THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 GIFT OF 
 
 Hiss Nancy Bangert
 
 CAPTAIN MACKLIN
 
 " Go, Royal ! " he cried, " and God bless yoy ! "
 
 CAPTAIN 
 MACKLIN 
 
 HIS MEMOIRS 
 
 BY 
 
 RICHARD HARDING DAVIS 
 
 ILLUSTRATED BY 
 
 Walter Appleton Clark 
 
 CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 
 NEW YORK::::::::::::::::: 1906
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1902, BY 
 CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 
 
 Published, September, igoa
 
 College 
 Library 
 
 Co 
 MY MOTHER
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Go, Royai t " he cried, and God bless you ! " 
 
 Frontispiece 
 
 FACING 
 PAGE 
 
 He made out meeting sometmng of a ceremony . . 24 
 We walked out to the woods , . , . . 40 
 
 1' was sure life in Sagua ia Grande would always suit me 90 
 
 The moon rose over the camp . . . but still we 
 
 sat cc 138 
 
 And the next instant 1 fell sprawling inside the barrack 
 
 yard . . 1 68 
 
 sprang back against the cabin ....... 294
 
 CAPTAIN MACKLIN 
 
 HIS MEMOIRS 
 
 UNITED STATES MILITARY ACADEMY, 
 WEST POINT 
 
 IT may seem presumptuous that so young ? 
 man as myself should propose to write his life 
 and memoirs, for, as a rule, one waits until he has 
 accomplished something in the world, or until he 
 has reached old age, before he ventures to tell of 
 the times in which he has lived, and of his part in 
 them. But the profession to which I belong, 
 which is that of a soldier, and which is the noblest 
 profession a man can follow, is a hazardous one, 
 and were I to delay until to-morrow to write down 
 what I have seen and done, these memoirs might 
 never be written, for, such being the fortune of 
 war, to-morrow might not come. 
 
 So I propose to tell now of the little 1 have ac 
 complished in the first twenty-three years of my 
 life, and, from month to month, to add to these 
 memoirs in order that, should 1 be suddenly taken 
 off, my debit and credit pages may be found care
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 fully written up to date and carried forward. On 
 the other hand, should I live to be an old man, 
 this record of my career will furnish me with ma 
 terial for a more complete autobiography, and will 
 serve as a safeguard against a failing memory. 
 
 In writing a personal narrative I take it that 
 the most important events to be chronicled in the 
 life of a man are his choice of a wife and his choice 
 of a profession. As I am unmarried, the chief 
 event in my life is my choice of a profession, and 
 as to that, as a matter of fact, I was given no choice, 
 but from my earliest childhood was destined to be 
 a soldier. My education and my daily environ 
 ment each pointed to that career, and even if I had 
 shown a remarkable aptitude for any other calling, 
 which I did not, I doubt if I would have pursued 
 it. I am confident that had my education been 
 directed in an entirely different channel, I should 
 have followed my destiny, and come out a soldier 
 in the end. For by inheritance as well as by in 
 stinct I was foreordained to follow the fortunes of 
 war, to delight in the clash of arms and the smoke 
 of battle ; and I expect that when I do hear the 
 clash of arms and smell the smoke of battle, the 
 last of the Macklins will prove himself worthy of 
 his ancestors. 
 
 1 call myself the last of the Macklins for the 
 reason that last year, on my twenty-second birth- 
 
 2
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 day, I determined i should never marry. Women 
 I respect and admire, several of them, especially 
 two of the young ladies at Miss Butler's Academy 
 I have deeply loved, but a soldier cannot devote 
 himself both to a woman and to his country. As 
 one of our young professors said, u The flag is a 
 jealous mistress." 
 
 The one who, in my earliest childhood, arranged 
 that I should follow the profession of arms, was 
 my mother's father, and my only surviving grand 
 parent. He was no less a personage than Major- 
 General John M. Hamilton. I am not a writer ^ 
 my sword, I fear and hope, will always be easier 
 in my hand than my pen, but I wish for a brief 
 moment I could hold it with such skill, that 1 
 might tell of my grandfather properly and grate 
 fully, and describe him as the gentle and brave 
 man he was. 1 know he was gentle, for though 
 I never had a woman to care for me as a mother 
 cares for a son, I never missed that care ; and I 
 know how brave he was, for that is part of the 
 history of my country. During many years he 
 was my only parent or friend or companion ; he 
 taught me my lessons by day and my prayers by 
 night, and, when I passed through all the absurd 
 ailments to which a child is heir, he sat beside my 
 cot and lulled me to sleep, or told me stories of 
 the war. There was a childlike and simple qual- 
 
 3
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 <ty in his own nature, which made me reach out 
 to him and confide in him as J would have done 
 to one of my own age. Later, I scoffed at this 
 virtue in him as something old-fashioned and cred 
 ulous. That was when I had reached the age 
 when I was older, I hope, than 1 shall ever be 
 again. There is no such certainty of knowledge 
 on all subjects as one holds at eighteen and at 
 f"'^hty, and at eighteen I found his care and solici- 
 .ude irritating and irksome. With the intolerance 
 of youth, I could not see the love that was back 
 of his anxiety, and which should have softened it 
 for me with a halo and made me considerate and 
 grateful. Now I see it I see it now that it is 
 too late. But surely he understood, he knew how 
 I looked up to him, how I loved him, and how 1 
 tried to copy him, and, because I could not, con 
 soled myself inwardly by thinking that the reason 
 I had failed was because his way was the wrong 
 one, and that my way was the better, if he did 
 not understand then, he understands now ; I can 
 not bear to think he does not understand and for 
 give me. 
 
 Those were the best days of mv life, the days 
 i spent with him as a child in his own home on 
 the Hudson. It stands at Dobbs Ferry, set in a 
 grove of pines, with a garden about it, and a box 
 hedge that shuts it from the road. The room '{
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 best remember is the one that overlooks the 
 Hudson and the Palisades. From its windows 
 you can watch the great vessels passing up and 
 down the river, and the excursion steamers flying 
 many flags, and tiny pleasure-boats and great 
 barges. There is an open fireplace in this room, 
 and in a corner formed by the book-case, and 
 next to the wood-box, was my favorite seat. My 
 grandfather's place was in a great leather chair be 
 side the centre-table, and I used to sit cross- 
 legged on a cushion at his feet, with my back 
 against his knees and my face to the open hearth. 
 I can still see the pages of " Charles O'Malley " 
 and " Midshipman Easy," as I read them by the 
 lifting light of that wood fire, and I can hear the 
 wind roaring down the chimney and among the 
 trees outside, and the steamers signalling to each 
 other as they pushed through the ice and fog ta 
 the great city that lay below us. I can feel the 
 fire burning my face, and the cold shivers that 
 ran down my back, as my grandfather told me of 
 the Indians who had once hunted in the very 
 woods back of our house, and of those he had 
 fought with on the plains. With the imagination 
 of a child, I could hear, mingled with the shrieks 
 of the wind as it dashed the branches against the 
 roof, their hideous war-cries as they rushed to 
 some night attack, or the howling of the wolves 
 
 5
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 in the snow. When I think of myself as I was 
 then I am very fond of that little boy who sat 
 shivering with excitement, and staring with open 
 eyes at the pictures he saw in the firelight, a little 
 boy who had made no enemies, no failures, who 
 had harmed no one, and who knew nothing of 
 the world outside the walls that sheltered him, 
 save the brave old soldier who was his law and 
 his example, his friend in trouble, and his play 
 mate. 
 
 I knew nothing then, and I know very little 
 now, either of my father or my mother. When 
 ever I asked my grandfather concerning them he 
 always answered vaguely that he would tell me 
 some day, " when you are of age," but whether 
 he meant when I was twenty-one or of an age 
 when I was best fitted to hear the truth, I shall 
 never know. But I guessed the truth from what 
 he let fall, and from what I have since heard from 
 others, although that is but little, for I could not 
 ask strangers to tell me of my own people. For 
 some reason, soon after they were married my 
 mother and father separated and she brought 
 me to live with her father, and he entered the 
 Southern army. 
 
 I like to think that I can remember my mother, 
 and it seems I must, for very dimly I recollect a 
 young girl who used to sit by the window looking
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 out at the passing vessels. There is a daguerreo 
 type of my mother, and it may be that my recol 
 lection of her is builded upon that portrait. She 
 died soon after we came to live with my grand 
 father, when I was only three years old, but I am 
 sure I remember her, for no other woman was 
 ever in the house, and the figure of the young 
 girl looking out across at the Palisades is very 
 clear to me. 
 
 My father was an Irish officer and gentleman, 
 who came to the States to better his fortunes. 
 This was just before the war ; and as soon as it 
 began, although he lived in the North, in New 
 York City, he joined the Southern army and was 
 killed. I believe, from what little I have learned 
 of him, that he was both wild and reckless, but 
 the few who remember him all say that he had 
 many noble qualities, and was much loved by 
 men, and, I am afraid, by women. I do not 
 know more than that, except the one story of 
 him, which my grandfather often told me. 
 
 " Whatever a man may say of your father," he 
 would tell me, " you need not believe ; for they 
 may not have understood him, and all that you 
 need to remember, until when you are of age I 
 shall tell you the whole truth, is how he died." 
 It is a brief story. My father was occupying a 
 trench which for some hours his company had 
 
 7
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 held under a heavy fire. When the Yankees 
 charged with the bayonet he rose to meet them, 
 but at the same moment the bugle sounded the 
 retreat, and half of his company broke and ran. 
 My father sprang to the top of the trench and 
 called, " Come back, boys, we'll give them one 
 more volley." It may have been that he had mis 
 understood the call of the bugle, and disobeyed 
 through ignorance, or it may have been that in 
 his education the signal to retreat had been 
 omitted, for he did not heed it, and stood out 
 lined against the sky, looking back and waving 
 his hand to his men. But they did not come to 
 him, and the advancing troop fired, and he fell 
 upon the trench with his body stretched along its 
 length. The Union officer was far in advance of 
 his own company, and when he leaped upon the 
 trench he found that it was empty and that the 
 Confederate troops were in retreat. He turned, 
 and shouted, laughing : " Come on ! there's 
 only one man here and he's dead ! " 
 
 But my father reached up his hand, to where 
 the officer stood above him, and pulled at his 
 scabbard. 
 
 " Not dead, but dying, Captain," my father 
 said. " And that*s better than retreating, isn't 
 it?" 
 
 " And that is the story," my grandfather used 
 8
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 to say to me, " you must remember of your 
 father, and whatever else he did does not count." 
 
 At the age of ten my grandfather sent me to a 
 military academy near Dobbs Ferry, where boys 
 were prepared for college and for West Point and 
 Annapolis. I was a very poor scholar, and, with 
 the exception of what I learned in the drill-hall 
 and the gymnasium, the academy did me very 
 little good, and I certainly did not, at that time 
 at least, reflect any credit on the academy. Had 
 I been able to take half the interest in my studies 
 my grandfather showed in them, I would have 
 won prizes in every branch ; but even my desire 
 to please him could not make me understand the 
 simplest problems in long division ; and later 
 here at the Point, the higher branches of mathe 
 matics, combined with other causes, have nearly 
 deprived the United States Army of a gallant 
 officer. 1 believe I have it in me to take a piece 
 of field artillery by assault, but I know I shall 
 never be able to work out the formula necessary 
 to adjust its elevation. 
 
 With the exception, perhaps, of Caesars 
 " Commentaries," I hated all of my studies, not 
 only on their own account, but because they cut 
 me out of the talks with which in the past my 
 grandfather and I had been wont to close each 
 day. These talks, which were made up on my 
 
 9
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 part of demands for more stories, or for repeti 
 tions of those I already knew by heart, did more 
 than any other thing to inspire me with a desire 
 for military glory. My grandfather had served 
 through the Mexican War, in the Indian cam 
 paigns on the plains, and during the War of the 
 Rebellion, and his memory recalled the most 
 wonderful and exciting of adventures. He was 
 singularly modest, which is a virtue I never could 
 consider as a high one, for I find that the world 
 takes you at your own valuation, and unless " the 
 terrible trumpet of Fame " is sounded by your 
 self no one else will blow your trumpet for you. 
 Of that you may be sure. But I can't recall ever 
 having heard my grandfather relate to people of 
 his own age any of the adventures which he told 
 me, and once I even caught him recounting a 
 personal experience which redounded greatly to 
 his credit as having happened to " a man in his 
 regiment." When with childish delight I at once 
 accused him of this he was visibly annoyed, and 
 blushed like a girl, and afterward corrected me 
 for being so forward in the presence of my elders. 
 His modesty went even to the length of his keep 
 ing hidden in his bedroom the three presentation 
 swords which had been given him at different 
 times for distinguished action on the field. One 
 came from the men of his regiment, one from his 
 
 10
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 townspeople after his return from the City of 
 Mexico, and one from the people of the State of 
 New York ; and nothing I could say would in 
 duce him to bring them downstairs to our sitting- 
 room, where visitors might see them. Person 
 ally, I cannot understand what a presentation 
 sword is for except to show to your friends ; for, 
 as a rule, they are very badly balanced and of no 
 use for righting. 
 
 Had if not been for the colored prints of the 
 different battles in Mexico which hung in our 
 sitting-room, and some Indian war-bonnets and 
 bows and arrows, and a box of duelling-pistols, 
 no one would have supposed that our house be 
 longed to one of the most distinguished generals 
 of his day. You may be sure I always pointed 
 these out to our visitors, and one of my chief 
 pleasures was to dress one of my school-mates in 
 the Indian war-bonnet, and then scalp him with a 
 carving-knife. The duelling-pistols were even a 
 greater delight to me. They were equipped with 
 rifle-barrels and hair-triggers, and were inlaid 
 richly with silver, and more than once had been 
 used on the field of honor. Whenever my grand 
 father went out for a walk, or to play whist at the 
 house of a neighbor, I would get down these pis 
 tols and fight duels with myself in front of the 
 looking-glass. With my left hand I would hold
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 the handkerchief above my head, and with the 
 other clutch the pistol at my side, and then, at 
 the word, and as the handkerchief fluttered to the 
 floor, I would take careful aim and pull the trig 
 ger. Sometimes I died and made speeches before 
 I expired, and sometimes I killed my adversary 
 and stood smiling down at him. 
 
 My grandfather was a member of the Aztec 
 Club, wljich was organized during the occupation 
 of the City of Mexico by the American officers 
 who had stormed the capital ; and on the occasion 
 of one of its annual meetings, which that year was 
 held in Philadelphia, I was permitted to accom 
 pany him to that city. It was the longest jour 
 ney from home I had ever taken, and each inci 
 dent of it is still clearly fixed in my mind. The 
 event of the reunion was a dinner given at the 
 house of General Patterson, and on the morning 
 before the dinner the members of the club were 
 invited to assemble in the garden which sur 
 rounded his house. To this meeting my grand 
 father conducted me, and I found myself sur 
 rounded by the very men of whom he had so 
 often spoken. I was very frightened, and I con 
 fess I was surprised and greatly disappointed also 
 to find that they were old and gray-haired men, 
 and not the young and dashing warriors he had 
 described. General Patterson alone did not dis- 
 
 12
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 appoint me, for even at that late day he wore a 
 blue coat with brass buttons and a buff waistcoat 
 and high black stock. He had a strong, fine 
 profile and was smooth shaven. I remember I 
 found him exactly my ideal of the Duke of Well 
 ington ; for though I was only then ten or twelve 
 years of age, I had my own ideas about every 
 soldier from Alexander and Von Moltke to our 
 own Captain Custer. 
 
 It was in the garden behind the Patterson 
 house that we met the General, and he alarmed 
 me very much by pulling my shoulders back and 
 asking me my age, and whether or not I expected 
 to be as brave a soldier as my grandfather, to 
 which latter question I said, " Yes, General," and 
 then could have cried with mortification, for all 
 of the great soldiers laughed at me. One of them 
 turned, and said to the only one who was seated, 
 " That is Hamilton's grandson.'* The man who 
 was seated did not impress me very much. He 
 was younger than the others. He wore a black 
 suit and a black tie, and the three upper buttons 
 of his waistcoat were unfastened. His beard was 
 close-cropped, like a blacking-brush, and he was 
 chewing on a cigar that had burned so far down 
 that I remember wondering why it did not scorch 
 his mustache. And then, as I stood staring up at 
 him and he down at me, it came over me who he 
 
 13
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 was, and I can recall even now how my heart 
 seemed to jump, and I felt terribly frightened 
 and as though I were going to cry. My grand 
 father bowed to the younger man in the cour 
 teous, old-fashioned manner he always observed, 
 and said : " General, this is my grandchild, Cap 
 tain Macklin's boy. When he grows up I want 
 him to be able to say he has met you. I am go 
 ing to send him to West Point." 
 
 The man in the chair nodded his head at my 
 grandfather, and took his cigar from his mouth 
 and said, "When he's ready to enter, remind me, 
 let m.e know," and closed his lips again on his 
 cigar, as though he had missed it even during that 
 short space ">f time. But had he made a long 
 oration neither my grandfather nor I could have 
 been more deeply moved. My grandfather said: 
 " Thank you, General. It is very kind of you," 
 and led me away smiling so proudly that it was 
 beautiful to see him. When he had entered the 
 house he stopped, and bending over me, asked. 
 " Do you know who that was, Roy ? " But with 
 the awe of the moment still heavy upon me I 
 could only nod and gasp at him. 
 
 " That was General Grant," my grandfather 
 said. 
 
 "Yes, I know," I whispered. 
 
 I am not particularly proud of the years that
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 preceded my entrance to West Point, and of the 
 years I have spent here I have still less reason to 
 be content. I was an active boy, and behaved as 
 other young cubs of that age, no better and no 
 worse. Dobbs Ferry was not a place where 
 temptations beset one, and, though we were near 
 New York, we were not of it, and we seldom 
 visited it. When we did, it was to go to a mati 
 nee at some theatre, returning the same afternoon 
 in time for supper. My grandfather was very 
 fond of the drama, and had been acquainted since 
 he was a young man with some of the most dis 
 tinguished actors. With him I saw Edwin Booth 
 in " Macbeth," and Lester Wallack in " Rose- 
 dale," and John McCullough in " Virginius," a 
 tragedy which was to me so real and moving that 
 I wept all the way home in the train. Sometimes 
 I was allowed to visit the theatre alone, and on 
 these afternoons I selected performances of a 
 lighter variety, such as that given by Harrigan 
 & Hart in their theatre on Broadway. Every 
 Thanksgiving Day I was allowed, after witnessing 
 the annual football match between the students 
 from Princeton and Yale universities, to remain 
 in town all that night. On these great occasions 
 I used to visit Koster & Bial's on Twenty- 
 third Street, a long, low building, very dark and 
 very smoky., and which on those nights was
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 blocked with excited mobs of students, wearing 
 different colored ribbons and shouting the cries 
 of their different colleges. I envied and admired 
 these young gentlemen, and thought them very 
 fine fellows indeed. They wore in those days 
 long green coats, which made them look like 
 coachmen, and high, bell-shaped hats, both of 
 which, as I now can see, were a queer survival of 
 the fashions of 1830, and which now for the sec 
 ond time have disappeared. 
 
 To me, with my country clothes and manners and 
 scanty spending money, the way these young col 
 legians wagered their money at the football match 
 and drank from their silver flasks, and smoked and 
 swaggered in the hotel corridors, was something to 
 be admired and copied. And although I knew 
 none of them, and would have been ashamed had 
 they seen me in company with any of my boy 
 friends from Dobbs Ferry, I followed them from 
 one hotel to another, pretending I was with them, 
 and even penetrated at their heels into the cafe of 
 Delmonico. I felt then for a brief moment that 
 I was " seeing life," the life of a great metropolis, 
 and in company with the young swells who made 
 it the rushing, delightful whirlpool it appeared 
 to be. 
 
 It seemed to me, then, that to wear a green 
 coachman's coat, to rush the doorkeeper at the 
 
 16
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 Haymarket dance-hall, and to eat supper at the 
 " Silver Grill " was to be " a man about town," 
 and each year I returned to our fireside at Dobbs 
 Ferry with some discontent. The excursions 
 made me look restlessly forward to the day when 
 I would return from my Western post, a dashing 
 young cavalry officer on leave, and would wake 
 up the cafes and clubs of New York, and throw 
 my money about as carelessly as these older boys 
 were doing then. 
 
 My appointment to West Point did not, after 
 all, come from General Grant, but from President 
 Arthur, who was in office when I reached my 
 nineteenth year. Had I depended upon my 
 Congressman for the appointment, and had it 
 been made after a competitive examination of 
 candidates, I doubt if I would have been chosen. 
 
 Perhaps my grandfather feared this and had it 
 in his mind when he asked the President to ap 
 point me. It was the first favor he had ever 
 asked of the Government he had served so well, 
 and I felt more grateful to him for having asked 
 the favor, knowing what it cost him to do so, 
 than I did to the President for granting it. 
 
 I was accordingly entered upon the rolls of the 
 Military Academy, and my career as a soldier be 
 gan. I wish I could say it began brilliantly, but 
 the records of the Academy would not bear me 
 
 17
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 out. Had it not been that I was forced to study 
 books 1 would not have been a bad student ; for 
 in everything but books, in everything that bore 
 directly on the training of a soldier and which 
 depended upon myself, as, for example, drill, rid 
 ing, marksmanship, and a knowledge of the man 
 ual, I did as well, or far better, than any of my 
 classmates. But I could not, or would not, 
 study, and instead of passing high in my class at 
 the end of the plebe year, as my natural talents 
 seemed to promise I would do, I barely scraped 
 through, and the outlook for the second year was 
 not encouraging. The campaign in Mexico had 
 given my grandfather a knowledge of Spanish, 
 and as a boy he had drilled this language into me, 
 for it was a fixed belief of his, that if the United 
 States ever went to war, it would be with some of 
 her Spanish-American neighbors, with Mexico, 
 or Central America, or with Spain on account of 
 Cuba. In consequence he considered it most 
 essential that every United States officer should 
 speak Spanish. He also argued that a knowl 
 edge of French was of even greater importance 
 to an officer and a gentleman, as it was, as I have 
 since found it to be, the most widely spoken of 
 all languages. I was accordingly well drilled in 
 these two tongues, and I have never regretted 
 ^e time I spent on them, for my facility in them 
 
 18
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 has often served me well, has pulled me out of 
 tight places, put money into my pocket, and 
 gained me friends when but for them I might 
 have remained and departed a stranger among 
 strangers. My French accordingly helped me 
 much as a " yearling," and in camp I threw my 
 self so earnestly into the skirmisn, artillery, and 
 cavalry drills that in spite of my low marks I still 
 stood high in the opinion of the cadet officers and 
 of my instructors. With my classmates, for some 
 reason, although in all out-of-door exercises I was 
 the superior of most of them, I was not popular. 
 I would not see this at first, for I try to keep on 
 friendly terms with those around me, and I want 
 to be liked even by people of whom I have no 
 very high opinion and from whom I do not want 
 anything besides. But I was not popular. There 
 was no disguising that, and in the gymnasium or 
 the riding-hall other men would win applause for 
 performing a feat of horsemanship or a difficult 
 trick on the parallel bars, which same feat, when I 
 repeated it immediately after them, and even a 
 little better than they had done it, would be re 
 ceived in silence. I could not see the reason for 
 this, and the fact itself hurt me much more than 
 anyone guessed. Then as they would not signify 
 by their approbation that I was the best athlete in 
 the class, I took to telling them that I was, which 
 
 19
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 did not help matters. I find it is the same in the 
 world as it is at the Academy that if one wants 
 recognition, he must pretend not to see that he 
 deserves it. If he shows he does see it, everyone 
 else will grow blind, holding, I suppose, that a 
 conceited man carries his own comfort with him, 
 and is his own reward. I soon saw that the cadet 
 who was modest received more praise than the 
 cadet who was his superior, but who, through 
 repeated success, had acquired a self-confident, or, 
 as some people call it, a conceited manner ; and 
 so, for a time, I pretended to be modest, too, and 
 I never spoke of my athletic successes. But I 
 was never very good at pretending, and soon 
 gave it up. Then I grew morbid over my in 
 ability to make friends, and moped by myself, 
 having as little to do with my classmates as pos 
 sible. In my loneliness I began to think that I 
 was a much misunderstood individual. My soli 
 tary state bred in me a most unhealthy disgust 
 for myself, and, as it always is with those who 
 are at times exuberantly light-hearted and self- 
 assertive, I had terrible fits of depression and lack 
 of self-confidence, during which spells I hated 
 myself and all of those about me. Once, during 
 one of these moods, a First-Class man, who had 
 been a sneak in his plebe year and a bully ever 
 since, asked me, sneeringly, how " Napoleon on 
 
 20
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 the Isle of St. Helena " was feeling that morning, 
 and I told him promptly to go to the devil, and 
 added that if he addressed me again, except in the 
 line of his duty, I would thrash him until he 
 could not stand or see. Of course he sent me 
 his second, and one of my classmates acted for 
 me. We went out that same evening after sup 
 per behind Fort Clinton, and 1 thrashed him so 
 badly that he was laid up in the hospital for sev 
 eral days. After that I took a much more cheer 
 ful view of life, and as it seemed hardly fair to 
 make one cadet bear the whole brunt of my dis 
 pleasure toward the entire battalion, I began pick 
 ing quarrels with anyone who made pretensions 
 of being a fighter, and who chanced to be bigger 
 than myself. 
 
 Sometimes I got badly beaten, and sometimes 
 I thrashed the other man, but whichever way it 
 went, those battles in the soft twilight evenings 
 behind the grass-grown ramparts of the old fort, 
 in the shadow of the Kosciusko Monument, will 
 always be the brightest and pleasantest memories 
 of my life at this place. 
 
 My grandfather had one other daughter be 
 sides my mother, my Aunt Mary, who had 
 married a Harvard professor, Dr. Endicott, and 
 who had lived in Cambridge ever since they mar 
 ried. 
 
 21
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 In my second year here, Dr. Endicott died 
 and my grandfather at once went to Cambridge 
 to bring Aunt Mary and her daughter Beatrice 
 back with him, installing them in our little home, 
 which thereafter was to be theirs as well. He 
 wrote me saying he knew I would not disapprove 
 of this invasion of my place by my young cousin 
 and assured me that no one, girl or boy, could 
 ever take the place in his heart that I had held. 
 As a matter of fact I was secretly pleased to 
 hear of this addition to our little household. I 
 knew that as soon as I was graduated I would be 
 sent to some army post in the West, and that the 
 occasional visit I was now able to pay to Dobbs 
 Ferry would be discontinued. I hated to think 
 that in his old age my grandfather would be 
 quite alone. On the other hand, when, after the 
 arrival of my cousin, I received his first letter and 
 found it filled with enthusiastic descriptions of 
 her, and of how anxious she was to make him 
 happy, I felt a little thrill of jealousy. It gave 
 me some sharp pangs of remorse, and I asked 
 myself searchingly if I had always done my ut 
 most to please my grandfather and to give him 
 pride and pleasure in me. I determined for the 
 future I would think only of how to make him 
 happy. 
 
 A few weeks later I was able to obtain a few 
 
 22
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 hours' leave, and I wasted no time in running 
 down from the Point to make the acquaintance 
 of my cousin, and to see how the home looked 
 under the new regime. I found it changed, 
 and, except that I felt then and afterward that I 
 was a guest, it was changed for the better. 
 
 I found that my grandfather was much more 
 comfortable in every way. The newcomers were 
 both eager and loving, although no one could 
 help but love my grandfather, and they invented 
 wants he had never felt before, and satisfied 
 them, while at the same time they did not inter 
 fere with the life he had formerly led. Aunt 
 Mary is an unselfish soul, and most content 
 when she is by herself engaged in the affairs of 
 the house and in doing something for those who 
 live in it. Besides her unselfishness, which is to 
 me the highest as it is the rarest of virtues, hers 
 is a sweet and noble character, and she is one of 
 the gentlest souls that I have ever known. 
 
 I may say the same of my cousin Beatrice. 
 When she came into the room, my first thought 
 was how like she was to a statuette of a Dresden 
 shepherdess which had always stood at one end 
 of our mantel-piece, coquetting with the shepherd 
 lad on the other side of the clock. As a boy, 
 the shepherdess had been my ideal of feminine 
 loveliness. Since then my ideals had changed 
 
 23
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 rapidly and often, but Beatrice reminded me that 
 the shepherdess had once been my ideal. She 
 wore a broad straw hat, with artificial roses which 
 made it hang down on one side, and, as she had 
 been working in our garden, she wore huge 
 gloves and carried a trowel in one hand. As she 
 entered, my grandfather rose hastily from his 
 chair and presented us with impressive courtesy. 
 " Royal," he said, " this is your cousin, Beatrice 
 Endicott." If he had not been present, I think 
 we would have shaken hands without restraint. 
 But he made our meeting something of a cere 
 mony. I brought my heels together and bowed as 
 I have been taught to do at the Academy, and see 
 ing this she made a low courtesy. She did this 
 apparently with great gravity, but as she kept her 
 eyes on mine I saw that she was mocking me. If 
 I am afraid of anything it has certainly never 
 proved to be a girl, but I confess I was strangely 
 embarrassed. My cousin seemed somehow dif 
 ferent from any of the other girls I had met. 
 She was not at all like those with whom I had 
 danced at the hotel hops, and to whom I gave 
 my brass buttons in Flirtation Walk. She was 
 more fine, more illusive, and yet most fascinating, 
 with a quaint old-fashioned manner that at times 
 made her seem quite a child, and the next mo 
 ment changed her into a worldly and charming 
 
 24
 
 00 
 
 J 
 
 CJ 
 
 e 
 
 o
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 young woman. She made you feel she was much 
 older than yourself in years and in experience 
 and in knowledge. That is the way my cousin 
 appeared to me the first time I saw her, when 
 she stood in the middle of the room courtesying 
 mockingly at me and looking like a picture on 
 an old French fan. That is how she has since 
 always seemed to me one moment a woman, 
 a.id the next a child ; one moment tender and 
 kind and merry, and the next disapproving, dis 
 tant, and unapproachable. 
 
 Up to the time I met Beatrice I had never 
 thought it possible to consider a girl as a friend. 
 For the matter of that, I had no friends even 
 among men, and I made love to girls. My atti 
 tude toward girls, if one can say that a man of 
 eighteen has an attitude, was always that of the de 
 voted admirer. If they did not want me as a de 
 voted admirer, I put them down as being proud 
 and haughty or " stuck up." It never occurred to 
 me then that there might be a class of girl who, 
 on meeting you, did not desire that you should at 
 once tell her exactly how you loved her, and why. 
 The girls who came to Cranston's certainly seemed 
 to expect you to set their minds at rest on that 
 subject, and my point of view of girls was taken 
 entirely from them. I can remember very well 
 iny pause of dawning doubt and surprise when a 
 
 25
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 girl first informed me she thought a man who told 
 her she was pretty was impertinent. What be 
 wildered me still more on that occasion was that 
 this particular girl was so extremely beautiful that 
 to talk about anything else but her beauty was a 
 waste of time. It made all other topics trivial, 
 and yet she seemed quite sincere in what she said, 
 and refused to allow me to bring our talk to the 
 personal basis of " what I am to you " and <c what 
 you are to me." It was in discussing that ques 
 tion that I considered myself an artist and a mas 
 ter. My classmates agreed with me in thinking 
 as I did, and from the first moment I came here 
 called me " Masher " Macklin, a sobriquet of 
 which I fear for a time I was rather proud. Cer 
 tainly, I strove to live up to it. I believe I dig 
 nified my conduct to myself by calling it ff flirta 
 tion." Flirtation, as I understood it, was a sort 
 of game in which I honestly believed the entire 
 world of men and women, of every class and age, 
 were eagerly engaged. Indeed, I would have 
 thought it rather ungallant, and conduct unworthy 
 of an officer and a gentleman, had I not at once 
 pretended to hold an ardent interest in every girl 
 I met. This seems strange now, but from the 
 age of fourteen up to the age of twenty that was 
 my way of regarding the girls I met, and even to 
 day I fear my attitude toward them has altered 
 
 26
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 but slightly, for now, although I no longer 
 tend to care when I do not, nor make love as a 
 matter of course, I find it is the easiest attitude 
 to assume toward most women. It is the sim 
 plest to slip into, just as I have certainly found it 
 the one from which it is most difficult to escape^ 
 But I never seem to remember that until it is too 
 late. A classmate of mine once said to me s 
 " Royal, you remind me of a man walking along 
 a road with garden gates opening on each side of 
 it. Instead of keeping to the road, you stop at 
 every gate, and say : ' Oh ! what a pretty gar 
 den ! I'll just slip in there, and find out where 
 that path will take me.' And then you're 
 either thrown out, and the gate slammed after 
 you, or you lose yourself in a maze and you can't 
 get out until you break out. But does that 
 ever teach you a lesson ? No ! Instead of going 
 ahead along the straight and narrow way, and 
 keeping out of temptation, you halt at the very 
 next gate you come to, just as though you had 
 never seen a gate before, and exclaim : ' Now, 
 this is a pretty garden, and what a neat white 
 fence ! I really must vault in and take a look 
 round.' And so the whole thing is gone over 
 again." 
 
 I confess there may be some truth in what he 
 said, but the trouble I find with the straight and 
 
 27
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 narrow way is that there's not room enough m it 
 for two. And, then, it is only fair to me to say 
 that some of the gardens were really most beau 
 tiful, and the shade very deep and sweet there, 
 and the memories of the minutes I passed in 
 them were very refreshing when I went back 
 to the dust of the empty road. And no one, 
 man or woman, can say that Royal Macklin 
 ever trampled on the flowers, or broke the 
 branches, or trespassed in another man's pri 
 vate grounds. 
 
 It was my cousin Beatrice who was responsible 
 for the change of heart in me toward womankind. 
 For very soon after she came to live with us, I 
 noticed that in regard to all other young women 
 I was growing daily more exacting. I did not 
 admit this to myself, and still less to Beatrice, be 
 cause she was most scornful of the girls I knew, 
 and mocked at them. This was quite unfair of 
 her, because she had no real acquaintance with 
 them, and knew them only from photographs and 
 tintypes, of which I had a most remarkable col 
 lection, and of what I chose to tell her about 
 them. I was a good deal annoyed to find that 
 the stories which appealed to me as best illustrat 
 ing the character of each of my friends, only 
 seemed to furnish Beatrice with fresh material for 
 ridicule, and the girls of whom I said the least 
 
 28
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 were the ones of whom she approved. The only 
 girls of my acquaintance who also were friends of 
 hers, were two sisters who lived at Dobbs Ferry, 
 and whose father owned the greater part of it, and 
 a yacht, in which he went down to his office every 
 morning. But Beatrice held that my manner 
 even to them was much too free and familiar, and 
 that she could not understand why I did not see 
 that it was annoying to them as well. I could 
 not tell her in my own defence that their manner 
 to me, when she was with us and when she was 
 not, varied in a remarkable degree. It was not 
 only girls who carried themselves differently be 
 fore Beatrice : every man who met her seemed to 
 try and show her the best in him, or at least to 
 suppress any thought or act which might dis 
 please her. It was not that she was a prig, or an 
 angel, but she herself was so fine and sincere, and 
 treated all with such an impersonal and yet gra 
 cious manner that it became contagious, and every 
 body who met her imitated the model she uncon 
 sciously furnished. I was very much struck with 
 this when she visited the Academy. Men who 
 before her coming had seemed bold enough for 
 any game, became dumb and embarrassed in her 
 presence, and eventually it was the officers and 
 instructors who escorted her over the grounds, 
 while I and my acquaintances among the cadets 
 
 29
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 formed a straggling rear-guard at her heels. On 
 account of my grandfather, both she and my 
 aunt were made much of by the Commandant 
 and all the older officers, and when they continued 
 to visit the Academy they were honored and wel 
 comed for themselves, and I found that on such 
 occasions my own popularity was enormously in 
 creased. I have always been susceptible to the 
 opinion of others. Even when the reigning belle 
 or the popular man of the class was not to me per 
 sonally attractive, the fact that she was the reigning 
 belle and that he was the man of the hour made 
 me seek out the society of each. This was even 
 so, when, as- a matter of fact, I should have much 
 preferred to dance with some less conspicuous 
 beauty or talk with a more congenial companion. 
 Consequently I began to value my cousin, whom 
 I already regarded with the most tremendous 
 admiration, for those lighter qualities which are 
 common to all attractive girls, but which in my 
 awe of her I had failed to recognize. There were 
 many times, even, when I took myself by the 
 shoulders and faced the question if I were not in 
 love with Beatrice. I mean truly in love, with 
 that sort of love that one does not talk about, 
 even to one's self, certainly not to the girl. As 
 the young man of the family, I had assumed the 
 position of the heir of the house, and treated 
 
 30
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 Beatrice like a younger sister, but secretly I con 
 sidered her in no such light. 
 
