno contingent advancing from the south to 
 turn the flank of the government troops, while the 
 equipping of an additional battalion proceeded within 
 the. arsenal. As fast as the new levies were armed, 
 they were hurried off to reinforce the handful of 
 white men who had, after clearing the arsenal, 
 advanced on the palace and now, with machine guns 
 from the arsenal commanding all avenues of escape 
 from the trap wherein Sarros found himself, were 
 calmly awaiting developments, merely keeping an eye 
 open for snipers. 
 
 Thus the forenoon passed away. By one o clock 
 Don Juan Cafetero who in the absence of close- 
 range fighting had elected himself ordnance sergeant 
 passed out the last rifle and ammunition. He was 
 red with slaughter, slippery with gun-grease, dripping 
 with perspiration and filthy with dust and dirt. 
 "Begorra," he declared, "a cowld bottle av beer 
 would go fine now." Then, recalling his limitations, 
 he sighed and put the thought from him. It revived 
 in him, however, for the first time since he had left 
 the steamer, a memory of John Stuart Webster, and 
 his promise to the latter to report on the progress 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 of the war. So Don Juan sought Doctor Pacheco 
 in his headquarters and learned that a signal-man, 
 heliographing from the roof of the arsenal, had been 
 in communication with General Ruey, who reported 
 the situation well in hand, with no doubt of an over 
 whelming victory before the day should be over. 
 This and sundry other bits of information Don Juan 
 gleaned and then deserted the Sobrantean revolu 
 tionary army quite as casually as he had joined it, to 
 make his precarious way down the Calle San Rosario 
 to the bay. 
 
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE 
 
 THROUGHOUT the forenoon Webster and 
 Dolores, from the deck of the steamer, watched 
 v ^the city. Numerous fires covered it with a 
 pall of smoke from beneath which came the steady 
 crackle of machine-gun fire, mingled with the insist 
 ent crash of the field batteries which seemingly had 
 moved up closer to their target. 
 
 By ten o clock the sounds of battle had swelled to 
 a deeper, steadier roar, and refugees arriving brought 
 various and fragmentary stories of the fighting. 
 From this hodge-podge of misinformation, however, 
 Webster decided that Ricardo s troops were forcing 
 the issue with vim and determination, and since 
 the most furious fighting was now well in toward the 
 heart of the city, it seemed reasonable to presume the 
 struggle was for possession of the arsenal and palace. 
 
 At noon the deep diapason of conflict began to 
 slacken; by one o clock it had dwindled considerably, 
 and at two o clock Webster, gazing anxiously city 
 ward, observed Leber s launch coming rapidly out 
 from shore. At the wheel stood Don Juan Cafetero; 
 as the launch shot in under the vessel s side he looked 
 up, searching for Webster s face among the curious 
 throng that lined the rail. 
 
 " Faugh-a-ballagh ! " he shrieked. " We ve got the 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 323 
 
 divils cornered now. Twill be over two hours 
 hince." 
 
 "Who has won?" a voice called, and another, 
 evidently a humourist and a shrewd judge of human 
 nature, replied: "Why ask foolish questions? The 
 rebels, of course. That fellow s Irish and the Irish 
 are born rebels. Look at the scoundrel. He s 
 black with gun-grease and burned powder where he 
 isn t red with blood. The butcher!" 
 
 Don Juan tied up the launch at the gangway and 
 leaped up the ladder, three steps at a time. " Glory 
 be to God," he panted and hurled himself into Web 
 ster s arms. "I was in it! I was. I got back in 
 time to catch up wit the lads at the warehouse an 
 they were the fine, fightin divils, I ll gamble you. 
 Och, twas a grrand bit av a fight whilst it lasted. 
 They put me in the motor-thruck, loadin the belts 
 wit ca tridges as fast as the gunners imptied thim, 
 but faith they couldn t keep me there. I got into 
 the heart av the scrimmage in the yard av the arsenal 
 an faith twas well for that little Docthor Pacheco 
 I did. *Twas wurrk to me likin*. I d a ma 
 chete " 
 
 "You bloodthirsty scoundrel!" Webster shook the 
 war-mad son of Erin. "I told you not to mix in it, 
 but to hang around on the fringe of the fight, and 
 bring us early news. Suppose you d been killed? 
 Who would have come for us then? Didn t I tell 
 you we had a dinner engagement in the palace?" 
 
 "Me on the fringes av a fight," sputtered Don 
 Juan, amazed and outraged. "Take shame for yer- 
 
324 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 self, sor. There was niver the likes av me hung 
 around the fringes av a fight, an well ye know it." 
 
 "I m amazed that you even remembered your in 
 structions," Webster rasped at him. 
 
 "Sure, <eur division had cl aned up nicely an I 
 had nothin else to do, God bless ye. They were 
 besiegin the palace whin I left, an small chance av 
 takin it for a couple av hours; what fightin* there 
 was on the outside was shtreet shootin an not to 
 me likin ." 
 
 "Is it quite safe to bring Miss Ruey ashore, 
 John?" 
 
 " Tis safe enough at the Hotel Mateo. We have 
 the city for half a mile beyant, in the rear av them 
 an they re not fightin to get to the bay. The 
 Guards an some av the Fifteenth Inf anthry regimint 
 are in the palace an the cuartel close by, an thim 
 that we failed to get in the arsenal have j ined thim. 
 But the bulk av the Sarros army is thryin to break 
 t rough to the south an west, to get to the hills. 
 D ye mind the spur thrack that runs in a semi-cirrcle 
 around the city? Well, thin, the rebels are behint 
 the einbankmint, takin it aisy. Have no worry, 
 sor. Whin we ve took the palace we ll move on an 
 dhrive the vagabones from behint up to that railroad 
 embankmint, where Gineral Ruey can bid them the 
 time av day." 
 
 Webster turned to Dolores. Do you wish to go 
 ashore?" 
 
 She nodded, her flashing eyes bent in admiration 
 upon the gory, grimy Don Juan Cafetero, for she was 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 325 
 
 half Irish, and in that amazing meeting she knew the 
 outcast for one of her blood. "I think my brother 
 will sleep in his father s old room to-night," she mur 
 mured softly. "And I would sleep in mine." 
 
 They followed Don Juan down the gangway to 
 the launch and sped back to the city. The door of 
 Leber s warehouse stood wide open; within was a 
 litter of greasy rags and broken packing cases, with 
 Leber, quite mystified, sitting on a keg of nails and 
 staring curiously at it all. 
 
 Guided by Don Juan Cafetero, Webster and 
 Dolores passed on up the Calle San Rosario. Occa 
 sionally a bullet, fired two or three miles to the 
 west, droned lazily overhead or dropped l with a 
 sharp metallic sound on the corrugated-iron roofs of 
 a building. At the hotel the proprietor alone was in 
 evidence, seated behind the desk smoking in pro 
 found indifference. 
 
 In response to Webster s eager inquiries for the 
 latest news from the front, the placid fellow shrugged 
 and murmured: "Quien sabe ?" Evidently for him 
 such stirring scenes had long since lost their novelty; 
 the bloom was off the peach, as it were. 
 
 Webster went upstairs and helped himself to an 
 other automatic and several spare clips of shells 
 which he had left in his trunk. On his return to the 
 lobby, Dolores saw what a very near sighted person, 
 indeed, would have seen to wit: that he was not 
 pleased to remain in the hotel and with the spirit of 
 adventure strong within him was desirous of pro 
 gressing still farther toward the firing, in the hope 
 
326 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 of eliciting some favourable news as to the progress 
 of the fight. She realized, however, that he would 
 do his duty and remain with her in the hotel; so she 
 said gaily: 
 
 "Suppose we walk out a little farther, Caliph. 
 Many of the side streets will be as safe and peaceful 
 as one could desire, and if warfare should develop in 
 our vicinity we can step into some house." 
 
 "I do not like to have you run the slightest 
 
 risk " he began, but she pooh-poohed him into 
 
 silence, took him by the arm with a great air of 
 camaraderie, and declared they should go forth to 
 adventure but cautiously. 
 
 Webster glanced at Don Juan. "We can go a 
 half or three quarters av a mile out the Calle San 
 Rosario, sor," the Irishman answered. "After that 
 twill not be a pleasant sight for the young leddy 
 an there may be some shootin . Squads av the gov- 
 ernmint throops took refuge in the houses an took 
 to snipin*. Twill be shlow wurrk roundin the last 
 av thim up. Even afther the fight is over, there ll 
 be scatterin shootin scrapes all av the night long, 
 I m thinkin ." 
 
 "At the slightest danger we ll turn back," Web 
 ster announced, and with Don Juan Cafetero scout 
 ing the way a block in advance they progressed slowly 
 toward the centre of the disturbance. 
 
 Soon they passed a horse dead in the middle of the 
 street; a little farther on one of the machine-gun 
 company, a lank Texan, sat on the curb rolling a 
 cigarette with his left hand. He had a bullet through 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 327 
 
 his right shoulder and another through the calf of 
 his left leg and had received no first aid attention; 
 the flies were bothering him considerably and he was 
 cursing softly and fluently, like the ex-mule-skinner 
 he was. 
 
 Farther on another white invader lay face down 
 in the gutter; for him the fight had ended almost ere 
 it had begun. In the next block half a dozen sandal- 
 footed Sobranteans, in the blue and red-trimmed 
 uniform of the Guardia Civil, lay spawled in uncouth 
 attitudes, where the first blast of a machine gun 
 had caught them as they rushed out of the police 
 station to repel the advancing mercenaries. 
 
 Seeing that the main street of the city would as 
 sume even a more grisly aspect the longer they fol 
 lowed it, Don Juan led Webster and Dolores a 
 couple of blocks down a cross-street and turned out 
 into the Calle de Hernandez, parallel to the Calle San 
 Rosario. There had been no shooting in this street, 
 apparently; as they proceeded not even a stray bullet 
 whined down the silent calle. 
 
 Four blocks from the government palace, however, 
 they found the narrow sidewalks of this quiet street 
 lined with wounded from both sides, with a doctor 
 and half a dozen of Ricardo s hired fighters minister 
 ing to them; as they threaded their way between the 
 recumbent figures they came upon Mother Jenks, 
 brandy bottle and glass in hand, "doing her bit." 
 
 "Hah! So here you are, my lamb," she greeted 
 Dolores. "Right-o. Just where yer ought to be, 
 Gor* bless yer sweet face. Let these poor misfor- 
 
328 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 tunate lads see that the sister o the new president 
 ain t too proud to care for em. Ere, lass. Old 
 up the ead o this young cockerel with the ole in is 
 neck. Ere, lad. Tyke a brace now! Ere s some 
 o your own people, not a lot o bloomin yeller- 
 bellies, come to put something else in yer neck 
 somethink that ll stimulate yer " 
 
 The "young cockerel," a blond youth of scarce 
 twenty summers, twisted his head and grinned up at 
 Dolores as she knelt beside him to lift him up. 
 "Here, here, sister," he mumbled, "you ll get that 
 white dress dirty. Never mind me. It s just a flesh 
 wound, only my neck has got stiff and I m weak from 
 loss of blood." 
 
 Mother Jenks winked at Webster as she set a glass 
 of brandy to the stricken adventurer s lips. "Give 
 me a bit o the white meat, as my sainted Enery used 
 to s y," she murmured comically. 
 
 Dolores looked up at Webster. "I ll stay here," 
 she said simply. "I ve found a job helping Mother 
 Jenks. You and Don Juan may run along if you 
 wish. I know you re as curious as children." 
 
 They were. It would have been impossible for any 
 man with red corpuscles in his blood to harken to the 
 shooting and shouts only three city blocks distant 
 without yearning to see the fight itself. 
 
 "I ll return in fifteen minutes, at the latest," he 
 promised her, and with Don Juan Cafetero, who had 
 helped himself to a rifle and bayonet from one of the 
 wounded, he turned the corner into the next street 
 and started back toward the Calle San Rosario, 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 329 
 
 which they followed west through a block plentifully 
 sprinkled with the dead of both factions. 
 
 Don Juan led the way through an alley in the rear 
 of the Catedral de la Santa Cruz to the door of the 
 sacristy; as he placed his hand on the latch three 
 rifle bullets struck around them, showering them with 
 fragments of falling adobe. 
 
 "There s a house party in the neighbourhood," 
 yelled Don Juan and darted into the church, with 
 Webster at his heels, just in time to escape another 
 fusillade. They walked through the sacristy and 
 passed through a door into the great cathedral, with 
 its high, carved, Gothic-arched ceiling. Through the 
 thick closed doors of the main entrance, lost in 
 the dimness of space out in front, the sounds of the 
 battle half a block away seemed very distant, indeed. 
 
 They passed the altar and Don Juan genuflected 
 and crossed himself reverently. "I ll be afther 
 makin me confession," he whispered to Webster. 
 "Wait for me, sor." 
 
 He leaned his rifle against the altar railing, crossed 
 the church and touched lightly on the shoulder a 
 monk kneeling in prayer before the altar of the Vir 
 gin; the latter bent his head while Don Juan whis 
 pered; then he rose and both went into the confes 
 sional, while Webster found a bench along the wall 
 and waited. 
 
 Presently Don Juan came forth, knelt on the red- 
 tiled floor and prayed something, Webster sus 
 pected, he had not done for quite a while. And when 
 he had finished his supplication and procured his 
 
330 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 rifle, Webster joined him, the monk unbolted the door 
 and from the quiet of the house of God they passed 
 out into the street and the tumult of hell. 
 
 "I ve been clost to death this day," Don Juan 
 explained, "an the day is not done. Be the same 
 token, tis long since I d made me last confession; 
 sure, until you picked me out av the mire, sor, tis 
 little thought I had for the hereafter." 
 
 They were standing on the steps t)f the cathedral 
 as Don Juan spoke, and from their place they could 
 see a dozen or more of Ricardo s hired fighters 
 crouched under the shelter of the palace walls across 
 the street. "I think we ll be safer there," Webster 
 cried, as a couple of bullets struck the stone steps 
 at their feet and ricocheted against the cathedral 
 door. "That rifle of yours is making you a marked 
 man, Don Juan." 
 
 They ran across the street and joined the men 
 under the palace wall. 
 
 "What s this?" Don Juan demanded briskly. 
 "Have ye not shmoked thim out yet?" 
 
 "Noddings doing," a young German answered. 
 "Der chief has sent word dot we shall npt artillery 
 use on der balace. Men all aroundt it we haf, mit 
 a machine gun commanding each gate; most of der 
 poys have chust moved out west in der rear of der 
 government troops." 
 
 "Then," Don Juan declared with conviction, 
 "there ll be no fighting here to speak av, until later." 
 
 "Der is blenty of choy hunting snipers, mein 
 freund. Der houses hereabouts vos filled mit dem." 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 331 
 
 "I ll have no cat fights in mine," Don Juan re 
 torted. "Come wit me, sor, an we ll be in at the 
 death out bey ant at the railroad embankmint." 
 
 "Too late," Webster answered, for on the instant 
 to the west the crackle of rifle and machine-gun fire 
 interluded with the staccato barks of a Maxim- 
 Vickers broke out, swelling almost immediately to a 
 steady outpouring of sound. " We ll stay here where 
 we re safe for the finals. When General Ruey has 
 cleaned up out there he ll come here to take com 
 mand." 
 
 For half an hour the sounds of a brisk engagement 
 to the west did not slacken; then with disconcert 
 ing suddenness the uproar died away fully 50 per 
 cent. 
 
 "They re going in with the bayonet and ma 
 chetes," somebody who knew remarked laconically. 
 "Wait and you ll hear the cheering." 
 
 They waited fully ten minutes, but presently, 
 as the firing gradually died away, they heard it, faint 
 and indistinguishable at first, but gradually coming 
 nearer. And presently the trapped men in the palace 
 heard it, too. "Viva Ruey! Viva! Viva Ruey!" 
 
 "All over but the shouting," Don Juan remarked 
 disgustedly. " The lads in the palace will surrindher 
 now. Sure Gineral Ruey was right afther all. For 
 why should he shoot holes in the house he s goin to 
 live in, an where, be the same token, he gives a dinner 
 party this night?" 
 
 "I m glad the end is in sight," Webster replied. 
 "We have no interest in this revolution, John, and 
 
332 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 it isn t up to us to horn in on the play; yet if it went 
 against the Ruey faction, I fear we d be forced into 
 active service in spite of ourselves. There is such a 
 thing as fighting to save one s skin, you know." 
 
 Don Juan laughed pleasurably. "What a shame 
 we missed the row out beyant at the railroad em- 
 bankmint," he declared. 
 
 "I wish you d kept out of it, Don Juan. What 
 business had you in the fight at the cuartd ? Sup 
 pose you d been killed?" 
 
 "Small loss!" Don Juan retorted. 
 
 "I should have mourned you nevertheless, John." 
 
 "Would you that same?" Don Juan s buttermilk 
 eyes lighted with affection and pleasure. "Would 
 it put a pang in the heart of you, sor, to see me 
 stretched?" 
 
 "Yes, it would, John. You re a wild, impulsive, 
 lunatic, worthless Irishman, but there s a broad vein 
 of pay-ore in you, and I want you to live until I can 
 develop it. When Mr. Geary returns to operate the 
 mine, he ll need a foreman he can trust." 
 
 "And do you trust me, sor?" 
 
 "I do indeed, John. By the way, you never gave 
 me your word of honour to cut out red liquor for 
 keeps. Up till to-day I ve had to watch you and I 
 don t want to do that. It isn t dignified for either of 
 us, and from to-day on you must be a man or a 
 mouse. If you prove yourself a man, I want you in 
 my business; if you prove yourself a mouse, some 
 body else may have you. How about you, John? 
 The cantinas will be open to-night, and firewater will 
 

 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 333 
 
 be free to the soldiers of the new republic. Must I 
 watch you to-night?" 
 
 Don Juan shook his reckless red head. "I ll 
 never let a drop of liquor cross my lips without your 
 permission, sor," he promised simply. "I am the 
 man and you are the master." 
 
 "We ll shake hands on that!" After the western 
 habit of validating all verbal agreements with a 
 handshake, Webster thrust his hard hand out to his 
 man, who took it in both of his and held it for half a 
 minute. He wanted to speak, but couldn t; he could 
 only bow his head as his eyes clouded with the tears 
 of his appreciation. " Ah, sor," he blurted presently, 
 "I d die for ye an welcome the chanst." 
 
 A wild yell of alarm broke out in the next block, 
 at the north gate of the palace; there was a sudden 
 flurry of rifle fire and cries of " Here they come! Stop 
 them ! Stop them ! They re breaking out ! 
 
 Without awaiting orders the hired fighters along 
 the wall some fifteen of them leaped out into the 
 street, forming a skirmish line, just as a troop of cav 
 alry, with drawn sabres, swept around the corner 
 and charged upon the devoted little line. "Sarros 
 must be thryin to make his get-away," Don Juan 
 Cafetero remarked coolly, and emptied a saddle. 
 " They threw open the big palace gate, an the Guards 
 are clearin a way for him to the bay." He emptied 
 another saddle. 
 
 In the meantime Ricardo s fire-eaters had not 
 been idle. The instant the Guards turned into the 
 street a deadly magazine fire had been opened on 
 
334 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 them. They had already suffered heavily winning 
 through the gate and past the besiegers in front of it, 
 but once they turned the corner into the next street 
 they had the fire of but a handful of men to contend 
 with. Nevertheless it was sufficiently deadly. Many 
 of the horses in the front rank went down with their 
 riders, forcing the maddened animals behind to clear 
 their carcasses by leaping over them, which some did. 
 Many, however, tripped and stumbled in their wild 
 gallop, spilling their riders. 
 
 "Stay by the wall, you madman," Webster or 
 dered. "There ll be enough left to ride down those 
 men in the street and sabre them!" 
 
 And there were! They died to a man, and the 
 sadly depleted troop of Guards galloped on, leaving 
 Don Juan and Webster unscathed on the sidewalk, 
 the only two living men unhurt in that shambles. 
 
 Not for long, however, did they have the street to 
 themselves. Around the corner of the palace wall a 
 limousine, with the curtains drawn, swung on two 
 wheels, skidded, struck the carcass of a horse and 
 turned over, catapulting the chauffeur into the middle 
 of the street. 
 
 "Sarros!" shrieked Don Juan and ran to the over 
 turned vehicle. It was quite empty. 
 
 "Bully boy, Senor Sarros," Webster laughed. 
 "He s turned a pretty trick, hasn t he? Sent his 
 Guards out to hack a pathway for an empty limou 
 sine! That means he s hoping to draw the watchers 
 from the other gate!" 
 
 But Don Juan Cafetero was not listening; he was 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 335 
 
 running at top speed for the south gate of the palace 
 grounds and Webster followed. 
 
 As they swung into the street upon which this 
 south gate opened, Webster saw that it was deserted 
 of all save the dead,jfor Sarros s clever ruse had worked 
 well and had had the effect of arousing the curiosity 
 of his enemies as to the cause of the uproar at the 
 north gate, in consequence of which they had all 
 scurried around the block to see what they could see, 
 thus according Sarros the thing he desired most a 
 fighting chance and a half minute to get through the 
 gate and headed for the steamship landing without 
 interference. 
 
 Webster and Don Juan came abreast the high, 
 barred gate in the thick, twenty-foot masonry wall 
 as the barrier swung back and a man, in civilian 
 clothes, thundered through on a magnificent bay 
 thoroughbred. 
 
 "That s him. Shtop the divil!" screamed Don 
 Juan. "They ll do the decent thing be me if I 
 take him alive." 
 
 To Webster, who had acquired the art of snap 
 shooting while killing time in many a lonely camp, 
 the bay charger offered an easy mark. "Hate to 
 down that beautiful animal," he remarked and 
 pulled away. 
 
 The horse leaped into the air and came down stiff- 
 legged; Sarros spurred it cruelly, and the gallant 
 beast strove to gather itself into its stride, staggered 
 and sank to its knees, as with a wild Irish yell Don 
 Juan Cafetero reached the dictator s side. 
 