 Many nights when on post I would halt to 
 think of her, and of her loveliness and high sin 
 cerity, and forget my duty while I stood with my 
 arms crossed on the muzzle of my gun. In such 
 moments the night, the silence, the moonlight 
 piercing the summer leaves and falling at my feet, 
 made me forget my promise to myself that I 
 would never marry. I used to imagine then it 
 was not the unlicked cubs under the distant tents 
 I was protecting, but that I was awake to watch 
 over and guard Beatrice, or that I was a knight, 
 standing his vigil so that he might be worthy to 
 wear the Red Cross and enter her service. In 
 those lonely watches I saw littlenesses and mean 
 nesses in myself, which I could not see in the 
 brisk light of day, and my self-confidence slipped 
 from me and left me naked and abashed. I saw 
 myself as a vain, swaggering boy, who, if he ever 
 hoped to be a man among men, such as Beatrice 
 was a woman above all other women, must change 
 his nature at once and forever. 
 
 I was glad that I owed these good resolutions 
 to her. I was glad that it was she who inspired 
 them. Those nights, as I leaned on my gun, I 
 dreamed even that it might end happily and beau 
 tifully in our marriage. I wondered if I could 
 
 31
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 make her care, if I could ever be worthy of her, 
 and I vowed hotly that I v/ould love her as no 
 other woman was ever loved. 
 
 And then I would feel the cold barrel of my 
 musket pressing against the palm of my hand, or 
 the bayonet would touch my cheek, and at the 
 touch something would tighten in my throat, and 
 I would shake the thoughts from me and remem 
 ber that I was sworn to love only my country 
 and my country's flag. 
 
 In my third year here my grandfather died. 
 As the winter closid in he had daily grown more 
 feeble, and sat hour after hour in his great arm 
 chair, dozing and dreaming, before the open fire. 
 And one morning when he was alone in the 
 room, Death, which had so often taken the man 
 at his side, and stood at salute to let him live un 
 til his work was done, came to him and touched 
 him gently. A few days later when his body 
 passed through the streets of our little village, all 
 the townspeople left their houses and shops, and 
 stood in silent rows along the sidewalks, with 
 their heads uncovered to the falling snow. Sol 
 diers of his old regiments, now busy men of 
 affairs in the great city below us, came to march 
 behind him for the last time. Officers of the 
 Loyal Legion, veterans of the Mexican War, reg 
 ulars from Governor's Island, with their guns re- 
 
 32
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 versed, societies, political clubs, and strangers who 
 knew him only by what he had done for his 
 country, followed in the long procession as it 
 wound its way through the cold, gray winter day 
 to the side of the open grave. Until then I had 
 not fully understood what it meant to me, for 
 my head had been numbed and dulled; but as 
 the body disappeared into the grave, and the slow 
 notes of the bugle rose in the final call of " Lights 
 out," I put my head on my aunt's shoulder and 
 cried like a child. And I felt as though I were a 
 child again, as I did when he came and sat beside 
 my bed, and heard me say my prayers, and then 
 closed the door behind him, leaving me in the 
 darkness and alone. 
 
 But I was not entirely alone, for Beatrice was 
 true and understanding ; putting her own grief 
 out of sight, caring for mine, and giving it the 
 first place in her thoughts. For the next two 
 days we walked for hours through the autumn 
 woods where the dead leaves rustled beneath our 
 feet, thinking and talking of him. Or for hours 
 we would sit in silence, until the sun sank a 
 golden red behind the wall of the Palisades, and 
 we went back through the cold night to the open 
 fireside and his empty chair.
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 ST. CHARLES HOTEL, 
 NEW ORLEANS 
 
 Six months ago had anyone told me that the 
 day would come when I would feel thankful for 
 the loss of my grandfather, I would have struck 
 him. But for the last week I have been almost 
 thankful that he is dead. The worst that could 
 occur has happened. I am in bitter disgrace, and 
 I am grateful that grandfather died before it came 
 upon me. I have been dismissed from the Acad 
 emy. The last of the "Fighting" Macklins has 
 been declared unfit to hold the President's com 
 mission. I am cast out irrevocably ; there is no 
 appeal against the decision. I shall never change 
 the gray for the blue. I shall never see the 
 U. S. on my saddle-cloth, nor salute my country's 
 flag as it comes fluttering down at sunset. 
 
 That I am on my way to try and redeem my- 
 self is only an attempt to patch up the broken 
 pieces. The fact remains that the army has no 
 use for me. I have been dismissed from West 
 Point, in disgrace. It was a girl who brought it 
 about, or rather my own foolishness over a girl. 
 And before that there was much that led up to it. 
 Jt is hard to write about it, but in these memoirs 
 I mean to tell everything the good, with the 
 bad. And as I deserve no excuse, I make none. 
 
 During that winter, after the death of my 
 34
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 grandfather, and the spring which had followed, I 
 tried hard to do well at the Point. I wanted to 
 show them that though my grandfather was gone, 
 his example and his wishes still inspired me. 
 And though I was not a studious cadet, I was a 
 smart soldier, and my demerits, when they came, 
 were for smoking in my room or for breaking 
 some other such silly rule, and never for slouch 
 ing through the manual or coming on parade with 
 my belts twisted. And at the end of the second 
 year I had been promoted from corporal to be a 
 cadet first sergeant, so that I was fourth in com 
 mand over a company of seventy. Although this 
 gave me the advantage of a light after " taps " 
 until eleven o'clock, my day was so taken up 
 with roll-calls, riding and evening drills and pa 
 rade, that I never seemed to find time to cram 
 my mechanics and chemistry, of which latter I 
 could never see any possible benefit. How a 
 knowledge of what acid will turn blue litmus- 
 paper red is going to help an officer to find fod 
 der for his troop horses, or inspire him to lead a 
 forlorn hope, was then, and still is, beyond my 
 youthful comprehension. 
 
 But these studies were down on the roster, and 
 whether I thought well of them or not I was 
 marked on them and judged accordingly. But I 
 cannot claim that it was owing to them or my 
 
 35
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 failure to understand them that my dismissal 
 came, for, in spite of the absence of 3*5 in my 
 markings and the abundance of 2*s, I was still a 
 soldierly cadet, and in spite of the fact that I was 
 a stupid student, I made an excellent drill-master. 
 
 The trouble, when it came, was all my own 
 making, and my dismissal was entirely due to an 
 act of silly recklessness and my own idiocy. I 
 had taken chances before and had not been 
 caught ; several times I ran the sentries at night 
 for the sake of a noisy, drunken spree at a road 
 side tavern, and several times I had risked my 
 chevrons because I did not choose to respect the 
 arbitrary rules of the Academy which chafed my 
 spirit and invited me to rebellion. It was not so 
 much that I enjoyed those short hours of free 
 dom, which I snatched in the face of such serious 
 penalties, but it was the risk of the thing itself 
 which attracted me, and which stirred the spirit 
 of adventure that at times sways us all. 
 
 It was a girl who brought about my dismissal. 
 I do not mean that she was in any way to blame, 
 but she was the indirect cause of my leaving the 
 Academy. It was a piece of fool's fortune, and I 
 had not even the knowledge that I cared in the 
 least for the girl to console me. She was only 
 one of the several " piazza girls," as we called 
 certain ones of those who were staying at Crans* 
 
 36
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 ton's, with whom I had danced, to whom 1 had 
 made pretty speeches, and had given the bell 
 button that was sewn just over my heart. She 
 certainly was not the best of them, for I can see 
 now that she was vain and shallow, with a pert 
 boldness, which I mistook for vivacity and wit. 
 Three years ago, at the age of twenty, my knowl 
 edge of women was so complete that I divided 
 them into six classes, and as soon as I met a new 
 one 1 placed her in one of these classes and 
 treated her according to the line of campaign I 
 had laid down as proper for that class. Now, at 
 twenty-three, 1 believe that there are as many 
 different kinds of women as there are women, but 
 that all kinds are good. Some women are better 
 than others, but all are good, and all are differ 
 ent. This particular one unknowingly did me a 
 great harm, but others have given me so much 
 that is for good, that the balance side is in their 
 favor. If a man is going to make a fool of him 
 self, I personally would rather see him do it on 
 account of a woman than for any other cause. 
 For centuries Antony has been held up to the 
 scorn of the world because he deserted his troops 
 and his fleet, and sacrificed the Roman Empire 
 for the sake of Cleopatra. Of course, that is the 
 one thing a man cannot do, desert his men and 
 betray his flag ; but, if he is going to make a bad 
 
 37
 
 break in life, 1 rather like his doing it for the 
 Sove of a woman. And, after all, it is rather fine 
 to have for once felt something in you so great 
 that you placed it higher than the Roman Empire. 
 
 I haven't the excuse of any great feeling in my 
 case. She, the girl at Cranston's, was leaving the 
 Point on the morrow, and she said if all I had 
 sworn to her was true I would run the sentries 
 that night to. dance with her at the hop. Of 
 course, love does not set tests nor ask sacrifices^ 
 but I had sworn that I had loved her, as I under 
 stood the world, and I told her I would come. 
 I came, and I was recognized as I crossed the 
 piazza to the ball-room. On the morning fol 
 lowing I was called to the office of the Command 
 ant and was told to pack my trunk. I was out 
 of uniform in an hour, and that night at parade 
 the order of the War Department dismissing me 
 from the service was read to the assembled 
 battalion. 
 
 I cannot write about that day. It was a very 
 bright, beautiful day, full of life and sunshine, and 
 I remember that I wondered how the world could 
 be so cruel and unfeeling. The other second 
 classmen came in while I was packing my things,, 
 to say that they were sorry. They were kind 
 enough ; and some of them wanted me to go off 
 to New York to friends of theirs and help upset 
 
 38
 
 We walked out to the woods.
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 it ana get drunk. Their idea was, I suppose, to 
 show the authorities how mistaken they had been 
 m not making me an officer. But I could not be 
 civil to any of them. I hated Tthem all, and the 
 place, and everyone in it. When I was dismissed 
 my first thought was one of utter thankfulness 
 that my grandfather died before the disgrace came 
 upon me, and after that I did not much care. I 
 was desperate and bitterly miserable. I knew, as 
 the authorities could not know, that no one in 
 my class felt more loyal to the service than my 
 self; that I would have died twenty deaths for 
 my country; that there was no one company post 
 in the West, however distant from civilization, 
 that would not have been a paradise to me ; that 
 there was no soldier in the army who would have 
 served more devotedly than myself. And now I 
 was found wanting and thrown out to herd with 
 civilians, as unfit to hold the President's commis 
 sion. After my first outbreak of impotent rage 
 for I blamed everyone but myself remorse set in, 
 and I thought of grandfather and of how much 
 he had done for our country, and how we had 
 talked so confidently together of the days when I 
 would follow in his footsteps, as his grandchild, 
 and as the son of ff Fighting Macklin." 
 
 All my life I had talked and thought of noth 
 ing else, and now, just as I was within a year of 
 
 39
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 it, I was shown the door which I never can entei 
 again* 
 
 That it might be easier for us when 1 arrived, 
 I telegraphed Beatrice what had happened, and 
 when I reached the house the same afternoon 
 she was waiting for me at the door, as though I 
 was coming home for a holiday and it was all as 
 it might have been. But neither of us was de 
 ceived, and without a word we walked out of the 
 garden and up the hill to the woods where we 
 had last been together six months before, Since 
 then all had changed. Summer had come, the 
 trees were heavy with leaves, and a warm haze 
 hung over the river and the Palisades beyond 
 We seated ourselves on a fallen tree at the top of 
 the hill and sat in silence, looking down into the 
 warm, beautiful valley. It was Beatrice who was 
 the first to speak. 
 
 " I have been thinking of what you can do/' 
 she began, gently, " and it seems to me, Royal, 
 that what you need now is a good rest. It has 
 been a hard winter for you. You have had to 
 meet the two greatest trials that I hope will ever 
 come to you. You took the first one well, as 
 you should, and you will take this lesser one well 
 also ; I know you will. But you must give 
 yourself time to get over this this disappoint 
 ment, and to look about you. You must try to 
 
 40
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 content yourself at home with mother and with 
 me. I am so selfish that I am almost glad it has 
 happened, for now for a time we shall have you 
 with us, all to ourselves, and we can take care of 
 you and see that you are not gloomy and mor 
 bid. And then when the fall comes you will 
 have decided what is best to do, and you will 
 have a rest and a quiet summer with those who 
 understand you and love you. And then you 
 can go out into the world to do your work, what 
 ever your work is to be." 
 
 I turned toward her and stared at her curi 
 ously. 
 
 " Whatever my work is to be," I repeated. 
 " That was decided for me, Beatrice, when I was 
 a little boy." 
 
 She returned my look for a moment in some 
 doubt, and then leaned eagerly forward. "You 
 mean to enlist?" she askea. 
 
 " To enlist ? Not I ! " I answered hotly. 
 "If I'm not fit to be an officer now, I never shall 
 be, at least not by that road. Do you know 
 what it means ? It's the bitterest life a man can 
 follow. He is neither the one thing nor the 
 other. The enlisted men suspect him, and the 
 officers may not speak with him. I know one 
 officer who got his commission that way. He 
 swears now he would rather have served the time
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 in jail. The officers at the post pointed him out. 
 to visitors, as the man who had failed at West 
 Point, and who was working his way up from the 
 ranks, and the men of his company thought that 
 he thought, God help him, that he was too good 
 for them, and made his life hell. Do you sup 
 pose I'd show my musket to men of my old 
 mess, and have the girls I've danced with see me 
 marching up and down a board walk with a gun 
 on my shouHer ? Do you see me going on 
 errands for the men I've hazed, and showing 
 them my socks and shirts at inspection so they 
 Ct *n give me a good mark for being a clean and 
 tidy soldier? No ! I'll not enlist. If I'm not 
 good enough to carry a sword I'm not good 
 enough to carry a gun, and the United States 
 Army can struggle along without me." 
 
 Beatrice shock her head. 
 
 " Don't say anything you'll be sorry for, 
 Royal," she warned me. 
 
 " You don't understand," I interrupted. " I'm 
 not saying anything against my own country or our 
 army how can I? I've proved clearly enough 
 that I'm not fit for it. I'm only too grateful. 
 I've had three years in the best military school 
 in the world, at my country's expense, and I'm 
 grateful. Yes, and I'm miserable, too, that I 
 have failed to deserve it." 
 
 Aft
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 I stood up and straightened my shoulders, 
 u But perhaps there are other countries less diffi 
 cult to please," I said, ct where I can lose myself 
 and be forgotten, and where I can see service. 
 After all, a soldier's business is to fight, not to 
 sit at a post all day or to do a clerk's work at 
 Washington." 
 
 Even as I spoke these chance words I seemed 
 to feel the cloud of failure and disgrace passing 
 from me. I saw vaguely a way to redeem my 
 self, and, though I had spoken with bravado and 
 at random, the words stuck in my mind, and my 
 despondency fell from me like a heavy knapsack. 
 
 " Come," I said, cheerfully, " there can be no 
 talk of a holiday for me until I have earned it. 
 You know I would love to stay here now with 
 you and Aunt in the old house, but I have no 
 time to mope and be petted. If you fall down, 
 you must not lie in the road and cry over your 
 bruised shins ; you must pick yourself up and 
 go on again, even if you are a bit sore and 
 dirty." 
 
 We said nothing more, but my mind was made 
 up, and when we reached the house I went at 
 once to my room and repacked my trunk for a 
 long journey. It was a leather trunk in which 
 my grandfather used to carry his sword and uni 
 form, and in it I now proudly placed the presen- 
 
 43
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 Cation sword he had bequeathed to me in his 
 will, and my scanty wardrobe and $500 of the 
 money he had left to me. All the rest of his 
 fortune, with the exception of the $2,000 a year 
 he had settled upon me, he had, I am glad to say, 
 bequeathed with the house to Aunt Mary and 
 Beatrice. When I had finished my packing 1 
 joined them at supper, and such was my elation 
 at the prospect of at once setting forth to redeem 
 myself, and to seek my fortune, that to me the 
 meal passed most cheerfully. When it was fin 
 ished, I found the paper of that morning, and 
 spreading it out upon the table began a careful 
 search in the foreign news for what tidings there 
 might be of war. 
 
 I told Beatrice what I was doing, and without 
 a word she brought out my old school atlas, and 
 together under the light of the student-lamp we 
 sought out the places mentioned in the foreign 
 despatches, and discussed them, and the chances 
 they might offer me. 
 
 There were, I remember, at the time that paper 
 was printed, strained relations existing between 
 France and China over the copper mines in Ton 
 kin ; there was a tribal war in Upper Burmah 
 with native troops ; there was a threat of com 
 plications in the Balkans, b-at the Balkans, as I 
 have since learned, are always with us and always 
 
 44
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 threatening. Nothing in the paper seemed to 
 offer me the chance I sought, and apparently 
 peace smiled on every other portion of the globe. 
 
 " There is always the mounted police in Can 
 ada," I said, tentatively. 
 
 " No," Beatrice answered, quietly, and with 
 out asking her reasons I accepted her decision 
 and turned again to the paper. And then my 
 eyes fell on a paragraph which at first I had over 
 looked a modest, brief despatch tucked away in 
 a corner, and unremarkable, except for its strange 
 date-line. It was headed, " The Revolt in Hon 
 duras." I pointed to it with my finger, and Bea 
 trice leaned forward with her head close to mine, 
 Mid we read it together. 
 
 "Tegucigalpa, June lyth," it read. "The 
 revolution here has assumed serious proportions. 
 President Alvarez has proclaimed martial law 
 over all provinces, and leaves to-morrow for 
 Santa Barbara, where the Liberal forces under the 
 rebel leader, ex-President Louis Garcia, were last 
 in camp. General Laguerre is coming from 
 Nicaragua to assist Garcia with his foreign legion 
 of 200 men. He has seized the Nancy Miller, 
 belonging to the Isthmian Line, and has fitted 
 her with two Gatling guns. He is reported to 
 be bombarding the towns on his way along the 
 coast, and a detachment of Government troops is 
 
 45
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 marching to Porto Cortez to prevent his landing. 
 His force is chiefly composed of American and 
 other aliens, who believe the overthrow of the 
 present government will be beneficial to foreign 
 residents." 
 
 " General Laguerre ! " 1 cried, eagerly, " that 
 is not a Spanish name. General Laguerre must 
 be a Frenchman. And it says that the men with 
 him are Americans, and that the present govern 
 ment is against all foreigners." 
 
 I drew back from the table with a laugh, and 
 stood smiling at Beatrice, but she shook her head, 
 even though she smiled, too. 
 
 " Oh, not that," she said. 
 
 " My dear Beatrice," I expostulated, " it cer 
 tainly isn't right that American interests in - 
 what's the name of the place in Honduras, 
 should be jeopardized, is it ? And by an ignorant 
 half-breed like this President What's-his-name ? 
 Certainly not. It must be stopped, even if we 
 have to requisition every steamer the Isthmian 
 Line has afloat." 
 
 " Oh, Royal," Beatrice cried, " you are not 
 serious. No, you wouldn't, you couldn't be so 
 foolish. That's no affair of yours. That's not 
 your country. Besides, that is not war; it is 
 speculation. You are a gentleman, not a pirate 
 and a filibuster." 
 
 46
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 " "William Walker was a filibuster," I answered 
 ** He took Nicaragua with 200 men and held it 
 for two years against 20,000. I must begin 
 somewhere," I cried, " why not there ? A girl 
 can't understand these things at least, some girls 
 can't but I would have thought you wouM. 
 What does it matter what I do or where I go ? 
 I broke out, bitterly. " I have made a failure of 
 my life at the very start. I am sick and sore and 
 desperate. I don't care where I go or what " 
 
 I would have ranted on for some time, no 
 doubt, but that a look from Beatrice stopped 
 me in mid-air, and I stood silent, feeling some 
 what foolish, 
 
 " I can understand this much," she said, " that 
 you are a foolish boy. How dare you talk of 
 having made a failure of your life ? Your life has 
 not yet begun. You have yet to make it, and to 
 show yourself something more than a boy." She 
 paused, and then her manner changed, and she 
 came toward me, looking up at me with eyes that 
 were moist and softened with a sweet and troubled 
 tenderness, and she took my hand and held it 
 close in both of hers. 
 
 I had never seen her look more beautiful than 
 she did at that moment. If it had been any other 
 woman in the world but her, I would have caught 
 her in my arms and kissed her again ind again, 
 
 47
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 but because It was she I could not touch her, but 
 drew back and looked down into her eyes with 
 the sudden great feeling I had for her. And so 
 we stood for a moment, seeing each other as we 
 had never seen each other before. And then she 
 caught her breath quickly and drew away. But 
 she turned her face toward me at once, and looked 
 up at me steadily. 
 
 " I am so fond of you, Royal,'* she said, 
 bravely, " you know, that that I cannot bear to 
 think of you doing anything in this world that is 
 not fine and for the best. But if you will be a 
 knight errant, and seek out dangers and fight 
 windmills, promise me to be a true knight and 
 that you will fight only when you must and only 
 on the side that is just, and then you will come 
 back bringing your sheaves with you." 
 
 I did not dare to look at her, but I raised her 
 hand and held the tips of her fingers against my 
 lips, and I promised, but I would have promised 
 anything at that moment. 
 
 " If I am to be a knight," I said, and my voice 
 sounded very hoarse and boyish, so that I hardly 
 recognized it as my own, "you must give me 
 your colors to wear on my lance, and if any other 
 knight thinks his colors fairer, or the lady who 
 gave them more lovely than you, I shall kill 
 him." 
 
 48
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 She laughed softly and moved away. 
 
 " Of course," she said, " of course, you must 
 kill him." She stepped a few feet from me, and, 
 raising her hands to her throat, unfastened a little 
 gold chain which she wore around her neck. She 
 took it off and held it toward me. " Would you 
 like this ? " she said. I did not answer, nor did 
 she wait for me to do so, but wound the chain 
 around my wrist and fastened it, and I raised it 
 and kissed it, and neither of us spoke. She went 
 out to the veranda to warn her mother of my de 
 parture, and I to tell the servants to bring the 
 carriage to the door. 
 
 A few minutes later, the suburban train drew 
 out of the station at Dobbs Ferry, and I waved 
 my hand to Beatrice as she sat in the carriage 
 looking after me. The night was warm and she 
 wore a white dress and her head was uncovered, 
 In the smoky glare of the station lamps I could 
 still see the soft tints of her hair ; and as the train 
 bumped itself together and pulled forward, I felt 
 a sudden panic of doubt, a piercing stab at my 
 heart, and something called on me to leap off the 
 car that was bearing me away, and go back to the 
 white figure sitting motionless in the carriage, 
 As I gripped the iron railing to restrain myself, I 
 felt the cold sweat springing to the palm of my 
 hand. For a moment I forgot the end of my 
 
 49
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 long journey. I saw it as something foolish, 
 mad, fantastic. I was snatching at a flash of 
 powder, when I could warm my hands at an open 
 fire. I was deserting the one thing which counted 
 and of which I was certain ; the one thing I 
 loved. And then the train turned a curve, the 
 lamps of the station and the white ghostly figure 
 were shut from me, and I entered the glaring car 
 filled with close air and smoke and smelling 
 lamps. I seated myself beside a window and 
 leaned far out into the night, so that the wind of 
 the rushing train beat in my face. 
 
 And in a little time the clanking car-wheels 
 seemed to speak to me, beating out the words 
 brazenly so that I thought everyone in the car 
 must hear them. 
 
 " Turn again, turn again, Royal Macklin,'* 
 they seemed to say to me. " She loves you, 
 Royal Macklin, she loves you, she loves you." 
 
 And I thought of Dick Whittington when the 
 Bow bells called to him, as he paused in the 
 country lane to look l/ack at the smoky roof 
 of London, and they had offered him so little, 
 while for me the words seemed to promise the 
 proudest place a man could hold. And I im 
 agined myself still at home, working by day in 
 5ome New York office and coming back by night 
 to find Beatrice at the station waiting for me, al- 
 
 50
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 ways in a white dress, and with her brown hair 
 glowing in the light of the lamps. And I pict 
 ured us taking long walks together above the 
 Hudson, and quiet, happy evenings by the fire 
 side. But the rhythm of the car-wheels altered* 
 and from " She loves you, she loves you," the 
 refrain now came brokenly and fiercely, like the 
 reports of muskets fired in hate and fear, and 
 mixed with their roar and rattle I seemed to dis 
 tinguish words of command in a foreign tongue s 
 and the groans of men wounded and dying. And 
 I saw, rising above great jungles and noisome 
 swamps, a long mountain-range piercing a burn 
 ing, naked sky ; and in a pass in the mountains a. 
 group of my own countrymen, ragged and worn 
 and with eyes lit with fever, waving a strange 
 flag, and beset on every side by dark-faced sol 
 diers, and I saw my own face among them, 
 hollow-cheeked and tanned, with my head band 
 aged in a scarf; I felt the hot barrel of a rifle 
 burning my palm, I smelt the pungent odor of 
 spent powder, my throat and nostrils were as 
 sailed with smoke. I suffered all the fierce joy 
 and agony of battle, and the picture of the white 
 figure of Beatrice grew dim and receded from me^ 
 and as it faded the eyes regarded me wistfully and 
 reproached me, but I would not heed them, but 
 turned my own eyes away. And again I saw the 
 
 5
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 menacing negro faces and the burning sunlight 
 and the strange flag that tossed and whimpered in 
 the air above my head, the strange flag of un 
 known, tawdry colors, like the painted face of a 
 woman in the street, but a flag at which I cheered 
 and shouted as though it were my own, as though 
 I loved it; a flag for which I would fight and 
 die. 
 
 The train twisted its length into the great sta 
 tion, the men about'me rose and crowded down 
 the aisle, and I heard the cries of newsboys and 
 hackmen and jangling car-bells, and all the roar 
 and tumult of a great city at night. 
 
 But I had already made my choice. Within 
 an hour I had crossed to the Jersey side, and was 
 speeding south, south toward New Orleans, tow 
 ard the Gulf of Mexico, toward Honduras, to 
 Colonel Laguerre and his foreign legion.
 
 II 
 
 S. S. PANAMA, 
 
 OFF COAST OF 
 
 TO one who never before had travelled farther 
 than is Dobbs Ferry from Philadelphia, my 
 journey south to New Orleans was something m 
 the way of an expedition, and I found it rich in 
 incident and adventure. Everything was new 
 and strange, but nothing was so strange as my 
 own freedom. After three years of discipline, of 
 going to bed by drum-call, of waking by drum- 
 call, and obeying the orders of others, this new 
 independence added a supreme flavor to all my 
 pleasures. I . took my journey very seriously, 
 and I determined to make every little incident 
 contribute to my better knowledge of the world, 
 I rated the chance acquaintances of the smoking- 
 car as aids to a clear understanding of mankind, 
 and when at Washington I saw above the house 
 tops the marble dome of the Capitol I was thrilled 
 to think that I was already so much richer in ex 
 perience. 
 
 To me the country through which we passed 
 spoke with but one meaning^ I saw it as the 
 
 S3
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 chess-board of the War of the Rebellion. I im 
 agined the towns fortified and besieged, the hills 
 topped with artillery, the forests alive with troops 
 in ambush, and in my mind, on account of their 
 strategic value to the enemy, I destroyed the 
 bridges over which we passed. The passengers 
 were only too willing to instruct a stranger in the 
 historical values of their country. They pointed 
 out to me where certain regiments had camped, 
 where homesteads had been burned, and where 
 real battles, not of my own imagining, but which 
 had cost the lives of many men, had been lost 
 and won. I found that to these chance acquaint 
 ances the events of which they spoke were as 
 fresh after twenty years as though they had oc 
 curred but yesterday, and they accepted my curi 
 osity as only a natural interest in a still vital sub 
 ject. I judged it advisable not to mention that 
 General Hamilton was my grandfather. Instead 
 I told them that I was the son of an officer who 
 had died for the cause of secession. This was 
 the first time I had ever missed an opportunity 
 of boasting of my relationship to my distinguished 
 grandparent, and I felt meanly conscious that I 
 was in a way disloyal. But they were so gen 
 uinely pleased when they learned that my father 
 had fought for the South, that I lacked the cour 
 age to tell them that while he was so engaged an- 
 
 54
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 other relative of mine had driven one of their best 
 generals through three States. 
 
 I am one who makes the most of what he sees, 
 and even the simplest things filled me with de 
 light ; my first sight of cotton-fields, of tobacco 
 growing in the leaf, were great moments to me; 
 and that the men who guarded the negro convicts 
 at work in the fields still clung to the uniform of 
 gray, struck me as a fact of pathetic interest. 
 
 I was delayed in New Orleans for only one 
 day. At the end of that time I secured passage 
 on the steamer Panama. She was listed to sail 
 for Aspinwall at nine o'clock the next morning, 
 and to touch at ports along the Central American 
 coast. While waiting for my steamer I mobilized 
 my transport and supplies, and purchased such 
 articles as I considered necessary for a rough cam 
 paign Li a tropical climate. My purchases con 
 sisted of a revolver, a money-belt, in which to 
 carry my small fortune, which I had exchanged 
 into gold double-eagles, a pair of field-glasses, a 
 rubber blanket, a canteen, riding boots, and sad 
 dle-bags. I decided that my uniform and saddle 
 would be furnished me from the quartermaster's 
 department of Garcia's army, for in my ignorance 
 I supposed I was entering on a campaign con 
 ducted after the methods of European armies. 
 
 We left the levees of New Orleans early in the 
 55
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 morning, and for the remainder of the day steamed 
 slowly down the Mississippi River. I sat alone 
 upon the deck watching the low, swampy banks 
 slipping past us on either side, the gloomy cypress- 
 trees heavy with gray moss, the abandoned cot 
 ton-gins and disused negro quarters. As I did 
 so a feeling of homesickness and depression came 
 upon me, and my disgraceful failure at the Point, 
 the loss of my grandfather, and my desertion of 
 Beatrice, for so it began to seem to me, filled me 
 with a bitter melancholy. 
 
 The sun set the first day over great wastes of 
 swamp, swamp-land, and pools of inky black, 
 which stretched as far as the eye could reach | 
 gloomy, silent, and barren of any form of life. It 
 was a picture which held neither the freedom of 
 the open sea nor the human element of the solid 
 earth. It seemed to me as though the world 
 must have looked so when darkness brooded over 
 the face of the waters, and as I went to my berth 
 that night I felt as though I were saying good-by 
 forever to all that was dear to me my country, 
 my home, and the girl I loved. 
 
 I was awakened in the morning by a motion 
 which I had never before experienced. I was 
 being gently lifted and lowered and rolled to and 
 fro as a hammock is rocked by the breeze. For 
 some minutes I lay between sleep and waking, 
 
 56
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 struggling back to consciousness, until with a 
 sudden gasp of delight it came to me that at last 
 I was at sea. I scrambled from my berth and 
 pulled back the curtains of the air port. It was 
 as though over night the ocean had crept up to 
 my window. It stretched below me in great dis 
 tances of a deep, beautiful blue. Tumbling waves 
 were chasing each other over it, and millions of 
 white caps glanced and flashed as they raced by 
 me in the sun. It was my first real view of the 
 ocean, and the restlessness of it and the freedom 
 of it stirred me with a great happiness. I drank 
 in its beauty as eagerly as I filled my lungs with 
 the keen salt air, and thanked God for both. 
 
 The three short days which followed were ful] 
 of new and delightful surprises, some because it 
 was all so strange and others because it was so 
 exactly what I had hoped it would be. I had 
 read many tales of the sea, but ships I knew only 
 as they moved along the Hudson at the end of 
 the towing-line. I had never felt one rise and 
 fall beneath me, nor from the deck of one watched 
 the sun sink into the water. I had never at 
 night looked up at the great masts, and seen them 
 swing, like a pendulum reversed, between me and 
 the stars. 
 
 There was so much to learn that was new anci 
 *o many things to see on the waters, and in the 
 
 57
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 skies, that it seemed wicked to sleep. So, during 
 nearly the whole of every night, I stood with 
 Captain Leeds on his bridge, or asked ignorant 
 questions of the man at the wheel. The steward 
 of the Panama was purser, supercargo, and bar 
 keeper in one, and a most interesting man. He 
 apparently never slept, but at any hour was will 
 ing to sit and chat with me. It was he who first 
 introduced me to the wonderful mysteries of tha 
 alligator pear as a salad, and taught me to prefer, 
 in a hot country, Jamaica rum with half a lime 
 squeezed into the glass to all other spirits. It 
 was a most educational trip. 
 
 I had much entertainment on board the Pana 
 ma by pretending that I was her captain, and that 
 she was sailing under my orders. Sometimes I 
 pretended that she was an American man-of-war, 
 and sometimes a filibuster escaping from an 
 American man-of-war. This may seem an absurd 
 and childish game, but I had always wanted to 
 hold authority, and as I had never done so, ex 
 cept as a drill sergeant at the Academy, it was my 
 habit to imagine myself in whatever position of 
 responsibility my surroundings suggested. For 
 this purpose the Panama served me excellently^ 
 and in scanning the horizon for hostile fleets or a 
 pirate flag 1 was as conscientious as was the 
 lookout in the bow. At the Academy I had 
 
 58
 
 Captam Macklin 
 
 often sat in my room with maps spread out be 
 fore me planning attacks on the enemy, consid 
 ering my lines of communication, telegraphing 
 wildly for reinforcements, and despatching my 
 aides with a clearly written, comprehensive order 
 to where my advance column was engaged. 1 
 believe this " play-acting," as my room-mate used 
 to call it, helped me to think quickly, to give an 
 intelligent command intelligently, and made me 
 rich in resources. 
 