336 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 Sarros drew a revolver, but before he could use it 
 Don Juan tapped him smartly over the head with his 
 rifle barrel, and the man toppled inertly to the ground 
 beside his dying horse. 
 
 "More power to ye, sor," Don Juan called cheerily 
 and turned to receive Webster s approval. 
 
 What he saw paralyzed him for an instant. Web 
 ster was standing beside the gate, firing into a dozen 
 of Sarros s soldiery who were pouring out of a house 
 just across the street, where for an hour they had 
 crouched unseen and unheard by the Ruey men at 
 the gate. They were practically out of ammunition 
 and had merely been awaiting a favourable opportu 
 nity to escape before the rebels should enter the city 
 in force and the house-to-house search for snipers 
 should begin. They had been about to emerge and 
 beat a hasty retreat, when Sarros rode out at the 
 gate, and with a rush they followed, gaining the side 
 walk in time to be witnesses to the dictator s down 
 fall. 
 
 For a moment they had paused, huddled on the 
 sidewalk behind their officer, who, turning to scout 
 the street up and down, beheld John Stuart Webster 
 standing by the gate with an automatic in his hand. 
 At the same instant Webster s attention had been 
 attracted to the little band on the sidewalk; in their 
 leader he recognized no less a personage than his late 
 acquaintance, the fire-eating Captain Jose Benavides. 
 Coincidently Benavides recognized Webster. 
 
 It was an awkward situation. Webster realized 
 the issue was about to be decided, that if he would 
 
Webster planted a bullet in Benavides s abdomen with his first 
 shot, and blew out the duelist s brains with his second 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 337 
 
 have it in his favour, he should waste not one split- 
 second before killing the mercurial Benavides as the 
 latter stood staring at him. It was not a question, 
 now, of who should beat the other to the draw, for 
 each had already filled his hand. It was a question, 
 rather, as to who should recover first from his aston 
 ishment. If Benavides decided to let bygones be 
 bygones and retreat without firing a shot, then Web 
 ster was quite willing to permit him to pass unmo 
 lested; indeed, such was his aversion to shooting any 
 man, so earnestly did he hope the Sobrantean would 
 consider that discretion was the better part of valour, 
 that he resolved to inculcate that idea in the Hot 
 spur. 
 
 "Captain Benavides," he said suavely, "your 
 cause is lost. If you care to escape aboard the 
 steamer, I will see to it that you are not removed from 
 her before she sails; if you care to surrender to me 
 now, I give you my word of honour you will not be 
 executed." 
 
 Benavides might have had, and doubtless did have, 
 his faults, but cowardice was not one of them. And 
 he did have the ghost of a sense of humour. An evil 
 smile flitted over his olive features. 
 
 "Without taking into consideration the bayonets 
 at my back," he replied, "it strikes me the odds are 
 even now. And yet you patronize me." 
 
 Webster was nettled. "I d rather do that than 
 kill you, Benavides," he retorted. "Don t be a fool. 
 Run along and sell your papers, and take your pitiful 
 little sandal-footed brigands with you. Scat!" 
 
338 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 Benavides s hand, holding his pistol, had been hang 
 ing loosely at his side. With his furious glance meet 
 ing Webster s unfalteringly, with the merest move 
 ment of his wrist and scarcely without movement of 
 his forearm, he threw up his weapon and fired. 
 Scarcely a fifth of a second had elapsed between 
 the movement of his wrist and the pressure of his 
 finger on the trigger; Webster, gazing steadily into 
 the sombre eyes, had noted no hint of the man s in 
 tention, and was actually caught off his guard. 
 
 The bullet tore through his biceps, momentarily 
 paralyzing him, and his automatic dropped clattering 
 to the sidewalk; as he stooped and recovered it, Bena- 
 vides fired again, creasing the top of his left shoulder. 
 The Sobrantean took aim for a third and finishing 
 shot, but when he pulled the trigger the hammer 
 fell on a defective cartridge, which gave to John Stuart 
 Webster all the advantage he craved. He planted 
 a bullet in Benavides s abdomen with his first shot, 
 blew out the duelist s brains with his second, and 
 whirled to meet the charge of the little sandal-footed 
 soldados, who, seeing their leader fallen, had without 
 an instant s hesitation and apparently by mutual con 
 sent decided to avenge him. 
 
 Webster backed dazedly toward the wall, firing as 
 he did so, but he was too dizzy to shoot effectively, 
 and the semicircle of bayonets closed in on his front. 
 He had wounded three men without stopping them; 
 a second more, and their long, eighteen-inch bayonets 
 would have been in his vitals, when into the midst of 
 the melee, from the rear, dashed Don Juan Cafetero, 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 339 
 
 shrieking like a fiend and swinging his rifle, which he 
 held grasped by the barrel. 
 
 Webster saw a bayonet lunging toward him. He 
 lifted his leg and caught the point on his boot-heel 
 while with his last cartridge he killed the man behind 
 the bayonet, just as the latter s next-rank man thrust 
 straight and true in under the American s left arm, 
 while a third man jabbed at his stomach and got the 
 bayonet home in his hip. These two thrusts, de 
 livered almost simultaneously, by their impact carried 
 their victim backward against the wall, against which 
 his head collided with a smart thud. He fell forward 
 on his face; before his assailants could draw back for a 
 finishing thrust, in case the gringo needed it, which 
 they doubted, Don Juan Cafetero had brained them 
 both. 
 
 Standing above the man he loved, with the latter s 
 body between his outspread legs, Don Juan Cafetero 
 stood for the final accounting, his buttermilk eyes 
 gleaming hatred and war-madness, his lips drawn 
 back from his snaggle teeth, his breast rising and 
 falling as they closed in around him. For a few sec 
 onds he was visible swinging his rifle like a flail, 
 magnificent, unterrified and then a bayonet slipped 
 in under his guard. It was the end. 
 
 With a final great effort that used up the last 
 strength in his drink-corroded muscles he hurled his 
 rifle into the midst of his four remaining enemies, 
 before he swayed and toppled full length on top of 
 Webster, shielding with his poor body the man who 
 had fanned to flame the dying ember of manhood in 
 
340 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 the wreck that drink and the devil had cast up on 
 the Caribbean coast. 
 
 For Don Juan Cafetero it had been a long, joyous, 
 thirsty day, but at last the day was done. And in 
 order to make certain, a soldado jabbed him once 
 more through the vitals before he fled with the other 
 survivors. 
 
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX 
 
 FOR half an hour after Webster left her to assist 
 the great-hearted Mother Jenks in her rough 
 care of the wounded, Dolores, absorbed in 
 her work of mercy, gave all of her thought to the 
 grim task before her. The cries, followed by the 
 sudden, savage outbreak of fire when the Guards 
 made their dash from the palace, brought Webster 
 and Don Juan to mind instantly. In a quick access 
 of terror and apprehension she clung, trembling, to 
 stolid old Mother Jenks. 
 
 "Somebody s breakin in or breakin out," the 
 veteran decided calmly. "Come to the corner, 
 dearie, an ave a look." 
 
 She half dragged Dolores to the corner, from which 
 they had an unobstructed view down the cross-street 
 to its intersection three blocks distant with the Calle 
 San Rosario; consequently they saw the dozen or more 
 survivors of that ill-fated dash from the north gate 
 of the palace flash for a second across their line of 
 vision. Mother Jenks croaked dismally, like a dis 
 reputable old raven; she was trying to cheer. 
 
 "The rats are leavin the sinkin ship," she wheezed. 
 "Come an see them tyke the devils as killed my 
 sainted Enery." She broke eagerly from Dolores s 
 detaining grasp and ran down the street. Dolores 
 
 341 
 
342 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 hesitated a moment; then, reasoning that her duty 
 lay in pursuing Mother Jenks and preventing her 
 from rushing headlong into the conflict, she followed. 
 
 Evidently the fleeing Guards had scurried around 
 a corner into a cross-street shortly after Dolores and 
 Mother Jenks had seen them gallop past, for the 
 firing down the Calle San Rosario had ceased entirely 
 by the time they reached it. They stood a moment 
 at the corner, gazing up the street at the dead man 
 and beast with the wounded crawling out of the 
 shambles to the sidewalk. 
 
 Mother Jenks nodded approvingly as triumphant 
 shouts from the north gate told her the Ruey men 
 were pouring into the palace; with their arms about 
 each other the two women watched and waited 
 and presently the national flag on the palace came 
 fluttering down from its staff, to be raised again with 
 the red banner of revolution fluttering above it, the 
 insignia of a nation reborn. 
 
 "My lamb," Mother Jenks said softly to Dolores, 
 "the war is over. Wot s the matter with goin in 
 the south gate an wytin on the palace steps for the 
 provisional president to make his grand ountray? 
 If we esitate five minutes they ll have a bloomin 
 guard on both gates, arskin us oo we are an wot we 
 want." 
 
 "But Mr. Webster will come to that back street 
 looking for me; I must go back and wait there for 
 him." 
 
 "Wyte, nothink!" Mother Jenks overruled the 
 girl s protest roughly. " E ll ave gone into the 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 343 
 
 palace with the crowd for a look-see; we ll meet im 
 there an syve im the trotible o untin for us. 
 Come!" And she half dragged the shrinking girl 
 toward the gate, a block distant, where only a few 
 minutes before Webster and Don Juan Cafetero 
 had made their ineffectual stand. 
 
 "Don t look at the blighters, honey," Mother 
 Jenks warned Dolores when, in approaching the gate, 
 she caught sight of the bodies strewed in front of it. 
 "My word! Regular bally mess an all spiggoties! 
 Cawn t be. Must ave been some white meat on 
 this bird, as my sainted Enery uster s y. Hah! 
 Thought so! There s a red-headed un! Gawd s 
 truth! An e done all that Gor strike me pink! 
 It s Don Juan Cafetero." 
 
 Mother Jenks stepped over the gory corpses ringed 
 around Don Juan and knelt beside him. "Don 
 Juan!" she cried. "You bally, interferin blighter, 
 you ve gone an got it!" 
 
 She ran her strong old arms under his dripping 
 body, lifted him and laid his red head on her knee, 
 while with her free hand she drew a small flask of 
 brandy from her dress pocket. 
 
 Don Juan opened his buttermilk eyes and gazed 
 up at her with slowly dawning wonder, then closed 
 them again, drowsily, like a tired child. Mother 
 Jenks pressed the flask to his blue lips; as the brandy 
 bit his tongue he rolled his fiery head in feeble protest 
 and weakly set his teeth against the lip of the flask. 
 Wondering, Mother Jenks withdrew it and then 
 Don Juan spoke. 
 
344 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 "Have ye the masther s permission, dllanah? I 
 give him me worrd av honour not to dhrink till 
 he give permission. He was good to me 
 troth he was God love me boss " 
 
 His jaw dropped loosely; his head rolled sideways; 
 but ere his spirit fled, Don Juan Caf etero had justified 
 the faith of his master. He had kept his word of 
 honour. He had made good on his brag to die for 
 John Stuart Webster and welcome the chance! 
 Mother Jenks held his body a little while, gazing 
 into the face no longer rubicund; then gently she 
 eased it to the ground and for the first time was aware 
 that Dolores knelt in the dirt opposite to her striving 
 to lift the body upon which Don Juan had been lying. 
 
 The strength of Dolores was unequal to the task; 
 so Mother Jenks, hardened, courageous, calm as her 
 sainted Enery at his inglorious finish, rose and 
 stepped around to her side to help her. She could 
 see this other was a white man, too; coolly she 
 stooped and wiped his gory face with the hem of her 
 apron. And then she recognized him! 
 
 "Lift him up! Give him to me!" Dolores sobbed. 
 "OK, Caliph, my poor dear, big-hearted blundering 
 boy!" 
 
 She got her arm under his head; Mother Jenks 
 aided her; and the limp body was lifted to a sitting 
 position; then Dolores knelt on one knee, supporting 
 him with the other, and drew his head over on her 
 shoulder; with her white cheek cuddled against his, 
 she spoke into his deaf ears the little, tender, foolish 
 words that mothers have for their children, that 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 345 
 
 women have for the stricken men of their love. She 
 pleaded with him to open his eyes, to speak to her 
 and tell her he still lived; so close was his face to hers 
 that she saw an old but very faint white scar running 
 diagonally across his left eyebrow and kissed it. 
 
 Presently strong arms took him from her; clinging 
 to somebody she knew not whom she followed, 
 moaning broken-heartedly, while eight men, forming 
 a rude litter with four rifles passed under his body, 
 bore Webster to the shade of a tufted palm inside the 
 palace gate. 
 
 As they laid Webster down for a moment there 
 Dolores saw a tall, youthful man, of handsome 
 features and noble bearing, approach and look at him. 
 In his eyes there were tears; a sob escaped him as 
 with a little impulsive, affectionate movement he 
 patted John Stuart Webster s cheek. 
 
 "My friend!" the fainting Dolores heard him mur 
 mur. "My great-hearted, whimsical, lovable John 
 Webster. You made it possible for me to meet you 
 here to-night and this is the meeting!" 
 
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN 
 
 WHILE Ricardo watched beside the uncon 
 scious Webster one of his aides galloped up the 
 street, to return presently with a detachment 
 with stretchers, into which Webster and Don Juan 
 Cafetero were laid and carried up the palace driveway 
 into the huge golden reception-hall where only the 
 night before Sarros had greeted the belles and beaux 
 of his capital. In the meantime Mother Jenks had 
 succeeded in restoring Dolores to consciousness; sup 
 ported by the indomitable old woman the girl slowly 
 followed the grim procession until, at the door of 
 the reception-room, they found their further progress 
 barred by a sentry. 
 
 "The red-haired man is dead," he informed them 
 in response to their eager queries. "If you want his 
 body," he continued, hazarding a guess as to their 
 mission, "I guess you can have it. There he is." 
 And the sentry pointed to the stretcher which had 
 been set down along the wall of the reception-hall. 
 
 " Ow about the other?" Mother Jenks demanded. 
 Don Juan Cafetero had, unfortunately, been so much 
 of a nuisance to her in life that she was not minded to 
 be troubled greatly over him in death, although the 
 Spartanlike manner of his exit had thrilled the British 
 bulldog blood in her. 
 
 346 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 347 
 
 "The big fellow isn t quite dead yet, but I m 
 afraid he s a goner. The surgeons have him in this 
 room now. Friend of yours, Miss?" he inquired in 
 tones freighted with neighbourly sympathy. 
 
 Dolores nodded. 
 
 "Sorry I can t let you in, Miss," he continued, 
 "but the General ordered me to keep everybody out 
 until the doctors have finished looking him over. If 
 I was you, I d wait in that room across the hall; then 
 you can get the first news when the doctors come out." 
 
 Mother Jenks accepted his advice and steered her 
 charge into the room indicated. And as they waited, 
 Ricardo Ruey stood anxiously beside the table on 
 which John Stuart Webster s big, limp body reposed, 
 while Doctor Pacheco, assisted by a Sobrantean con 
 frere, went deftly over him with surgical scissors and 
 cut the blood-soaked clothing from his body. 
 
 "He breathes very gently," the rebel leader said, 
 presently. "Is there any hope?" 
 
 The little doctor shrugged. "I fear not. That 
 bayonet-thrust in the left side missed his heart but 
 not his lung." 
 
 "But apparently he hasn t bled much from that 
 wound." 
 
 "The hemorrhage is probably internal. Even if 
 that congestion of blood in the lungs does not prove 
 fatal very shortly, he cannot, in his weakened state, 
 survive the traumatic fever from all these wounds. 
 It is bound hello, how our poor friend still lives 
 with the bayonet broken off in his body for here is 
 steel hah! Not a bayonet, but a pistol." 
 
348 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 He unbuttoned the wounded man s coat and found 
 a strap running diagonally up across his breast and 
 over the right shoulder, connecting with a holster 
 under the left arm. The doctor unbuckled this strap 
 and removed the holster, which contained Webster s 
 spare gun; Ricardo, glancing disinterestedly at the 
 sheathed weapon, noted a small, new, triangular 
 hole in the leather holster. He picked it up, with 
 drew the pistol, and found a deep scratch, recently 
 made, along the blued steel close to the vulcanite 
 butt. 
 
 When Ricardo glanced at Pacheco after his scrut 
 iny of the pistol and holster, the doctor s dark eyes 
 were regarding him mirthfully. 
 
 "I have been unnecessarily alarmed, my general," 
 said Pacheco. "Our dear friend has been most 
 fortunate in his choice of wounds " 
 
 "He s a lucky Yankee; that s what he is, my dear 
 Pacheco. A lucky Yankee!" Ricardo leaned over 
 and examined the bayonet-wound in Webster s left 
 side. "He took the point of the steel on this pistol 
 he happened to be wearing under his left arm," he 
 went on to explain. "That turned the bayonet and 
 it slid along his ribs, making a superficial flesh- 
 wound." 
 
 Pacheco nodded. "And this bullet merely burned 
 the top of his right shoulder, while another passed 
 through his biceps without touching the bone. His 
 most severe wound is this jab in the hip." 
 
 They stripped every stitch of clothing from Web 
 ster and went over him carefully. At the back of his 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 349 
 
 Iiead they found a little clotted blood from a small 
 split in the scalp ; also they found a lump of generous 
 proportions. Pacheco laughed briefly but con 
 tentedly. 
 
 "Then he is not even seriously injured?" Ricardo 
 interrupted that laugh. 
 
 "I would die of fright if I had to fight this fine 
 fellow a month from to-day," the little doctor chirped. 
 "Look at that chest, mi general and that flat 
 abdomen. The man is in superb physical condition; 
 it is the bump on the head that renders him uncon 
 scious not loss of blood." 
 
 As if to confirm this expert testimony Webster 
 at that moment breathed long and deeply, screwed 
 up his face and shook his head very slightly. There 
 after for several minutes he gave no further evidence 
 of an active interest in life seeing which Pacheco 
 decided to take prompt advantage of his unconscious 
 ness and probe the wounds in his arm and shoulder 
 for the fragments of clothing which the bullets must 
 have carried into them. After ten minutes of prob 
 ing Pacheco announced that he was through and 
 ready to bandage; whereupon John Stuart Webster 
 said faintly but very distinctly, in English: 
 
 "I m awfully glad you are, Doc . It hurt like 
 hell! Did you manage to get a bite on that fishing- 
 trip?" 
 
 "Jack Webster, you scoundrel!" Ricardo yelled 
 joyously, and he shook the patient with entire dis 
 regard of the latter s wounds. "Oh, man, I m glad 
 you re not dead." 
 
350 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 "Your sentiments appeal to me strongly, my 
 friend. I m too tired to look at you. Who the 
 devil are you?" 
 
 "I mRicardo." 
 
 Fell a silence, while Webster prepared for another 
 speech. "Where am I?" 
 
 "In the palace." 
 
 "Hum-m! Then it was a famous victory." 
 
 "One strong, decisive blow did the trick, old chap. 
 We won pulled-up, and that forty-thousand-dollar 
 bet of yours is safe. I ll cash the ticket for you to 
 morrow morning." 
 
 "Damn the forty thousand. Where s my Croppy 
 Boy?" 
 
 "Your what?" 
 
 "My wild Irish blackthorn, Don Juan Cafetero." 
 
 "I hope, old man, he has ere now that which all 
 brave Irishmen and true deserve a harp with a 
 crown. In life the Irish have the harp without the 
 crown, you know." 
 
 "How did he die?" Webster whispered. 
 
 "He died hard, with the holes in front and he 
 died for you." 
 
 Two big tears trickled slowly through Webster s 
 closed lids and rolled across his pale cheek. "Poor, 
 lost, lonesome, misunderstood wreck," he murmured 
 presently, "he was an extremist in all things. He 
 used to sing those wonderfully poetic ballads of his 
 people I remember one that began: * Green were 
 the fields where my forefathers dwelt. I think his 
 heart was in Kerry so we ll send him there. He s 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 351 
 
 my dead, Ricardo; care for his body, because I m 
 going to plant Don Juan with the shamrocks. They 
 didn t understand him here. He was an exile so 
 I m going to send him home." 
 
 "He shall have a military funeral," Rocardo prom 
 ised. 
 
 "From the cathedral," Webster added. "And 
 take a picture of it for his people. He told me about 
 them. I want them to think he amounted to some 
 thing, after all. And when you get this two-by-four 
 republic of yours going again, Rick, you might have 
 your congress award Don Juan a thousand dollars oro 
 for capturing Sarros. Then we can send the money 
 to his old folks." 
 
 "But he didn t capture Sarros," Ricardo pro 
 tested. "The man escaped when the Guards cut 
 their way through." 
 
 "He didn t. That was a ruse while he beat it out 
 
 the gate where you found me. I saw Don Juan 
 
 knock him cold with thef butt)of his rifle after I d 
 
 brought down his horse." -fr^AM^ cA ^c^^a^ ^ 
 
 "Do you think he s there yet?" 
 
 "He may be provided all this didn t happen the 
 day before yesterday. If I wanted him, I d go down 
 and look for him, Rick." 
 
 "I ll go right away, Jack." 
 
 "One minute, then. Send a man around to that 
 little back street where they have the wounded it s 
 a couple of blocks away from here to tell Mother 
 Jenks and the young lady with her I ll not be back." 
 
 " They re both outside now. They must have gone 
 
352 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 looking for you, because they found you and Don 
 Juan first and then told me about it." 
 
 "Who told you?" 
 
 "Mother Jenks." 
 
 "Oh! Well, run along and get your man." 
 
 Ricardo departed on the run, taking the sentry at 
 the door with him and in his haste giving no thought 
 to Mother Jenks and her companion waiting for the 
 doctor s verdict. In the palace grounds he gathered 
 two more men and bade them follow him; leading by 
 twenty yards, he emerged at the gate and paused to 
 look around him. 
 