 For the first few days I was so enchanted with 
 my new surroundings that the sinister purpose of 
 my journey South lost its full value. And when, 
 as we approached Honduras, it was recalled to 
 me, I was surprised to find that I had heard no 
 one on board discuss the war, nor refer to it in 
 any way. When I considered this, I was the 
 more surprised because Porto Cortez was one of 
 the chief ports at which we touched, and I was 
 annoyed to find that I had travelled so far for the 
 sake of a cause in which those directly interested 
 felt so little concern. I set about with great cau 
 tion to discover the reason for this lack of interest, 
 The passengers of the Panama came from widely 
 different parts of Central America. They were 
 coffee planters and mining engineers, concession 
 hunters, and promoters of mining companies. I 
 sounded each of them separately as to the condition 
 
 59
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 of affairs in Honduras, and gave as my reason for 
 mquiring the fact that I had thoughts of investing 
 my money there. I talked rather largely of my 
 money. But this information, instead of inducing 
 them to speak of Honduras, only made each of 
 them more eloquent in praising the particular 
 republic in which his own money was invested, and 
 each begged me to place mine with his. In the 
 course of one day I was offered a part ownership in 
 four coffee plantations, a rubber forest, a machine 
 for turning the sea-turtles into fat and shell, and 
 the good-will and fixtures of a dentist's office. 
 
 Except that I obtained some reputation on 
 board as a young man of property, which reputa 
 tion I endeavored to maintain by treating everyone 
 to drinks in the social hall, my inquiries led to no 
 result. No one apparently knew, nor cared to 
 know, of the revolution in Honduras, and passed 
 it over as a joke. This hurt me, but lest they 
 should grow suspicious, I did not continue my 
 inquiries. 
 
 THE CAFJI SANTOS, 
 SAGUA LA GRANDE, HONDURAS 
 
 We sighted land at seven in the morn>'ig, and 
 as the ship made in toward the shore I ran to the 
 bow and stood alone peering over the rail. Before 
 me lay the scene set for my coming adventures, 
 
 60
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 and as the ship threaded the coral reefs, my excite 
 ment ran so high that my throat choked, and my 
 eyes suddenly dimmed with tears. It seemed too 
 good to be real. It seemed impossible that it 
 could be true; that at last I should be about to 
 act the life I had so long only rehearsed and pre 
 tended. But the pretence had changed to some 
 thing living and actual. In front of me, under a 
 flashing sun, I saw the palm-fringed harbor of my 
 dreams, a white village of thatched mud houses, 
 a row of ugly huts above which drooped limply 
 the flags of foreign consuls, and, far beyond, a 
 deep blue range of mountains, forbidding and 
 mysterious, rising out of a steaming swamp into 
 a burning sky, and on the harbor's only pier, in 
 blue drill uniforms and gay red caps, a group of 
 dark-skinned, swaggering soldiers. This hot, 
 volcano-looking land was the one I had come to 
 free from its fetters. These swarthy barefooted 
 brigands were the men with whom I was to fight, 
 My trunk had been packed and strapped since 
 sunrise, and before the ship reached the pier, I 
 had said c< good-by " to everyone on board and 
 was waiting impatiently at the gang-way. I was 
 the only passenger to leave, and no cargo was un 
 loaded nor taken on. She was waiting only for 
 the agent of the company to confer with Captain 
 Leeds, and while these men were conversing on 
 
 61
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 the bridge, and the hawser was being drawn on 
 board, the custom-house officers, much to my dis 
 quiet, began to search my trunk. I had nothing 
 with me which was dutiable, but my grandfather's 
 presentation sword was hidden in the trunk and 
 its presence there and prospective use would be 
 difficult to explain. It was accordingly with a 
 feeling of satisfaction that I noticed on a building 
 on the end of the pier the sign of our consulate 
 and the American flag, and that a young man, 
 evidently an American, was hurrying from it tow 
 ard the ship. But as it turned out I had no 
 need of his services, for I had concealed the sword 
 so cleverly by burying each end of it in one of my 
 long cavalry boots, that the official failed to find it. 
 
 I had locked my trunk again and was waving 
 final farewells to those on the Panama, when the 
 young man from the consulate began suddenly to 
 race down the pier, shouting as he came. 
 
 The gang-way had been drawn up, and the 
 steamer was under way, churning the water as she 
 swung slowly seaward, but she was still within 
 easy speaking distance of the pierhead. 
 
 The young man rushed through the crowd, 
 jostling the native Indians and negro soldiers, and 
 shrieked at the departing vessel. 
 
 " Stop ! " he screamed, " stop ! stop her ! " 
 
 He recognized Captain Leeds on the bridge, 
 62
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 and, running along the pierhead until he was just 
 below it, waved wildly at him. 
 
 " Where's my freight ? " he cried. " My freight ! 
 You haven't put off my freight." 
 
 Captain Leeds folded his arms comfortably upon 
 the rail, and regarded the young man calmly and 
 with an expression of amusement. 
 
 " Where are my sewing-machines ? " the young 
 man demanded. " Where are the sewing-machines 
 invoiced me by this steamer?" 
 
 " Sewing-machines, Mr. Aiken ? " the Captain 
 answered. " I left your sewing-machines in New 
 Orleans." 
 
 " You what ? " shrieked the young man. " You 
 eft them ? "" 
 
 " I left them sitting on the company*s levee," 
 the Captain continued, calmly, "The revenue 
 officers have 'em by now, Mr. Aiken. Some par 
 ties said they weren't sewing-machines at all. They 
 said you were acting for Laguerre." 
 
 The ship was slowly drawing away. The young 
 man stretched out one arm as though to detain 
 her, and danced frantically along the stringhead. 
 
 " How dare you ! " he cried. "I'm a commis 
 sion merchant. I deal in whatever I please and 
 I'm the American Consul ! " 
 
 The Captain laughed, and with a wave of his 
 hand in farewell backed away from the rail, 
 
 63
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 <c That may be," he shouted, c< but this line isn*t 
 carrying freight for General Laguerre, nor for 
 you, neither." He returned and made a speaking 
 trumpet of his hands. " Tell him from me," he 
 shouted, mockingly, " that if he wants his sew 
 ing-machines he'd better go North and steal 'em. 
 Same as he stole our Nancy Miller." 
 
 The young man shook both his fists in helpless 
 anger. 
 
 " You damned banana trader," he shrieked, 
 e * you'll lose your license for this. I'll fix you for 
 this. I'll dirty your card for you, you pirate ! " 
 
 The Captain flung himself far over the rail. 
 He did not need a speaking trumpet now his 
 voice would have carried above the tumult of a 
 hurricane. 
 
 " You'll what ? " he roared. " You'll dirty my 
 card, you thieving filibuster? Do you know 
 what I'll do to you ? I'll have your tin sign taken 
 away from you, before I touch this port again. 
 You'll see you you " he ended impotently 
 for lack of epithets, but continued in eloquent 
 pantomime to wave his arms. 
 
 With an oath the young man recognized defeat, 
 and shrugged his shoulders. 
 
 " Oh, you go to the devil," he shouted, and 
 turned away. He saw me observing him, and 
 as I was the only person present who looked as 
 
 64
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 though he understood English, he grinned at me 
 sheepishly, and nodded. 
 
 " I don't care for him," he said. "He can't 
 frighten me." 
 
 I considered this as equivalent to an introduc 
 tion. 
 
 " You are the United States Consul ? " I asked. 
 The young man nodded briskly. 
 
 f< Yes ; I am. Where do you come from ? " 
 
 " Dobbs Ferry, near New York," I answered. 
 " I'd I'd like to have a talk with you, when 
 you are not busy." 
 
 " That's all right," he said. " I'm not busy 
 now. That bumboat pirate queered the only 
 business I had. Where are you going to stop ? 
 There is only one place," he explained ; " that's 
 Pulido's. He'll knife you if he thinks you have 
 five dollars in your belt, and the bar-room is half 
 under water anyway. Or you can take a cot in 
 my shack, if you like, and I'll board and lodge 
 you for two pesos a day that's one dollar in our 
 money, And if you are going up country," he 
 went on, " I can fit you out with mules and 
 mozos and everything you want, from canned 
 meats to an escort of soldiers. You're sure to be 
 robbed anyway," he urged, pleasantly, " and you 
 might as well give the job to a fellow-countryman, 
 I'd hate to have one of these greasers get it.'" 
 
 65
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 " You're welcome to try," I said, laughing. 
 
 In spite of his manner, which was much too 
 familiar and patronizing, the young man amused 
 me, and I must confess moreover that at that 
 moment I felt very far from home and was glad 
 to meet an American, and one not so much older 
 than myself. The fact that he was our consul 
 struck me as a most fortunate circumstance. 
 
 He clapped his hands and directed one of the 
 negroes to carry my trunk to the consulate, and I 
 walked with him up the pier, the native soldiers 
 saluting him awkwardly as he passed. He re 
 turned their salute with a flourish, and more to 
 impress me I guessed than from any regard for 
 them. 
 
 "That's because I'm Consul," he said, with 
 satisfaction. " There's only eight white men in 
 Porto Cortez," he explained, " and we're all con 
 sular agents. The Italian consular agent is a 
 Frenchman, and an Italian, Guessippi the Ba 
 nana King, they call him is consular agent for 
 both Germany and England, and the only Ger 
 man here is consular agent for France and Hol 
 land. You see, each of 'em has to represent 
 some other country than his own, because his 
 country knows why he left it." He threw back 
 his head and laughed at this with great delight. 
 Apparently he had already forgotten the rebuff 
 
 66
 
 Captain Mack] in 
 
 
 
 from Captain Leeds. But it had made a deep 
 impression upon me. I had heard Leeds virtu 
 ally accuse the consul of being an agent of Gen 
 eral Laguerre, and I suspected that the articles 
 he had refused to deliver were more likely to be 
 TP^chine guns than sewing-machines. If this 
 were frue, Mr. Aiken was a person in whom I 
 could confide with safety. 
 
 The consulate was a one-story building of cor 
 rugated iron, hot, unpainted, and unlovely. It 
 was set on wooden logs to lift it from the reach 
 of " sand jiggers " and the surf, which at high 
 tide ran up the beach, under and beyond it. In 
 side it was rude and bare, and the heat and the 
 smell of the harbor, and of the swamp on which 
 the town was built, passed freely through the 
 open doors. 
 
 Aiken proceeded to play the host in a most 
 cordial manner. He placed my trunk in the room 
 I was to occupy, and set out some very strong 
 Hondurian cigars and a bottle of Jamaica rum. 
 While he did this he began to grumble over the 
 loss of his sewing-machines, and to swear pictu 
 resquely at Captain Leeds, bragging of the awful 
 things he meant to do to him But when he had 
 tasted his drink and lighted a. cigar, his good- 
 humor returned, and he gave his attention Tc 
 me, 
 
 67
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 " Now then, young one," he asked, in a tone 
 of the utmost familiarity, " what's your trouble ? " 
 
 I explained that I could not help but hear what 
 the Captain shouted at him from the Panama, 
 and I asked if it was contrary to the law of 
 Honduras for one to communicate with the 
 officer Captain Leeds had mentioned General 
 Laguerre. 
 
 " The old man, hey ? " Aiken exclaimed and 
 stared at me apparently with increased interest. 
 " Well, there are some people who might pre 
 vent your getting to him," he answered, diplo 
 matically. For a moment he sipped his rum and 
 water, while he examined me from over the top 
 of the cup. Then he winked and smiled. 
 
 " Come now," he said, encouragingly. " Speak 
 up. What's the game ? You can trust me. 
 You're an agent for Collins, or the Winchester 
 Arms people, aren't you ? " 
 
 " On the contrary," I said, with some haughti 
 ness, " I am serving no one's interest but my 
 own. I read in the papers of General Laguerre 
 and his foreign legion, and I came here to join 
 him and to fight with him. That's all. I am a 
 soldier of fortune, I said." I repeated this with 
 some emphasis, for I liked the sound of it. " I 
 am a soldier of fortune, and my name is Macklin. 
 * hope in time to make it better known." 
 
 68
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 " A soldier of fortune, hey ? " exclaimed 
 Aiken, observing me with a grin. " What sol 
 diering have you done ? " 
 
 I replied, with a little embarrassment, that as 
 yet I had seen no active service, but that for 
 three years I had been trained for it at West 
 Point. 
 
 " At West Point, the deuce you have ! " said 
 Aiken. His tone was now one of respect, and he 
 regarded me with marked interest. He was not 
 a gentleman, but he was sharp-witted enough to 
 recognize one in me, and my words and bearing 
 had impressed him. Still his next remark was 
 disconcerting. 
 
 " But if you're a West Point soldier," he 
 asked, " why the devil do you want to mix up in 
 a shooting-match like this ? " 
 
 I was annoyed, but I answered, Civilly : " It's 
 in a good cause," I said. " As I understand the 
 sil lation, this President Alvarez is a tyrant. 
 He's opposed to all progress. It's a fight for 
 liberty." 
 
 Aiken interrupted me with a laugh, and placed 
 his feet on the table. 
 
 " Oh, come," he said, in a most offensive tone. 
 " Play fair, play fair." 
 
 " Play fair ? What do you mean ? " I de 
 manded. 
 
 69
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 "You don't expect me to believe," he said, 
 jeeringly, " that you came all the way down here, 
 just to fight for the sacred cause of liberty." 
 
 I may occasionally exaggerate a bit in repre 
 senting myself to be a more important person 
 than I really am, but if I were taught nothing 
 else at the Point, I was taught to tell the truth, 
 and when Aiken questioned my word I felt the 
 honor of the whole army rising within me and 
 stiffening my back-bone. 
 
 " You had better believe what I tell you, sir," 
 I answered him, sharply. " You may not know 
 it, but you are impertinent ! " 
 
 I have seldom seen a man so surprised as was 
 Aiken when I made this speech. His mouth 
 opened and remained open while ,ie slowly re 
 moved his feet from the table and allowed the 
 legs of his chair to touch the floor. 
 
 " Great Scott," he said at last, " but you have 
 got a nasty temper. I'd forgotten that folks are 
 so particular." 
 
 " Particular because I object to having my 
 word doubted," I asked. " I must request you 
 to send my trunk to Pulido's. I fancy you and 
 I won't hit it off together." I rose and started 
 to leave the room, but he held out his hands to 
 prevent me, and exclaimed, in consternation : 
 
 " Oh, that's no way to treat me," he prr tested* 
 70
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 " I didn*t say anything for you to get on your 
 ear about. If I did, I'm sorry." He stepped 
 forward, offering to shake my hand, and as I 
 took his doubtfully, he pushed me back into my 
 chair, 
 
 " You mustn't mind me," he went on. tc It's 
 been so long since I've seen a man from God's 
 country that I've forgotten how to do the polite. 
 Here, have another drink and start even." He 
 was so eager and so suddenly humble that I felt 
 ashamed of my display of offended honor, and 
 we began again with a better understanding. 
 
 I told him once more why I had come, and 
 this time he accepted my story as though he con 
 sidered my wishing to join Laguerre the most 
 natural thing in the world, nodding his head and 
 muttering approvingly. When I had finished he 
 said, " You may not think so now, but I guess 
 you've come to the only person who can help 
 you. If you'd gone to anyone else you'd proba 
 bly have landed in jail." He glanced over hi? 
 shoulder at the open door, and then, after i myr 
 terious wink at me, tiptoed out upon the ve* Taa, 
 and ran rapidly around and through the hov^e. 
 This precaution r,n his part gave me a thrill of 
 satisfaction. I felt that at last I was a real con 
 spirator that I was concerned in something dan 
 gerous and weighty. I sipped at my glass with
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 an air of indifference, but as a matter of fact I 
 was rather nervous. 
 
 " You can't be too careful," Aiken said as he 
 reseated himself. " Of course, the whole thing is 
 a comic opera, but if they suspect you are work 
 ing against them, they're just as likely as not to 
 make it a tragedy, with you in the star part. 
 Now I'll explain how I got into this, and I can 
 assure you it wasn't through any love of liberty 
 with me. The consular agent here is a man 
 named Quay, and he and I have been in the com 
 mission business together. About three months 
 ago, when JLaguerre was organizing his com 
 mand at Bluefields, Garcia, who is the leader of 
 the revolutionary party, sent word down here to 
 Quay to go North for him and buy two machine 
 guns and invoice 'em to me at the consulate. 
 Quay left on the next steamer and appointed me 
 acting consul, but except for his saying so I've 
 no more real authority to act as consul than you 
 have. The plan was that when Laguerre capt 
 ured this port he would pick up the guns and 
 carry them on to Garcia. Laguerre was at Blue- 
 fields, but couldn't get into the game for lack of 
 a boat. So when the Nancy Miller touched there 
 he and his crowd boarded her just like a lot of 
 old-fashioned pirates and turned the passengers 
 out on the wharf. Then they put a gun at the
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 head of the engineer and ordered him to take 
 them back to Porto Cortez. But when they 
 reached here the guns hadn't arrived from New 
 Orleans. And so, after a bit of a fight on land 
 ing, Laguerre pushed on without them to join 
 Garcia. He left instructions with me to bring 
 him word when they arrived. He's in hiding up 
 there in the mountains, waiting to hear from me 
 now. They ought to have come this steamer day 
 on the Panama along with you, but, as you know,- 
 they didn't. I never thought they would. I knew 
 the Isthmian Line people wouldn't carry 'em. 
 They've got to beat Garcia, and until this row is 
 over they won't even carry a mail-bag for fear he 
 might capture it." 
 
 " Is that because General Laguerre seized one 
 of their steamers ? *' I asked. 
 
 " No, it's an old fight," said Aiken, " and La- 
 guerre's stealing the Nancy Miller was only a 
 part of it. The fight began between Garcia and 
 the Isthmian Line when Garcia became president. 
 He tried to collect some money from the Isth 
 mian Line, and old man Fiske threw him out of* 
 the palace and made Alvarez president." 
 
 I was beginning to find the politics of the rev 
 olution into which I had precipitated myself some 
 what involved, and I suppose I looked puzzled, 
 for Aiken laughed. 
 
 73
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 " You can laugh," I said, " but it is rather con 
 fusing. Who is Fiske? Is he another revolu 
 tionist?'* 
 
 " Fiske ! " exclaimed Aiken. " Don't tell me 
 you don't know who Fiske is ? I mean old man 
 Fiske, the Wall Street banker Joseph Fiske, 
 the one who owns the steam yacht and all the 
 railroads." 
 
 I had of course heard of that Joseph Fiske, 
 but his name to me was only a word meaning 
 money. I had never thought of Joseph Fiske 
 as a human being. At school and at the Point 
 when we wanted to give the idea of wealth that 
 could not be counted we used to say, " As rich as 
 Joe Fiske." But I answered, in a tone that sug 
 gested that I knew him intimately : 
 
 " Oh, that Fiske," I said. " But what has he 
 to do with Honduras ? " 
 
 " He owns it," Aiken answered. " It's like 
 this," he began. " You must understand that 
 almost every republic in Central America is under 
 the thumb of a big trading firm or a banking 
 house or a railroad. For instance, all these revo 
 lutions you read about in the papers it's seldom 
 they start with the people. The puebleo don't 
 often elect a president or turn one out. That's 
 generally the work of a New York business firm 
 that wants a concession. If the president in office 
 
 74
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 t give it a concession the company starts out 
 to find one who will. It hunts up a rival poli 
 tician or a general of the army who wants to be 
 president, and all of them do, and makes a deai 
 with him. It promises him if he'll start a revo 
 lution it will back him with the money and the 
 guns. Of course, the understanding is that if the 
 leader of the fake revolution gets in he'll give his 
 New York backers whatever they're after. Some 
 times they want a concession for a railroad, and 
 sometimes it's a nitrate bed or a rubber forest, 
 but you can take my word for it that there's 
 very few revolutions down here that haven't 
 got a money-making scheme at the bottom of 
 them. 
 
 " Now this present revolution was started 
 by the Isthmian Steamship Line, of which Joe 
 Fiske is president. It runs its steamers from 
 New Orleans to the Isthmus of Panama. In its 
 original charter this republic gave it the monopoly 
 of the fruit-carrying trade from all Hondurian 
 ports. In return for this the company agreed to 
 pay the government $10,000 a year and ten per 
 cent, on its annual receipts, if the receipts ever 
 exceeded a certain amount. Well, curiously 
 enough, although the line has been able to build 
 seven new steamers, its receipts ha^e never ex 
 ceeded that fixed amount. And if you know 
 
 75
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 these people the reason for that is very simple. 
 The company has always given each succeeding 
 president a lump sum for himself, on the con 
 dition that he won't ask any impertinent ques 
 tions about the company's earnings. Its people 
 tell him that it is running at a Joss, and he always 
 takes their word for it. But Garcia, when he 
 came in, either was too honest, or they didn't 
 pay him enough to keep quiet. I don't know 
 which it was, but, anyway, he sent an agent to 
 New Orleans to examine the company's books. 
 The agent discovered the earnings have been so 
 enormous that by rights the Isthmian Line owed 
 the government of Honduras $500,000. This 
 was a great chance for Garcia, and he told them 
 to put up the back pay or lose their charter. 
 They refused and he got back at them by pre 
 venting their ships from taking on any cargo in 
 Honduras, and by seizing their plant here and at 
 Truxillo. Well, the company didn't dare to go 
 to law about it, nor appeal to the State Depart 
 ment, so it started a revolution. It picked out a 
 thief named Alvarez as a figure-head and helped 
 him to bribe the army and capture the capital. 
 Then he bought a decision from the local courts 
 in favor of the company. After that there was 
 no more talk about collecting back pay. Garcia 
 was an exile in Nicaragua. There he met La- 
 
 76
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 guerre, who is a professional soldier of fortune, 
 and together they cooked up this present revolu 
 tion. They hope to put Garcia back into power 
 again. How he'll act if he gets in I don't know. 
 The common people believe he's a patriot, that 
 he'll keep all the promises he makes them and 
 he makes a good many and some white people 
 believe in him, too. Laguerre believes in him, 
 for instance. Laguerre told me that Garcia was 
 a second Bolivar and Washington. But he might 
 be both of them, and he couldn't beat the Isth 
 mian Line You see, while he has prevented the 
 Isthmian Line from carrying bananas, he's cut off 
 his own nose by shutting off his only source of 
 supply. For these big corporations hang together 
 at times, and on the Pacific side the Pacific Mail 
 Company has got the word from Fiske, and they 
 won't carry supplies, either. That's what I meant 
 by saying that Joe Fiske owns Honduras. He's 
 cut it off from the world, and only his arms and his 
 friends can get into it. And the joke of it is he 
 can't get out." 
 
 "Can't get out?" I exclaimed. "What do 
 you mean ? " 
 
 " Why, he's up there at Tegucigalpa himself," 
 said Aiken. " Didn't you know that? He's up 
 at the capital, visiting Alvarez. He came in 
 through this port about two weeks ago." 
 
 77
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 " Joseph Fiske is fighting in a Hondurian revo 
 lution ? " I exclaimed. 
 
 " Certainly not ! " cried Aiken. " He's here 
 on a pleasure trip ; partly pleasure, partly business. 
 He came here on his yacht. You can see her 
 from the window, lying to the left of the buoy. 
 Fiske has nothing to do with this row. I don't 
 suppose he knows there's a revolution going on." 
 
 I resented this pretended lack of interest on 
 the part of the Wall Street banker. I condemned 
 it as a piece of absurd affectation. 
 
 tf Don't you believe it ! " I said. " No matter 
 how many millions a man has, he doesn't stand to 
 lose ^500,000 without taking an interest in it." 
 
 " Oh, but he doesn't know about that" said 
 Aiken. " He doesn't know the ins and outs of 
 the story what I've been telling you. That's 
 on the inside that's cafe scandal. That side of 
 it would never reach him. I suppose Joe Fiske 
 is president of a dozen steamship lines, and all he 
 does is to lend his name to this one, and preside 
 at board meetings. The company's lawyers tell 
 him whatever they think he ought to know. 
 They probably say they're having trouble down 
 here owing to one of the local revolutions, and 
 that Garcia is trying to blackmail them." 
 
 " Then you don't think Fiske came down here 
 about this ? " I asked. 
 
 78
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 " About this ? " repeated Aiken, in a tone of 
 such contempt that I disliked him intensely. 
 For the last half hour Aiken had been jumping 
 unfeelingly on all my ideals and illusions. 
 
 " No," he went on. " He came here on his 
 yacht on a pleasure trip around the West India 
 Islands, and he rode in from here to look over 
 the Copan Silver Mines. Alvarez is terribly keen 
 to get rid of him. He's afraid the revolutionists 
 will catch him and hold him for ransom. He'd 
 bring a good price," Aiken added, reflectively. 
 " It's enough to make a man turn brigand. And 
 his daughter, too. She'd bring a good price." 
 
 " His daughter ! " I exclaimed. 
 
 Aiken squeezed the tips of his fingers together, 
 and kissed them, tossing the imaginary kiss up 
 toward the roof. Then he drank what was left of 
 his rum and water at a gulp and lifted the empty 
 glass high in the air. " To the daughter," he said. 
 
 It was no concern of mine, but I resented his 
 actions exceedingly. I think I was annoyed 
 that he should have seen the young lady while I 
 had not. I also resented his toasting her before 
 a stranger. I knew he could not have met her, 
 and his pretence of enthusiasm made him appear 
 quite ridiculous. He looked at me mournfully, 
 shaking his head as though it were impossible for 
 him to give me an idea of her. 
 
 79
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 cc Why they say/* he exclaimed, <c that when 
 she rides along the trail, the native women kneel 
 beside it. 
 
 " She's the best looking girl I ever saw," he 
 declared, " and she's a thoroughbred too ! " he 
 added, " or she wouldn't have stuck it out in this 
 country when she had a clean yacht to fall back 
 on. She's been riding around on a mule, so they 
 tell me, along with her father and the engineering 
 experts, and just as though she enjoyed it. The 
 men up at the mines say she tired them all out." 
 
 I had no desire to discuss the young lady with 
 Aiken, so I pretended not to be interested, and 
 he ceased speaking, and we smoked in silence. 
 But my mind was nevertheless wide awake to 
 what he had told me. I could not help but see 
 the dramatic values which had been given to the 
 situation by the presence of this young lady. The 
 possibilities were tremendous. Here was I, fight 
 ing against her father, and here was she, beautiful 
 and an heiress to many millions. In the short 
 space of a few seconds I had pictured myself res 
 cuing her from brigands, denouncing her father 
 for not paying his honest debt to Honduras, 
 had been shot down by his escort, Miss Fiske 
 had bandaged my wounds, and I was returning 
 North as her prospective husband on my pro 
 spective father-in-law's yacht. Aiken aroused 
 
 80
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 me from this by rising to his feet. " Now then, 59 
 he said, briskly, " if you want to go to Laguerre 
 you can come with me. I've got to see him to 
 explain why his guns haven't arrived, and I'll 
 take you with me." He made a wry face and 
 laughed. <c A nice welcome he'll give me," he 
 said. I jumped to my feet. " There's my 
 trunk," I said; "it's ready, and so am I. When 
 do we start ? " 
 
 "As soon as it is moonlight," Aiken an 
 swered. 
 
 The remainder of the day was spent in prepar 
 ing for our journey. I was first taken to the com- 
 mandante and presented to him as a commercial 
 traveller. Aiken asked him for a passport per 
 mitting me to proceed to the capital " for pur 
 poses of trade.'* As consular agent Aiken needed 
 no passport for himself, but to avoid suspicion 
 he informed the commandante that his object in 
 visiting Tegucigalpa was to persuade Joseph 
 Fiske, as president of the Isthmian Line, to place 
 buoys in the harbor of Porto Cortez and give 
 the commission for their purchase to the com 
 mandante. Aiken then and always was the most 
 graceful liar I have ever met. His fictions were 
 never for his own advantage, at least not obvi 
 ously so. Instead, they always held out some 
 pleasing hope for the person to whom they were 
 
 81
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 addressed. His plans and promises as to what he 
 would do were so alluring that even when I knew 
 he was lying I liked to pretend that he was not 
 This particular fiction so interested the comman- 
 dante that he even offered us an escort of sol 
 diers, which honor we naturally declined. 
 
 That night when the moon had risen we 
 started inland, each mounted on a stout little 
 mule, and followed by a third, on which was 
 swung my trunk, balanced on the other side by 
 Aiken*s saddle bags. A Carib Indian whom 
 Aiken had selected because of his sympathies for 
 the revolution walked beside the third mule 
 and directed its progress by the most startling 
 shrieks and howls. To me it was a most mem 
 orable and marvellous night, and although for 
 the greater part of it Aiken dozed in his saddle 
 and woke only to abuse his mule, I was never 
 more wakeful nor more happy. At the very set 
 ting forth I was pleasantly stirred when at the 
 limit of the town a squad of soldiers halted us 
 and demanded our passports. This was my first 
 encounter with the government troops. They 
 were barefooted and most slovenly looking sol 
 diers, mere boys in age and armed with old- 
 fashioned Remingtons. But their officer, the 
 captain of the guard, was more smartly dressed, 
 and I was delighted to find that my knowledge 
 
 82
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 of Spanish, in which my grandfather had so per 
 sistently drilled me, enabled me to understand 
 all that passed between him and Aiken. The 
 captain warned us that the revolutionists were 
 camped along the trail, and that if challenged we 
 had best answer quickly that we were Americanos. 
 He also told us that General Laguerre and his 
 legion of " gringoes " were in hiding in the high 
 lands some two days' ride from the coast. Aiken 
 expressed the greatest concern at this, and was 
 for at once turning back. His agitation was so 
 convincing, he was apparently so frightened, that, 
 until he threw a quick wink at me, I confess J 
 was completely taken in. For some time he re 
 fused to be calmed, and it was only when the 
 captain assured him that his official position 
 would protect him from any personal danger that 
 he consented to ride on. Before we crossed the 
 town limits he had made it quite evident that the 
 officer himself was solely responsible for his con 
 tinuing on his journey, and he denounced La 
 guerre and all his works with a picturesqueness 
 of language and a sincerity that filled me with 
 confusion. I even began to doubt if after all 
 Aiken was not playing a game for both sides, 
 and might not end my career by leading me into 
 a trap. After we rode on I considered the possi 
 bility of this quite seriously, and I was not reas- 
 
 83 '
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 sured until 1 heard the mozo, with many chuckles 
 and shrugs of the shoulder, congratulate Aiken on 
 the way he had made a fool of the captain. 
 
 " That's called diplomacy, Jose," Aiken told 
 him. " That's my statecraft. It's because I 
 have so much statecraft that 1 am a consul. You 
 keep your eye on this American consul, Jose, and 
 you'll learn a lot of statecraft." 
 
 Jose showed his teeth and grinned, and after 
 he had dropped into a line behind us we could 
 hear him still chuckling. 
 
 " You would be a great success in secret service 
 work, Aiken," I said, " or on the stage." 
 
 We were riding in single file, and in order to 
 see my face in the moonlight he had to turn in 
 his saddle. 
 
 " And yet I didn't," he laughed. 
 
 " What do you mean,*' I asked, " were you 
 ever a spy or an actor ? " 
 
 " I was both," he said. " I was a failure at 
 both, too. I got put in jail for being a spy, and 
 I ought to have been hung for my acting." I 
 kicked my mule forward in order to hear better. 
 
 " Tell me about it," I asked, eagerly. "About 
 when you were a spy." 
 
 But Aiken only laughed, and rode on without 
 turning his head. 
 
 "You wouldn't understand," he said after a 
 84
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 pause. Then he looked at me over his shoulder. 
 "It needs a big black background of experience 
 and hard luck to get the perspective on that story," 
 he explained. "It wouldn't appeal to you ; you're 
 too young. They're some things they don't teach 
 at West Point." 
 
 " They teach us," I answered, hotly, " that if 
 we're detailed to secret service work we are to carry 
 out our orders. It's not dishonorable to obey 
 orders. I'm not so young as you think. Go on, 
 tell me, in what war were you a spy ? " 
 
 "It wasn't in any war," Aiken said, again turn 
 ing away from me. "It was in Haskell's Private 
 Detective Agency." 
 
 I could not prevent an exclamation, but the 
 instant it had escaped me I could have kicked my 
 self for having made it. "I beg your pardon," 
 I murmured, awkwardly. 
 
 " I said you wouldn't understand," Aiken 
 answered. Then, to show he did not wish to 
 speak with me further, he spurred his mule into a 
 trot and kept a distance between us. 
 
 Our trail ran over soft, spongy ground and was 
 shut in on either hand by a wet jungle of tangled 
 vines and creepers. They interlaced like the 
 strands of a hammock, choking and strangling and 
 clinging to each other in a great web. From the 
 jungle we came to ill-smelling pools of mud and 
 
 85
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 water, over which hung a white mist which rose 
 as high as our heads. It was so heavy with moist 
 ure that our clothing dripped with it, and we were 
 chilled until our teeth chattered. But by five 
 o'clock in the morning we had escaped the coast 
 swamps, and reached higher ground and the vil 
 lage of Sagua la Grande, and the sun was drying 
 our clothes and taking the stiffness out of our 
 bones. 
 
 CANAL COMPANY'S FEVER HOSPITAL, 
 PANAMA 
 
 The nurse brought me my diary this morning. 
 She found it in the inside pocket of my tunic. 
 All of its back pages were scribbled over with 
 orders of the day, countersigns, and the memo 
 randa I made after Laguerre appointed me ad 
 jutant to the Legion. But in the first half of it 
 was what I see I was pleased to call my "memoirs, ' 
 in which I had written the last chapter the day 
 Aiken and I halted at Sagua la Grande. Whei. 
 I read it over I felt that I was somehow much 
 older than when I made that last entry. And yet 
 it was only two months ago. It seems like two 
 years. I don't feel much like writing about it, 
 nor thinking about it, but I suppose, if I mean 
 to keep my " memoirs " up to date, I shall never 
 have more leisure in which to write than I have 
 
 86
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 now. For Dr. Ezequiel says it will be another 
 two weeks before I can leave this cot. Sagua 
 seems very unimportant now. But I must not 
 write of it as I see it now, from this distance, but 
 as it appealed to me then, when everything about 
 me was new and strange and wonderful. 
 
 It was my first sight of a Honduranian town, 
 and I thought it most charming and curious. As 
 I learned later it was like any other Honduranian 
 town and indeed like every other town in Central 
 America. They are all built around a plaza, which 
 sometimes is a park with fountains and tessellated 
 marble pavements and electric lights, and some 
 times only an open place of dusty grass. There 
 is always a church at one end, and the cafe or club, 
 and the alcalde's house, or the governor's palace, 
 at another. In the richer plazas there must al 
 ways be the statue of some Liberator, and in the 
 poorer a great wooden cross. Sagua la Grande 
 was bright and warm and foreign looking. It re 
 minded me of the colored prints of Mexico which 
 I had seen in my grandfather's library. The 
 houses were thatched clay huts with gardens 
 around them crowded with banana palms, and trees 
 hung with long beans, which broke into masses of 
 crimson flowers. The church opposite the inn 
 was old and yellow, and at the edge of the plaza 
 were great palms that rustled and courtesied. 
 