 Some hundred feet down the street from the palace 
 gate Sarros s bay charger lay dead. When Web 
 ster s bullet brought the poor beast down, his rider 
 had fallen clear of him, only to fall a victim to the 
 ferocity of Don Juan Cafetero. Later, as Sarros lay 
 stunned and bleeding beside his mount, the stricken 
 animal in its death-struggle had half risen, only to 
 fall again, this time on the extended left leg of his late 
 master; consequently when Sarros recovered con 
 sciousness following the thoughtful attentions of his 
 assailant, it was to discover himself a hopeless prisoner. 
 The heavy carcass of his horse pinned his foot and 
 part of his leg to the ground, rendering him as helpless 
 and desperate as a trapped animal. For several min 
 utes now he had been striving frantically to release 
 himself; with his sound right leg pressed against the 
 animal s backbone he tried to gain sufficient purchase 
 to withdraw his left leg from the carcass. 
 
 As Ricardo caught sight of Sarros he instinctively 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 353 
 
 realized that this was his mortal enemy; motioning 
 his men to stand back, he approached the struggling 
 man on tiptoe and thoughtfully possessed himself 
 of the dictator s pistol, which lay in back of him but 
 not out of reach. Just as he did so, Sarros, ap 
 parently convinced of the futility of his efforts to free 
 himself, surrendered to fate and commenced rather 
 pitifully to weep with rage and despair. 
 
 Ricardo watched him for a few seconds, for there 
 was just sufficient of the blood of his Castilian ances 
 tors still in his veins to render this sorry spectacle 
 rather an enjoyable one to him. Besides, he was 50 
 per cent. Iberian, a race which can hate quite as 
 thoroughly as it can love, and for a time Ricardo even 
 nourished the thought of still further indulging his 
 thirst for revenge by pretending to aid Sarros in his 
 escape! Presently, however, he put the ungenerous 
 thought from him; seizing the dead horse by the 
 tail, he dragged the carcass off his enemy s leg, 
 while Sarros sat up, tailor-fashion, and commenced 
 to tub the circulation back into the bruised member, 
 Ricardo seated himself on the rump of the dead horse 
 and appraised his prisoner critically. 
 
 Sarros glanced up, remembered his manners and 
 very heartily and gracefully thanked his deliverer. 
 
 "It is not a matter for which thanks are due me, 
 Sarros," Ricardo replied coldly. "I am Ricardo 
 Luiz Ruey, and I have come back to Sobrante to 
 pay my father s debt to you. You will remember 
 having forced the obligation upon me in the cemetery 
 some fifteen years ago." 
 
354 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 For perhaps ten horrified seconds Sarros stared at 
 Ricardo; then the dark blood in him came to his 
 defense; his tense pose relaxed; the fright and despair 
 left his swarthy countenance as if erased with a moist 
 sponge, leaving him as calmly stoical and indifferent 
 as a cigarstore Indian. He fumbled in his coat 
 pocket for a gold cigarette case, selected a cigarette, 
 lighted it and blew smoke at Ricardo. The jig was 
 up; he knew it; and with admirable nonchalance he 
 declined to lower his presidential dignity by discuss 
 ing or considering it. He realized it would delight 
 his captor to know he dreaded to face the issue, and 
 it was not a Sarros practice to give aid and comfort 
 to the enemy 
 
 "Spunky devil!" Ricardo reflected, forced to 
 admiration despite himself. Aloud he said: "You 
 know the code of our people, Sarros. An eye for 
 an eye and a tooth for a tooth." 
 
 Sarros bowed. "I am at your service," he replied 
 carelessly. 
 
 "Then at daylight to-morrow morning I shall 
 make settlement." Ricardo beckoned his men to 
 approach. "Take this man and confine him under 
 a double guard in the arsenal," he ordered. "Pre 
 sent my compliments to the officer in charge there 
 and tell him it is my wish that a priest be provided 
 for the prisoner to-night, and that to-morrow morn 
 ing, at six o clock, a detail of six men and a sergeant 
 escort this man to the cemetery in the rear of the 
 Catedral de la Cruz. I will meet the detail there and 
 take command of it." 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 355 
 
 Two of Ricardo s imported fighting men stepped 
 to the prisoner s side, seized him, one by each arm, 
 and lifted him to his feet; supported between them, 
 he limped away to his doom, while his youthful 
 conqueror remained seated on the dead horse, his 
 gaze bent upon the ground, his mind dwelling, not 
 upon his triumph over Sarros but upon the prodigious 
 proportions of the task before him : the rehabilitation 
 of a nation. After a while he rose and strolled over 
 toward the gate, where he paused to note the grim 
 evidences of the final stand of Webster and Don Juan 
 Cafetero before passing through the portal. 
 
 Ricardo had now, for the first time, an opportunity 
 to look around him; so he halted to realize his home 
 coming, to thrill with this, the first real view of the 
 home of his boyhood. The spacious lawn surround 
 ing the palace had been plowed and scarred with 
 bursting shrapnel from the field guns captured in the 
 arsenal, although the building itself had been little 
 damaged, not having sustained a direct hit because of 
 Ricardo s stringent orders not to use artillery on 
 the palace unless absolutely necessary to smoke Sarros 
 out. Scattered over the grounds Ricardo counted 
 some twenty-odd Government soldiers, all wearing 
 that pathetically flat, crumpled appearance which 
 seems inseparable from the bodies of men killed in ac 
 tion. The first shrapnel had probably commenced to 
 drop in the grounds just as a portion of the palace gar 
 rison had been marching out to join the troops fighting 
 at the cantonment barracks. Evidently the men had 
 scattered like quail, only to be killed as they ran. 
 
356 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 From this grim scene Ricardo raised his eyes to 
 the palace, the castellated towers of which, looming 
 through the tufted palms, were reflecting the setting 
 sun. Over the balustrade of one of the upper bal 
 conies the limp body of a Sarros sharpshooter, picked 
 off from the street, drooped grotesquely, his arms 
 hanging downward as if in ironical welcome to the 
 son of Ruey the Beloved. The sight induced in Ri 
 cardo a sense of profound sadness; his Irish imagi 
 nation awoke; to him that mute figure seemed to call 
 upon him for pity, for kindness, for forbearance, for 
 understanding and sympathy. Those outflung arms 
 of the martyred peon symbolized to Ricardo Ruey 
 the spirit of liberty, shackled and helpless, calling 
 upon him for deliverance; they brought to his alert 
 mind a clearer realization of the duty that was his 
 than he had ever had before. He had a great task 
 to perform, a task inaugurated by his father, and 
 which Ricardo could not hope to finish in his lifetime. 
 He must solve the agrarian problem; he must develop 
 the rich natural resources of his country; he must 
 provide free, compulsory education and evolve from 
 the ignorance of the peon an intelligence that would 
 built up that which Sobrante, in common with her 
 sister republics, so woefully lacked the great middle 
 class that stands always as a buffer between the ag 
 gression and selfishness of the upper class and the 
 helplessness and childishness of the lower. 
 
 Ricardo bowed his head. "Help me, O Lord," he 
 prayed. " Thou hast given me in Thy wisdom a man s 
 task. Help me that I may not prove unworthy." 
 

 CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT 
 
 MOTHER JENKS, grown impatient at the 
 lack of news concerning Webster, left Dolores 
 to her grief in the room across the hall and 
 sought the open air, for of late she had been expe 
 riencing with recurring frequency a slight feeling of 
 suffocation. She sat down on the broad granite 
 steps, helped herself to a much-needed "bracer" from 
 her brandy flask and was gazing pensively at the 
 scene around her when Ricardo came up the stairs. 
 
 " Ello ! " Mother Jenks saluted him. "Were ave 
 you been, Mr. Bowers?" 
 
 "I have just returned from capturing Sarros, Mrs. 
 Jenks. He is on his way to the arsenal under guard." 
 
 "Gor ? strike me pink!" the old lady cried. " Ave 
 I lived to see this day! " Her face was wreathed in a 
 happy smile. "I wonder ow the beggar feels to ave 
 the shoe on the other foot, eh the eartless ound! 
 I m opin this General Ruey will ave the blighter 
 shot." 
 
 "You need have no worry on that score, Mrs. 
 Jenks. I m General Ruey. Andrew Bowers was 
 just my summer name, as it were." 
 
 "Angels guard me! Wot the bloomin ell surprise 
 won t we ave next. Wot branch o the Ruey tribe 
 do you belong to? Are you a nephew o him that 
 
 357 
 
358 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 i 
 
 was president before Sarros shot im? Antonio 
 Ruey, who was arf brother to the president, ad a 
 son e called Ricardo. Are you im, might I arsk?" 
 
 "I am the son of Ricardo the Beloved," he an 
 swered proudly. 
 
 "Not the lad as was away at school when is 
 father was hexecuted?" 
 
 "I am that same lad, Mrs. Jenks. And who are 
 you? You seem to know a deal of my family his 
 tory." 
 
 "I," the old publican replied with equal pride, 
 "am Mrs. Colonel Enery Jenks, who was your 
 father s chief of hartillery an ad the hextreme honour 
 o dyin in front o the same wall with im. By the 
 w y, ow s Mr. Webster?" she added, suddenly re 
 membering the subject closest to her heart just then. 
 
 "His wounds are trifling. He ll live, Mrs. Jenks." 
 
 "Well, that s better than gettin poked in the eye 
 with a sharp stick," the old dame decided philo 
 sophically. 
 
 "Do you remember my little sister, Mrs. Jenks?" 
 Ricardo continued. "She was in the palace when 
 Sarros attacked it; she perished there." 
 
 "I believe I ave got a slight recollection o the 
 nipper, sir," Mother Jenks answered cautiously. 
 To herself she said: "I s y, Enrietta, ere s a pretty 
 go. E don t know the lamb is livin an in the next 
 room! My word, wot a riot w en e meets er!" 
 
 "I will see you again, Mrs. Jenks. I must have a 
 long talk with you," Ricardo told her, and passed 
 on into the palace; whereupon Mother Jenks once 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 359 
 
 more fervently implored the Almighty to strike her 
 pink, and the iron restraint of a long, hard, exciting 
 day being relaxed at last, the good soul bowed her 
 gray head in her arms and wept, moving her body 
 from side to side the while and demanding, of no one 
 in particular, a single legitimate reason why she, a 
 blooming old baggage and not fit to live, should be 
 the recipient of such manifold blessings as this day 
 had brought forth. 
 
 In the meantime Ricardo, with his hand on the 
 knob of the door leading to the room where Webster 
 was having his wounds dressed, paused suddenly, 
 his attention caught by the sound of a sob, long- 
 drawn and inexpressibly pathetic. He listened and 
 made up his mind that a woman in the room across 
 the entrance-hall was bewailing the death of a loved 
 one who answered to the name of Caliph and John 
 darling. Further eavesdropping convinced him that 
 Caliph, John darling, and Mr. John Stuart Webster 
 were one and the same person, and so he tilted his 
 head on one side like a cock-robin and considered. 
 
 "By jingo, that s most interesting," he decided. 
 "The wounded hero has a sweetheart or a wife and 
 an American, too. She must be a recent acquisition, 
 because all the time we were together on the steamer 
 coming down here he never spoke of either, despite 
 the fact that we got friendly enough for such con 
 fidences. Something funny about this. I d better 
 sound the old bo.v before I start passing out words of 
 comfort to that unhappy female." 
 
 He passed on into the room. John Stuart Web- 
 
360 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 ster had, by this time, been washed and bandaged, 
 and one of the Sarros servants (for the ex-dictator s 
 retinue still occupied the palace) had, at Doctor 
 Pacheco s command, prepared a guest-chamber up 
 stairs and furnished a nightgown of ample pro 
 portions to cover Mr. Webster s bebandaged but 
 otherwise naked person. A stretcher had just ar 
 rived, and the wounded man was about to be carried 
 upstairs. The late financial backer of the revolution 
 was looking very pale and dispirited; for once in his 
 life his whimsical, bantering nature was subdued. 
 His eyes were closed, and he did not open them when 
 Ricardo entered. 
 
 "Well, I have Sarros," the latter declared. 
 
 Webster paid not the slightest attention to this 
 announcement. Ricardo bent over him. "Jack, 
 old boy," he queried, "do you know a person of 
 feminine persuasion who calls you Caliph?" 
 
 John Stuart Webster s eyes and mouth flew wide 
 open. "What the devil!" he tried to roar. "You 
 haven t been speaking to her, have you? If you 
 have, I ll never forgive you, because you ve spoiled 
 my little surprise party." 
 
 "No, I haven t been speaking to her, but she s in 
 the next room crying fit to break her heart because 
 she thinks you ve been killed." 
 
 "You scoundrel! Aren t you human? Go tell her 
 it s only a couple of punctures, not a blowout." He 
 sighed. "Isn t it sweet of her to weep over an old 
 hunks like me!" he added softly. "Bless her tender 
 heart!" 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 361 
 
 "Who is she?" Ricardo was very curious. 
 
 "That s none of your business. You wait and I ll 
 tell you. She s the guest I told you I was going to 
 bring to dinner, and that s enough for you to know 
 for the present. Vaya, you idiot, and bring her in 
 here, so I can assure her my head is bloody but un 
 bowed. Doctor, throw that rug over my shanks 
 and make me look pretty. I m going to receive com 
 pany." 
 
 His glance, bent steadily on the door, had in it 
 some of the alert, bright wistfulness frequently to be 
 observed in the eyes of a terrier standing expectantly 
 before a rat-hole. The instant the door opened and 
 Dolores s tear-stained face appeared, he called to her 
 with the old-time camaraderie, for he had erased 
 from his mind, for the nonce, the memory of the 
 tragedy of poor Don Juan Caf etero and was concerned 
 solely with the task of banishing the tears from those 
 brown eyes and bringing the joy of life back to that 
 sweet face. 
 
 " Hello, Seeress," he called weakly. " Little John 
 ny s been fighting again, and the bad boys gave him 
 an all-fired walloping." 
 
 There was a swift rustle of skirts, and she was 
 bending over him, her hot little palms clasping eagerly 
 his pale, rough cheeks. "Oh, my dear, my dear!" 
 she whispered, and then her voice choked with the 
 happy tears and she was sobbing on his wounded 
 shoulder. Ricardo stooped to draw her away, but 
 John Stuart bent upon him a look of such frightful- 
 ness that he drew back abashed. After all, the 
 
362 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 past twenty-four hours had been quite exciting, and 
 Ricardo reflected that John s inamorata was tired 
 and frightened and probably hadn t eaten anything all 
 day long, so there was ample excuse for her hysteria. 
 
 "Come, come, buck up," Webster soothed her, 
 and helped himself to a long whin of her fragrant 
 hair. "Old man Webster had one leg in the grave, 
 but they ve pulled it out again." 
 
 Still she sobbed. 
 
 "Now, listen to me, lady," he commanded with 
 mock severity. " You just stop that. You re wast 
 ing your sympathy; and while, of course, I enjoy your 
 sympathy a heap, just pause to reflect on the result 
 if those salt tears should happen to drop into one of 
 my numerous wounds." 
 
 "I m so sorry for you, Caliph," she murmured 
 brokenly. "You poor, harmless boy! I don t see 
 how any one could be so fiendish as to hurt you when 
 you were so distinctly a non-combatant." 
 
 " Thank you. Let us forget the Hague Conference 
 for the present, however. Have you met your 
 brother?" he whispered. 
 
 "No, Caliph." 
 
 "Ricardo." 
 
 "Yes, Jack." 
 
 "Come here. Rick, you scheming, unscrupulous, 
 bloodthirsty adventurer, I have a tremendous sur 
 prise in store for you. The sweetest girl in the world 
 and she s right here " 
 
 Ricardo laughingly held up his hand. "Jack, my 
 friend," he interrupted, "you re too weak to make a 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 363 
 
 speech. Don t do it. Besides, you do not have to." 
 He turned and bowed gracefully to Dolores. "I can 
 see for myself she s the sweetest girl in the world, and 
 that she s right here." He held out his hand to her. 
 "Jack thinks he s going to spring a surprise," he 
 continued maliciously, "quite forgetting that a good 
 soldier never permits himself to be taken by surprise. 
 I know all about his little secret, because I heard you 
 mourning for him when you thought he was dead." 
 Ricardo favoured her with a knowing wink. "I am 
 delighted to meet the future Mrs. Webster. I quite 
 understand why you fell in love with him, because, 
 you see, I love him myself and do does everybody 
 else." 
 
 With typical Castilian courtliness he took her 
 hand, bowed low over it, and kissed it. "I am Ri 
 cardo Luiz Ruey," he said, anxious to spare his friend 
 the task of further exhausting conversation. "And 
 
 "You re a consummate jackass!" groaned Web 
 ster. "I m only a dear old family friend, and Do 
 lores is going to marry Billy Geary. You impetuous 
 idiot! She s your own sister Dolores Ruey. She, 
 Mark Twain, and I have ample cause for common com 
 plaint against the world because the reports of our 
 death have been grossly exaggerated. She didn t 
 perish when your father s administration crumbled. 
 Miss Ruey, this is your brother Ricardo. Kiss her 
 you damn fool forgive me, Miss Ruey oh, Lord, 
 nothing matters any more. He s gummed everything 
 up and ruined my party. I wish I were dead." 
 
364 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 Ricardo stared from the outraged Webster to his 
 sister and back again. 
 
 "Jack Webster," he declared, "you aren t crazy, 
 are you?" 
 
 "Of course he is the old dear," Dolores cried 
 happily, "but I m not." She stepped up to her 
 brother, and her arms went around his neck. "Oh, 
 Rick," she cried, "I m your sister. Truly, I am." 
 
 "Dolores. My little lost sister Dolores? Why, 
 I can t believe it!" 
 
 "Well, you d better believe it," John Stuart Web 
 ster growled feebly. "Of course, you can doubt my 
 word and get away with it, now that I m flat on my 
 back, but if you dare cast aspersions on that girl s 
 veracity, I ll murder you a month from now." 
 
 He closed his eyes, feeling instinctively that he 
 ought not spy on such a sacred family scene. When, 
 however, the affecting meeting was over and Dolores 
 was ruffling the Websterian foretop while her brother 
 pressed the Websterian hand and tried to say all the 
 things he felt but couldn t express, John Stuart Web 
 ster brought them both back to a realization of 
 present conditions. 
 
 "Don t thank me, sir," he piped in pathetic imita 
 tion of the small boy of melodrama. "I have only 
 done me duty, and for that I cannot accept this purse 
 of gold, even though my father and mother are starv 
 ing." 
 
 "Oh, Caliph, do be serious," Dolores pleaded. 
 
 He looked up at her fondly. "Take your brother 
 out to Mother Jenks and prove your case, Miss 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 365 
 
 Ruey," he advised her. "And while you re at it, I 
 certainly hope somebody will remember I m not 
 accustomed to reposing on a centre table. Rick, if 
 you can persuade some citizen of this conquered 
 commonwealth to put me to bed, I d be obliged. 
 
 I m dead tired, old horse. I m ah sleepy " 
 
 His head rolled weakly to one side, for he had been 
 playing a part and had nerved himself to finish it 
 gracefully, even in his weakened condition. He 
 sighed, moaned slightly, and slipped into unconscious 
 ness. 
 
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE 
 
 THROUGHOUT the night there was sporadic 
 firing here and there in the city, as the Ruey 
 followers relentlessly hunted down the iso 
 lated detachment of Government troops which had 
 escaped annihilation and capture in the final rout 
 and fallen back on the city, where, concealing them 
 selves according to their nature and inclination, they 
 indulged in more or less sniping from windows and 
 the roofs of buildings. The practice of taking no 
 prisoners was an old one in Sobrante, and few presi 
 dents had done more than Sarros to keep that custom 
 alive; ergo, firm in the conviction that to surrender 
 was tantamount to facing a firing squad at daylight, 
 the majority of these stragglers, with consummate 
 courage, fought to the death. 
 
 The capture of Buenaventura was alone sufficient 
 to insure a brief revolution, but the capture of Sarros 
 was ample guarantee that the resistance to the new 
 order of things was already at an end. However, Ri- 
 cardo Ruey felt that the prompt execution of Sarros 
 would be an added guarantee of peace by effectually 
 discouraging any opposition to the rebel cause in the 
 outlying districts, where a few isolated garrisons still 
 remained in ignorance of the momentous events being 
 enacted in the capital. For the time being, Ricardo 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 367 
 
 was master of life and death in Sobrante, and all of 
 his advisers and supporters agreed with him that a 
 so-called trial of the ex-dictator would be a rather 
 useless affair. His life was forfeit a hundred times 
 for murder and treason, and to be ponderous over his 
 elimination would savour of mockery. Accordingly, 
 at midnight, a priest entered the room in the ar 
 senal where Sarros was confined, and shrived him. 
 Throughout the night the priest remained with him, 
 and when that early morning march to the cemetery 
 commenced, he walked beside Sarros, repeating the 
 prayers for the dying. 
 
 Upon reaching the cemetery there was a slight wait 
 until a carriage drove up and discharged Ricardo 
 Ruey and Mother Jenks. The sergeant in command 
 of the squad saluted and was briefly ordered to pro 
 ceed with the matter in hand; whereupon he turned 
 to Sarros, who with the customary sang j raid of his 
 kind upon such occasions was calmly smoking, and 
 bowed deprecatingly. Sarros actually smiled upon 
 him. "Adios, amigos," he murmured. Then, as an 
 afterthought and probably because he was sufficient 
 of an egoist to desire to appear a martyr, he added 
 heroically: "I die for my country. May God have 
 mercy on my enemies." 
 
 "If you d cared to play a gentleman s game, you 
 blighter, you might ave lived for your bally coun 
 try," Mother Jenks reminded him in English. 
 "Wonder if the beggar 11 wilt or will e go through 
 smilin like my sainted Enery on the syme spot." 
 
 She need not have worried. It requires a strong 
 
368 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 man to be dictator of a Roman-candle republic for 
 fifteen years, and whatever his sins of omission or 
 commission, Sarros did not lack animal courage. 
 Alone and unattended he limped away among the 
 graves to the wall on the other side of the cemetery 
 and placed his back against it, negligently in the 
 attitude of a devil-may-care fellow without a worry 
 in life. The sergeant waited respectfully until Sarros 
 had finished his cigarette; when he tossed it away and 
 straightened to attention, the sergeant knew he was 
 ready to die. At his command there was a sudden 
 rattle of bolts as the cartridges slid from the maga 
 zines into the breeches; there followed a momentary 
 halt, another command; the squad was aiming when 
 Ricardo Ruey called sharply: 
 
 "Sergeant, do not give the order to fire." 
 