 87
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 led our mules straight through the one big room 
 of the inn out into the yard behind it, and while 
 doing it I committed the grave discourtesy of not 
 first removing my spurs. Aiken told me about 
 it at once, and I apologized to everyone to the 
 alcalde, and the priest, and the village school 
 master who had crossed the plaza to welcome us 
 and I asked them all to drink with me. I do 
 not know that I ever enjoyed a breakfast more 
 than I did the one we ate in the big cool inn with 
 the striped awning outside, and the naked brown 
 children watching us from the street, and the palms 
 whispering overhead. The breakfast was good in 
 itself, but it was my surroundings which made the 
 meal so remarkable and the fact that I was no 
 longer at home and responsible to someone, but 
 that I was talking as one man to another, and in 
 a foreign language to people who knew no other 
 tongue. The inn-keeper was a fat little person in 
 white drill and a red sash, in which he carried two 
 silver-mounted pistols. He looked like a ring 
 master in a circus, but he cooked us a most won 
 derful omelette with tomatoes and onions and 
 olives chopped up in it with oil. And an Indian 
 woman made us tortillas, which are like our buck 
 wheat cakes. It was fascinating to see her toss 
 them up in the air, and slap them into shape with 
 her hands. Outside the sun blazed upon the 
 
 88
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 white rim of huts, and the great wooden cross in 
 the plaza threw its shadow upon the yellow fa9ade 
 of the church. Beside the church there was a 
 chime of four bells swinging from a low ridge-pole. 
 The dews and the sun had turned their copper a 
 brilliant green, but had not hurt their music, and 
 while we sat at breakfast a little Indian boy in 
 crumpled vestments beat upon them with a stick, 
 making a sweet and swinging melody. It did not 
 seem to me a scene set for revolution, but I liked 
 it all so much that that one breakfast alone repaid 
 me for my long journey south. I was sure life in 
 Sagua la Grande would always suit me, and that 
 I would never ask for better company than the 
 comic-opera landlord and the jolly young priest 
 and the yellow-skinned, fever-ridden schoolmaster 
 with his throat wrapped in a great woollen shawl. 
 But very soon, what with having had no sleep the 
 night before and the heat, I grew terribly drowsy 
 and turned in on a canvas cot in the corner, where 
 I slept until long after mid-day. For some time 
 I could hear Aiken and the others conversing to 
 gether and caught the names of Laguerre and 
 Garcia, but I was too sleepy to try to listen, and, 
 as I said, Sagua did not seem to me to be the 
 place for conspiracies and revolutions. I left it 
 with real regret, and as though I were parting with 
 friends of long acquaintanceship. 
 
 89
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 From the time we left Sagua the path began to 
 ascend, and we rode in single file along the edges 
 of deep precipices. From the depths below 
 giant ferns sent up cool, damp odors, and we 
 could hear the splash and ripple of running water, 
 and at times, by looking into the valley, I could 
 see waterfalls and broad streams filled with rocks, 
 which churned the water into a white foam. We 
 passed under tall trees covered with white and 
 purple flowers, and in the branches of others were 
 perched macaws, giant parrots of the most won 
 derful red and blue and yellow, and just at sunset 
 we startled hundreds of parroquets which flew 
 screaming and chattering about our heads, like so 
 many balls of colored worsted. 
 
 When the moon rose, we rode out upon a 
 table-land and passed between thick forests of 
 enormous trees, the like of which I had never 
 imagined. Their branches began at a great dis 
 tance from the ground and were covered thick 
 with orchids, which I mistook for large birds 
 roosting for the night. Each tree was bound to 
 the next by vines like tangled ropes, some drawn 
 as taut as the halyards of a ship, and others, as 
 thick as one's leg ; they were twisted and wrapped 
 around the branches, so that they looked like 
 boa-constrictors hanging ready to drop upon one's 
 shoulders. The moonlight gave to this forest of 
 
 90
 
 *o 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 O 
 
 co 
 
 I 
 
 cr/ 
 
 c 

 
 Captain Mackiin 
 
 great trees a weird, fantastic look. I felt like a 
 knight entering an enchanted wood. But noth 
 ing disturbed our silence except the sudden awa 
 kening of a great bird or the stealthy rustle of an 
 animal in the underbrush. Near midnight we 
 rode into a grove of manacca palms as delicate as 
 ferns, and each as high as a three-story house, 
 and with fronds so long that those drooping across 
 the trail hid it completely. To push our way 
 through these we had to use both arms as one 
 lifts the curtains in a doorway. 
 
 Aiken himself seemed to feel the awe and 
 beauty of the place, and called the direction to 
 me in a whisper. Even that murmur was enough 
 to carry above the rustling of the palms, and 
 startled hundreds of monkeys into wakefulness. 
 We could hear their barks and cries echoing from 
 every part of the forest, and as they sprang from 
 one branch to another the palms bent like trout- 
 rods, and then swept back into place again with 
 a strange swishing sound, like the rush of a great 
 fish through water. 
 
 After midnight we were too stiff and sore to 
 ride farther, and we bivouacked on the trail be 
 side a stream. I had no desire for further sleep, 
 and I sat at the foot of a tree smoking and think 
 ing. I had often " camped out " as a boy, and 
 at West Point with the battalion, but I had never
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 before felt so far away from civilization and my 
 own people. For company I made a little fire 
 and sat before it, going over in my mind what I 
 had learned since I had set forth on my travels. 
 I concluded that so far I had gained much and 
 lost much. What I had experienced of the ocean 
 while on the ship and what little I had seen of 
 this country delighted me entirely, and I would 
 not have parted with a single one of my new im 
 pressions. But all I had learned of the cause for 
 which I had come to fight disappointed and dis 
 heartened me. Of course I had left home partly 
 to seek adventure, but not only for that, I had 
 set out on this expedition with the idea that I 
 was serving some good cause that old-fashioned 
 principles were forcing these men to fight for their 
 independence. But I had been early undeceived. 
 At the same time that I was enjoying my first 
 sight of new and beautiful things I was being 
 robbed of my illusions and my ideals. And 
 nothing could make up to me for that. By 
 merely travelling on around the globe I would 
 always be sure to find some new things of interest. 
 But what would that count if I lost my faith in 
 men ! If I ceased to believe in their unselfish 
 ness and honesty. Even though I were young 
 and credulous, and lived in a make-believe world 
 of my own imagining, I was happier so than in 
 
 92
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 thinking that everyone worked for his own ad 
 vantage, and without justice to others, or private 
 honor. It harmed no one that I believed better 
 of others than they deserved, but it was going to 
 hurt me terribly if I learned that their aims were 
 even lower than my own. I knew it was Aiken 
 who had so discouraged me. It was he who had 
 laughed at me for believing that Laguerre and 
 his men were fighting for liberty. If I were 
 going to credit him, there was not one honest 
 man in Honduras, and no one on either side of 
 this revolution was fighting for anything but 
 money. He had made it all seem commercial, 
 sordid, and underhand. I blamed him for hav 
 ing so shaken my faith and poisoned my mind. 
 I scowled at his unconscious figure as he lay sleep 
 ing peacefully on his blanket, and I wished heartily 
 that I had never set eyes on him. Then I argued 
 that his word, after all, was not final. He made 
 no pretence of being a saint, and it was not un 
 natural that a man who held no high motives 
 should fail to credit them to others. I had par 
 tially consoled myself with this reflection, when I 
 remembered suddenly that Beatrice herself had 
 foretold the exact condition which Aiken had de 
 scribed. 
 
 " That is not war," she had said to me, <f that 
 is speculation ! " She surely had said that to me, 
 
 93
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 but how could she have known, or was hers only 
 a random guess ? And if she had guessed cor 
 rectly what would she wish me to do now ? Would 
 she wish me to turn back, or, if my own motives 
 were good, would she tell me to go on ? She 
 had called me her knight-errant, and I owed it to 
 her to do nothing of which she would disapprove. 
 As I thought of her I felt a great loneliness and 
 a longing to see her once again. I thought of 
 how greatly she would have delighted in those 
 days at sea, and how wonderful it would have 
 been if I could have seen this hot, feverish coun 
 try with her at my side. I pictured her at the 
 inn at Sagua smiling on the priest and the fat little 
 landlord ; and their admiration of her. I imag 
 ined us riding together in the brilliant sunshine 
 with the crimson flowers meeting overhead, and 
 the palms bowing to her and paying her homage. 
 I lifted the locket she had wound around my wrist, 
 and kissed it. As I did so, my doubts and ques 
 tionings seemed to fall away. I stood up con 
 fident and determined. It was not my business 
 to worry over the motives of other men, but to 
 look to my own. I would go ahead and fight 
 Alvarez, who Aiken himself declared was a thief 
 and a tyrant. If anyone asked me my politics I 
 would tell him I was for the side that would ob- 
 tain the money the Isthmian Line had stolen,
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 give it to the people ; that I was for Garcia and 
 Liberty, Laguerre and the Foreign Legion. 
 This platform of principles seemed to me so satis 
 factory that I stretched my feet to the fire and 
 went to sleep. 
 
 I was awakened by the most delicious odor of 
 coffee, and when I rolled out of my blanket I 
 found Jose standing over me with a cup of it in 
 his hand, and Aiken buckling the straps of my 
 saddle-girth. We took a plunge in the stream, 
 and after a breakfast of coffee and cold tortillas 
 climbed into the saddle and again picked up the 
 trail. 
 
 After riding for an hour Aiken warned me that 
 at any moment we were likely to come upon 
 either Laguerre or the soldiers of Alvarez. " So 
 you keep your eyes and ears open," he said, " and 
 when they challenge throw up your hands quick. 
 The challenge is ' Halt, who lives,' " he explained. 
 " If it is a government soldier you must answer, 
 ' The government.' But if it's one of Laguerre's 
 or Garcia's pickets you must say { The revolution 
 lives.' And whatever else you do, hold up your 
 hands" 
 
 I rehearsed this at once, challenging myself 
 several times, and giving the appropriate answers. 
 The performance seemed to afford Aiken much 
 amusement. 
 
 95
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 " Isn't that right ? " I asked. 
 
 " Yes," he said, " but the joke is that you 
 won't be able to tell which is the government 
 soldier and which is the revolutionist, and you'll 
 give the wrong answer, and we'll both get shot." 
 
 " I can tell by our uniform," I answered. 
 
 " Uniform ! " exclaimed Aiken, and burst into 
 the most uproarious laughter. " Rags and tat 
 ters," he said. 
 
 I was considerably annoyed to learn by this 
 that the revolutionary party had no distinctive 
 uniform. The one worn by the government 
 troops which I had seen at the coast I had 
 thought bad enough, but it was a great disap 
 pointment to hear that we had none at all. 
 Ever since I had started from Dobbs Ferry I 
 had been wondering what was the Honduranian 
 uniform. I had promised myself to have my pho 
 tograph taken in it. I had anticipated the pride 
 I should have in sending the picture back to 
 Beatrice. So I was considerably chagrined, until 
 I decided to invent a uniform of my own, which 
 I would wear whether anyone else wore it or not. 
 This was even better than having to accept one 
 which someone else had selected. As I had 
 thought much on the subject of uniforms, I be 
 gan at once to design a becoming one. 
 
 We had reached a most difficult pass in the 
 96
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 mountain, where the trail stumbled over broken 
 masses of rock and through a thick tangle of 
 laurel. The walls of the pass were high and the 
 trees at the top shut out the sunlight. It was 
 damp and cold and dark. 
 
 " We're sure to strike something here," Aiken 
 whispered over his shoulder. It did not seem at 
 all unlikely. The place was the most excellent 
 man-trap, but as to that, the whole length of the 
 trail had lain through what nature had obviously 
 arranged for a succession of ambushes. 
 
 Aiken turned in his saddle and said, in an 
 anxious tone : " Do you know, the nearer I get 
 to the old man, the more I think I was a fool to 
 come. As long as I've got nothing but bad 
 news, I'd better have stayed away. Do you re 
 member Pharaoh and the messengers of ill tid 
 ings ? " 
 
 I nodded, but I kept my eyes busy with the 
 rocks and motionless laurel. My mule was slip 
 ping and kicking down pebbles, and making as 
 much noise as a gun battery. I knew, if there 
 were any pickets about, they could hear us com 
 ing for a quarter of a mile. 
 
 " Garcia may think he's Pharaoh," Aiken went 
 on, " and take it into his head it's my fault the 
 guns didn't come. Laguerre may say I sold 
 the secret to the Isthmian Line." 
 
 97
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 "Oh, he couldn't think you'd do that!" I 
 protested. 
 
 " Well, I've known it done," Aiken said. 
 " Quay certainly sold us out at New Orleans. 
 And Laguerre may think I went shares with 
 him." 
 
 I began to wonder if Aiken was not probably 
 the very worst person I could have selected to 
 introduce me to General Laguerre. It seemed 
 as though it certainly would have been better had 
 I found my way to him alone. I grew so uneasy 
 concerning my possible reception that I said, ir 
 ritably : " Doesn't the General know you well 
 enough to trust you ? " 
 
 " No, he doesn't ! " Aiken snapped back, quite 
 as irritably. "And he's dead right, too. You 
 take it from me, that the fewer people in this 
 country you trust, the better for you. Why, the 
 rottenness of this country is a proverb. ' It's a 
 place where the birds have no song, where the 
 flowers have no odor, where the women are with 
 out virtue, and the men without honor.' That's 
 what a gringo said of Honduras many years ago, 
 and he knew the country and the people in it." 
 
 It was not a comforting picture, but in my 
 discouragement I remembered Laguerre. 
 
 " General Laguerre does not belong to this 
 country," I said, hopefully. 
 
 98
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 " No,"' Aiken answered, with a laugh. " He's 
 an Irish-Frenchman and belongs to a dozen 
 countries. He's fought for every flag that floats, 
 and he's no better off to-day than when he be 
 gan." 
 
 He turned toward me and stared with an 
 amused and tolerant grin. " He's a bit like 
 you," he said. 
 
 I saw he did not consider what he said as a 
 compliment, but I was vain enough to want to 
 know what he did think of me, so I asked : 
 " And in what way am I like General La- 
 guerre ? " 
 
 The idea of our similarity seemed to amuse 
 Aiken, for he continued to grin. 
 
 " Oh, you'll see when we meet him," he said. 
 " I can't explain it. You two are just different 
 from other people that's all. He's old-fash 
 ioned like you, if you know what I mean, and 
 young " 
 
 " Why, he's an old man," I corrected. 
 
 " He's old enough to be your grandfather," 
 Aiken laughed, " but I say he's young like 
 you, the way you are." 
 
 Aiken knew that it annoyed me when he pre 
 tended I was so much younger than himself, and 
 I had started on some angry reply, when I was 
 abruptly interrupted. 
 
 99
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 A tall, ragged man rose suddenly from behind 
 a rock, and presented a rifle. He was so close 
 to Aiken that the rifle almost struck him in the 
 face. Aiken threw up his hands, and fell back 
 with such a jerk that he lost his balance, and 
 would have fallen had he not pitched forward and 
 clasped the mule around the neck. I pulled my 
 mule to a halt, and held my hands as high as I 
 could raise them. The man moved his rifle 
 from side to side so as to cover each of us in turn, 
 and cried in English, " Halt ! Who goes there ? " 
 
 Aiken had not told me the answer to that 
 challenge, so I kept silent. I could hear Jose 
 behind me interrupting his prayers with little 
 sobs of fright. 
 
 Aiken scrambled back into an upright position, 
 held up his hands, and cried : " Confound you, 
 we are travellers, going to the capital on busi 
 ness. Who the devil are you ? " 
 
 " Qui vive ? " the man demanded over the 
 barrel of his gun. 
 
 " What does that mean ? " Aiken cried, petu 
 lantly. " Talk English, can't you, and put down 
 that gun." 
 
 The man ceased moving the rifle between us, 
 and settled it on Aiken. 
 
 " Cry * Long live the government/ " he com 
 manded, sharply. 
 
 100
 
 Captain Mack! in 
 
 Aiken gave a sudden start of surprise, and I 
 saw his eyelids drop and rise again. Later when 
 I grew to know him intimately, I could always 
 tell when he was lying, or making the winning 
 move in some bit of knavery, by that nervous 
 trick of the eyelids. He knew that I knew 
 about it, and he once confided to me that, had he 
 been able to overcome it, he would have saved 
 himself some thousands of dollars which it had 
 cost him at cards. 
 
 But except for this drooping of the eyelids he 
 gave no sign. 
 
 " No, I won't cry c Long live the govern 
 ment,' ' he answered. " That is," he added 
 hastily, " I won't cry long live anything. I'm 
 the American Consul, and I'm up here on busi 
 ness. So's my friend." 
 
 The man did not move his gun by so much as 
 a straw's breadth. 
 
 " You will cry f Long live Alvarez ' or I will 
 shoot you," said the man. 
 
 I had more leisure to observe the man than 
 had Aiken, for it is difficult to study the features 
 of anyone when he is looking at you down a 
 gun-barrel, and it seemed to me that the muscles 
 of the man's mouth as he pressed it against the 
 stock were twitching with a smile. As the side 
 of his face toward me was the one farther from 
 
 101
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 the gun, I was able to see this, but Aiken could 
 not, and he answered, still more angrily : " I tell 
 you, I'm the American Consul. Anyway, it's 
 not going to do you any good to shoot me. 
 You take me to your colonel alive, and I'll give 
 you two hundred dollars. You shoot me and 
 you won't get a cent." 
 
 The moment was serious enough, and I was 
 thoroughly concerned both for Aiken and myself, 
 but when he made this offer, my nervousness, or 
 my sense of humor, got the upper hand of me, 
 and I laughed. 
 
 Having laughed I made the best of it, and 
 said : 
 
 " Offer him five hundred for the two of us. 
 Kang the expense." 
 
 The rifle wavered in the man's hands, he 
 steadied it, scowled at me, bit his lips, and then 
 burst into shouts of laughter. He sank back 
 against one of the rocks, and pointed at Aiken 
 mockingly. 
 
 " I knew it was you all the time," he cried, 
 " for certain I did. I knew it was you all the 
 time." 
 
 I was greatly relieved, but naturally deeply 
 indignant. I felt as though someone had 
 jumped from behind a door, and shouted 
 " Boo ! " at me. I hoped in my heart that the 
 
 102
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 colonel would give the fellow eight hours' pack 
 drill. " What a remarkable sentry," I said. 
 
 Aiken shoved his hands into his breeches 
 pockets, and surveyed the man with an expres 
 sion of the most violent disgust. 
 
 " You've got a damned queer idea of a joke," 
 he said finally. " I might have shot you ! " 
 
 The man seemed to consider this the very 
 acme of humor, for he fairly hooted at us. He 
 was so much amused that it was some moments 
 before he could control himself. 
 
 " I saw you at Porto Cortez," he said, "I 
 knew you was the American Consul all the time. 
 You came to our camp after the fight, and the Gen 
 eral gave you a long talk in his tent. Don't you 
 remember me ? I was standing guard outside." 
 
 Aiken snorted indignantly. 
 
 " No, I don't remember you," he said. " But 
 I'll remember you next time. Are you standing 
 guard now, or just doing a little highway robbery 
 on your own account ? " 
 
 " Oh, I'm standing guard for keeps," said the 
 sentry, earnestly. " Our camp's only two hun 
 dred yards back of me. And our Captain told 
 me to let all parties pass except the enemy, but 
 I thought I'd have to jump you just for fun. 
 I'm an American myself, you see, from Kansas. 
 An' being an American I had to give the Ameri- 
 
 103
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 can Consul a scare. But say," he exclaimed, ad 
 vancing enthusiastically on Aiken, with his hand 
 outstretched, " you didn't scare for a cent." He 
 shook hands violently with each of us in turn. 
 " My name's Pete MacGraw," he added, expect 
 antly. 
 
 " Well, now, Mr. MacGraw/' said Aiken, " if 
 you'll kindly guide us to General Laguerre we'll 
 use our influence to have you promoted. You 
 need more room. I imagine a soldier with your 
 original ideas must find sentry duty go very dull.'* 
 
 MacGraw grinned appreciatively and winked. 
 
 " If I take you to my General alive, do I get 
 that two hundred dollars ? " he asked. He 
 rounded off his question with another yell of 
 laughter. 
 
 He was such a harmless idiot that we laughed 
 with him. But we were silenced at once by a 
 shout from above us, and a command to " Stop 
 that noise." I looked up and saw a man in 
 semi-uniform and wearing an officer's, sash and 
 sword stepping from one rock to another and 
 breaking his way through the laurel. He greeted 
 Aiken with a curt wave of the hand. " Glad to 
 see you, Consul," he called. "You will dis 
 mount, please, and lead your horses this way." 
 He looked at me suspiciously and then turned 
 and disappeared into the undergrowth. 
 
 104
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 " The General is expecting you, Aiken," his 
 voice called back to us. " I hope everything is 
 all right?" 
 
 Aiken and I had started to draw the mules 
 up the hill. Already both the officer and 
 the trail had been completely hidden by the 
 laurel. 
 
 " No, nothing is all right," Aiken growled. 
 
 There was the sound of an oath, the laurels 
 parted, and the officer's face reappeared> glaring 
 at us angrily. 
 
 " What do you mean ? " he demanded. 
 
 " My information is for General Laguerre," 
 Aiken answered, sulkily. 
 
 The man sprang away again muttering to him 
 self, and we scrambled and stumbled after him, 
 guided by the sounds of breaking branches and 
 rolling stones. 
 
 From a glance I caught of Aiken's face I knew 
 he was regretting now, with even more reason 
 than before, that he had not remained at the 
 coast, and I felt very sorry for him. Now that 
 he was in trouble and not patronizing me and 
 poking fun at me, I experienced a strong change 
 of feeling toward him. He was the only friend 
 I had in Honduras, and as between him and 
 these strangers who had received us so oddly, I 
 felt that, although it would be to my advantage
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 to be friends with the greater number, my loyalty 
 was owing to Aiken. So I scrambled up beside 
 him and panted out with some difficulty, for the 
 ascent was a steep one : " If there is any row, 
 I'm with you, Aiken." 
 
 " Oh, there won't be any row," he growled. 
 
 " Well, if there is," I repeated, " you can 
 count me in." 
 
 " That's all right," he said. 
 
 At that moment we reached the top of the in 
 cline, and I looked down into the hollow below. 
 To my surprise I found that this side of the hill 
 was quite barren of laurel or of any undergrowth, 
 and that it sloped to a little open space carpeted 
 with high, waving grass, and cut in half by a nar 
 row stream. On one side of the stream a great 
 herd of mules and horses were tethered, and on the 
 side nearer us were many smoking camp-fires and 
 rough shelters made from the branches of trees. 
 Men were sleeping in the grass or sitting in the 
 shade of the shelters, cleaning accoutrements, and 
 some were washing clothes in the stream. At 
 the foot of the hill was a tent, and ranged before 
 it two Gatling guns strapped in their canvas 
 jackets. I saw that I had at last reached my des 
 tination. This was the camp of the filibusters. 
 These were the soldiers of Laguerre's Foreign 
 Legion. 
 
 106
 
 Ill 
 
 \ LTHOUGH I had reached my journey's 
 JLIL end, although I had accomplished what i 
 had set out to do, I felt no sense of elation nor 
 relief. I was, instead, disenchanted, discouraged, 
 bitterly depressed. It was so unutterably and mis 
 erably unlike what I had hoped to find, what I 
 believed I had the right to expect, that my disap 
 pointment and anger choked me. The picture I 
 had carried in my mind was one of shining tent- 
 walls, soldierly men in gay and gaudy uniforms, 
 fluttering guidons, blue ammunition-boxes in or 
 derly array, smart sentries pacing their posts, and 
 a head-quarters tent where busy officers bent over 
 maps and reports. 
 
 The scene I had set was one painted in martial 
 colors, in scarlet and gold lace ; it moved to mar 
 tial music, to bugle-calls, to words of command,, 
 to the ringing challenge of the sentry, and what I 
 had found was this camp of gypsies, this nest of 
 tramps, without authority, discipline, or self-re 
 spect. It was not even picturesque. My indig 
 nation stirred me so intensely that, as I walked 
 down the hill, I prayed for a rude reception, that 
 I might try to express my disgust. 
 
 107
 
 Captain MacJclin 
 
 The officer who had first approached us stopped 
 at the opening of the solitary tent, and began 
 talking excitedly to someone inside. And as we 
 reached the level ground, the occupant of the 
 tent stepped from it. He was a stout, heavy 
 man, with a long, twisted mustache, at which he 
 was tugging fiercely. He wore a red sash and a 
 bandman's tunic, with two stars sewn on the collar. 
 I could not make out his rank, but his first words 
 explained him. 
 
 " I am glad to see you at last, Mr. Aiken," he 
 said. " I'm Major Reeder, in temporary com 
 mand. You have come to report, sir ? " 
 
 Aiken took so long to reply that I stopped 
 studying the remarkable costume of the Major 
 and turned to Aiken. I was surprised to see 
 that he was unquestionably frightened. His eyes 
 were shifting and blinking, and he wet his lips 
 with his tongue. All his self-assurance had de 
 serted him. The officer who had led us to the 
 camp was also aware of Aiken's uneasiness, and 
 was regarding him with a sneer. For some rea 
 son the spectacle of Aiken's distress seemed to 
 afford him satisfaction. 
 
 " I should prefer to report to General La- 
 guerre," Aiken said, at last. 
 
 " I am in command here," Reeder answered, 
 sharply. " General Laguerre is absent recon- 
 
 108
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 noitring. I represent him. I know all about 
 Mr. Quay's mission. It was I who recommended 
 him to the General. Where are the guns ? " 
 
 For a moment Aiken stared at him helplessly, 
 and then drew in a quick breath. 
 
 " I don't know where they are," he said. " The 
 Panama arrived two days Ego, but when I went 
 to unload the guns Captain Leeds told me they 
 had been seized in New Orleans by the Treasury 
 Department. Someone must have " 
 
 Both Major Reeder and the officer interrupted 
 with a shout of anger. 
 
 " Then it's true ! " Reeder cried. " It's true, 
 and and you dare to tell us so ! " 
 
 Aiken raised his head and for a moment looked 
 almost defiant. 
 
 " Why shouldn't I tell you ? " he demanded, 
 indignantly. "Who else was there to tell you? 
 I've travelled two days to let you know. I can't 
 help it if the news isn't good. I'm just as sorry 
 as you are." 
 
 The other officer was a stout, yellow-haired 
 German. He advanced a step and shook a soiled 
 ringer in Aiken's face. " You can't help it, can't 
 you ? " he cried. " You're sorry, are you ? You 
 won't be sorry when you're paid your money, 
 will you ? How much did you get for us, hey ! 
 
 How much did Joe -Fiske " 
 
 109
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 Reeder threw out his arm and motioned the 
 officer back. " Silence, Captain Heinze," he 
 commanded. 
 
 The men of the Legion who had happened to 
 be standing near the tent when we appeared had 
 come up to look at the new arrivals, and when 
 they heard two of their officers attacking Aiken 
 they crowded still closer in front of us, forming a 
 big half-circle. Each of them apparently was on 
 a footing with his officers of perfect comradeship, 
 and listened openly to what was going forward as 
 though it were a personal concern of his own. 
 They had even begun to discuss it among them 
 selves, and made so much noise in doing so that 
 Captain Heinze passed on Reeder's rebuke as 
 though it had been intended for them, command 
 ing, " Silence in the ranks." 
 
 They were not in ranks, and should not have 
 been allowed where they were in any formation, 
 but that did not seem to occur to either of the 
 officers. 
 
 " Silence," Reeder repeated. " Now, Mr. 
 Aiken, I am waiting. What have you to say ? " 
 
 " What is there for me to say ? " Aiken pro 
 tested. " I have done all I could. I told you 
 as soon as I could get here." Major Reeder 
 drew close to Aiken and pointed his outstretched 
 hand at him. 
 
 no
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 " Mr. Aiken," he said. " Only four people 
 knew that those guns were ordered Quay, who 
 went to fetch them, General Laguerre, myself, 
 and you. Some one of us must have sold out 
 the others ; no one else could have done it. It 
 was not Quay. The General and I have been 
 here in the mountains we did not do it; and 
 that that leaves you." 
 
 " It does not leave me," Aiken cried. He 
 shouted it out with such spirit that I wondered 
 at him. It was the same sort of spirit which 
 makes a rat fight because he can't get away, but I 
 didn't think so then. 
 
 " It was Quay sold you out ! " Aiken cried. 
 " Quay told the Isthmian people as soon as the 
 guns reached New Orleans. I suspected him 
 when he cabled me he wasn't coming back. I 
 know him. I know just what he is. He's been 
 on both sides before." 
 
 " Silence, you you," Reeder interrupted. He 
 was white with anger. " Mr. Quay is my friend," 
 he cried. " I trust him. I trust him as I would 
 trust my own brother. How dare you accuse 
 him ! " 
 
 He ceased and stood gasping with indignation, 
 but his show of anger encouraged Captain Heinze 
 to make a fresh attack on Aiken. 
 
 " Quay took you off the beach," he shouted. 
 in
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 <c He gave you food and clothes, and a bed to lie 
 on. It's like you, to bite the hand that fed you. 
 When have you ever stuck to any side or any 
 body if you could get a dollar more by selling 
 him out? " 
 
 The whole thing had become intolerable. It 
 was abject and degrading, like a falling-out among 
 thieves. They reminded me of a group of drunk 
 en women I had once seen, shameless and foul- 
 mouthed, fighting in the street, with grinning 
 night-birds urging them on. I felt in some way 
 horribly responsible, as though they had dragged 
 me into it as though the flying handfuls of mud 
 had splattered me. And yet the thing which in 
 flamed me the most against them was their un 
 fairness to Aiken. They would not let him 
 speak, and they would not see that they were so 
 many, and that he was alone. I did not then 
 know that he was telling the truth. Indeed, I 
 thought otherwise. I did not then know that on 
 those occasions when he appeared to the worst 
 advantage, he generally was trying to tell the 
 truth. 
 
 Captain Heinzc pushed nearer, and shoved his 
 fist close to Aiken's face. 
 
 "We know what you are," he jeered. "We 
 know you're no more on our side than you're the 
 American Consul. You lied to us about that, 
 
 112
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 and youVe lied to us about everything else. And 
 now weVe caught you, and we'll make you pay 
 for it." 
 
 One of the men in the rear of the crowd 
 shouted, " Ah, shoot the beggar ! " and others 
 began to push forward and to jeer. Aiken heard 
 them and turned quite white. 
 
 " YouVe caught me ? " Aiken stammered. 
 * Why, I came here of my own will. Is it likely 
 I'd have done that if I had sold you out? " 
 
 " I tell you you did sell us out," Heinze roared. 
 " And you're a coward besides, and I tell you so 
 to your face ! " He sprang at Aiken, and Aiken 
 shrank back. It made me sick to see him do it. 
 I had such a contempt for the men against him 
 that I hated his not standing up to them. It was 
 to hide the fact that he had stepped back, that I 
 jumped in front of him and pretended to restrain 
 him. I tried to make it look as though had I 
 not interfered, he would have struck at Heinze. 
 
 The German had swung around toward the 
 men behind him, as though he were subpoenaing 
 them as witnesses. 
 
 " I call him a coward to his face ! '* he shouted, 
 But when he turned again I was standing in 
 front of Aiken, and he halted in surprise, glaring 
 at me. I don't know what made me do it, except 
 that I had heard enough of their recriminations, 
 
 113
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 and was sick with disappointment. I hated Heinze 
 and all of them, and myself for being there. 
 
 "Yes, you can call him a coward," I said, as 
 offensively as I could, " with fifty men behind you. 
 How big a crowd do you want before you dare 
 insult a man ? " Then I turned on the others. 
 " Aren't you ashamed of yourselves," I cried, " to 
 all of you set on one man in your own camp ? I 
 don't know anything about this row and I don't 
 want to know, but there's fifty men here against 
 one, and I'm on the side of that one. You're a 
 lot of cheap bullies," I cried, " and this German 
 drill-sergeant," I shouted, pointing at Heinze, 
 <f who calls himself an officer, is the cheapest bully 
 of the lot." I jerked open the buckle which held 
 my belt and revolver, and flung them on the 
 ground. Then I slipped off my coat, and shoved 
 it back of me to Aiken, for I wanted to keep him 
 out of it. It was the luck of Royal Macklin him- 
 seif that led me to take off my coat instead of 
 drawing my revolver. At the Point I had been 
 accustomed to settle things with my fists, and it 
 had been only since I started from the coast that 
 I had carried a gun. A year later, in the same 
 situation, I would have reached for it. Had I 
 done so that morning, as a dozen of them assured 
 me later, they would have shot me before I could 
 have got my hand on it. But. as it was, when I 
 
 114
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 rolled up my sleeves the men began to laugh, and 
 some shouted : <{ Give him room," " Make a 
 ring," " Fair play, now," " Make a ring." The 
 semi-circle spread out and lengthened until it 
 formed a ring, with Heinze and Reeder, and 
 Aiken holding my coat, and myself in the centre 
 of it. 
 
 I squared off in front of the German and tapped 
 him lightly on the chest with the back of my hand. 
 
 " Now, then," I cried, taunting him, " I call 
 you a coward to your face. What are you going 
 to do about it?" 
 
 For an instant he seemed too enraged and as 
 tonished to move, and the next he exploded with 
 a wonderful German oath and rushed at me, tug 
 ging at his sword. At the same moment the men 
 gave a shout and the ring broke. I thought they 
 had cried out in protest when they saw Heinze 
 put his hand on his sword, but as they scattered 
 and fell back I saw that they were looking neither 
 at Heinze nor at me, but at someone behind me. 
 Heinze, too, halted as suddenly as though he had 
 been pulled back by a curbed bit, and, bringing 
 his heels together, stood stiffly at salute. I turned 
 and saw that everyone was falling out of the way 
 of a tall man who came striding toward us, and 
 I knew on the instant that he was General La- 
 guerre. At the first glance I disassociated him 
 
 "5
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 from his followers. He was entirely apart. In 
 any surroundings I would have picked him out as 
 a leader of men. Even a civilian would have 
 known he was a soldier, for the signs of his calling 
 were stamped on him as plainly as the sterling 
 mark on silver, and although he was not in uni 
 form his carriage and countenance told you that 
 he was a personage. 
 
 He was very tall and gaunt, with broad shoul 
 ders and a waist as small as a girl's, and although 
 he must then have been about fifty years of age 
 he stood as stiffly erect as though his spine had 
 grown up into the back of his head. 
 
 At the first glance he reminded me of Van 
 Dyke's portrait of Charles I. He had the same 
 high-bred features, the same wistful eyes, and he 
 wore his beard and mustache in what was called 
 the Van Dyke fashion, before Louis Napoleon 
 gave it a new vogue as the " imperial." 
 
 It must have been that I read the wistful look 
 in his eyes later, for at the moment of our first 
 meeting it was a very stern Charles I. who con 
 fronted us, with the delicate features stiffened in 
 anger, and the eyes set and burning. Since then 
 I have seen both the wistful look and the angry 
 look many times, and even now I would rather 
 face the muzzle of a gun than the eyes of General 
 Laguerre when you have offended him. 
 
 116
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 His first words were addressed to Reeder. 
 
 " What does this mean, sir ? " he demanded, 
 st If you cannot keep order in this camp when 
 my back is turned I shall find an officer who can. 
 Who is this ? " he added, pointing at me. I 
 became suddenly conscious of the fact that I was 
 without my hat or coat, and that my sleeves were 
 pulled up to the shoulders. Aiken was just 
 behind me, and as I turned to him for my coat I 
 disclosed his presence to the General. He gave 
 an exclamation of delight. 
 
 "Mr. Aiken!" he cried, "at last!" He 
 lowered his voice to an eager whisper. " Where 
 are the guns?" he asked. 
 
 Apparently Aiken felt more confidence in 
 General Laguerre than in his officers, for at this 
 second questioning he answered promptly. 
 
 " I regret to say, sir," he began, " that the 
 guns were seized at New Orleans. Someone 
 informed the Honduranian Consul there, and 
 he " 
 
 " Seized ! '* cried Laguerre. " By whom "-: 
 Do you mean we have lost them ? " 
 
 Aiken lowered his eyes and nodded. 
 
 " But how do you know ? " Laguerre de 
 manded, eagerly. "You are not sure? Who 
 seized them ? " 
 
 " The Treasury officers," Aiken answered, 
 117
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 " The captain of the Panama told me he saw the 
 guns taken on the company's wharf." 
 