 The rifles were lowered and the men gazed won- 
 deringly at Ricardo. "He s too brave," Ricardo 
 complained. "Damn him, I can t kill him as I 
 would a mad-dog. I ve got to give him a chance." 
 
 The sergeant raised his brows expressively. Ah, 
 the leyfuga, that popular form of execution where the 
 prisoner is given a running chance, and the firing- 
 squad practises wing shooting If the prisoner man 
 ages, miraculously, to escape, he is not pursued! 
 
 A doubt, however, crossed the sergeant s mind. 
 "But, my general," he expostulated, "Senor Sarros 
 cannot accept the ley fuga. He is very lame. That 
 is not giving him the chance your Excellency desires 
 Jve should have." 
 
 "I wasn t thinking of that," Ricardo replied. "I 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 369 
 
 was thinking I m killing him without a fair trial for 
 the reason that he s so infernally ripe for the gallows 
 that a trial would have been a joke. Nevertheless, 
 I am really killing him because he killed my father 
 and that is scarcely fair. My father was a gentle 
 man. Sergeant, is your pistol loaded?" 
 
 "Yes, General." 
 
 "Give it to Senor Sarros." 
 
 As the sergeant started forward to comply Ricardo 
 drew his own service revolver and then motioned 
 Mother Jenks and the firing-squad to stand aside 
 while he crossed to the centre of the cemetery. 
 "Sarros," he called, "I am going to let God decide 
 which one of us shall live. When the sergeant gives 
 the command to fire, I shall open fire on you, and you 
 are free to do the same to me. Sergeant, if he kills 
 me and escapes unhurt, my orders are to escort him 
 to the bay in my carriage and put him safely aboard 
 the steamer." 
 
 Mother Jenks sat down on a tombstone. " Gord s 
 truth!" she gasped, "but there s a rare plucked un." 
 Aloud she croaked: "Don t be a bally ass, sir." 
 
 "Silence!" he commanded. 
 
 The sergeant handed Sarros the revolver. "You 
 heard what I said?" Ricardo called. 
 
 Sarros bowed gravely. 
 
 "You understand your orders, Sergeant?" 
 
 "Yes, General." 
 
 " Very well. Proceed . If this prisoner fires before 
 you give the word, have your squad riddle him." 
 
 The sergeant backed away and gazed owlishly from 
 
370 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 the prisoner to his captor. "Ready!" he called. 
 Both revolvers came up. "Fire!" he shouted, 
 and the two shots were discharged simultaneously. 
 Ricardo s cap flew off his head, but he remained 
 standing, while Sarros staggered back against the 
 wall and there recovering himself gamely, fired again. 
 He scored a clean miss, and Ricardo s gun barked 
 three times ; Sarros sprawled on his face, rose to his 
 knees, raised his pistol halfway, fired into the sky and 
 slid forward on his face. Ricardo stood beside the 
 body until the sergeant approached and stood to 
 attention, his attitude saying: 
 
 "It is over. What next, General?" 
 
 "Take the squad back to the arsenal, Sergeant," 
 Ricardo ordered him coolly, and walked back to 
 recover his uniform cap. He was smiling as he ran 
 his finger through a gaping hole in the upper half of 
 the crown. 
 
 "Well, Mrs. Jenks," he announced when he re 
 joined the old lady, "that was better than executing 
 him with a firing-squad. I gave him a square deal. 
 Now his friends can never say that I murdered him." 
 
 He extended his hand to help Mother Jenks to her 
 feet. She stood erect and felt again that queer swell 
 ing of the heart, the old feeling of suffocation. 
 
 "Steady, lass!" she mumbled. " Old on to me, 
 sir. It s my bally haneurism. Gor I m chok- 
 m " 
 
 He caught her in his arms as she lurched toward 
 him. Her face was purple, and in her eyes there was 
 a queer fierce light that went out suddenly, leaving 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 371 
 
 them dull and glazed. When she commenced to sag 
 in his arms, he eased her gently to the ground and laid 
 her on her back in the grass. 
 
 "The nipper s safe, Enery," he heard her murmur. 
 "I ve raised J er a lydy, s elp me she s back where 
 you found er Enery " 
 
 She quivered, and the light came creeping back 
 into her eyes before it faded forever. "Comin , 
 Enery darlin ," she whispered; and then the soul 
 of Mother Jenks, who had a code and lived up to it 
 (which is more than the majority of us do), had de 
 parted upon the ultimate journey. Ricardo gazed 
 down on the hard old mouth, softened now by a little 
 half -smile of mingled yearning and gladness: "What 
 a wonderful soul you had," he murmured, and kissed 
 her. 
 
 In the end she slept in the niche in the wall of the 
 Catedral de la Vera Cruz, beside her sainted Enery. 
 
CHAPTER THIRTY 
 
 Y II ^HREE days passed. Don Juan Cafetero 
 y had been buried with all the pomp and cir 
 cumstance of a national hero; Mother Jenks, 
 too, had gone to her appointed resting-place, and El 
 Buen Amigo had been closed forever. Ricardo 
 had issued a proclamation announcing himself pro 
 visional president of Sobrante; a convention of revo 
 lutionary leaders had been held, and a provisional 
 cabinet selected. A day for the national elections 
 had been named; the wreckage of the brief revolution 
 had been cleared away, and the wheels of government 
 were once more revolving freely and noiselessly. 
 And while all of this had been going on, John Stuart 
 Webster had lain on his back, staring at the palace 
 ceiling and absolutely forbidden to receive visitors. 
 He was still engaged in this mild form of gymnastics 
 on the third day when the door of his room opened 
 and Dolores looked in on him. 
 
 "Good evening, Caliph," she called. "Aren t you 
 dead yet?" 
 
 It was exactly the tone she should have adopted 
 to get the best results, for Webster had been men 
 tally and physically ill since she had seen him last, 
 and needed some such pleasantry as this to lift him 
 out of his gloomy mood. He grinned at her boyishly. 
 
 372 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 373 
 
 "No, I m not dead. On the contrary, I m feeling 
 real chirpy. Won t you come in and visit for a while, 
 MissRuey?" 
 
 "Well, since you ve invited me, I shall accept." 
 Entering, she stood beside his bed and took the hand 
 he extended toward her. "This is the first oppor 
 tunity I ve had, Miss Ruey," he began, "to apologize 
 for the shock I gave you the other day. I should 
 have come back to you as I promised, instead of 
 getting into a fight and scaring you half to death. 
 I hope you ll forgive me, because I m paying for my 
 fun now with interest." 
 
 "Very well, Caliph. I ll forgive you on one 
 condition." 
 
 "Who am I to resist having a condition imposed 
 upon me? Name your terms. I shall obey." 
 
 "I m weary of being called Miss Ruey. I want 
 to be Dolores to you." 
 
 "By the toenails of Moses," he reflected, "there is 
 no escape. She s determined to rock the boat." 
 Aloud he said: "All right, Dolores. I suppose 
 I may as well take the license of the old family friend. 
 I guess Bill won t mind." 
 
 "Billy hasn t a word to say about it," she retorted, 
 regarding him with that calm, impersonal, yet vitally 
 interested look that always drove him frantic with 
 the desire for her. 
 
 "Well, of course, I understand that," he countered. 
 "Naturally, since Bill is only a man, you ll have to 
 manage him and he ll have to take orders." 
 
 "Caliph, you re a singularly persistent man, once 
 
374 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 you get an idea into your head. Please understand 
 me, once for all: Billy Geary is a dear, and it s a 
 mystery to me why every girl in the world isn t per 
 fectly crazy about him, but every rule has its excep 
 tions and Billy and I are just good friends. I d 
 like to know where you got the idea we re engaged 
 to be married." 
 
 "Why why well, aren t you?" 
 
 "Certainly not." 
 
 "Well, you er you ought to be. I expected 
 that is, I planned I mean Bill told me and and 
 and er it never occurred to me you could possibly 
 have the er crust to refuse him. Of course 
 you re going to marry him when he asks you?" 
 
 "Of course I am not." 
 
 "Ah-h-h-h!" John Stuart Webster gazed at her 
 in frank amazement. "Not going to marry Bill 
 Geary!" he cried, highly scandalized. 
 
 "I know you think I ought to, and I suppose it will 
 appear quite incomprehensible to you when I do 
 not " 
 
 "Why, Dolores, my dear girl! This is most amaz 
 ing. Didn t Bill ask you to marry him before he 
 left?" 
 
 "Yes, he did me that honour, and I declined him." 
 
 "You what!" 
 
 She smiled at him so maternally that his hand 
 itched to drag her down to him and kiss her curving 
 lips. 
 
 "Do you mind telling me just why you took this 
 extraordinary attitude?" 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 375 
 
 "You have no right to ask, but I ll tell you. I 
 refused Billy because I didn t love him enough that 
 way. What s more, I never could." 
 
 He rolled his head to one side and softly, very 
 softly, whistled two bars of "The Spanish Cavalier" 
 through his teeth He was properly thunder-struck 
 so much so, in fact, that for a moment he actually 
 forgot her presence the while he pondered this most 
 incredible state of affairs. 
 
 "I see it all now. It s as clear as mud," he an 
 nounced finally. "You refused poor old Bill and 
 broke his heart, and so he went away and hasn t 
 had the courage to write me since. I m afraid Bill 
 and I both regarded this fight as practically won 
 all over but the wedding-march, as one might put it. 
 I might as well confess I hustled the boy down from 
 the mine just so you two could get married and light 
 out on your honeymoon I figured Bill could kill two 
 birds with one stone have his honeymoon and get 
 rid of his malaria, and return here in three or four 
 months to relieve me, after I had the name in opera 
 tion. Poor boy. That was a frightful song-and- 
 dance you gave him." 
 
 "I suspected you were the matchmaker in this 
 case. I must say I think you re old enough to know 
 better, Caliph John." 
 
 "You did, eh? Well, what made you think so?" 
 
 She chuckled. "Oh, you re very obvious to a 
 
 woman." 
 
 "I forgot that you reveal the past and foretell the 
 future." 
 
376 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 "Yoti are really very clumsy, Caliph. You should 
 never try to direct the destiny of any woman." 
 
 "I m on the sick list," he pleaded, "and it isn t 
 sporting of you to discuss me. You re healthy so 
 let us discuss you. Dolores, do you figure Bill s 
 case to be absolutely hopeless?" 
 
 "Absolutely, Caliph." 
 
 "Hum-m-m!" 
 
 Again Webster had recourse to meditation, seeing 
 which, Dolores walked to the pier-glass in the corner, 
 satisfied herself that her coiffure was just so and re 
 turned to his side, singing softly a little song that had 
 floated out over the transom of Webster s room door 
 into the hall one night : 
 
 A Spanish cavalier, 
 Went out to rope a steer, 
 Along with his paper cigar-r-ro I 
 "CaramfcaTsaidhe. 
 " Mariana you will be 
 Mucho bueno came por mio." 
 