 For some moments Laguerre regarded him 
 sternly, but I do not think he saw him. He 
 turned and walked a few steps from us and back 
 again. Then he gave an upward toss of his 
 head as though he had accepted his sentence. 
 " The fortunes of war," he kept repeating to 
 himself, " the fortunes of war." He looked up 
 and saw us regarding him with expressions of the 
 deepest concern. 
 
 " I thought I had had my share of them," he 
 said, simply. He straightened his shoulders and 
 frowned, and then looked at us and tried to 
 smile. But the bad news had cut deeply. Dur 
 ing the few minutes since he had come pushing 
 his way through the crowd, he seemed to have 
 grown ten years older. He walked to the door 
 of his tent and then halted and turned toward 
 Reeder. 
 
 5* I think my fever is coming on again/* he 
 said. " I believe I had better rest. Do not let 
 them disturb me." 
 
 " Yes, General," Reeder answered. Then he 
 pointed at Aiken and myself. " And what are 
 we to do with these ? " he asked. 
 
 " Do with these ? " Laguerre repeated. " Why, 
 what did you mean to do with them r " 
 
 118
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 Reeder swelled out his chest importantly. 
 " If you had not arrived when you did, General," 
 he said, " I would have had them shot ! " 
 
 The General stopped at the entrance to the 
 tent and leaned heavily against the pole. He 
 raised his eyes and looked at us wearily and with 
 no show of interest. 
 
 " Shoot them ? " he asked. " Why were you 
 going to shoot them ? " 
 
 " Because, General," Reeder declared, theatri 
 cally, pointing an accusing finger at Aiken, " I 
 believe this man sold our secret to the Isthmian 
 Line. No one knew of the guns but our three 
 selves and Quay. And Quay is not a man to 
 betray his friends. I wish I could say as much 
 for Mr. Aiken." 
 
 At that moment Aiken, being quite innocent, 
 said even less for himself, and because he was 
 innocent looked the trapped and convicted 
 criminal. 
 
 Laguerre's eyes glowed like two branding- 
 irons. As he fixed them on Aiken's face one 
 expected to see them leave a mark. 
 
 " If the General will only listen," Aiken stam 
 mered. " If you will only give me a hearing, sir. 
 Why should I come to your camp if I had sold 
 you out ? Why didn't I get away on the first 
 steamer, and stay away as Quay did ? " 
 
 119
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 The General gave an exclamation of disgust, 
 and shrugged his shoulders. He sank back 
 slowly against one of the Catling guns. 
 
 " What does it matter ? " he said, bitterly. 
 " Why lock the stable door now ? I will give 
 you a hearing," he said, turning to Aiken, " but it 
 would be better for you if I listened to you later. 
 Bring him to me to-morrow morning after roll- 
 call. And the other ? " he asked. He pointed 
 at me, but his eyes, which were Leavy with dis 
 appointment, were staring moodily at the ground. 
 
 Heinze interposed himself quickly. 
 
 " Aiken brought him here ! " he said. " I be 
 lieve he's an agent of the Isthmian people, or," 
 he urged, " why did he come here ? He came 
 to spy out your camp, General, and to report on 
 our condition." 
 
 " A spy ! " said Laguerre, raising his head and 
 regarding me sharply. 
 
 " Yes," Heinze declared, with conviction. 
 et A spy, General. A Government spy, and he 
 has found out our hiding-place and counted our 
 men." 
 
 Aiken turned on him with a snarl. 
 
 " Oh, you ass ! " he cried. " He came as a 
 volunteer. He wanted to fight with you, for 
 $he sacred cause of liberty ! " 
 
 * Yes, he wanted to fight with us," shouted 
 
 I2O
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 Heinze, indignantly. " As soon as he got into 
 the camp, he wanted to fight with us." 
 
 Laguerre made an exclamation of impatience, 
 and rose unsteadily from the gun-carriage. 
 
 " Silence ! '-' he commanded. " I tell you 1 
 cannot listen to you now. I will give these men 
 a hearing after roll-call. In the meantime if they 
 are spies, they have seen too much. Place them 
 under guard ; and if they try to escape, shoot 
 them." 
 
 I gave a short laugh and turned to Aiken. 
 
 " That's the first intelligent military order I've 
 heard yet," I said. 
 
 Aiken scowled at me fearfully, and Reeder and 
 Heinze gasped. General Laguerre had caught 
 the words, and turned his eyes on me. Like the 
 real princess who could feel the crumpled rose- 
 leaf under a dozen mattresses, I can feel it in my 
 bones when I am in the presence of a real soldier. 
 My spinal column stiffens, and my fingers twitch 
 to be at my visor. In spite of their borrowed 
 titles, I had smelt out the civilian in Reeder 
 and had detected the non-commissioned man in 
 Heinze, and just as surely I recognized the gen 
 eral officer in Laguerre. 
 
 So when he looked at me my heels clicked to 
 gether, my arm bent to my hat and fell again to 
 my trouser seam, and I stood at attention. It 
 
 121
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 was as instinctive as though I were back at the 
 Academy, and he had confronted me in the uni 
 form and yellow sash of a major-general. 
 
 " And what do you know of military orders, 
 sir," he demanded, in a low voice, "that you 
 feel competent to pass upon mine ? " 
 
 Still standing at attention, I said : " For the 
 last three years I have been at West Point, sir, 
 and have listened to nothing else.'* 
 
 " You have been at West Point ? *' he said, 
 slowly, looking at me in surprise and with evi 
 dent doubt. " When did you leave the Acad 
 emy ? " 
 
 " Two weeks ago," I answered. At this, he 
 looked even more incredulous. 
 
 " How does it happen," he asked, "if you are 
 preparing for the army at West Point, that you 
 are now travelling in Honduras ? " 
 
 " I was dismissed from the Academy two 
 weeks ago," I answered. " This was the only 
 place where there was any righting, so I came 
 here. I read that you had formed a Foreign 
 Legion, and thought that maybe you would let 
 me join it." 
 
 General Laguerre now stared at me in genu 
 ine amazement. In his interest in the supposed 
 spy, he had forgotten the loss of his guns. 
 
 " You came from West Point," he repeated, 
 122
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 incredulously, " all the way to Honduras to 
 join me ! " He turned to the two officers. 
 " Did he tell you this ? " he demanded. 
 
 They answered, " No," promptly, and truth 
 fully as well, for they had not given me time to 
 tell them anything. 
 
 " Have you any credentials, passports, or 
 papers ? " he said. 
 
 When he asked this I saw Reeder whisper 
 eagerly to Heinze, and then walk away. He 
 had gone to search my trunk for evidence that I 
 was a spy, and had I suspected this I would have 
 protested violently, but it did not occur to me 
 then that he would do such a thing. 
 
 " I have only the passport I got from the com- 
 mandante at Porto Cortez," I said. 
 
 At the words Aiken gave a quick shake of the 
 head, as a man does when he sees another move 
 the wrong piece on the chess-board. But when 
 1 stared at him inquiringly his expression changed 
 instantly to one of interrogation and complete 
 unconcern. 
 
 " Ah ! " exclaimed Heinze, triumphantly, " he 
 has a permit from the Government." 
 
 " Let me see it," said the General. 
 
 I handed it to him, and he drew a camp-chair 
 from the tent, and, seating himself, began to 
 compare me with the passport. 
 
 123
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 <e In this," he said at last, " you state that you 
 are a commercial traveller ; that you are going to 
 die capital on business, and that you are a friend 
 of the Government." 
 
 I was going to tell him that until it had been 
 handed me by Aiken, I had known nothing of 
 the passport, but I considered that in some way 
 this might involve Aiken, and so I answered : 
 
 " It was necessary to tell them any story, sir, 
 in order to get into the interior. I could not tell 
 them that I was not a friend of the Government, 
 nor that I was trying to join you." 
 
 " Your stories are somewhat conflicting," said 
 the General. " You are led to our hiding-place 
 by a man who is himself under suspicion, and the 
 only credentials you can show are from the en 
 emy. Why should I believe you are what you 
 say you are? Why should I believe you are not 
 a spy ? " 
 
 I could not submit to having my word doubted, 
 so I bowed stiffly and did not speak. 
 
 " Answer me," the General commanded, 
 " what proofs have I ? " 
 
 " You have nothing but my word for it," I said. 
 
 General Laguerre seemed pleased with that, 
 and I believe he was really interested in helping 
 me to clear myself. But he had raised my 
 temper by questioning my word. 
 
 124
 
 Captain Mack] in 
 
 " Surely you must have something to identify 
 you," he urged. 
 
 " If I had I'd refuse to show it," I answered. 
 w I told you why I came here. If you think I am 
 a spy, you can go ahead and shoot me as a spy, 
 and find out whether I told you the truth after 
 ward." 
 
 The General smiled indulgently. 
 
 " There would be very little satisfaction in that 
 for me, or for you," he said. 
 
 " I'm an officer and a gentleman," I protested, 
 <f and I have a right to be treated as one. If you 
 serve every gentleman who volunteers to join you 
 in the way I have been served, I'm not surprised 
 that your force is composed of the sort you have 
 around you." 
 
 The General raised his head and looked at me 
 with such a savage expression that during the 
 pause which ensued I was most uncomfortable. 
 
 "If your proofs you are an officer are no 
 stronger than those you offer that you are a gen 
 tleman," he said, " perhaps you are wise not to 
 show them. What right have you to claim you 
 are an officer ? " 
 
 His words cut and mortified me deeply, chiefly 
 because I felt I deserved them. 
 
 " Every cadet ranks a non - commissioned 
 man," I answered. 
 
 125
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 " But you are no longer a cadet," he replied 
 " You have been dismissed. You told me so 
 yourself. Were you dismissed honorably, or 
 dishonorably ? " 
 
 " Dishonorably," I answered. I saw that this 
 was not the answer he had expected. He looked 
 both mortified and puzzled, and glanced at 
 Heinze and Aiken as though he wished that they 
 were out of hearing. 
 
 " What was it for what was the cause of your 
 dismissal ? " he asked. He now spoke in a much 
 lower tone. " Of course, you need not tell me," 
 he added. 
 
 " I was dismissed for being outside the limits 
 of the Academy without a permit," I answered. 
 t I went to a dance at a hotel in uniform." 
 
 " Was that all ? " he demanded, smiling. 
 
 " That was the crime for which I was dis 
 missed," I said, sulkily. The General looked at 
 me for some moments, evidently in much doubt. 
 I believe he suspected that I had led him on to 
 asking me the reason for my dismissal, in order 
 that I could make so satisfactory an answer. As 
 he sat regarding me, Heinze bent over him and 
 said something to him in a low tone, to which 
 he replied : " But that would prove nothing. He 
 might have a most accurate knowledge of military 
 affairs, and still be an agent of the Government." 
 
 126
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 " That is so, General," Heinze answered, aloud* 
 " But it would prove whether he is telling the 
 truth about his having been at West Point. If 
 his story is false in part, it is probably entirely 
 false, as I believe it to be." 
 
 "Captain Heinze suggests that I allow him to 
 test you with some questions," the General said,, 
 doubtfully ; " questions on military matters. 
 Would you answer them ? " 
 
 I did not want them to see how eager I % was to 
 be put to such a test, so I tried to look as though 
 I were frightened, and said, cautiously, " I will 
 try, sir." I saw that the proposition to put me 
 through an examination had rilled Aiken with the 
 greatest concern. To reassure him, I winked 
 covertly. 
 
 Captain Heinze glanced about him as though 
 looking for a text. 
 
 " Let us suppose," he said, importantly, " that 
 you are an inspector-general come to inspect this 
 camp. It is one that I myself selected ; as adju 
 tant it is under my direction. What would you 
 report as to its position, its advantages and disad 
 vantages ? " 
 
 I did not have to look about me. Without 
 moving from where I stood, I could see all that 
 was necessary of that camp. But I first asked,, 
 timidly : " Is this camp a temporary one, made 
 
 127
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 during a halt on the march, or has it been occupied 
 for some days ? " 
 
 " We have been here for two weeks/* said 
 Heinze. 
 
 " Is it supposed that a war is going on ? " I 
 asked, politely ; " I mean, are we in the presence 
 of an enemy ? " 
 
 " Of course," answered Heinze. " Certainly 
 we are at war." 
 
 " Then," I said, triumphantly, " in my report 
 I should recommend that the officer who selected 
 this camp should be court-martialled." 
 
 Heinze gave a shout of indignant laughter, and 
 Aiken glared at me as though he thought I had 
 flown suddenly mad, but Laguerre only/rowned 
 and waved his hand impatiently. 
 
 " You are bold, sir," he said, grimly ; " 1 trust 
 you can explain yourself." 
 
 I pointed from the basin in which we stood, to 
 the thickly wooded hills around us. 
 
 "This camp has the advantage of water and 
 grass," I said. I spoke formally, as though I 
 were really making a report. " Those are its only 
 advantages. Captain Heinze has pitched it in a 
 hollow. In case of an attack, he has given the 
 advantage of position to the enemy. Fifty men 
 could conceal themselves on those ridges and fire 
 upon you as effectively as though they had you 
 
 128
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 at the bottom of a well. There are no pickets 
 out, except along the trail, which is the one ap 
 proach the enemy would not take. So far as this 
 position counts, then," I summed up, " the camp 
 is an invitation to a massacre." 
 
 I did not dare look at the General, but I pointed 
 at the guns at his side. " Your two field-pieces 
 are in their covers, and the covers are strapped on 
 them. It would take three minutes to get them 
 into action. Instead of being here in front of the 
 tent, they should be up there on those two high 
 est points. There are no racks for the men's rifles 
 or ammunition belts. The rifles are lying on the 
 ground and scattered everywhere in case of an 
 attack the men would not know where to lay their 
 hands on them. It takes only two forked sticks 
 and a ridge-pole with nicks in it, to make an ex 
 cellent gun-rack, but there is none of any sort. 
 As for the sanitary arrangements of the camp, they 
 are nil. The refuse from the troop kitchen is 
 scattered all over the place, and so are the branches 
 on which the men have been lying. There is no 
 way for them to cross that stream without their 
 getting their feet wet; and every officer knows 
 that wet feet are worse than wet powder. The 
 place does not look as though it had been policed 
 since you came here. It's a fever swamp. If 
 you have been here two weeks, it's a wonder your 
 
 129
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 whole force isn't as rotten as sheep. And there ! * 
 I cried, pointing at the stream which cut the camp 
 in two " there are men bathing and washing their 
 clothes up-stream, and those men below them are 
 filling buckets with water for cooking and drinking. 
 Why have you no water-guards ? You ought to 
 have a sentry there, and there. The water above 
 the first sentry should be reserved for drinking, 
 below him should be the place for watering your 
 horses, and below the second sentry would be the 
 water for washing clothes. Why, these things are 
 the A, B, C, of camp life." For the first time 
 since I had begun to speak, I turned on Heinze 
 and grinned at him. 
 
 " How do you like my report on your camp ? " 
 1 asked. " Now, don't you agree with me that 
 you should be court-martialled ? " Heinze's 
 anger exploded like a shell. 
 
 " You should be court-martialled yourself ! " 
 he shouted. " You are insulting our good Gen 
 eral. For me, I do not care. But you shall not 
 reflect upon my commanding officer, for him 
 I " 
 
 "That will do, Captain Heinze," Laguerre 
 said, quietly. " That will do, thank you." He 
 did not look up at either of us, but for some 
 time sat with his elbow on his knee and with his 
 chin resting in the palm of his hand, staring at 
 
 130
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 the camp. There was a long, and, for me, an 
 awkward silence. The General turned his head 
 and stared at me. His expression was exceed 
 ingly grave, but without resentment. 
 
 " You are quite right," he said, finally. Heinze 
 and Aiken moved expectantly forward, anxious to 
 hear him pass sentence upon me. Seeing this he 
 raised his voice and repeated : " You are quite 
 right in what you say about the camp. All you 
 say is quite true." 
 
 He leaned forward with his elbows on his 
 knees, and, as he continued speaking with his 
 face averted, it was as though he were talking to 
 himself. 
 
 " We grow careless as we grow older," he said. 
 " One grows less difficult to please." His tone 
 was that of a man excusing himself to himself. 
 4t The old standards, the old models, pass away 
 and and failures, failures come and dull the en 
 ergy." His voice dropped into a monotone ; he 
 seemed to have forgotten us entirely. 
 
 It must have been then that for the first time I 
 saw the wistful look come into his eyes, and sud 
 denly felt deeply sorry for him and wished that I 
 might dare to tell him so. I was not sorry for 
 any act or speech of mine. They had attacked 
 me, and 1 had only defended myself. I was not 
 repentant for anything I had said , my sorrow
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 was for what I read in the General's eyes as he 
 sat staring out into the valley. It was the sad 
 dest and loneliest, look that I had ever seen. 
 There was no bitterness in it, but great sadness 
 and weariness and disappointment, and above all, 
 loneliness, utter and complete loneliness. 
 
 ' He glanced up and saw me watching him, and 
 for a moment regarded me curiously, and then, 
 as though I had tried to force my way into his 
 solitude, turned his eyes quickly away. 
 
 I had forgotten that I was a suspected spy un 
 til the fact was recalled to me at that moment by 
 the reappearance of Major Reeder. He came 
 bustling past me, carrying as I saw, to my great 
 indignation, the sword which had been presented 
 to my grandfather, and which my grandfather 
 had given to me. I sprang after him and twisted 
 it out of his hand. 
 
 " How dare you ! " I cried. " You have 
 opened my trunk ! How dare you pry into my 
 affairs ? General Laguerre ! " I protested. " 1 
 appeal to you, sir." 
 
 " Major Reeder," the General demanded, 
 sharply, " what does this mean ? " 
 
 " I was merely seeking evidence, General,' 
 said Reeder. " You asked for his papers, and 1 
 went to look for them." 
 
 " I gave you no orders to pry into this gentle- 
 132
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 man's trunk," said the General. " You have ex 
 ceeded your authority. You have done very ill, 
 sir. You have done very ill." 
 
 While the General was reproving Reeder, his 
 eyes, instead of looking at the officer, were fixed 
 upon my sword. It was sufficiently magnificent 
 to attract the attention of anyone, certainly of any 
 soldier. The scabbard was of steel, wonderfully 
 engraved, the hilt was of ivory, and the hilt-guard 
 and belt fastenings were all of heavy gold. The 
 General's face was filled with appreciation. 
 
 " You have a remarkably handsome sword 
 there," he said, and hesitated, courteously, " I 
 beg your pardon, I have not heard your name ? " 
 
 I was advancing to show the sword to him, 
 when my eye fell upon the plate my grandfather 
 had placed upon it, and which bore the inscription: 
 " To Royal Macklin, on his appointment to the 
 United States Military Academy, from his Grand 
 father, John M. Hamilton, Maj. Gen. U.S.A." 
 
 " My name is Macklin, sir," I said, " Royal 
 Macklin/* I laid the sword lengthwise in his 
 hands, and then pointed at the inscription. " You 
 will find it there," I said. The General bowed 
 and bent his head over the inscription and then 
 read the one beside it. This stated that the sword 
 had been presented by the citizens of New York 
 to Major-General John M. Hamilton in recog- 
 
 133
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 nition of his distinguished services during the 
 war with Mexico. The General glanced up at 
 me in astonishment. 
 
 " General Hamilton ! " he exclaimed. " Gen 
 eral John Hamilton ! Is that was he your 
 grandfather ? " 
 
 I bowed my head, and the General stared at 
 me as though I had contradicted him. 
 
 " But, let me tell you, sir," he protested, " that 
 he was my friend. General Hamilton was my 
 friend for many years. Let me tell you, sir," 
 he went on, excitedly, f< that your grandfather 
 was a brave and courteous gentleman, a true 
 friend and and a great soldier, sir, a great soldier. 
 I knew your grandfather well. I knew him 
 well." He rose suddenly, and, while still hold 
 ing the sword close to him, shook my hand. 
 
 " Captain Heinze," he said, " bring out a chair 
 for Mr. Macklin." He did not notice the look 
 of injury with which Heinze obeyed this request. 
 But I did, and I enjoyed the spectacle, and as 
 Heinze handed me the camp-chair I thanked 
 him politely. I could afford to be generous. 
 
 The General was drawing the sword a few 
 inches from its scabbard and shoving it back 
 again, turning it over in his hands. 
 
 " And to think that this is John Hamilton's 
 sword," he said, " and that you are John Hamil- 
 
 J34
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 ton's grandson ! '* As the sword lay across his 
 knees he kept stroking it and touching it as one 
 might caress a child, glancing up at me from 
 time to time with a smile. It seemed to have 
 carried him back again into days and scenes to 
 which we all were strangers, and we watched him 
 without speaking. He became suddenly con 
 scious of our silence, and, on looking up, seemed 
 to become uncomfortably aware of the presence 
 of Aiken and the two officers. 
 
 " That will do, gentlemen,'* he said. {f You 
 will return with Mr. Aiken after roll-call." The 
 officers saluted as they moved away, with Aiken 
 between them. He raised his eyebrows and 
 tapped himself on the chest. I understood that 
 he meant by this that I was to say a good word 
 for him, and I nodded. When they had left us 
 the General leaned forward and placed his hand 
 upon my shoulder. 
 
 " Now tell me," he said. " Tell me every 
 thing. Tell me what you are doing here, and 
 why you ran away from home. Trust me en 
 tirely, and do not be afraid to speak the whole 
 truth." 
 
 I saw that he thought I had left home because 
 I had been guilty of some wildness, if not of 
 some crime, and I feared that my story would 
 prove so inoffensive that he would think I was 
 
 '35
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 holding something back. But his manner was so 
 gentle and generous that I plunged in boldly. I 
 told him everything ; of my life with my grand 
 father, of my disgrace at the Academy, of my 
 desire, in spite of my first failure, to still make 
 myself a soldier. And then I told him of how 
 I had been disappointed and disillusioned, and 
 how it had hurt me to find that this fight seemed 
 so sordid and the motives of all engaged only 
 mercenary and selfish. But once did he inter 
 rupt me, and then by an exclamation which I 
 mistook for an exclamation of disbelief, and 
 which I challenged quickly. " But it is true, 
 sir," I said. " I joined the revolutionists for just 
 that reason because they were fighting for their 
 liberty and because they had been wronged and 
 were the under-dogs in the fight, and because 
 Alvarez is a tyrant. I had no other motive. 
 Indeed, you must believe me, sir," I protested, 
 " or I cannot talk to you. It is the truth." 
 
 " The truth ! " exclaimed Laguerre, fiercely ; 
 and as he raised his eyes I saw that they had sud 
 denly filled with tears. " It is the first time I have 
 heard the truth in many years. It is what I have 
 preached myself for half a lifetime; what I have 
 lived for and fought for. Why, here, now," he 
 cried, " while I have been sitting listening to you, 
 it was as though the boy I used to be had come 
 
 136
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 back to talk to me, bringing my old ideals, the 
 old enthusiasm." His manner and his tone sud 
 denly altered, and he shook his head and placed 
 his hand almost tenderly upon my own. " But I 
 warn you," he said, " I warn you that you are 
 wrong. You have begun young, and there is yet 
 time for you to turn back ; but if you hope for 
 money, or place, or public favor, you have taken 
 the wrong road. You will be a rolling-stone 
 among milestones, and the way is all down hilL 
 I began to fight when I was even younger than 
 you. I fought for whichever party seemed to me 
 to have the right on its side. Sometimes I have 
 fought for rebels and patriots, sometimes for 
 kings, sometimes for pretenders. I was out with 
 Garibaldi, because I believed he would give a 
 republic to Italy ; but I fought against the repub 
 lic of Mexico, because its people were rotten and 
 corrupt, and I believed that the emperor would 
 rule them honestly and well. I have always 
 chosen my own side, the one which seemed to me 
 promised the most good ; and yet, after thirty 
 years, I am where you see me to-night. I am an 
 old man without a country, I belong to no politi 
 cal party, I have no family, I have no home. I 
 have travelled over all the world looking for that 
 country which was governed for the greater good 
 of the greater number, and I have fought only for 
 
 137
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 those men who promised to govern unselfishly and 
 as the servants of the people. But when the fight 
 ing was over, and they were safe in power, they 
 had no use for me nor my advice. They laughed, 
 and called me a visionary and a dreamer. ( You 
 are no statesman, General,' they would say to me. 
 ' Your line is the fighting-line. Go back to it.' 
 And yet, when I think of how the others have 
 used their power, I believe that I could have ruled 
 the people as well, and yet given them more 
 freedom, and made more of them more happy.'* 
 
 The moon rose over the camp, and the night 
 grew chill ; but still we sat, he talking and I lis 
 tening as I had used to listen when I sat at my 
 grandfather's knee and he told me tales of war 
 and warriors. They brought us coffee and food, 
 and we ate with an ammunition-box for a table, 
 he still talking and I eager to ask questions, and 
 yet fearful of interrupting him. He told of great 
 battles which had changed the history of Europe, 
 of secret expeditions which had never been re 
 corded even in his own diary, of revolutions which 
 after months of preparation had burst forth and 
 had been crushed between sunset and sunrise ; of 
 emperors, kings, patriots, and charlatans. There 
 was nothing that I had wished to do, and that I 
 had imagined myself doing, that he had not ac 
 complished in reality the acquaintances he had 
 
 138
 
 The moon rose over the camp 
 still we sat. 
 
 . but
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 made among the leaders of men, the adventures 
 he had suffered, the honors he had won, were 
 those which to me were the most to be desired. 
 
 The scene around us added color to his words. 
 The moonlight fell on ghostly groups of men 
 seated before the camp-fires, their faces glowing in 
 the red light of the ashes ; on the irregular rows 
 of thatched shelters and on the shadowy figures 
 of the ponies grazing at the picket-line. All the 
 odors of a camp, which to me are more grateful 
 than those of a garden, were borne to us on the 
 damp night-air ; the clean pungent smell of burn- 
 ing wood, the scent of running water, the smell 
 of many horses crowded together and of wet sad 
 dles and accoutrements. And above the swift 
 rush of the stream, we could hear the ceaseless 
 pounding of the horses' hoofs on the turf, the 
 murmurs of the men's voices, and the lonely cry 
 of the night-birds. 
 
 It was past midnight when the General rose, 
 and my brain rioted with the pictures he had 
 drawn for me. Surely, if I had ever considered 
 turning back, I now no longer tolerated the 
 thought of it. If he had wished to convince me 
 that the life of a soldier of fortune was an un 
 grateful one he had set about proving it in the 
 worst possible way. At that moment I saw no 
 career so worthy to be imitated as his own, no 
 
 139
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 success to be so envied as his failures. And in 
 the glow and inspiration of his talk, and with the 
 courage of a boy, I told him so. I think he was 
 not ill pleased at what 1 said, nor with me. He 
 seemed to approve of what I had related of my 
 self, and of the comments I had made upon his 
 reminiscences. He had said, again and again : 
 " That is an intelligent question," " You have 
 put your finger on the real weakness of the attack," 
 " That was exactly the error in his strategy." 
 
 When he turned to enter his tent he shook my 
 hand. " I do not know when I have talked so 
 much," he laughed, " nor," he added, with grave 
 courtesy, " when I have had so intelligent a lis 
 tener. Good-night." 
 
 Throughout the evening he had been holding 
 my sword, and as he entered the tent he handed 
 it to me. 
 
 " Oh, I forgot," he said. " Here is your 
 sword, Captain." 
 
 The flaps of the tent fell behind him, and I 
 was left outside of them, incredulous and trem 
 bling. 
 
 I could not restrain myself, and I pushed the 
 flaps aside. 
 
 " I beg your pardon, General," I stammered. 
 
 He had already thrown himself upon his cot, 
 but he rose on his elbow and stared at me. 
 
 140
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 "What is it?" he demanded. 
 
 " I beg your pardon, sir," I gasped, " but 
 what did you call me then just now? " 
 
 " Call you," he said. " Oh, I called you 
 c captain.* You are a captain. I will assign you 
 your troop to-morrow." 
 
 He turned and buried his face in his arm, and 
 unable to thank him I stepped outside of the 
 tent and stood looking up at the stars, with my 
 grandfather's sword clasped close in my hands. 
 And I was so proud and happy that I believe I 
 almost prayed that he could look down and see 
 me. 
 
 That was how I received my first commission 
 in a swamp in Honduras, from General La- 
 guerre, of the Foreign Legion, as he lay half- 
 asleep upon his cot. It may be, if I continue as 
 I have begun, I shall receive higher titles, from 
 ministers of war, from queens, presidents, and 
 sultans. I shall have a trunk filled, like that 
 of General Laguerre's, with commissions, bre 
 vets, and patents of nobility, picked up in many 
 queer courts, in many queer corners of the 
 globe. 
 
 But to myself I shall always be Captain Mack 
 lin, and no other rank nor title will ever count 
 with me as did that first one, which came without 
 my earning it, which fell from, the lips of an old 
 
 141
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 man without authority to give it, but which seemed 
 to touch me like a benediction. 
 
 
 
 The officer from whom I took over my troop 
 was a German, Baron Herbert von Ritter. He had 
 served as an aide-de-camp to the King of Bavaria, 
 and his face was a patchwork of sword-cuts which 
 he had received in the students' duels. No one 
 knew why he had left the German army. He 
 had been in command of the troop with the rank 
 of captain, but when the next morning Laguerre 
 called him up and told him that I was now his 
 captain he seemed rather relieved than otherwise. 
 
 " They're a hard lot," he said to me, as we left 
 the General. " I'm glad to get rid of them." 
 
 The Legion was divided into four troops of 
 about fifty men each. Only half of the men were 
 mounted, but the difficulties of the trail were so 
 great that the men on foot were able to move 
 quite as rapidly as those on mule-back. Under 
 Laguerre there were Major Webster, an old 
 man, who as a boy had invaded Central America 
 with William Walker's expedition, and who ever 
 since had lived in Honduras ; Major Reeder and 
 five captains , Miller, who was in charge of a dozen 
 native Indians and who acted as a scout ; Captain 
 Heinze, two Americans named Porter and Rus 
 sell, and about a dozen lieutenants of every na- 
 
 142
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 tionality. Heinze had been adjutant of the force, 
 but the morning after my arrival the General ap 
 pointed me to that position, and at roll-call an 
 nounced the change to the battalion. 
 
 " We have been waiting here for two weeks for 
 a shipment of machine guns," he said to them. 
 "They have not arrived and I cannot wait for 
 them any longer. The battalion will start at 
 once for Santa Barbara, where I expect to get you 
 by to-morrow night. There we will join General 
 Garcia, and continue with him until we enter the 
 capital." 
 
 The men, who were properly weary of lying 
 idle in the swamp, interrupted him with an en 
 thusiastic cheer and continued shouting until he 
 lifted his hand. 
 
 " Since we have been lying here," he said, " I 
 have allowed you certain liberties, and discipline 
 has relaxed. But now that we are on the march 
 again you will conduct yourselves like soldiers, 
 and discipline will be as strictly enforced as in any 
 army in Europe. Since last night we have re 
 ceived an addition to our force in the person of 
 Captain Macklin, who has volunteered his ser 
 vices. Captain Macklin comes of a distinguished 
 family of soldiers, and he has himself been edu 
 cated at West Point. I have appointed him 
 Captain of D Troop and Adjutant of the Legion.
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 As adjutant you will recognize his authority as 
 you would my own. You will now break camp, 
 and be prepared to march in half an hour." 
 
 Soon after we had started we reached a clear 
 ing, and Laguerre halted us and formed the 
 column into marching order. Captain Miller, 
 who was thoroughly acquainted with the trail, and 
 his natives, were sent on two hundred yards 
 ahead of us as a point. They were followed by 
 Heinze with his Gatling guns. Then came La 
 guerre and another troop, then Reeder with the 
 two remaining troops and our " transport " be 
 tween them. Our transport consisted of a dozen 
 mules carrying bags of coffee, beans, and flour, 
 our reserve ammunition, the General's tent, and 
 whatever few private effects the officers pos 
 sessed over and above the clothes they stood in. 
 I brought up the rear with D Troop. We 
 moved at a walk in single file and without flank 
 ers, as the jungle on either side of the trail was 
 impenetrable. Our departure from camp had been 
 so prompt that I had been given no time to be 
 come acquainted with my men, but as we tramped 
 forward I rode along with them or drew to one 
 side to watch them pass and took a good look at 
 them. Carrying their rifles, and with their 
 blanket-rolls and cartridge-belts slung across 
 their shoulders, they made a better appearance 
 
 144
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 than when they were sleeping around the camp. 
 As the day grew on I became more and more 
 proud of my command. The baron pointed out 
 those of the men who could be relied upon, and 
 I could pick out for myself those who had re 
 ceived some military training. When I asked 
 these where they had served before, they seemed 
 pleased at my having distinguished the difference 
 between them and the other volunteers, and 
 saluted properly and answered briefly and re- 
 'spectfully. 
 
 If I was proud of the men, I was just as 
 pleased with myself, or, I should say, with my 
 luck. Only two weeks before I had been read 
 out to the battalion at West Point, as one unfit 
 to hold a commission, and here I was riding at 
 the head of my own troop. I was no second 
 lieutenant either, with a servitude of five years 
 hanging over me before 1 could receive my first 
 bar, but a full-fledged captain, with fifty men 
 under him to care for and discipline and lead into 
 battle. There was not a man in my troop who 
 was not at least a few years older than myself, 
 and as I rode in advance of them and heard the 
 creak of the saddles and the jingle of the picket- 
 pins and water-bottles, or turned and saw the long 
 line stretching out behind me, 1 was as proud as 
 Napoleon returning in triumph to Paris. I had 
 
 H5
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 brought with me from the Academy my scarlet 
 sash, and wore it around my waist under my 
 sword-belt. I also had my regulation gauntlets, 
 and a campaign sombrero, and as I rode along I 
 remembered the line about General Stonewall 
 Jackson, in " Barbara Frietchie," 
 
 The leader glancing left and right. 
 
 1 repeated it to myself, and scowled up at the 
 trees and into the jungle. It was a tremendous 
 feeling to be a " leader." 
 
 At noon the heat was very great, and La- 
 guerre halted the column at a little village and 
 ordered the men to eat their luncheon. I posted 
 pickets, appointed a detail to water the mules, 
 and asked two of the inhabitants for the use of 
 their clay ovens. In the other troops each man, 
 or each group of men, were building separate 
 fires and eating alone or in messes of five or six 
 but by detailing four of my men to act as cooks 
 for the whole troop, and six others to tend the 
 fires in the ovens, and six more to carry water for 
 the coffee, all of my men were comfortably fed 
 before those in the other troops had their fires 
 going. 
 
 Von Ritter had said to me that during the two 
 weeks in camp the men had used up all their to 
 bacco, and that their nerves were on edge for lack 
 
 146
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 of something to smoke. So I hunted up a native 
 who owned a tobacco patch, and from him, for 
 three dollars in silver, I bought three hundred 
 cigars. I told Von Ritter to serve out six of 
 them to each of the men of D Troop. It did 
 me good to see how much they enjoyed them. 
 For the next five minutes every man I met had 
 a big cigar in his mouth, which he would remove 
 with a grin, and say, " Thank you. Captain.'* I 
 did not give them the tobacco to gain popularity, 
 for in active service I consider that tobacco is as 
 necessary for the man as food, and I also believe 
 that any officer who tries to buy the good-will of 
 his men is taking the quickest way to gain their 
 contempt. 
 
 Soldiers know the difference between the of 
 ficer who bribes and pets them, and the one who, 
 before his own tent is set up, looks to his men 
 and his horses, who distributes the unpleasant 
 duties of the camp evenly, and who knows what 
 he wants done the first time he gives an order, 
 and does not make unnecessary work for others 
 because he cannot make up his mind. 
 
 After I had seen the mules watered and 
 picketed in the public corral, I went to look for 
 the General, whom I found with the other officers 
 at the house of the Alcalde. They had learned 
 news of the greatest moment. Two nights previ-
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 ous, General Garcia had been attacked in force 
 at Santa Barbara, and had abandoned the town 
 without a fight. Nothing more was known, ex 
 cept that he was either falling back along the 
 trail to join us, or was waiting outside the city for 
 us to come up and join him. 
 
 Laguerre at once ordered the bugles to sound 
 " Boots and saddles," and within five min 
 utes we were on the trail again with instruc 
 tions to press the men forward as rapidly as 
 possible. The loss of Santa Barbara was a 
 serious calamity. It was the town third in im 
 portance in Honduras, and it had been the 
 stronghold of the revolutionists. The moral ef 
 fect of the fact that Garcia held it, had been of 
 the greatest possible benefit. As Garcia's force 
 consisted of 2,000 men and six pieces of artillery, 
 it was inexplicable to Laguerre how without a 
 fight he had abandoned so valuable a position. 
 
 The country through which we now passed 
 was virtually uninhabited, and wild and rough, 
 but grandly beautiful. At no time, except when 
 we passed through one of the dusty little villages, 
 of a dozen sun-baked huts set around a sun 
 baked plaza, was the trail sufficiently wide to per 
 mit us to advance unless in single file. And yet 
 this was the highway of Honduras from the 
 Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Ocean, and the only 
 
 148
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 road to Tegucigalpa, the objective point of our 
 expedition. The capital lay only one hundred 
 miles from Porto Cortez, but owing to the nat 
 ure of this trail it could not be reached from the 
 east coast, either on foot or by mule, in less than 
 from six to nine days. No wheeled vehicle could 
 have possibly attempted the trip without shaking 
 to pieces, and it was only by dragging and lifting 
 our Gatling guns by hand that we were able to 
 bring them with us. 
 
 At sunset we halted at a little village, where, 
 as usual, the people yelled " Vivas ! " at us, and 
 protested that they were good revolutionists. The 
 moon had just risen, and, as the men rode for 
 ward, kicking up the white dust and with the 
 Gatlings clanking and rumbling behind them, 
 they gave a most war-like impression. Miller, 
 who had reconnoitred the village before we en 
 tered it, stood watching us as we came in. He 
 said that we reminded him of troops of United 
 States cavalry as he had seen them on the alkali 
 plains of New Mexico and Arizona. It was 
 again my duty to station our pickets and out 
 posts, and as I came back after placing the sen 
 tries, the fires were twinkling all over the plaza 
 and throwing grotesque shadows of the men and 
 the mules against the white walls of the houses, 
 It was a most weird and impressive picture. 
 
 149
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 The troopers were exhausted with the forced 
 march, and fell instantly to sleep, but for a long 
 time I sat outside the Town Hall talking with 
 General Laguerre and two of the Americans, 
 Miller and old man Webster. Their talk was 
 about Aiken, who so far had accompanied us as 
 an untried prisoner. From what he had said to 
 me on the march, and from what I remembered 
 of his manner when Captain "Leeds informed him 
 of the loss of the guns, I was convinced that he 
 was innocent of any treachery. 
 
 I related to the others just what had occurred 
 at the coast, and after some talk with Aiken him 
 self, Laguerre finally agreed that he was inno 
 cent of any evil against him, and that Quay was 
 the man who had sold the secret. Laguerre 
 then offered Aiken his choice of continuing on 
 with us, or of returning to the coast, and Aiken 
 said that he would prefer to go on with our col 
 umn. Now that the Isthmian Line knew that he 
 had tried to assist Laguerre, his usefulness at 
 the coast was at an end. He added frankly that 
 his only other reason for staying with us was be 
 cause he thought we were going to win. .General 
 Laguerre gave him charge of our transport and 
 commissary, that is of our twelve pack-mules and 
 of the disposition of the coffee, flour, and beans. 
 Aiken possessed real executive ability, and it is 
 
 150
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 only fair to him to say that as commissary ser 
 geant he served us well. By the time we had 
 reached Tegucigalpa the twelve mules had in 
 creased to twenty, and our stock of rations, in 
 stead of diminishing as we consumed them, in 
 creased daily. We never asked how he managed 
 it. Possibly, knowing Aiken, it was wiser not to 
 inquire. 
 
 We broke camp at four in the morning, but in 
 spite of our early start the next day's advance 
 was marked by the most cruel heat. We had left 
 the shade of the high lands and now pushed on 
 over a plain of dry, burning sand, where nothing 
 grew but naked bushes bristling with thorns, and 
 tall grayish-green cacti with disjointed branching 
 arms. They stretched out before us against the 
 blazing sky, like a succession of fantastic tele 
 graph-poles. We were marching over what had 
 once been the bed of a great lake. Layers of tiny 
 round pebbles rolled under our feet, and the rocks 
 which rose out of the sand had been worn and 
 polished by the water until they were as smooth 
 as the steps of a cathedral. A mile away on each 
 flank were dark green ridges, but ahead of us 
 there was only a great stretch of glaring white 
 sand. No wind was stirring, and not a drop of 
 moisture. The air was like a breath from a brick 
 oven, and the heat of the sun so fierce that if you
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 touched your fingers to a gun-barrel it burned 
 the flesh. 
 
 We did not escape out of this lime-kiln until 
 three in the afternoon, when the trail again led us 
 into the protecting shade of the jungle. The 
 men plunged into it as eagerly as though they 
 were diving into water. 
 
 About four o'clock we heard great cheering 
 ahead of us, and word was passed to the rear that 
 Miller had come in touch with Garcia's scouts. 
 A half hour later, we marched into the camp of 
 the revolutionists. It was situated about three 
 miles outside of Santa Barbara, on the banks of 
 the river where the trail crossed it at a ford. Our 
 fellows made a rather fine appearance as they rode 
 out of the jungle among the revolutionists ; and, 
 considering the fact that we had come to fight for 
 them, I thought the little beggars might have 
 given us a cheer, but they only stared at us, and 
 nodded stupidly. They were a mixed assortment, 
 all of them under-size and either broad or swarthy, 
 with the straight hair and wide cheek-bones of 
 the Carib Indian, or slight and nervous looking, 
 with the soft eyes and sharp profile of the Span 
 iard. The greater part of them had deserted in 
 companies from the army, and they still wore the 
 blue-jean uniform and carried the rifle and ac 
 coutrements of the Government. To distinguish 
 
 152
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 themselves from those soldiers who had remained 
 with Alvarez, they had torn off the red braid 
 with which their tunics were embroidered. 
 
 All the officers of the Foreign Legion rode up 
 the stream with Laguerre to meet General Gar 
 cia, whom we found sitting in the shade of his 
 tent surrounded by his staff. He gave us a most 
 entnusiastic greeting, embracing the General, and 
 shaking hands with each of us in turn. He 
 seemed to be in the highest state of excitement, 
 and bustled about ordering us things to drink, 
 and chattering, gesticulating, and laughing. He 
 reminded me of a little, fat French poodle trying 
 to express his delight by bounds and barks. 
 They brought us out a great many bottles of 
 rum and limes, and we all had a long, deep drink. 
 After the fatigue and dust of the day, it was the 
 best I ever tasted. Garcia's officers seemed just 
 as much excited over nothing as he was, but were 
 exceedingly friendly, treating us with an exagger 
 ated " comrades-in-arms " and " brother-officers " 
 sort of manner. The young man who entertained 
 me was quite a swell, with a tortoise-shell visor 
 to his cap and a Malacca sword-cane which swung 
 from -a. gold cord. He was as much pleased over 
 it as a boy with his first watch, and informed me 
 that it had been used to assassinate his uncle, ex- 
 President Rojas. As he seemed to consider it a 
 
 153
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 very valuable heirloom, I moved my legs so that, 
 as though by accident, my sword fell forward 
 where he could see it. When he did he ex 
 claimed upon its magnificence, and I showed him 
 my name on the scabbard. He thought it had 
 been presented to me for bravery. He was very 
 much impressed. 
 
 Garcia and Laguerre talked together for a 
 long time and then shook hands warmly, and we 
 all saluted and returned to the ford. 
 
 As soon as we had reached it Laguerre seated 
 himself under a tree and sent for all of his offi 
 cers. 
 
 " We are to attack at daybreak to-morrow 
 morning," he said. " Garcia is to return along 
 the trail and make a demonstration on this side 
 of the town, while we are here to attack from the 
 other. The plaza is about three hundred yards 
 from where we will enter. On the corner of the 
 plaza and the main street there is a large ware 
 house. The warehouse looks across the plaza to 
 the barracks, which are on the other side of the 
 square. General Garcia's plan is that our objective 
 point shall be this warehouse. It has two stories, 
 and men on its roof will have a great advantage 
 over those in the barracks and in the streets. 
 He believes that when he begins his attack from 
 this side, the Government troops will rush from
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 the barracks and hasten toward the sound of the 
 firing. At the same signal we are to hurry in 
 from the opposite side of the town, seize the 
 warehouse, and throw up barricades across the 
 plaza. Should this plan succeed, the Govern 
 ment troops will find themselves shut in between 
 two fires. It seems to be a good plan, and I 
 have agreed to it. The cattle-path to the town is 
 much too rough for our guns, so Captain Heinze 
 and the gun detail will remain here and co-op 
 erate with General Garcia. Let your men get 
 all the sleep they can now. They must march 
 again at midnight. They will carry nothing but 
 their guns and ammunition and rations for one 
 meal. If everything goes as we expect, we will 
 breakfast in Santa Barbara." 
 
 I like to remember the happiness I got out of 
 the excitement of that moment. I lived at the 
 rate of an hour a minute, and I was as upset 
 from pure delight as though I had been in a funk 
 of abject terror. And I was scared in a way, too, 
 for whenever I remembered I knew nothing of 
 actual fighting, and of what chances there were 
 to make mistakes, I shivered down to my heels. 
 But I would not let myself think of the chances 
 to make a failure, but rather of the opportunities 
 of doing something distinguished and of making 
 myself conspicuous. I laughed when I thought 
 
 155
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 of my classmates at the Point with their eyes bent 
 on a book of tactics, while here was I, within 
 three hours of a real battle, of the most exciting 
 of all engagements, an attack upon a city. A full 
 year, perhaps many years, would pass before they 
 would get the chance to hear a hostile shot, the 
 shot fired in anger, which every soldier must first 
 hear before he can enter upon his inheritance, and 
 hold his own in the talk of the mess-table. I 
 felt almost sorry for them when I thought how 
 they would envy me when they read of the fight 
 in the newspapers. I decided it would be called 
 the battle of Santa Barbara, and I imagined how 
 it would look in the head-lines. I was even 
 generous enough to wish that three or four of the 
 cadets were with me ; that is, of course, under 
 me, so that they could tell afterward how well I 
 had led them. 
 
 At midnight we filed silently out of camp, and 
 felt our way in the dark through the worst stretch 
 of country we had yet encountered. The ferns 
 rose above our hips, and the rocks and fallen logs 
 over which we stumbled were slippery with moss. 
 Every minute a man was thrown by a trailing 
 vine or would plunge over a fallen tree-trunk, 
 and there would be a yell of disgust and an oath 
 and a rattle of accoutrements. The men would 
 certainly have been lost if they had not kept in 
 
 156
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 touch by calling to one another, and the noise 
 we made hissing at them for silence only added to 
 the uproar. 
 
 At the end of three hours our guides informed 
 us that for the last half-mile they had been guess 
 ing at the trail, and that they had now completely 
 lost themselves. So Laguerre sent out Miller 
 and the native scouts to buskey about and find 
 out where we were, and almost immediately we 
 heard the welcome barking of a dog, and one of 
 the men returned to report that we had walked 
 right into the town. We found that the first 
 huts were not a hundred yards distant. La 
 guerre accordingly ordered the men to conceal 
 themselves and sent Miller, one of Garcia's offi 
 cers, and myself to reconnoitre. 
 
 The moonlight had given way to the faint gray 
 light which comes just before dawn, and by it we 
 could distinguish lumps of blackness which as we 
 approached turned into the thatched huts of the 
 villagers. Until we found the main trail into 
 the town we kept close to the bamboo fences of 
 these huts, and then, still keeping in the shadows, 
 we followed the trail until it turned into a broad 
 and well-paved street. 
 
 Except for many mongrel dogs that attacked 
 us, and the roosters that began to challenge us 
 from every garden, we had not been observed,
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 and, so far as we could distinguish, the approach 
 to the town was totally unprotected. By this 
 time the light had increased sufficiently for us to 
 see the white fronts of the houses, and the long 
 empty street, where rows of oil-lamps were sput 
 tering and flickering, and as they went out, filling 
 the clean, morning air with the fumes of the dy 
 ing wicks. It had been only two weeks since I 
 had seen paved streets, and shops, and lamp-posts, 
 but I had been sleeping long enough in the open 
 to make the little town of Santa Barbara appear 
 to me like a modern and well-appointed city. 
 Viewed as I now saw it, our purpose to seize it 
 appeared credulous and grotesque. I could not 
 believe that we contemplated such a piece of 
 folly. But the native officer pointed down the 
 street toward a square building with overhanging 
 balconies. In the morning mist the warehouse 
 loomed up above its fellows of one story like an 
 impregnable fortress. 
 
 Miller purred with satisfaction. 
 
 " That's the place," he whispered ; " I remem 
 ber it now. If we can get into it, they can never 
 get us out." It seemed to me somewhat like 
 burglary, but I nodded in assent, and we ran 
 back through the outskirts to where Laguerre 
 was awaiting us. We reported that there were 
 no pickets guarding our side of the town, and 
 
 158
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 the building Garcia had designated for defence 
 seemed to us most admirably selected. 
 
 It was now near to the time set for the attack 
 to begin, and Laguerre called the men together, 
 and, as was his custom, explained to them what 
 he was going to do. He ordered that when we 
 reached the warehouse I was to spread out my 
 men over the plaza and along the two streets 
 on which the warehouse stood. Porter was to 
 mount at once to the roof and open fire on the 
 barracks, and the men of B and C Troops were 
 to fortify the warehouse and erect the barricades. 
 
 It was still dark, but through the chinks of a 
 few of the mud huts we could see the red glow 
 of a fire, and were warned by this to move for 
 ward and take up our position at the head of the 
 main street. Before we advanced, skirmishers 
 were sent out to restrain any of the people in the 
 huts who might attempt to arouse the garrison. 
 But we need not have concerned ourselves, for 
 those of the natives who came to their doors, 
 yawning and shivering in the cool morning air, 
 shrank back at the sight of us, and held up their 
 hands. I suppose, as we crept out of the mist, 
 we were a somewhat terrifying spectacle, but I 
 know that I personally felt none of the pride of 
 a conquering hero. The glimpse I had caught 
 of the sleeping town, peaceful and unconscious,
 
 Captain Mack] in 
 
 and the stealth and silence of our movements, 
 depressed me greatly, and I was convinced that I 
 had either perpetrated or was about to perpetrate 
 some hideous crime. I had anticipated excite 
 ment and the joy of danger, instead of which, as 
 I tiptoed between the poor gardens, I suffered all 
 the quaking terrors of a chicken thief. 
 
 We had halted behind a long adobe wall to 
 the right of the main street, und as we crouched 
 there the sun rose like a great searchlight and 
 pointed us out, and exposed us, and seemed to 
 hold up each one of us to the derision of Santa 
 Barbara. As the light flooded us we all ducked 
 our heads simultaneously, and looked wildly 
 about us as though seeking for some place to 
 hide. I felt as though I had been caught in the 
 open street in my night-gown. It was impossi 
 ble to justify our presence. As I lay, straining 
 my ears for Garcia's signal, I wondered what we 
 would do if the worthy citizen who owned the 
 garden wall, against which we lay huddled, should 
 open the gate and ask us what we wanted. Could 
 we reply that we, a hundred and fifty men, pro 
 posed to seize and occupy his city ? I felt sure 
 he would tell us to go away at once or he would 
 call the police. I looked at the men near me, 
 and saw that each was as disturbed as myself. A 
 full quarter of an hour had passed since the time 
 
 1 60
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 set for the attack, and still there was no signal 
 from Garcia. The strain was becoming intolera 
 ble. At any moment some servant, rising ear 
 lier than his fellows, might stumble upon us, and 
 in his surprise sound the alarm. Already in the 
 trail behind us a number of natives, on their way 
 to market, had been halted by our men, who 
 were silently waving them back into the forest. 
 The town was beginning to stir, wooden shutters 
 banged against stone walls, and from but just 
 around the corner of the main street came the 
 clatter of iron bars as they fell from the door of 
 a shop. We could hear the man who was taking 
 them down whistling cheerily. 
 
 And then from the barracks came, sharply and 
 clearly, the ringing notes of the reveille. I 
 jumped to my feet and ran to where Laguerre 
 was sitting with his back to the wall. 
 
 " General, can't I begin now? " I begged. 
 " You said D Troop was to go in first." 
 
 He shook his head impatiently. " Listen ! " 
 he commanded. 
 
 We heard a single report, but so faintly and 
 from such a distance that had it not instantly 
 been followed by two more we could not have 
 distinguished it. Even then we were not certain. 
 Then as we crouched listening, each reading the 
 face of the others and no one venturing to 
 
 161
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 breathe, there came the sharp, broken roll of 
 musketry. It was unmistakable. The men 
 gave a great gasp of relief, and without orders 
 sprang to " attention." A ripple of rifle-fire, 
 wild and scattered, answered the first volley. 
 
 " They have engaged the pickets," said La- 
 guerre. 
 
 The volleys were followed by others, and 
 volleys, more uneven, answered them still more 
 wildly. 
 
 "They are driving the pickets back," ex 
 plained Laguerre. We all stood looking at 
 him as though he were describing something 
 which he actually saw. Suddenly from the bar 
 racks came the discordant calls of many bugles, 
 warning, commanding, beseeching. 
 
 Laguerre tossed back his head, like a horse 
 that has been too tightly curbed. 
 
 <f They are leaving the barracks," he said. 
 He pulled out his watch and stood looking down 
 at it in his hand. 
 
 " I will give them three minutes to get under 
 way," he said. " Then we will start for the ware 
 house. When they come back again, they will 
 find us waiting for them." 
 
 It seemed an hour that we stood there, and 
 during every second of that hour the rifle-fire 
 increased in fierceness and came nearer, and 
 
 162
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 seemed to make another instant of inaction a 
 crime. The men were listening with their 
 mouths wide apart, their heads cocked on one 
 side, and their eyes staring. They tightened 
 their cartridge-belts nervously, and opened and 
 shot back the breech-bolts of their rifles. I took 
 out my revolver, and spun the cylinder to reas 
 sure myself for the hundredth time that it was 
 ready. But Laguerre stood quite motionless, 
 with his eyes fixed impassively upon his watch as 
 though he were a physician at a sick-bed. Only 
 once did he raise his eyes. It was when the 
 human savageness of the rifle-fire was broken by 
 a low mechanical rattle, like the whirr of a mow 
 ing-machine as one hears it across the hay-fields. 
 It spanked the air with sharp hot reports. 
 
 " Heinze has turned the Gatlings on them," he 
 said. " They will be coming back soon." He 
 closed the lid of his watch with a click and nod 
 ded gravely at me. "You can go ahead now, 
 Captain," he said. His tone was the same as 
 though he had asked me to announce dinner.
 
 IV 
 
 I JUMPED toward the street at the double, 
 and the men followed me crowded in a bunch. 
 I shouted back at them to spread out, and they fell 
 apart. As I turned into the street I heard a 
 shout from the plaza end of it and found a dozen 
 soldiers running forward to meet us. When they 
 saw the troops swing around the corner, they 
 halted and some took cover in the doorways, and 
 others dropped on one knee in the open street, 
 and fired carefully. I heard soft, whispering 
 sounds stealing by my head with incredible slow 
 ness, and I knew that at last I was under fire. I 
 no longer felt like a boy robbing an orchard, nor 
 a burglar. I was instead grandly excited and 
 happy, and yet I was quite calm too. I am sure 
 of this, for I remember I calculated the distance 
 between us and the warehouse, and compared it 
 with the two hundred and twenty-yard stretch in 
 an athletic park at home. As I ran I noted also 
 everything on either side of me : two girls stand 
 ing behind the iron bars of a window with their 
 hands pressed to their cheeks, and a negro with a 
 'broom in his hand crouching in a doorway. Some 
 
 164
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 of the men stopped running and halted to fire,, 
 but I shouted to them to come on. I was sure 
 if we continued to charge we could frighten off the 
 men at the end of the street, and I guessed rightly, 
 for as we kept on they scattered and ran. I could 
 hear shouts and screams rising from many differ 
 ent houses, and men and women scuttled from 
 one side of the street to the other like frightened 
 hens. 
 
 As we passed an open shop some men inside 
 opened a fusillade on me, and over my shoulder I 
 just caught a glimpse of one of them as he dropped 
 back behind the counter. I shouted to Von 
 Ritter, who was racing with me, to look after 
 them, and saw him and a half-dozen others swerve 
 suddenly and sweep into the shop. Porter's men 
 were just behind mine and the noise our boots 
 made pounding on the cobblestones sounded like 
 a stampede of cattle. 
 
 The plaza was an unshaded square of dusty 
 grass. In the centre was a circular fountain, 
 choked with dirt and dead leaves, and down the 
 pths which led to it were solid stone benches. I 
 told the men to take cover inside the fountain, 
 and about a dozen of them dropped behind the 
 rim of it, facing toward the barracks. I heard 
 Porter give a loud " hurrah ! " at finding the 
 doors of the warehouse open, and it seemed al- 
 
 165
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 .nost instantly that the men of his troop began 
 to fire over our heads from its roof. At the first 
 glance it was difficult to tell from where the ene 
 my's fire came, but I soon saw smoke floating 
 from the cupola of the church on the corner and 
 drifting through the barred windows of the bar 
 racks. I shouted at the men behind the benches 
 to aim at the cupola, and directed those with me 
 around the fountain to let loose at the barrack 
 windows. As they rose to fire and exposed 
 themselves above the rim of the fountain three of 
 them were hit, and fell back swearing. The men 
 behind the benches shouted at me to take cover, 
 and one of the wounded men in the fountain 
 reached up and pulled at my tunic, telling me to 
 lie down. The men of B and C Troops were 
 rolling casks out of the warehouse and building a 
 barricade, and I saw that we were drawing all of 
 the fire from them. We were now in a cross-fire 
 between the church and the barracks, and were 
 getting very much the worst of the fight. The 
 men in the barracks were only seventy yards 
 away. They seemed to be the ones chiefly re 
 sponsible. They had piled canvas cots against 
 the bars of the windows, and though these afforded 
 them no protection, they prevented our seeing 
 anything at which to shoot. 
 
 One of my men gave a grunt, and whirled 
 1 66
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 over, holding his hand to his shoulder. " I've 
 got it, Captain," he said. I heard another man 
 shriek from behind one of the benches. Our po 
 sition was becoming impossible. It was true we 
 were drawing the fire from the men who were 
 working on the barricade, which was what we had 
 been sent out to do, but in three minutes I had 
 lost five men. 
 
 I remembered a professor at the Point telling 
 us the proportion of bullets that went home 
 was one to every three hundred, and I wished 
 I had him behind that fountain. Miller was 
 lying at my feet pumping away with a Win 
 chester. As he was reloading it he looked up at 
 me, and shouted, " And they say these Central 
 Americans can't shoot !" I saw white figures ap 
 pearing and disappearing at the windows of almost 
 every house on the plaza. The entire popula 
 tion seemed to have taken up arms against us. 
 The bullets splashed on the combing of the foun 
 tain and tore up the grass at our feet, and whistled 
 and whispered about our ears. It seemed utter 
 idiocy to remain, but I could not bring myself to 
 run back to the barricade. 
 
 In the confusion which had ensued in the bar 
 racks when Garcia opened the attack the men who 
 ran out to meet him had left the gates of the bar 
 rack yard open, and as I stood, uncertain what to 
 
 167
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 do, I saw a soldier pushing them together. He 
 had just closed one when I caught sight of hir... 
 I fired with my revolver, and shouted to the rm . 
 " We must get inside those gates," I cried. " \" , 
 can't stay here. Charge those gates ! " I pointed, 
 and they all jumped from every part of the plaza, 
 and we raced for the barrack wall, each of us yell 
 ing as we ran. A half dozen of us reached there 
 in time to throw ourselves against the gate that 
 was just closing, and the next instant I fell sprawl 
 ing inside the barrack yard. 
 
 We ran straight for the long room which faced 
 the street, and as we came in at one end of it the 
 men behind the cots fired a frightened volley at 
 us and fled out at the other. In less than two 
 minutes the barracks were empty, and we had 
 changed our base from that cock-pit of a fountain 
 to a regular fortress with walls two feet thick, 
 with rifles stacked in every corner, and, what at 
 that moment seemed of greatest importance, with 
 a breakfast for two hundred men bubbling and 
 boiling in great iron pots in the kitchen. I had 
 never felt such elation and relief as I did over 
 that bloodless victory. It had come when things 
 looked so bad ; it had come so suddenly and easily 
 that while some of the men cheered, others only 
 laughed, shaking each other's hands or slapping 
 each other on the back, and some danced about 
 
 168
 
 And the next instant I fell sprawling inside the 
 barrack yard.
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 like children. We tore the cots away from the 
 windows and waved at the men behind the barri 
 cade, and they stood up and cheered us, and the 
 men on the roof, looking very tall against the 
 blue sky, stood up and waved their hats and 
 cheered too. They had silenced the men in the 
 cupola, and a sudden hush fell upon the plaza. 
 It was easy to see that many sympathizers with 
 the government had been shooting at us from the 
 private houses. When they saw us take the bar 
 racks they had probably decided that the time 
 had come to wipe off the powder-stains, and reap 
 pear as friends of the revolution. The only firing 
 now was from where Garcia was engaged. Judg 
 ing from the loudness of these volleys he had 
 reached the outskirts of the town. I set half of 
 my force to work piling up bags of meal behind 
 the iron bars, and, in the event of fire, filling pails 
 with water, and breaking what little glass still re 
 mained in the windows. Others I sent to bring 
 in the wounded, and still others to serving out 
 the coffee and soup we had found in the kitchen. 
 After giving these orders I ran to the barricade 
 to report. When I reached it the men behind it 
 began to rap on the stones with the butts of their 
 rifles as people pound with their billiard-cues 
 when someone has made a difficult shot, and 
 those on the roof leaned over and clapped their 
 
 169
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 hands. It was most unmilitary, but I must say 
 I was pleased by it, though I pretended I did not 
 know what they meant. 
 
 Laguerre came to the door of the warehouse, 
 and smiled at me. 
 
 " I'm glad you're still alive, sir," he said. 
 " After this, when you get within seventy yards 
 of the enemy, I hope you will be able to see him 
 without standing up." 
 
 The men above us laughed, and I felt rather 
 foolish, and muttered something about " setting 
 an example." 
 
 " If you get yourself shot," he said, "you will 
 be setting a very bad example, indeed. We can't 
 spare anybody, Captain, and certainly not you." I 
 tried to look as modest as possible, but I could 
 not refrain from glancing around to see if the 
 men had heard him, and I observed with satis 
 faction that they had. 
 
 Laguerre asked me if I could hold the bar 
 racks, and I told him that I thought I could. 
 He then ordered me to remain there. 
 
 " Would you like a cup of coffee, General ? " I 
 asked. The General's expression changed swiftly. 
 It became that of a very human and a very 
 hungry man. 
 
 " Have you got any ? " he demanded anxiously. 
 
 " If you can lend me some men," I said, " I 
 170
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 can send you back eight gallons." At this the 
 men behind the barricades gave a great cheer of 
 delight, and the General smiled and patted me on 
 the shoulder. 
 
 " That is right," he said. " The best kind of 
 courage often comes from a full stomach. Run 
 along now," he added, as though he were talking 
 to a child, " run along, and don't fire until we do, 
 and send us that coffee before we get to work 
 again." 
 
 I called in all of my men from the side streets, 
 and led them across to the barracks. I placed 
 some of them on the roof and some of them on 
 tables set against the inside of the wall in the 
 yard. 
 
 As I did so, I saw Porter run across the plaza 
 with about fifty of his men, and almost imme 
 diately after they had disappeared we heard cheer 
 ing, and he returned with Captain Heinze. They 
 both ran toward General Laguerre, and Porter 
 then came across to me, and told me that the 
 government troops were in full flight, and escap 
 ing down the side streets into the jungle. They 
 were panic-stricken and were scattering in every 
 direction, each man looking after his own safety. 
 For the next two hours I chased terrified little 
 soldiers all over the side of the town which had 
 been assigned me, either losing them at the edge 
 
 171
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 of the jungle, or dragging them out of shops and 
 private houses. No one was hurt. It was only 
 necessary to fire a shot after them to see them 
 throw up their hands. By nine o'clock I had 
 cleaned up my side of the town, and returned to 
 the plaza. It was now so choked with men and 
 mules that I was five minutes in forcing my way 
 across. Garcia's troops had marched in, and were 
 raising a great hullabaloo, cheering and shouting, 
 and embracing the townspeople, whom they had 
 known during their former occupation, and many 
 of whom were the same people who had been 
 firing at us. I found Laguerre in counsel with 
 Garcia, who was in high spirits, and feeling ex 
 ceedingly pleased with himself. He entirely 
 ignored our part in taking the town, and talked 
 as though he had captured it single-handed. The 
 fact that the government troops had held him 
 back until we threatened them in the rear he did 
 not consider as important. I resented his swagger 
 and the way he patronized Laguerre, but the 
 General did not seem to notice it, or was too well 
 satisfied with the day's work to care. While I 
 was at head-quarters our scouts came in to report 
 that the enemy was escaping along the trail to 
 Comyagua, and that two of their guns had stalled 
 in the mud, not one mile out from Santa Barbara. 
 This was great news, and to my delight I was 
 
 172
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 among those who hurried out to the place where 
 the guns were supposed to be. We found them 
 abandoned and stuck in the mud, and captured 
 them without firing a shot. A half hour later we 
 paraded our prizes in a triumphal procession 
 through the streets of Santa Barbara, and were 
 given a grand welcome by the allies and the 
 townspeople. I had never witnessed such enthu 
 siasm, but it was not long before I found out the 
 cause of it. In our absence everybody had been 
 celebrating the victory with aguardiente, and half 
 of Garcia's warriors had become so hopelessly 
 drunk that they were lying all over the plaza, and 
 their comrades were dancing and tramping upon 
 them. 
 
 I found that this orgy had put Laguerre in a 
 fine rage, and I heard him send out the provost 
 guard with orders to throw all the drunken men 
 into the public corral for lost mules. 
 
 When he learned of this Garcia was equally 
 indignant. The matter ended with Laguerre's 
 locking up Garcia's soldiers with our prisoners-of- 
 war in the yard barracks, where they sang and 
 shouted and fought until they were exhausted and 
 went to sleep. 
 
 There was still much drink left on requisition, 
 but the conquering heroes had taken everything 
 there was to eat, and for some time I wandered 
 
 i73
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 around seeking for food before I finally discov 
 ered Miller, Von Ritter, and Aiken in the garden 
 of a private house enjoying a most magnificent 
 luncheon. I begged a share on the ground that 
 I had just overcome two helpless brass cannon, 
 and they gave me a noisy welcome, and made a 
 place for me. I was just as happy as I was hun 
 gry, and I was delighted to find someone with 
 whom I could discuss the fight. For an hour we 
 sat laughing and drinking, and each talking at the 
 top of his voice and all at the same time. We 
 were as elated as though we had captured the 
 city of London. 
 
 Of course Aiken had taken no part in the 
 fight, and of course he made light of it, which 
 was just the sort of thing he would do, and he 
 especially poked fun at me and at my charge on 
 the barracks. He called it a " grand-stand play," 
 and said I was a " gallery fighter." He said the 
 reason I ran out into the centre of the plaza was 
 because I knew there was a number of women 
 looking out of the windows, and he pretended to 
 believe that when we entered the barracks they 
 were empty, and that I knew they were when I 
 ordered the charge. 
 
 " It was the coffee they were after," he de 
 clared. " As soon as Macklin smelt the coffee he 
 drew his big gilt sword and cried, f Up, my men,
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 inside yon fortress a free breakfast awaits us. 
 Follow your gallant leader ! ' and they never 
 stopped following until they reached the kitchen. 
 They're going to make Macklin a bugler," he 
 said, " so that after this he can blow his own 
 trumpet without anyone being allowed to inter 
 rupt him." 
 
 I was glad to find that I could take what Aiken 
 said of me as lightly as did the others. Since the 
 fight his power to annoy me had passed. I knew 
 better than anyone else that at one time during 
 the morning I had been in a very tight place, 
 but I had stuck to it and won out The knowl 
 edge that I had done so gave me confidence in 
 myself not that I have ever greatly lacked it, 
 but it was a new kind of confidence. It made 
 me feel older, and less inclined to boast. In this 
 it also helped out my favorite theory that it must 
 be easy for the man who has done something to 
 be modest. After he has proved himself capable 
 in the eyes of his comrades he doesn't have to go 
 about telling them how good he is. It is a saying 
 that heroes are always modest, but they are not 
 really modest. They just keep quiet, because 
 they know their deeds are better talkers than 
 they are. 
 
 Miller and I had despatched an orderly to in 
 form Laguerre of our whereabouts, and at three
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 o'clock in the afternoon the man returned to tell 
 us that we were to join the General in the plaza. 
 On arriving there we found the column already 
 drawn up in the order of march, and an hour later 
 we filed out of the town down the same street by 
 which we had entered it that morning, and were 
 cheered by the same people who eight hours 
 before had been firing upon us. We left five 
 hundred of Garcia's men to garrison the place and 
 prevent the townspeople from again changing 
 their sympathies, and continued on toward Tegu 
 cigalpa with Garcia and the remainder of his force 
 as our main body, and with the Legion in the 
 van. We were a week in reaching Comyagua, 
 which was the only place that we expected would 
 offer any resistance until we arrived outside of the 
 capital. During that week our march was ex 
 actly similar to the one we had made from the 
 camp to Santa Barbara. There was the same 
 rough trail, the jungle crowding close on either 
 flank, the same dusty villages, the same fierce 
 heat. At the villages of Tabla Ve and at Segu- 
 atepec our scouts surprised the rear guard of the 
 enemy and stampeded it without much difficulty, 
 and with only twenty men wounded. As usual 
 we had no one to thank for our success in these 
 skirmishes but ourselves, as Garcia's men never 
 appeared until just as the fight was over, when 
 
 176
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 they would come running up in great excitement. 
 Laguerre remarked that they needed a better 
 knowledge of the bugle calls, as they evidently 
 mistook our " Cease firing " for " Advance." 
 
 The best part of that week's march lay in the 
 many opportunities it gave me to become ac 
 quainted with my General. The more I was 
 permitted to be with him the longer I wanted 
 to be always with him, and with no one else. 
 After listening to Laguerre you felt that a talk 
 with the other men was a waste of time. There 
 was nothing apparently that he did not know of 
 men and events, and his knowledge did not come 
 from books, but at first hand, from contact with 
 the men, and from having taken part in the 
 events. 
 