 He turned his head and looked up at her sud 
 denly, searchingly. "Is there anybody else in Bill s 
 way?" he demanded. "I admit it s none of my 
 business, but " 
 
 "Yes, Caliph, there is some one else." 
 
 "I thought so." This rather viciously. "I m 
 willing to gamble a hundred to one, sight unseen, 
 that whoever he is, he isn t half the man Bill is." 
 
 "That," she replied coldly, "is a matter of personal 
 opinion." 
 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 377 
 
 l" And Bill s clock is fixed for keeps? 
 
 "Yes, Caliph. And he never had a chance from 
 the start." 
 
 "Why not?" 
 
 "Well, I met the other man first, Caliph." 
 
 "Oh! Do you mind telling me what this other 
 man does for a living?" 
 
 "He s a mining man, like Billy." 
 
 "All right! Has the son of a horsethief got a mine 
 like Bill s? That s something to consider, Dolores." 
 
 "He has a mine fully as good as Billy s. Like 
 Billy, he owns a half interest in it, too." 
 
 " Hum-m-m ! How long have you known him ? 
 
 "Not very long." 
 
 "Be sure you re right then go ahead," John 
 Stuart Webster warned her. "Don t marry in haste 
 and repent at leisure, Dolores. Know your man 
 before you let him buy the wedding ring. There s 
 a heap of difference, my dear, between sentiment and 
 sentimentality." 
 %"I m sure of my man, Caliph." 
 
 He was silent again, thinking rapidly. "Well, of 
 course," he began again presently, "while there was 
 the slightest possibility of Bill winning you, I would 
 have died before saying that which I am about to 
 say to you now, Dolores, because Bill is my friend, 
 and I d never double-cross him. With reference to 
 this other man, however, I have no such code to 
 consider. I m pretty well convinced I m out of the 
 running, but I ll give that lad a race if it s the last 
 act of my life. He s a stranger to me, and he isn t 
 
378 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 on the job to protect his claim, so why shouldn t 
 I stake it if I can? But are you quite certain you 
 aren t making a grave mistake in refusing Billy? 
 He s quite a boy, my dear. I know him from soul 
 to suspenders, and he d be awfully good to you. He s 
 kind and gentle and considerate, and he s not a molly 
 coddle, either." 
 
 "I can t help it, Caliph. Please don t talk about 
 him any more. I know somebody who is kinder and 
 nobler and gentler." She ceased abruptly, fearful of 
 breaking down her reserve and saying too much. 
 
 "Well, if Bill s case is hopeless" his hand came 
 groping for hers, while he held her with his search 
 ing, wistful glance "I wonder what mine looks like. 
 That is, Dolores, II 
 
 "Yes, John?" 
 
 "I ve played fair with my friend," he whispered 
 eagerly. "I m not going to ask you to marry me, 
 but I want to tell you that to me you re such a very 
 wonderful woman I can t help loving you with my 
 whole heart and soul. 
 
 "I have suspected this, John," she replied gravely. 
 
 "I suppose so. I m such an obvious old fool. 
 I ve had my dream, and I ve put it behind me, but 1 
 I just want you to know I love you; so long as I 
 live, I shall want to serve you When you re married 
 to this other man, and things do not break just 
 right for you both if I have something he wants, in 
 order to make you happy, I want you to know it s 
 yours to give to him. I I I guess that s all, 
 Dolores." 
 
WEBSTERMAN S MAN 379 
 
 "Thank you, John. Would you like to know this 
 man I m going to marry?" 
 
 "Yes, I think I d like to congratulate the scoun 
 drel." 
 
 "Then I ll introduce you to him, John. I first 
 met him on a train in Death Valley, California. He 
 was a shaggy old dear, all whiskers and rags, but his 
 whiskers couldn t hide his smile, and his rags couldn t 
 hide his manhood, and when he thrashed a drummer 
 because the man annoyed me, I just couldn t help 
 falling in love with him. Even when he fibbed to me 
 and disputed my assertion that we had met be 
 fore " 
 
 "Good land of love and the calves get loose!" 
 he almost shouted as he held up his one sound arm 
 to her. " My dear, my dear 
 
 "Oh, sweetheart," she whispered laying her hot 
 cheek against his, "it s taken you so long to say it, 
 but I love you all the more for the dear thoughts that 
 made you hesitate." 
 
 He was silent a few moments, digesting his amaze 
 ment, speechless with the great happiness that was 
 his and then Dolores was kissing the back of the 
 hand of that helpless, bandaged arm lying across his 
 breast. He had a tightening in his throat, for he 
 had not expected love; and that sweet, benignant, 
 humble little kiss spelled adoration and eternal sur 
 render; when she looked at him again the mists of 
 joy were in his eyes. 
 
 "Dear old Caliph John!" she crooned. "He s 
 never had a woman to understand his funny ways 
 
380 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 and appreciate them and take care of him, has he?" 
 She patted his cheek. "And bless his simple old 
 heart, he would rather give up his love than be 
 false to his friend. Yes, indeed. Johnny Webster re 
 spects No Shooting signs when he sees them, but 
 he tells fibs and pretends to be very stupid when he 
 really isn t. So you wouldn t be false to Billy eh, 
 dear? I m glad to know that, because the man who 
 cannot be false to his friend can never be false to his 
 wife." /fat /o*^**<ws>^^-fa^ 0ZL4&P, 
 
 He crushed her down to him and held her there for 
 a long time. "My dear," he said presently, "isn t 
 there something you have to say to me?" 
 
 "I love you, John," she whispered, and sealed the 
 sweet confession with a true lover s kiss. 
 
 "All s well with the world," John Stuart Webster 
 announced when he could use his lips once more for 
 conversation. "And," he added, "owing to the 
 fact that I started a trifle late in life, I believe I could 
 stand a little more of the same." 
 
 The door opened and Ricardo looked in on them. 
 
 "Killjoy!" Webster growled. "Old Killjoy the 
 Thirteenth, King of Sobrante. Is this a surprise to 
 you?" 
 
 "Not a bit of it, Jack. I knew it was due." 
 
 "Am I welcome in the Ruey family?" 
 
 Ricardo came over and kissed his sister. "Don t 
 be a lobster, Jack," he protested. "I dislike foolish 
 questions." And he pressed his friend s hand with a 
 fervour that testified to his pleasure. 
 
 "I m sorry to crowd in at a time like this, Jack," 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 381 
 
 he continued, with a hug for Dolores, "but Mr. What- 
 you-rnay-call-him, the American consul, has called 
 to pay his respects. As a fellow-citizen of yours, he 
 is vitally interested in your welfare. Would you care 
 to receive him for a few minutes?" 
 
 "One minute will do," Webster declared with 
 emphasis. "Show the human slug up, Rick." 
 
 Mr. Lemuel Tolliver tripped breezily in with out 
 stretched hand. " My dear Mr. Webster," he began, 
 but Webster cut him short with a peremptory ges 
 ture. 
 
 "Listen, friend Tolliver," he said. "The only 
 reason I received you was to tell you I m going to 
 remain in this country awhile and help develop it. 
 I may even conclude to grow up with it. I shall not, 
 of course, renounce my American citizenship; and of 
 course, as an American citizen, I am naturally in 
 terested in the man my country sends to Sobrante to 
 represent it. I might as well be frank and tell you 
 that you won t do. I called on you once to do your 
 duty, and you weren t there; I told you then I might 
 have something to say about your job later on, and 
 now I m due to say it. Mr. Tolliver, I m the power 
 behind the throne in this little Jim-crow country, 
 and to quote your own elegant phraseology, you, as 
 American consul, are nux vomica to the Sobrantean 
 government. Moreover, as soon as the Sobrantean 
 ambassador reaches Washington, he s going to tell 
 the President that you are, and then the President 
 will be courteous enough to remove you. In the 
 meantime, fare thee well, Mr. Consul." 
 
382 WEBSTER MAN S MAN 
 
 "But, Mr. Webster " 
 
 "Fat/a/" 
 
 Mr. Tolliver, appreciating the utter futility of 
 argument, bowed and departed. 
 
 "Verily, life grows sweeter with each passing day/ 
 Webster murmured whimsically. "Rick, old man, 
 I think you had better escort the Consul to the front 
 door. Your presence is nux vomica to me also. See 
 that you back me up and dispose of that fellow 
 Tolliver, or you can t come to our wedding can he, 
 sweetheart?" 
 
 When Ricardo had taken his departure, laughing, 
 John Stuart Webster looked up quite seriously at his 
 wife-to-be. "Can you explain to me, Dolores," 
 he asked, "how it happened that your relatives and 
 your father s old friends here in Sobrante, whom you 
 met shortly after your arrival, never informed you 
 that Ricardo was living?" 
 
 "They didn t know any more about him than I 
 did, and he left here as a mere boy. He was scarcely 
 acquainted with his relatives, all of whom bowed 
 quite submissively to the Sarros yoke. Indeed, my 
 father s half-brother, Antonio Ruey, actually ac 
 cepted a portfolio under the Sarros regime and held 
 it up to his death. Ricardo has a wholesome con 
 tempt for his relatives, and as for his father s old 
 friends, none of them knew anything about his plans. 
 Apparently his identity was known only to the Sarros 
 intelligence bureau, and it did not permit the informa 
 tion to leak out." 
 
 "Funny mix-up," he commented. "And by the 
 
WEBSTER MAN S MAN 383 
 
 way, where did you get all the inside dope about 
 Neddy Jerome?" 
 
 She laughed and related to him the details of 
 Neddy s perfidy. 
 
 "And you actually agreed to deliver me, hog- tied 
 and helpless j to that old schemer, Dolores?" 
 
 "Why not, dear. I loved you; I always meant to 
 marry you, if you d let me; and ten thousand dollars 
 would have lasted me for pin money a long time." 
 
 "Well, you and Neddy have both lost out. Better 
 send the old pelican a cable and wake him out of his 
 day-dream." 
 
 "I sent the cable yesterday, John dear." 
 
 * * Extraordinary woman ! 
 
 "I ve just received an answer. Neddy has spent 
 nearly fifty dollars telling me by cable what a fine 
 man you are and how thankful I ought to be to the 
 good Lord for permitting you to marry me." 
 
 "Dolores, you are perfectly amazing. I only pro 
 posed to you a minute ago." 
 
 "I know you did, slow-poke, but that is not your 
 fault. You would have proposed to me yesterday, 
 only I thought best not to disturb you until you were 
 a little stronger. This evening, however, I made up 
 my mind to settle the matter, and so I " 
 
 "But suppose I hadn t proposed to you, after 
 all?" 
 
 "Then, John, I should have proposed to you, I 
 fear." , 
 
 "But you were running an awful risk, sending that 
 telegram to Neddy Jerome." 
 
384 WEBSTERMAN S MAN 
 
 She t* jk one large red ear in each little hand and 
 shook his head lovingly. "Silly," she whispered, 
 "don t be a goose. I knew you loved me; I would 
 have know it, even if Neddy Jerome hadn t told me 
 so. So I played a safe game all the way through, and 
 oh, dear Caliph John, I m so happy I could cry." 
 
 "God bless my mildewed soul," John Stuart Web 
 ster murmured helplessly. The entire matter was 
 quite beyond his comprehension! 
 
 THE END 
 
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