 After we had pitched camp for the night the 
 others would elect me to go to his tent, and ask 
 if we could come over and pay our respects. 
 They always selected me for this errand, because 
 they said it was easy to see that I was his fa 
 vorite. 
 
 When we were seated about him on the rocks, 
 or on ammunition boxes, or on the ground, I 
 would say, " Please, General, we want to hear 
 some stories," and he would smile and ask, 
 " What sort of stories ? " and each of us would 
 ask for something different. Some would want 
 
 177
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 to hear about the Franco-Prussian war, and others 
 of the Fall of Plevna or Don Carlos or Gari 
 baldi, or of the Confederate generals with whom 
 Laguerre had fought in Egypt. 
 
 When the others had said good-night he would 
 sometimes call me back on the pretence of giving 
 me instructions for the morrow, and then would 
 come the really wonderful stories the stories 
 that no historian has ever told. His talk was 
 more educational than a library of histories, and 
 it filled me with a desire to mix with great people 
 to be their companion as he had been, to have 
 kings and pretenders for my intimates. When 
 one listened it sounded easy of accomplishment. 
 It never seemed strange to him that great rulers 
 should have made a friend of a stray soldier of 
 fortune, an Irish adventurer for Laguerre's 
 mother was Irish ; his father had been Colonel 
 Laguerre, and once Military Governor of Al 
 giers and given him their confidence. And yet 
 I could see why they should do so, for just the 
 very reason that he took their confidence as a 
 matter of course, knowing that his loyalty would 
 always be above suspicion. He had a great 
 capacity for loyalty. There was no taint in it of 
 self-interest, nor of snobbishness. He believed, 
 for instance, in the divine right of kings ; and 
 from what he let fall we could see that he had 
 
 178
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 given the most remarkable devotion not only to 
 every cause for which he had fought, but to the 
 individual who represented it. That in time 
 each of these individuals had disappointed him 
 had in no way shaken his faith in the one to whom 
 he next offered his sword. His was a most beau 
 tiful example of modesty and of faith in one's fel- 
 lowman. It was during this week, and because of 
 these midnight talks with him around the camp- 
 fire, that I came to look up to him, and love 
 him like a son. 
 
 But during that same week I was annoyed to 
 find that many of our men believed the version 
 which Aiken had given of my conduct at Santa 
 Barbara. There were all sorts of stories circulat 
 ing through the Legion about me. They made 
 me out a braggart, a bully, and a conceited ass 
 indeed, almost everything unpleasant was said of 
 me except that I was a coward. Aiken, of course, 
 kindly retold these stories to me, either with the 
 preface that he thought I ought to know what was 
 being said of me, or that he thought the stories 
 would amuse me. I thanked him and pretended 
 to laugh, but I felt more like punching his head. 
 People who say that women are gossips, and that 
 they delight in tearing each other to pieces, ought 
 to hear the talk of big, broad-shouldered men 
 around camp - fires. If you believe what they 
 
 179
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 say, you would think that every officer had either 
 bungled or had funked the fight. And when a 
 man really has performed some act which cannot 
 be denied they call him a " swipe," and say he 
 did it to gain promotion, or to curry favor with 
 the General. Of course, it may be different in 
 armies officered by gentlemen ; but men are 
 pretty much alike all the world over, and I know 
 that those in our Legion were as given to gossip 
 and slander as the inmates of any Old Woman's 
 Home. I used to say to myself that so long as 
 I had the approval of Laguerre and of my own 
 men and of my conscience I could afford not to 
 mind what the little souls said ; but as a matter 
 of fact I did mind it, and it angered me exceed 
 ingly. Just as it hurt me at the Point to see 
 that I was not popular, it distressed me to find 
 that the same unpopularity had followed me into 
 the Legion. The truth is that the officers were 
 jealous of me. They envied me my place as 
 Adjutant, and they were angry because La 
 guerre assigned one so much younger than 
 themselves to all the most important duties. 
 They said that by showing favoritism he was 
 weakening his influence with the men and that he 
 made a " pet " of me. If he did I know that he 
 also worked me five times as hard as anyone else, 
 and that he sent me into places where no one but 
 
 1 80
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 himself would go. The other officers had really 
 no reason to object to me personally. I gave 
 them very little of my company, and though I 
 spoke pleasantly when we met I did not associ 
 ate with them. Miller and Von Ritter were al 
 ways abusing me for not trying to make friends ; 
 but I told them that, since the other officers spoke 
 of me behind my back as a cad, braggart, and 
 snob, the least I could do was to keep out of 
 their way. 
 
 I was even more unpopular with the men, but 
 there was a reason for that ; for I was rather severe 
 with them, and imposed as strict a discipline on 
 them as that to which I had been accustomed at 
 West Point. The greater part of them were ne'er- 
 do-wells and adventurers picked up off the beach 
 at Greytown, and they were a thoroughly inde 
 pendent lot, reckless and courageous ; but I doubt 
 if they had ever known authority or restraint, un 
 less it was the restraint of a jail. With the men 
 of my own troop I got on well enough, for they 
 saw I understood how to take care of them, and 
 that things went on more smoothly when they 
 were carried out as I had directed, so they obeyed 
 me without sulking. But with the men of the 
 troops not directly under my command I fre 
 quently met with trouble; and on several occasions 
 different men refused to obey my orders as Ad- 
 
 181
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 jutant, and swore and even struck at me, so that 
 I had to knock them down. I regretted this ex 
 ceedingly, but I was forced to support my authority 
 in some way. After learning the circumstances 
 Laguerre exonerated me, and punished the men. 
 Naturally, this did not help me with the volun 
 teers, and for the first ten days after I had joined 
 the Legion I was the most generally disliked man 
 in it. This lasted until we reached Comyagua, 
 when something happened which brought the men 
 over to my side. Indeed, I believe I became a 
 sort of a hero with them, and was nearly as popu 
 lar as Laguerre himself. So in the end it came 
 out all right, but it was near to being the death of 
 me ; and, next to hanging, the meanest kind of a 
 death a man could suffer. 
 
 When this incident occurred, which came so 
 near to ending tragically for me, we had been try 
 ing to drive the government troops out of the 
 cathedral of Comyagua. It was really a church 
 and not a cathedral, but it was so much larger 
 than any other building we had seen in Honduras 
 that the men called it " The Cathedral." It occu 
 pied one whole side of the plaza. There were 
 four open towers at each corner, and the front 
 entrance was as large as a barn. Their cannon, 
 behind a barricade of paving stones, were on the 
 steps which led to this door. 
 
 182
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 I carried a message from Laguerre along the 
 end of the plaza opposite the cathedral, and as I 
 was returning, the fire grew so hot that I dropped 
 on my face. There was a wooden watering-trough 
 at the edge of the sidewalk, and I crawled over 
 and lay behind it. Directly back of me was a 
 restaurant into which a lot of Heinze's men had 
 broken their way from the rear. They were firing 
 up at the men in the towers of the cathedral. My 
 position was not a pleasant one, for every time I 
 raised my head the soldiers in the belfry would cut 
 loose at me ; and, though they failed to hit me, 
 I did not dare to get up and run. Already the 
 trough was leaking like a sieve. There was no 
 officer with the men in the cafe, so they were tak 
 ing the word from one of their own number, and 
 were firing regularly in volleys. They fired three 
 times after I took shelter. They.were so near me 
 that at each volley I could hear the sweep of the 
 bullets passing about two yards above my head. 
 
 But at the fourth volley a bullet just grazed 
 my cheek and drove itself into the wood of the 
 trough. It was so near that the splinters flew in 
 my eyes. I looked back over my shoulder and 
 shouted, " Look out ! You nearly hit me then. 
 Fire higher." 
 
 One of the men in the cafe called back, " We 
 can't hear you," and I repeated, " Fire higher ! 
 
 183
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 You nearly hit me," and pointed with my finger 
 to where the big 44-calibre ball had left a black 
 hole in the green paint of the trough. When they 
 saw this there were excited exclamations from the 
 men, and I heard the one who was giving the 
 orders repeating my warning. And then came 
 the shock of another volley. Simultaneously with 
 the shock a bullet cut through the wide brim of 
 my sombrero and passed into the box about two 
 inches below my chin. 
 
 It was only then that I understood that this 
 was no accident, but that someone in the restau 
 rant was trying to murder me. The thought was 
 hideous and sickening. I could bear the fire of 
 the enemy from the belfry that was part of the 
 day's work ; the danger of it only excited me ; but 
 the idea that one of my own side was lying within 
 twenty feet of me, deliberately aiming with intent 
 to kill, was outrageous and revolting. 
 
 I scrambled to my feet and faced the open front 
 of the restaurant, and as I stood up there was, on 
 the instant, a sharp fusillade from the belfry tower. 
 But I was now far too angry to consider that. 
 The men were kneeling just inside the restaurant, 
 and as I halted a few feet from them I stuck my 
 finger through the bullet hole and held up my 
 hat for them to see. 
 
 " Look ! " I shouted at them. " You did that, 
 184
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 you cowards. You want to murder me, do you ? "' 
 I straightened myself and threw out my arms, 
 " Well, here's your chance," I cried. " Don't 
 shoot me in the back. Shoot me now." 
 
 The men gaped at me in utter amazement. 
 Their lips hung apart. Their faces were drawn in 
 lines of anger, confusion, and dislike. 
 
 " Go on ! " I shouted. " Fire a volley at that 
 belfry, and let the man who wants me have another 
 chance at me. I'll give the word. Make ready ! " 
 I commanded. 
 
 There was a pause and a chorus of protests, and 
 then mechanically each man jerked out the empty 
 shell and drove the next cartridge in place= 
 "Aim!" I shouted. They hesitated and then 
 raised their pieces in a wavering line, and I looked 
 into the muzzles of a dozen rifles. 
 
 " Now then damn you," I cried. " Fire! " 
 
 They fired, and my eyes and nostrils were filled 
 with burning smoke, but not a bullet had passed 
 near me. 
 
 " Again ! " I shouted, stamping my foot. I was 
 so angry that I suppose I was really hardly ac 
 countable for what I did. 
 
 " I told you you were cowards," I cried. "You 
 can only shoot men in the back. You don't like 
 me, don't you?" I cried, taunting them. "I'm 
 a braggart, am I ? Yes. I'm a bully, am I ? Well a 
 
 185
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 here's your chance. Get rid of me ! Once again 
 now. Make ready," I commanded. " Aim ! 
 Fire ! " 
 
 Again the smoke swept up, and again I had 
 escaped. I remember that I laughed at them and 
 that the sound was crazy and hysterical, and I re 
 member that as I laughed I shook out my arms 
 to show them I was unhurt. And as I did that 
 someone in the cafe cried, " Thank God ! " And 
 another shouted, " That's enough of this damn 
 nonsense," and a big man with a bushy red beard, 
 sprang up and pulled off his hat. 
 
 " Now then," he cried. " All together, boys. 
 Three cheers for the little one ! " and they all 
 jumped and shouted like mad people. 
 
 They cheered me again and again, although all 
 the time the bullets from the belfry were striking 
 about them, ringing on the iron tables and on the 
 sidewalk, and tearing great gashes in the awnings 
 overhead. 
 
 And then it seemed as though the sunlight on 
 the yellow buildings and on the yellow earth of 
 the plaza had been suddenly shut off, and I 
 dropped into a well of blackness and sank deeper 
 and deeper. 
 
 When I looked up the big man was sitting on the 
 floor holding me as comfortably as though I were 
 a baby, and my face was resting against his red 
 
 186
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 beard, and my clothes and everything about me 
 smelt terribly of brandy. 
 
 But the most curious thing about it was that 
 though they told everyone in the Legion that I 
 had stood up and made them shoot at me, they 
 never let anyone find out that I had been so weak 
 as to faint. 
 
 I do not know whether it was the brandy they 
 gave me that later led me to charge those guns, 
 but I appreciate now that my conduct was cer 
 tainly silly and mad enough to be excused only 
 in that way. According to the doctrine of chances 
 I should have lost nine lives, and according to 
 the rules governing an army in the field I should 
 have been court-martialled. Instead of which, 
 the men caught me up on their shoulders and 
 carried me around the plaza, and Laguerre and 
 Garcia looked on from the steps of the Cathedral 
 and laughed and waved to us. 
 
 For five hours we had been lying in the blaz 
 ing sun on the flat house-tops, or hidden in the 
 shops around the plaza, and the government 
 troops were still holding us off with one hand 
 and spanking us with the other. Their guns 
 were so good that, when Heinze attempted to 
 take up a position against them with his old- 
 style Gatlings, they swept him out of the street, 
 as a fire-hose flushes a gutter. For five hours 
 
 187
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 they had kept the plaza empty, and peppered 
 the three sides of it so warmly that no one of us 
 should have shown his head. 
 
 But at every shot from the Cathedral our men 
 grew more unmanageable, and the longer the 
 enemy held us back the more arrogant and defi 
 ant they became. Ostensibly to obtain a better 
 shot, but in reality from pure deviltry, they would 
 make individual sallies into the plaza, and, facing 
 the embrasure, would empty their Winchesters 
 at one of its openings as coolly as though they 
 were firing at a painted bull's-eye. The man 
 who first did this, the moment his rifle was 
 empty, ran for cover and was tumultuously 
 cheered by his hidden audience. But in order to 
 surpass him, the next man, after he had emptied 
 his gun, walked back very deliberately, and the 
 third man remained to refill his magazine. And 
 so a spirit of the most senseless rivalry sprang 
 up, and one man after another darted out into 
 the plaza to cap the recklessness of those who 
 had gone before him. 
 
 It was not until five men were shot dead and 
 lay sprawling and uncovered in the sun that the 
 madness seemed to pass. But my charging the 
 embrasure was always supposed to be a part of 
 it, and to nave been inspired entirely by vanity 
 and a desire to do something more extravagantly 
 
 1 88
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 reckless than any of the others. As a matter of 
 fact I acted on what has always seemed to me ex 
 cellent reasoning, and if I went alone, it was only 
 because, having started, it seemed safer to go 
 ahead than to run all the way back again. I never 
 blamed the men for running back, and so I can 
 not see why they should blame me for having 
 gone ahead. 
 
 The enemy had ceased firing shrapnel and 
 were using solid shot. When their Gatlings also 
 ceased, I guessed that it might be that the guns 
 were jammed. If I were right and if one avoided 
 the solid shot by approaching the barricade ob 
 liquely, there was no danger in charging the bar 
 ricade. 
 
 I told my troop that I thought the guns were 
 out of order, and that if we rushed the barricade 
 we could take it. When I asked for volunteers, 
 ten men came forward and at once, without ask 
 ing permission, which I knew I could not get, 
 we charged across the plaza. 
 
 Both sides saw us at the same instant, and the 
 firing was so fierce that the men with me thought 
 the Gatlings had reopened on us, and ran for 
 cover. 
 
 That left me* about fifty feet from the barri 
 cade, and as it seemed a toss-up whichever way I 
 went I kept going forward. I caught the comk 
 
 189
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 ing of the embrasure with my hands, stuck my 
 toes between the stones, and scrambled to the 
 top. The scene inside was horrible. The place 
 looked like a slaughter-yard. Only three men 
 were still on their legs ; the rest were heaped 
 around the guns. I threatened the three men with 
 my revolver, but they shrieked for mercy and 
 I did not fire. The men in the belfries, how 
 ever, were showing no mercy to me, so I dropped 
 inside the wall and crawled for shelter beneath 
 a caisson. But I recognized on the instant that 
 1 could not remain there. It was the fear of 
 the Gatlings only which was holding back our 
 men, and I felt that before I was shot they must 
 know that the guns were jammed. So I again 
 scrambled up to the barricade, and waved my hat 
 to them to come on. At the same moment a 
 bullet passed through my shoulder, and another 
 burned my neck, and one of the men who had 
 begged for mercy beat me over the head with 
 his sword. I went down like a bag of flour, but 
 before my eyes closed I saw our fellows pour 
 ing out of the houses and sweeping toward me. 
 
 About an hour later, when Von Ritter had 
 cleaned the hole in my shoulder and plastered my 
 skull, I sallied out again, and at sight of me the 
 men gave a shout, and picked me up, and, cheer 
 ing, bore me around the plaza. From that day 
 
 190
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 we were the best of friends, and I think in time 
 they grew to like me. 
 
 Two days later we pitched camp outside of 
 Tegucigalpa, the promised city, the capital of the 
 Republic. 
 
 Our points of attack were two : a stone bridge 
 which joins the city proper with the suburbs, and 
 a great hill of rock called El Pecachua. This hill 
 either guards or betrays the capital. The houses 
 reach almost to its base and from its crest one 
 can drop a shell through the roof of any one of 
 them. Consequently, when we arrived, we found 
 its approaches strongly entrenched and the hill 
 occupied in force by the government artillery* 
 There is a saying in Honduras, which has been 
 justified by countless revolutions, and which dates 
 back to the days of Morazan the Liberator, that 
 144 He who takes Pecachua sleeps in the Pal 
 ace." 
 
 Garcia's plan was for two days to bombard the 
 city, and if, in that time, Alvarez had not sur 
 rendered, to attack El Pecachua by night. As 
 usual, the work was so divided that the more 
 dangerous and difficult part of it fell to the For 
 eign Legion, for in his plan Garcia so ordered it 
 that Laguerre should storm Pecachua, while he 
 advanced from the plain and attacked the city at 
 the stone bridge. 
 
 191
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 But this plan was never carried out, and after 
 our first day in front of the Capital, General 
 Garcia never again gave an order to General La- 
 guerre. 
 
 After midnight on the evening of that first day 
 Aiken came to the hut where we had made our 
 head-quarters and demanded to see the General 
 on a matter of life and death. With him, look 
 ing very uncertain as to the propriety of the visit, 
 were all the officers of the Legion. 
 
 The General was somewhat surprised and some 
 what amused, but he invited us to enter. When 
 the officers had lined up against the walls he said, 
 " As a rule, I call my own councils of war, but 
 no doubt Mr. Aiken has some very good reason 
 for affording me the pleasure of your company. 
 What is it, Mr. Aiken ? " 
 
 Instead of answering him, Aiken said, with as 
 much manner as that of General Garcia himself, 
 " I want a guard put outside this house, and I 
 want the men placed far enough from it to pre 
 vent their hearing what I say.'* The General 
 nodded at me, and I ordered the sentries to 
 move farther from the hut. I still remember the 
 tableau I saw when I re-entered it, the row of 
 officers leaning against the mud walls, the candles 
 stuck in their own grease on the table, the maps 
 spread over it, and the General and Aiken facing 
 
 192
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 each other from its either end. It looked like a 
 drumhead court-martial. 
 
 When I had shut the door of the hut Aiken 
 spoke. His tone was one of calm unconcern. 
 
 " I have just come from the Palace," he said, 
 " where I have been having a talk with President 
 Alvarez." 
 
 No one made a sound, nor no one spoke, but 
 like one man everyone in the room reached for 
 his revolver. It was a most enlightening reve 
 lation of our confidence in Aiken. Laguerre 
 did not move. He was looking steadily at 
 Aiken and his eyes were shining like two arc 
 lamps. 
 
 " By whose authority ? " he asked. 
 
 We, who knew every tone of his voice, almost 
 felt sorry for Aiken. 
 
 " By whose authority," Laguerre repeated, 
 " did you communicate with the enemy ? " 
 
 " It was an idea of my own," Aiken answered 
 simply. " I was afraid if I told you you would 
 interfere. Oh ! I'm no soldier," he said. He 
 was replying to the look in Laguerre's face. 
 " And I can tell you that there are other ways of 
 doing things than c according to Hardie.' Al 
 varez's officers came to me after the battle of 
 Comyagua. They expected to beat you there, 
 and when you chased them out of the city and
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 started for the Capital they thought it was all up 
 with them, and decided to make terms." 
 
 " With you ? " said Laguerre. 
 
 Aiken laughed without the least trace of resent 
 ment, and nodded. 
 
 " Well, you give a dog a bad name,'* he said ; 
 < and it sticks to him. So, they came to me. 
 I'm no grand-stand fighter ; I'm not a fighter at 
 all. I think fighting is silly. You've got all the 
 young men you want to stop bullets for you, 
 without me. They like it. They like to catch 
 'em in their teeth. I don't. But that's not say- 
 mg that I'm no good. You know the old gag of 
 the lion and the little mousie, and how the mouse 
 came along and chewed the lion out of the net. 
 Well, that's me. I'm no lion going c round seek 
 ing whom I may devour.' I'm just a sewer rat. 
 But I can tell you all," he cried, slapping the 
 table with his hand, " that, if it hadn't been for 
 little mousie, every one of you lions would have 
 been shot against a stone wall. And if I can't 
 prove it, you can take a shot at me. I've been 
 the traitor. I've been the go-between from the 
 first. I arranged the whole thing. The Alvarez 
 crowd told me to tell Garcia that even if he did 
 succeed in getting into the Palace the Isthmian 
 Line would drive him out of it in a week. But 
 that if he'd go away from the country, they'd pay 
 
 194
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 him fifty thousand pesos and a pension. He's 
 got the Isthmian Line's promise in writing. 
 
 " This joint attack he's planned for Wednes 
 day night is a fake. He doesn't mean to fight. 
 Nobody means to fight except against you. Every 
 soldier and every gun in the city is to be sent out 
 to Pecachua to trap you into an ambush. Na 
 tives who pretend to have deserted from Alvarez 
 are to lead you into it. That was an idea of 
 mine. They thought it was very clever. Garcia 
 is to make a pretence of attacking the bridge and 
 a pretence of being driven back. Then messen 
 gers are to bring word that the Foreign Legion 
 has been cut to pieces at Pecachua, and he is to 
 disband his army, and tell every man to look out 
 for himself. 
 
 "If you want proofs of this, I'll furnish them 
 to any man here that you'll pick out. I told Al 
 varez that one of your officers was working against 
 you with me, and that at the proper time I'd pro 
 duce him. Now, you choose which officer that 
 shall be. He can learn for himself that all I'm 
 telling you is true. But that will take time ! " 
 Aiken cried, as Laguerre made a movement to 
 interrupt him. " And if you want to get out of 
 this fix alive, you'd better believe me, and start 
 for the coast at once now to-night ! " 
 
 Laguerre laughed and sprang to his feet. His
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 eyes were shining and the color had rushed to his 
 cheeks. He looked like a young man masquerad 
 ing in a white wig. He waved his hand at Aiken 
 with a gesture that was part benediction and part 
 salute. 
 
 " I do believe you," he cried, " and thank you, 
 sir." He glanced sharply at the officers around 
 him as though he were weighing the value of each. 
 
 " Gentlemen," he cried, " often in my life I 
 have been prejudiced, and often I have been de 
 ceived, and I think that it is time now that I 
 acted for myself. From the first, the burden of 
 this expedition has been carried by the Foreign 
 Legion. I know that ; you, who fought the 
 battles, certainly know it. We invaded Hondu 
 ras with a purpose. We came to obtain for the 
 peons the debt that is due them and to give them 
 liberty and free government. And whether our 
 allies run away or betray us, that purpose is still 
 the same." 
 
 He paused as though for the first time it had 
 occurred to him that the motives of the others 
 might not be as his own. 
 
 " Am I right ? " he asked, eagerly. " Are you 
 willing to carry out that purpose ? " he demanded. 
 " Are you ready to follow me now, to-night 
 not to the coast" he shouted "but to the 
 Capital to the top of Pecachua ? " 
 
 196
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 Old man Webster jumped in front of us, and 
 shot his arm into the air as though it held a 
 standard. 
 
 " We'll follow you to hell and back again," he 
 cried. 
 
 I would not have believed that so few men could 
 have made so much noise. We yelled and 
 cheered so wildly that we woke the camp. We 
 could hear the men running down the road, and 
 the sentries calling upon them to halt. The 
 whole Legion was awake and wondering. Web 
 ster beat us into silence by pounding the table 
 with his fist. 
 
 " I have lived in this country for forty years," 
 he cried, with his eyes fixed upon Laguerre, 
 " and you are the first white man I have known 
 who has not come into it, either flying from the 
 law, or to rob and despoil it. I know this coun 
 try. I know all of Central America, and it is a 
 wonderful country. There is not a fruit nor a 
 grain nor a plant that you cannot dig out of it 
 with your bare fingers. It has great forests, great 
 pasture-lands, and buried treasures of silver and 
 iron and gold. But it is cursed with the laziest 
 of God's creatures, and the men who rule them 
 are the most corrupt and the most vicious. They 
 are the dogs in the manger among rulers. They 
 will do nothing to help their own country ; they 
 
 197
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 will not permit others to help it. They are a 
 menace and an insult to civilization, and it is time 
 that they stepped down and out, and made way 
 for their betters, or that they were kicked out. 
 One strong man, if he is an honest man, can con* 
 quer and hold Central America. William Walker 
 was such a man. I was with him when he ruled 
 the best part of this country for two years. He 
 governed all Nicaragua with two hundred white 
 men, and never before or since have the pueblo 
 known such peace and justice and prosperity as 
 Walker gave them." 
 
 Webster threw himself across the table and 
 pointed his hand at Laguerre. 
 
 " And you, General Laguerre ! *' he cried, 
 " and you ? Do you see your duty ? You say 
 it calls you to-night to El Pecachua. Then if it 
 does, it calls you farther to the Capital 1 There 
 can be no stopping half-way now, no turning 
 back. If we follow you to-night to Pecachua, we 
 follow you to the Palace." 
 
 Webster's voice rose antil it seemed to shake 
 the palm-leaf roof. He was like a man pos 
 sessed. He sprang up on the table, and from 
 the height above us hurled his words at La 
 guerre. 
 
 " We are not fighting for any half-breed now,* 
 he cried ; " we are fighting for you. We knov? 
 
 198
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 you. We believe in you. We mean to make 
 you President, and we will not stop there. Our 
 motto shall be Walker's motto, ' Five or none,* 
 and when we have taken this Republic we shall 
 take the other four, and you will be President of 
 the United States of Central America." 
 
 We had been standing open-eyed, open- 
 mouthed, every nerve trembling, and at these 
 words we shrieked and cheered, but Webster 
 waved at us with an angry gesture and leaned 
 toward Laguerre. 
 
 " You will open this land," he cried, " with 
 roads and railways. You will feed the world 
 with its coffee. You will cut the Nicaragua 
 Canal. And you will found an empire not the 
 empire of slaves that Walker planned, but an 
 empire of freed men, freed by you from their 
 tyrants and from themselves. They tell me, 
 General," he cried, tf that you have fought under 
 thirteen flags. To-night, sir, you shall fight 
 under your own ! " 
 
 We all cheered and cheered again, the oldest 
 as well as myself, and I cheered louder than any, 
 until I looked at Laguerre. Then I felt how 
 terribly real it was to him. Until I looked at 
 him it had seemed quite sane and feasible. But 
 when I saw how deeply he was moved, and that 
 his eyes were brimming with pride and resolve, I 
 
 199
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 felt that it was a mad dream, and that we were 
 wicked not to wake him. For I, who loved him 
 Hke a son, understood what it meant to him. In 
 his talk along the trail and by the camp-fire he 
 had always dreamed of an impossible republic, an 
 Utopia ruled by love and justice, and I now saw 
 he believed that the dreams had at last come 
 true. I knew that the offer these men had made 
 to follow him, filled him with a great happiness 
 and gratitude. And that he, who all his life had 
 striven so earnestly and so loyally for others, 
 would give his very soul for men who fought 
 for him. I was not glad that they had offered 
 to make him their leader. I could only look 
 ahead with miserable forebodings and feel bit 
 terly sorry that one so fine and good was again 
 to be disillusioned and disappointed and cast 
 down. 
 
 But there was no time that night to look 
 ahead. The men were outside the hut, a black, 
 growling mob crying for revenge upon Garcia. 
 Had we not at once surrounded them they would 
 have broken for his camp and murdered him in 
 his hammock, and with him his ignorant, deceived 
 followers. 
 
 But when Webster spoke to them as he had 
 spoken to us, and told them what we planned to 
 do s and Laguerre stepped out into the moon- 
 
 200
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 light, they forgot their anger in their pride foi 
 him, and at his first word they fell into the ranks 
 as obediently as so many fond and devoted chil 
 dren. 
 
 In Honduras a night attack is a discredited 
 manoeuvre. It is considered an affront to the 
 Blessed Virgin, who first invented sleep. And 
 those officers who that night guarded Pecachua, 
 being acquainted with Garcia's plot, were not ex 
 pecting us until two nights later, when we were 
 to walk into their parlor, and be torn to pieces, 
 Consequently, when Miller, who knew Pecachua 
 well, having served without political prejudice in 
 six revolutions, led us up a by-path to its top, we 
 found the government troops sleeping sweetly 
 Before their only sentry had discovered that 
 someone was kneeling on his chest, our men were 
 in possession of their batteries. 
 
 That morning when the sun rose gloriously, as 
 from a bath, all pink and shining and dripping; 
 with radiance, and the church bells began to 
 clang for early mass, and the bugles at the bar 
 racks sounded the jaunty call of the reveille, two 
 puffs of white smoke rose from the crest of EJi 
 Pecachua and drifted lazily away. At the same 
 instant a shell sang over the roofs of Tegucigalpa, 
 howling jeeringly, and smashed into the pots and 
 pans of the President's kitchen ; another, falling 
 
 201
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 two miles farther to the right, burst through the 
 white tent of General Garcia, and the people in the 
 streets, as they crossed themselves in fear, knew 
 that El Pecachua had again been taken, and that 
 that night a new President would sleep in the 
 Palace. 
 
 All through the hot hours of the morning the 
 captured guns roared and echoed, until at last we 
 saw Garcia's force crawling away in a crowd of 
 dust toward the hills, and an hour later Alvarez, 
 with the household troops, abandoning the Capi 
 tal and hastening after him. 
 
 We were too few to follow, but we whipped 
 them forward with our shells. 
 
 A half-hour later a timid group of merchants 
 and foreign consuls, led by the Bishop and bear 
 ing a great white flag, rode out to the foot of the 
 rock and surrendered the city. 
 
 I am sure no government was ever established 
 more quickly than ours. We held our first 
 cabinet meeting twenty minutes after we entered 
 the capital, and ten minutes later Webster, from 
 the balcony of the Palace, proclaimed Laguerre 
 President and Military Dictator of Honduras. 
 Laguerre in turn nominated Webster, on ac 
 count of his knowledge of the country, Minis 
 ter of the Interior, and made me Vice-Presi- 
 dent and Minister of War No one knew
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 what were the duties of a Vice-President, so I 
 asked if I might not also be Provost-Marshal of 
 the city, and I was accordingly appointed to that 
 position and sent out into the street to keep 
 order. 
 
 Aiken, as a reward for his late services, was 
 made head of the detective department and Chief 
 of Police. His first official act was to promote 
 two bare-footed policemen who on his last visit 
 to the Capital had put him under arrest. 
 
 The General, or the President, as we now 
 called him, at once issued a ringing proclamation 
 in which he promised every liberty that the peo 
 ple of a free republic should enjoy, and an 
 nounced that in three months he would call a 
 general election, when the people could either re- 
 elect him, or a candidate of their own choice. 
 He announced also that he would force the 
 Isthmian Line to pay the people the half million 
 of dollars it owed them, and he suggested that 
 this money be placed to the credit of the people, 
 and that they should pay no taxes until the sum 
 was consumed in public improvements. Up to 
 that time every new President had imposed new 
 taxes ; none had ever suggested remitting them 
 altogether, and this offer made a tremendous sen 
 sation in our favor. 
 
 There were other departures from the usuaj 
 203
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 procedure of victorious presidents which helped 
 much to make us popular. One was the fact that 
 Laguerre did not shoot anybody against the 
 barrack wall, nor levy forced " loans " upon the 
 foreign merchants. Indeed, the only persons 
 who suffered on the day he came into power were 
 two of our own men, whom I caught looting. 1 
 put them to sweeping the streets, each with a bah 
 and chain to his ankle, as an example of the sort 
 of order we meant to keep among ourselves. 
 
 Before mid-day Aiken sent a list, which his 
 spies had compiled, of sympathizers with Alvarez* 
 He guaranteed to have them all in jail before 
 night. But Laguerre sent for them and prom 
 ised them, if they remained neutral, they should 
 not be molested. Personally, I have always been 
 of the opinion that most cf the persons on 
 Aiken's list of suspects were most worthy mer 
 chants, to whom he owed money, 
 
 Laguerre gave a long audience to the cashier 
 of the Manchester and Central American Bank, 
 Limited, which finances Honduras, and assured 
 him that the new administration would not force 
 the bank to accept the paper money issued by 
 Alvarez, but would accept the paper money 
 issued by the bank, which was based on gold. 
 As a result, the cashier came down the stair-case 
 of the Palace three steps at a time, and later our 
 
 204
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 censor read his cable to the Home Bank in Eng 
 land, in which he said that Honduras at last hac? 
 an honest man for President. What was more 
 to the purpose, he reopened his bank at three 
 o'clock, and quoted Honduranian money on his 
 blackboard at a rise of three per cent, over that 
 of the day before. This was a great compliment 
 to our government, and it must have impressed 
 the other business men, for by six o'clock that 
 night a delegation of American, German, and 
 English shopkeepers called on the President and 
 offered him a vote of confidence. They volun 
 teered also to form a home-guard for the defence 
 of the city, and to help keep him in office. 
 
 So, by dinner-time, we had won over the for 
 eign element entirely, and the consuls had cabled 
 their several ministers, advising them to advise 
 their governments to recognize ours. 
 
 It was a great triumph lor fair promises backed 
 by fair dealing. 
 
 Although I was a cabinet minister and had a 
 right to have my say I did not concern myself 
 much with these graver problems of the Palace. 
 
 Instead, my first act was to cable to Beatrice 
 that we were safe in the Capital arid that I was 
 second in command. I did not tell her I was 
 Vice-President of a country of 300,000 people, 
 because at Dobbs Ferry such a fact would seem 
 
 205
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 hardly probable. After that I spent the day very 
 happily galloping around the town with the Pro 
 vost Guard at my heels, making friends with the 
 inhabitants, and arranging for their defence. I 
 posted a gun at the entrance to each of the three 
 principal streets, and ordered mounted scouts to 
 patrol the plains outside the Capital. I also re 
 membered Heinze and the artillerymen who were 
 protecting us on the heights of Pecachua, and 
 sent them a moderate amount of rum, and an 
 immoderate amount of canned goods and cigars. 
 I also found time to design a wonderful uniform 
 for the officers of our Legion a dark-green 
 blouse with silver facings and scarlet riding 
 breeches and on the plea of military necessity I 
 ordered six tailors to sit up all night to finish 
 them. 
 
 Uniforms for the men I requisitioned from the 
 stores of the Government, and ordered the red 
 facings changed to yellow. 
 
 The next day when we paraded in full dress 
 the President noticed this, and remarked, " No 
 one but Macklin could have converted a battery 
 of artillery, without the loss of a single gun or the 
 addition of a single horse, into a battalion of 
 cavalry." 
 
 We had escorted the President back to the 
 Palace, and I was returning to the barracks at the 
 
 206
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 head of the Legion, with the local band playing 
 grandly before me, and the people bowing from 
 the sidewalks, when a girl on a gray pony turned 
 into the plaza and rode toward us. 
 
 She was followed by a group of white men, but 
 I saw only the girl. When I recognized even at 
 a distance that she was a girl from the States my 
 satisfaction was unbounded. It had needed only 
 the presence of such an audience to give the final 
 touch of pleasure to my triumphant progress. 
 My new uniform had been finished only just in 
 time. 
 
 When I first saw the girl I was startled merely 
 because any white woman in Honduras is an 
 unusual spectacle, but as she rode nearer I knew 
 that, had I seen this girl at home among a thou 
 sand women, I would have looked only at her. 
 
 She wore a white riding-habit, and a high- 
 peaked Mexican sombrero, and when her pony 
 shied at the sound of the music she raised her 
 head, and the sun struck on the burnished braid 
 around the brim, and framed her face with a rim 
 of silver. I had never seen such a face. It was 
 so beautiful that I drew a great breath of wonder, 
 and my throat tightened with the deep delight 
 that rose in me. 
 
 I stared at her as she rode forward, because I 
 could not help myself. If an earthquake had 
 
 207
 
 Captain Mackim 
 
 opened a crevasse at my feet I would not have 
 lowered my eyes. I had time to guess who she 
 was, for I knew there could be no other woman 
 so beautiful in Honduras, except the daughter 
 of Joseph Fiske. Had not Aiken said of her, 
 " When she passes, the native women kneel by 
 the trail and cross themselves ? " 
 
 I rode toward her fearfully, conscious only of 
 a sudden deep flood of gratitude for anything so 
 nobly beautiful. I was as humbly thankful as the 
 'crusader who is rewarded by his first sight of the 
 Holy City, and I was glad, too, that I came into 
 her presence worthily, riding in advance of a regi 
 ment. I was proud of our triumphant music, of 
 our captured flags and guns, and the men behind 
 me, who had taken them. 
 
 I still watched her as our column drew nearer, 
 and she pulled her pony to one side to let it pass. 
 I felt as though I were marching in review before 
 an empress, and I all but lifted my sword-blade 
 in salute. 
 
 But as we passed I saw that the look on her 
 face was that of a superior and critical adversary. 
 It was a glance of amused disdain, softened only 
 by a smile of contempt. As it fell upon me I 
 blushed to the rim of my sombrero. I felt as 
 meanly as though I had been caught in a lie. With 
 her eyes, I saw the bare feet of our negro band, 
 
 208
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 our ill-litting uniforms with their flannel facings, the 
 swagger of our officers, glancing pompously from 
 their half-starved, unkempt ponies upon the 'native 
 Indians, who fawned at us from the sidewalks. 
 
 I saw that to her we were so many red-shirted 
 firemen, dragging a wooden hose-cart ; a company 
 of burnt-cork minstrels, kicking up the dust of a 
 village street ; that we were ridiculous, lawless, 
 absurd, and it was like a blow over my heart that 
 one so noble-looking should be so blind and so 
 unjust. I was swept with bitter indignation. I 
 wanted to turn in my saddle and cry to her that 
 beneath the flannel facings at which she laughed 
 these men wore deep, uncared-for, festering 
 wounds ; that to march thus through the streets 
 of this tiny Capital they had waded waist-high 
 through rivers, had starved in fever camps, and at 
 any Lour when I had called on them had run for 
 ward to throw cold hands with death. 
 
 The group of gentlemen who were riding with 
 the girl had halted their ponies by the sidewalk, 
 and as I drew near I noted that one of them wore 
 the uniform of an ensign in our navy. This puz 
 zled me for an instant, until I remembered I had 
 heard that the cruiser Raleigh was lying at Ama- 
 pala. I was just passing the group when one of 
 them, with the evident intent that I should hear 
 him, raised his voice. 
 
 209
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 " Well, here's the army," he said, " but where's 
 Falstaff? I don't see Laguerre." 
 
 My face was still burning with the blush the 
 girl had brought to it, and the moment was not 
 the one that any man should have chosen to ridi 
 cule my general. Because the girl had laughed at 
 us I felt indignant with her, but for the same 
 offence I was grateful to the man, for the reason 
 that he was a man, and could be punished. I 
 whirled my pony around and rode it close against 
 his. 
 
 " You must apologize for that," I said, speak 
 ing in a low voice, " or I'll thrash you with this 
 riding-whip." 
 
 He was a young man, exceedingly well-looking, 
 slim and tall, and with a fine air of good breeding. 
 He looked straight into my eyes without moving. 
 His hands remained closed upon the pommel of 
 his saddle. 
 
 "If you raise that whip," he said, " I'll take your 
 tin sword away from you, and spank you with it." 
 
 Never in my life had anyone hurt me so terribly. 
 And the insult had come before my men and his 
 friends and the people in the street. It turned 
 me perfectly cold, and all the blood seemed to run 
 to my eyes, so that I saw everything in a red haze. 
 When I answered him my voice sounded hoarse 
 and shaky. 
 
 210
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 " Get down," I said. " Get down, or I'll pull 
 you down. I'm going to thrash you until you 
 can't stand or see." 
 
 He struck at me with his riding-crop, but I 
 caught him by the collar and with an old trick of 
 the West Point riding-hall threw him off into the 
 street, and landed on my feet above him. At the 
 same moment Miller and Von Ritter drove their 
 ponies in between us, and three of the man's 
 friends pushed in from the other side. But in 
 spite of them we reached each other, and I struck 
 up under his guard and beat him savagely on the 
 face and head, until I found his chin, and he went 
 down. There was an awful row. The whole 
 street was in an uproar, women screamed, the 
 ponies were rearing and kicking, the natives jab 
 bering, and my own men swearing and struggling 
 in a ring around us. 
 
 " My God, Macklin ! " I heard Von Ritter 
 cry, " stop it 1 Behave yourself! " 
 
 He rode at our men with his sword and drove 
 them back into ranks. I heard him shout, " Fall 
 in there. Forward. March ! " 
 
 " This is your idea of keeping order, is it ? " 
 Miller shouted at me. 
 
 " He insulted Laguerre," I shouted back, and 
 scrambled into the saddle. But I was far from 
 satisfied. I, Vice-President, Minister of War, 
 
 211
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 Provost-Marshal of the city, had been fighting 
 with my fists in the open street before half the 
 population. I knew what Laguerre would say, 
 and I wondered hotly if the girl had seen me, and 
 I swore at myself for having justified her con 
 tempt for us. Then I swore at myself again for 
 giving a moment's consideration to what she 
 thought, I was recalled to the present by the ap 
 parition of my adversary riding his pony toward 
 me, partly supported and partly restrained by two 
 of his friends. He was trembling with anger and 
 pain and mortification. 
 
 " You shall fight me for this," he cried. 
 
 I was about to retort that he looked as though 
 I had been fighting him, but it is not easy to 
 laugh at a man when he is covered with dust and 
 blood, and this one was so sorry a spectacle that 
 I felt ashamed for him, and said nothing. 
 
 " I am not a street fighter," he raged. " I 
 wasn't taught to fight in a lot. But I'll fight you 
 like a gentleman, just as though you were a 
 gentleman. You needn't think you've heard the 
 last of me. My friends will act for me, and, un 
 less you're a coward, you will name your seconds." 
 
 Before I could answer, Von Ritter had removed 
 his hat and was bowing violently from his saddle. 
 
 " I am Baron Herbert Von Ritter," he said, 
 " late Aide-de-Camp to his Majesty, the King of 
 
 212
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 Bavaria. If you are not satisfied, Captain Miller 
 and myself will do ourselves the honor of calling 
 on your friends." 
 
 His manner was so grand that it quite calmed 
 me to hear him. 
 
 One of the men who was supporting my ad 
 versary, a big, sun-burned man, in a pith helmet, 
 shook his head violently. 
 
 " Here, none of that, Miller," he said ; " drop 
 it. Can't you see the boy isn't himself? This 
 isn't the time to take advantage of him." 
 
 " We are only trying to oblige the gentleman," 
 said Miller. " The duel is the only means of 
 defence we've left you people. But I tell you, if 
 any of you insult our government again, we won't 
 even give you that satisfaction we'll ride you 
 out of town." 
 
 The man in the pith helmet listened to Miller 
 without any trace of emotion. When Miller had 
 finished he laughed. 
 
 " We've every means of defence that an Amer 
 ican citizen needs when he runs up against a 
 crowd like yours," he said. He picked up his 
 reins and turned his horse's head down the street. 
 c< You will find us at the Hotel Continental," he 
 added. " And as for running us out of town," 
 he shouted over his shoulder, " there's an Amer 
 ican man-of-war at Amapala that is going to 
 
 213
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 chase you people out of it as soon as we give the 
 word." 
 
 When I saw that Miller and Von Ritter were 
 arranging a duel, I felt no further interest in what 
 the man said, until he threatened us with the 
 warship. At that I turned toward the naval 
 ensign to see how he received it. 
 
 He was a young man, some years older than 
 myself, with a smooth face and fair, yellow hair 
 and blue eyes. I found that the blue eyes were 
 fixed upon me steadily and kindly. When he saw 
 that I had caught him watching me he raised his 
 hand smartly to the visor. 
 
 I do not know why, but it made the tears 
 come to my eyes. It was so different from the 
 salute of our own men ; it was like being back 
 again under the flag at the Point. It was the 
 recognition of the " regular " that touched me, of 
 a bona-fide, commissioned officer. 
 
 But I returned his salute just as stifHy as 
 though I were a commissioned officer myself. 
 And then a strange thing happened. The sailor- 
 boy jerked his head toward the retreating form of 
 my late adversary, and slowly stuck his tongue 
 into his cheek, and winked. Before I could re 
 cover myself, he had caught up my hand and 
 given it a sharp shake, and galloped after his 
 friends. 
 
 214
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 Miller and I fell in at the rear of the column. 
 
 " Who were those men ? " I asked. 
 
 " The Isthmian Line people, of course," he 
 answered, shortly. " The man in the helmet is 
 Graham, the manager of the Copan Silver Mines. 
 They've just unloaded them on Fiske. That's 
 why they're so thick with him." 
 
 " And who was the chap who insulted La- 
 guerre ? " I asked. " The one whose face I 
 slapped ? " 
 
 " Face you slapped ? Ha ! " Miller snorted. 
 " I hope you'll never slap my face. Why, don't 
 you know who he is ? " he exclaimed, with a grin. 
 " I thought, of course, you did. I thought that's 
 why you hit him. He's young Fiske, the old 
 man's son. That was his sister riding ahead of 
 them. Didn't you see that girl ? "
 
 V 
 
 THE day we attacked the capital Joseph 
 Fiske and his party were absent from it, 
 visiting Graham, the manager of the Copan 
 Mines, at his country place, and when word was 
 received there that we had taken the city, Gra 
 ham urged Mr. Fiske not to return to it, but to 
 ride at once to the -coast and go on board the 
 yacht. They told him that the capital was in 
 the hands of a mob. 
 
 But what really made Graham, and the rest of 
 the Copan people, and the Isthmian crowd, who 
 now were all working together against us, so 
 anxious to get Fiske out of Honduras^ was that 
 part of Laguerre's proclamation in which he said 
 he would force the Isthmian Line to pay its 
 just debts. They were most anxious that Fiske 
 should not learn from us the true version of that 
 claim for back pay. They had told him we were 
 a lot of professional filibusters, that the demand 
 we made for the half-million of dollars was a 
 gigantic attempt at blackmail. They pointed out 
 to him that the judges of the highest courts of 
 Honduras had decided against the validity of our 
 
 216
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 claim, but they did not tell him that Alvarez had 
 ordered the judges to decide in favor of the com 
 pany, nor how much money they had paid Al 
 varez and the judges for that decision. Instead 
 they urged that Garcia, a native of the country, 
 had submitted to the decree of the courts and had 
 joined Alvarez, and that now the only people 
 fighting against the Isthmian Line were foreign 
 adventurers. They asked, Was it likely such 
 men would risk their lives to benefit the natives ? 
 Was it not evident that they were fighting only 
 for their own pockets ? And they warned Fiske 
 that while Laguerre was still urging his claim 
 against this company, it would be unwise for the 
 president of that company to show himself in 
 Tegucigalpa. 
 
 But Fiske laughed at the idea of danger to 
 himself. He said a revolution, like cock-fight 
 ing, was a national pastime, and no more serious, 
 and that should anyone attempt to molest the 
 property of the company, he would demand the 
 protection of his own country as represented by 
 the Raleigh. 
 
 He accordingly rode back to the capital, and 
 with his son and daughter and the company's 
 representatives and the Copan people, returned 
 to the same rooms in the Hotel Continental he 
 had occupied three days before, when Alvarez 
 
 217
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 was president. This made it embarrassing for 
 <js, as the Continental was the only hotel in the 
 city, and as it was there we had organized our 
 officers' mess. In consequence, while there was 
 no open war, the dining-room of the hotel was 
 twice daily the meeting-place of the two opposing 
 factions, and Von Ritter told me that until mat 
 ters had been arranged with the seconds of young 
 Fiske I could not appear there, as it would be 
 " contrary to the code." 
 
 But our officers were not going to allow the 
 Copan and Isthmian people to drive them out of 
 their head-quarters, so at the table d'hote lunch 
 eon that day our fellows sat at one end of the 
 room, and Fiske and Miss Fiske, Graham and 
 his followers at the other. They entirely ignored 
 each other. After the row I had raised in the 
 street, each side was anxious to avoid further 
 friction. 
 
 As I sat in the barracks over my solitary 
 luncheon my thoughts were entirely on the duel. 
 
 It had been forced on me, so I accepted it; 
 but it struck me as a most silly proceeding. 
 Young Fiske had insulted my General and my 
 comrades. He had done so publicly and with 
 intent. I had thrashed him as I said I would, 
 and as far as I could see the incident was closed. 
 But Miller and Von Ritter, who knew Honduras 
 
 218
 
 Captain Mack] in 
 
 from Fonseca Bay to Truxillo, assured me that, 
 unless I met the man, who had insulted me be 
 fore the people, our prestige would be entirely 
 destroyed. To the Honduranian mind, the fact 
 that I had thrashed him for so doing, would not 
 serve as a substitute for a duel, it only made a 
 duel absolutely necessary. As 1 had determined, 
 if we did meet, that I would not shoot at him, I 
 knew I would receive no credit from such an 
 encounter, and, so far as I could see, 1 was 
 being made ridiculous, and stood a very fair 
 chance of being killed. 
 
 1 sincerely hoped that young Fiske would 
 apologize. I assured myself that my reluctance 
 to meet him was due to the fact that I scorned to 
 fight a civilian. I always classed civilians, with 
 women and children, as non-combatants. But in 
 my heart 1 knew that it was not this prejudice 
 which made me hesitate. The sister was the real 
 reason. That he was her brother was the only 
 fact of importance. Had his name been Robin 
 son or Brown, I would have gone out and shot 
 at the calves of his legs most cheerfully, and 
 taken considerable satisfaction in the notoriety 
 that would have followed my having done so. 
 
 But I could never let his sister know that I 
 had only fired in the air, and I knew that if I 
 fought her brother she would always look upon 
 
 219
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 me as one who had attempted to murder him. i 
 could never speak to her, or even look at her 
 again. And at that moment I felt that if I did 
 not meet her., I could go without meeting any 
 other women for many years to come. She was 
 the most wonderful creature I had ever seen. 
 She was not beautiful, as Beatrice was beautiful; 
 in a womanly, gracious way, but she had the 
 beauty of something unattainable. Instead of 
 inspiring you, she filled you with disquiet. She 
 seemed to me a regal, goddess-like woman, one 
 that a man might worship with that tribute of 
 fear and adoration that savages pay to the fire 
 and the sun. 
 
 I had ceased to blush because she had laughed 
 at us. I had begun to think that it was quite 
 right that she should do so. To her we were 
 lawless adventurers, exiles, expatriates, fugitives, 
 She did not know that most of us were unselfish, 
 and that our cause was just. She thought, if she 
 thought of us at all, that we were trying to levy 
 blackmail on her father. I did not blame her for 
 despising us. I only wished I could tell her 
 how she had been deceived, and assure her that 
 among us there was one, at least, who thought of 
 her gratefully and devotedly, and who would suf 
 fer much before he would hurt her or hers. I 
 knew that this was so, and I hoped her brother 
 
 220
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 would not be such an ass as to insist upon a duel, 
 and make me pretend to fight him, that her 
 father would be honest enough to pay his debts, 
 and that some day she and I might be friends. 
 
 But these hopes were killed by the entrance of 
 Miller and Von Ritter. They looked very grave. 
 
 " He won't apologize," Miller said. " We 
 arranged that you are to meet behind the grave 
 yard at sunrise to-morrow morning." I was bit 
 terly disappointed, but of course I could not let 
 them see that. 
 
 " Does Laguerre know ? " I asked. 
 
 " No," Miller said, " neither does old man 
 Fiske. We had the deuce of a time. Graham 
 and Lowell that young Middy from the Raleigh 
 are his seconds, and we found we were all agreed 
 that he had better apologize. Lowell, especially, 
 was very keen that you two should shake hands, 
 but when they went out to talk it over with 
 Fiske, he came back with them in a terrible rage, 
 and swore he'd not apologize, and that he'd 
 either shoot you or see you hung. Lowell told 
 him it was all rot that two Americans should be 
 fighting duels, but Fiske said that when he was 
 in Rome, he did as Romans did ; that he had 
 been brought up in Paris to believe in duels, 
 and that a duel he would have. Then the sister 
 came in, and there was a hell of a row J " 
 
 221
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 * The sister ! " I exclaimed. 
 
 Miller nodded, and Von Ritter and he shook 
 their heads sadly at each other, as though the 
 recollection of the interview weighed heavily. 
 
 " Yes, his sister," said Miller. " You know 
 how these Honduranian places are built, if a 
 parrot scratches his feathers in the patio you can 
 hear it in every room in the house. Well, she 
 was reading on the balcony, and when her brother 
 began to rage around and swear he'd have your 
 blood, she heard him, and opened the shutters 
 and came in. She didn't stay long, and she 
 didn't say much, but she talked to us as though 
 we were so many bad children. I never felt so 
 mean in my life." 
 
 " She should not have been there," said Von 
 Ritter, stolidly. " It was most irregular." 
 
 " Fiske tried the high and mighty, brotherly 
 act with her," Miller continued, " but she shook 
 him up like a charge of rack-a-rock. She told 
 him that a duel was unmanly and un-American, 
 and that he would be a murderer. She said his 
 honor didn't require him to risk his life for every 
 cad who went about armed, insulting unarmed 
 people " 
 
 " What did she say ? " I cried. " Say that again." 
 
 Von Ritter tossed up his arms and groaned, 
 but Miller shook his fist at me. 
 
 222
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 " Now, don't you go and get wrathy,"" he 
 roared. " We'll not stand it. We've been 
 abused by everybody else on your account to 
 day, and we won't take it from you. It doesn't 
 matter what the girl said. They probably told 
 her you began the fight, and " 
 
 " She said I was a cad," I repeated, " and that 
 I struck an unarmed man. Didn't her brother 
 tell her that he first insulted me, and struck me 
 with his whip, and that I only used my fists. 
 Didn't any of you tell her ? " 
 
 " No ! " roared Miller ; " what the devil has 
 that got to do with it ? She was trying to pre 
 vent the duel. We were trying to prevent the 
 duel. That's all that's important. And if she 
 hadn't made the mistake of thinking you might 
 back out of it, we could have prevented it. Now 
 we can't." 
 
 I began to wonder if the opinion the Fiske 
 family had formed of me, on so slight an ac 
 quaintance, was not more severe than I deserved, 
 but I did not let the men see how sorely the 
 news had hurt me. I only asked : " What other 
 mistake did the young lady make ? " 
 
 " She meant it all right," said Miller, " but it 
 was a woman's idea of a bluff, and it didn't go. 
 She told us that before we urged her brother on 
 to fight, we should have found out that he has 
 
 223
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 spent the last five years in Paris, and that he's the 
 gilt-edged pistol-shot of the salle d'armes in the 
 Rue Scribe, that he can hit a scarf-pin at twenty 
 paces. Of course that ended it. The Baron 
 spoke up in his best style and said that in the 
 face of this information it would be now quite 
 impossible for our man to accept an apology 
 without being considered a coward, and that a 
 meeting must take place. Then the girl ran to 
 her brother and said, What have I done ? * and 
 he put his arm around her and walked her out of 
 the room. Then we arranged the details in peace 
 and came on here." 
 
 "Good," I said, "you did exactly right. I'll 
 meet you at dinner at the hotel." 
 
 But at this Von Ritter protested that I must 
 not dine there, that it was against the code. 
 
 " The code be hanged," I said. " If I don't 
 turn up at dinner they'll say I'm afraid to show 
 myself out of doors. Besides, if I must be 
 shot through the scarf-pin before breakfast to 
 morrow morning, I mean to have a good dinner 
 to-night." 
 
 They left me, and I rode to the palace to make 
 my daily report to the president. I was relieved 
 to find that both he and Webster were so deep in 
 affairs of state that they had heard nothing of my 
 row in the Plaza, nor of the duel to follow. They 
 
 224
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 were happy as two children building forts of sand 
 on the sea-shore. They had rescinded taxes, 
 altered the tariffs, reorganized the law-courts, 
 taken over the custom-houses by telegraph, and 
 every five minutes were receiving addresses from 
 delegations of prominent Honduranians. Nica 
 ragua and Salvador had both recognized their 
 government, and concession hunters were already 
 cooling their heels in the ante-room. In every 
 town and seaport the adherents of Garcia had 
 swung over to Laguerre and our government, 
 and our flag was now flying in every part of 
 Honduras. It was the flag of Walker, with the 
 five-pointed blood-red star. We did not explain 
 the significance of the five points. 
 
 I reported that my scouts had located Alvarez 
 and Garcia in the hills some five miles distant 
 from the capital, that they were preparing a per 
 manent camp there, and that they gave no evi 
 dence of any immediate intention of attacking the 
 city. General Laguerre was already informed of 
 the arrival of Mr. Fiske, and had arranged to 
 give him an audience the following morning. He 
 hoped in this interview to make clear to him how 
 just was the people's claim for the half million 
 due them, and to obtain his guaranty that the 
 money should be paid. 
 
 As I was leaving the palace I met Aiken. He 
 225
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 was in his most cynical mood. He said that the 
 air was filled with plots and counter-plots, and 
 that treachery stalked abroad. He had been un 
 successful in trying to persuade the president to 
 relieve Hemze of his command on Pecachua. He 
 wanted Von Ritter or myself put in his place. 
 
 " It is the key to the position," Aiken said, 
 " and if Heinze should sell us out, we would have 
 to run for our lives. These people are all smiles 
 and c vivas * to-day because we are on top. But 
 if we lost Pecachua, every man of them would 
 turn against us." 
 
 I laughed and said : " We can trust Heinze. 
 If I had your opinion of my fellow-man, I'd blow 
 my brains out.'* 
 
 " If I hadn't had such a low opinion of my fel 
 low-man," Aiken retorted, " he'd have blown your 
 brains out. Don't forget that." 
 
 "No one listens to me," he said. " I consider 
 that I am very hardly used. For a consideration 
 a friend of Alvarez told me where Alvarez had 
 buried most of the government monev I went 
 to the cellar and dug it up and turned it over to 
 Laguerre. And what do you think he's doing 
 with it!" Aiken exclaimed with indignation. 
 " He's going to give the government troops their 
 back pay, and the post-office clerks, and the peons 
 who worked on the public roads." 
 
 226
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 I said I considered that that was a most excel 
 lent use to make of the money ; that from what I 
 had seen of the native troops, it would turn our 
 prisoners of war into our most loyal adherents. ! 
 
 " Of course it will ! " Aiken agreed. " Why, 
 if the government troops out there in the hills 
 with Alvarez knew we were paying sixty pesos for 
 soldiers, they'd run to join us so quick that they'd 
 die on the way of sunstroke. But that's not it. 
 Where do we come in ? What do we get out of 
 this ? Have we been fighting for three months 
 just to pay the troops who have been fighting 
 against us ? Charity begins at home, I think." 
 
 "You get your own salary, don't you ?" I 
 asked. 
 
 " Oh, I'm not starving/* Aiken said, with a 
 grin. " There's a lot of loot in being chief-of- 
 police. This is going to be a wide-open town if 
 I can run it." 
 
 " Well, you can't," I laughed. " Not as long 
 as I'm its provost marshal." 
 
 "Yes, and how long will that be?" Aiken 
 retorted. " You take my advice and make money 
 now, while you've got the club to get it with you. 
 Why, if I had your job I could scare ten thousand 
 sols out of these merchants before sunrise. Instead 
 of which you walk around nights to see their front 
 doors are locked. Let them do the walking. 
 
 227
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 We've won, and let's enjoy the spoil. Eat, ilve 
 and be merry, my boy, for to-morrow you die.'" 
 
 " I hope not," I exclaimed, and I ran down 
 the steps of the palace and turned toward the bar 
 racks. 
 
 " To-morrow you die," I repeated, but I could 
 not arouse a single emotion. Portents and pre 
 monitions may frighten some people, but the only 
 superstition I hold to is to believe in the luck of 
 Royal Macklin. 
 
 " What if Fiske can hit a scarf-pin at twenty 
 paces ! " I said to myself, " he can't hit me." 
 I was just as sure of it as I was of the fact that: 
 when I met him I was going to fire in the air. 1 
 cannot tell why. I was just sure of it. 
 
 The dining-room at the Continental held three 
 long tables. That night our officers sat at one,, 
 Mr. Fiske and his party were at the one farthest 
 away, and a dining-club of consular agents, mer 
 chants, and the Telegraph Company's people occu 
 pied the one in between. I could see her whenever 
 the German consul bent over his food. She was 
 very pale and tired-looking, but in the white even- 
 mg frock she wore, all soft and shining with Iace 3 
 she was as beautiful as the moonlit night outside,. 
 She never once looked in our direction. But I 
 could not keep my eyes away from her. The 
 merchants, no doubt, enjoyed their dinner. They 
 
 228 ,
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 laughed and argued boisterously, but at the two 
 other tables there was very little said. 
 
 The waiters, pattering over the stone floor in 
 their bare feet, made more noise than our entire 
 mess. 
 
 When the brandy came, Russell nodded at the 
 others, and they filled their glasses and drank to 
 me in silence. At the other table I saw the same 
 pantomime, only on account of old man Fiske 
 they had to act even more covertly. It struck me 
 as being vastly absurd and wicked. What right 
 had young Fiske to put his life in jeopardy to me ? 
 It was not in my keeping. I had no claim upon 
 it. It was not in his own keeping. At least not 
 to throw away. 
 
 When they had gone and our officers had 
 shaken hands with me and ridden off to their 
 different posts, I went out upon the balcony by 
 myself and sat down i the shadow of the vines. 
 The stream which cuts Tegucigalpa in two ran 
 directly below the hotel, splashing against the 
 rocks and sweeping under the stone bridge with a 
 ceaseless murmur. Beyond it stretched the red- 
 tiled roofs, glowing pink in the moonlight, and 
 beyond them the camp-fires of Alvarez twinkling 
 like glow-worms against the dark background of 
 the hills. The town had gone to sleep, and the 
 hotel was as silent as a church. There was no 
 
 229
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 sound except the whistle of a policeman calling 
 the hour, the bark of the street-dogs in answer, 
 and the voice of one of our sentries, arguing with 
 some jovial gentleman who was abroad without a 
 pass. After the fever and anxieties of the last 
 few days the peace of the moment was sweet and 
 grateful to me, and I sank deeper into the long 
 wicker chair and sighed with content. The pre 
 vious night I had spent on provost duty in the 
 saddle, and it must have been that I dropped 
 asleep, for when I next raised my head Miss 
 Fiske was standing not twenty feet from me. She 
 was leaning against one of the pillars, a cold and 
 stately statue in the moonlight. 
 
 She did not know anyone was near her, and 
 when I moved and my spurs clanked on the 
 stones, she started, and turned her eyes slowly 
 toward the shadow in which I sat. 
 
 During dinner they must have told her which 
 one of us was to fight the duel, for when she 
 recognized me she moved sharply away. I did 
 not wish her to think I would intrude on her 
 against her will, so I rose and walked toward the 
 door, but before I had reached it she again turned 
 and approached me. 
 
 "You are Captain Macklin?" she said. 
 
 I was so excited at the thought that she was 
 about to speak to me, and so happy to hear her 
 
 230
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 roice, that for an instant I could only whip off 
 my hat and gaze at her stupidly. 
 
 " Captain Macklin," she repeated. " This 
 afternoon I tried to stop the duel you are to fight 
 with my brother, and I am told that I made a 
 very serious blunder. I should like to try and 
 correct it. When I spoke of my brother's skill, 
 I mean his skill with the pistol, I knew you were 
 ignorant of it and I thought if you did know of 
 it you would see the utter folly, the wickedness 
 of this duel. But instead I am told that I only 
 made it difficult for you not to meet him. I can 
 not in the least see that that follows. I wish to 
 make it clear to you that it does not." 
 
 She paused, and I, as though I had been speak 
 ing, drew a long breath. Had she been reading 
 from a book her tone could not have been more 
 impersonal. I might have been one of a class of 
 school-boys to whom she was expounding a prob 
 lem. At the Point I have heard officers' wives 
 use the same tone to the enlisted men. Its effect 
 on them was to drive them into a surly silence. 
 
 But Miss Fiske did not seem conscious of her 
 tone. 
 
 " After I had spoken," she went on evenly, 
 " they told me of your reputation in this country, 
 that you are known to be quite fearless. They 
 told me of your ordering your own men to shoot 
 
 231
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 you, and of how you took a cannon with your 
 hands. Well, I cannot see since your reputa 
 tion for bravery is so well established that you 
 need to prove it further, certainly not by engag 
 ing in a silly duel. You cannot add to it by 
 fighting my brother, and if you should injure him, 
 you would bring cruel distress to to others." 
 
 " I assure you " I began. 
 
 " Pardon me," she said, raising her hand, but 
 still speaking in the same even tone. " Let me 
 explain myself fully. Your own friends said in 
 my hearing," she went on, " that they did not 
 desire a fight. It is then my remark only which 
 apparently makes it inevitable." 
 
 She drew herself up and her tone grew even 
 more distant and disdainful. 
 
 " Now, it is not possible," she exclaimed, 
 " that you and your friends are going to take ad 
 vantage of my mistake, and make it the excuse 
 for this meeting. Suppose any harm should 
 come to my brother." For the first time her 
 voice carried a touch of feeling. " It would be 
 my fault. I would always have myself to blame. 
 And I want to ask you not to fight him. I 
 want to ask you to withdraw from this al 
 together." 
 
 I was completely confused. Never before had 
 a young lady of a class which I had so seldom 
 
 232
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 met, spoken to me even in the words of every 
 day civility, and now this one, who was the most 
 wonderful and beautiful woman I had ever seen, 
 was asking me to grant an impossible favor, was 
 speaking of my reputation for bravery as though 
 it were a fact which everyone accepted, and was 
 begging me not to make her suffer. What added 
 to my perplexity was that she asked me to act 
 only as I desired to act, but she asked it in such 
 a manner that every nerve in me rebelled. 
 
 I could not understand how she could ask so 
 great a favor of one she held in such evident con 
 tempt. It seemed to me that she should not 
 have addressed me at all, or if she did ask me 
 to stultify my honor and spare the life of her 
 precious brother she should not have done so in 
 the same tone with which she would have asked 
 a tradesman for his bill. The fact that I knew, 
 since I meant to fire in the air, that the duet was a 
 farce, made it still more difficult for me to speak. 
 
 But I managed to say that what she asked was 
 impossible. 
 
 " I do not know/' I stammered, " that I ought 
 to talk about it to you at all. But you don't un 
 derstand that your brother did not only insult 
 me. He insulted my regiment, and my general. 
 It was that I resented, and that is why I am 
 fighting." 
 
 233
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 cc Then you refuse ? " she said. 
 
 " I have no choice," I replied ; " he has left 
 me no choice." 
 
 She drew back, but still stood looking at me 
 coldly. The dislike in her eyes wounded me 
 inexpressively. 
 
 Before she spoke I had longed only for the 
 chance to assure her of my regard, and had she 
 appealed to me generously, in a manner suited to 
 one so noble-looking, I was in a state of mind to 
 swim livers and climb mountains to serve her. 
 I still would have fought the duel, but sooner 
 than harm her brother I would have put my 
 hand in the fire. Now, since she had spoken, I 
 was filled only with pity and disappointment. It 
 seemed so wrong that one so finely bred and 
 wonderfully fair should feel so little considera 
 tion. No matter how greatly she had been prej 
 udiced against me she had no cause to ignore my 
 rights in the matter. To speak to me as though 
 I had no honor of my own, no worthy motive, to 
 treat me like a common brawler who, because his 
 vanity was wounded, was trying to force an unof 
 fending stranger to a fight. 
 
 My vanity was wounded, but I felt more sorry 
 for her than for myself, and when she spoke 
 again I listened eagerly, hoping she would say 
 something which would soften what had gone be- 
 
 234
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 fore. But she did not make it easier for either 
 of us. 
 
 " If I persuade my brother to apologize for 
 what he said of your regiment," she continued, 
 " will you accept his apology ? " Her tone was 
 one partly of interrogation, partly of command. 
 " I do not think he is likely to do so," she 
 added, " but if you will let that suffice, I shall see 
 him at once, and ask him." 
 
 " You need not do that ! " I replied, quickly. 
 " As I have said, it is not my affair. It concerns 
 my a great many people. I am sorry, but the 
 meeting must take place." 
 
 For the first time Miss Fiske smiled, but it 
 was the same smile of amusement with which she 
 had regarded us when she first saw us in the 
 plaza. 
 
 " I quite understand," she said, still smiling. 
 " You need not assure me that it concerns a great 
 many people." She turned away as though the 
 interview was at an end, and then halted. She 
 had stepped into the circle of the moonlight so 
 that her beauty shone full upon me. 
 
 " 1 know that it concerns a great many peo 
 ple," she cried. " I know that it is all a part of 
 the plot against my father ! " 
 
 I gave a gasp of consternation which she mis 
 construed, for she continued, bitterly. 
 
 235
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 " Oh, I know everything," she said. " Mr, 
 Graham has told me all that you mean to do. I 
 was foolish to appeal to any one of you. You 
 have set out to fight my father, and your friends 
 will use any means to win. But I should have 
 thought," she cried, her voice rising and ringing 
 like an alarm, " that they would have stopped at 
 assassinating his son." 
 
 I stepped back from her as though she had 
 struck at me. 
 
 " Miss Fiske," I cried. What she had charged 
 was so monstrous, so absurd that I could answer 
 nothing in defence. My brain refused to believe 
 that she had said it. I could not conceive that 
 any creature so utterly lovely could be so unsee 
 ing, so bitter, and so unfair. 
 
 Her charge was ridiculous, but my disappoint 
 ment in her was so keen that the tears came to 
 my eyes. 
 
 I put my hat back on my head, saluted her 
 and passed her quickly. 
 
 " Captain Macklin," she cried. " What is it *" 
 What have I said ? " She stretched out her hand 
 toward me, but I did not stop. 
 
 " Captain Macklin ! " she called after me in 
 such a voice that I was forced to halt and turn. 
 
 " What are you going to do ? " she demanded. 
 ** Oh, yes, I see," she exclaimed. " I see how it 
 
 236
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 sounded to you. And you ? " she cried. Her 
 voice was trembling with concern. " Because 1 
 said that, you mean to punish me for it through 
 my brother? You mean to make him suffer. 
 You will kill him ! " Her voice rose to an accent 
 of terror. " But I only said it because he is my 
 brother, my own brother. Cannot you under 
 stand what that means to me ? Cannot you 
 understand why I said it ? " 
 
 We stood facing each other, I, staring at her 
 miserably, and she breathing quickly, and holding 
 her hand to her side as though she had been run 
 ning a long distance. 
 
 " No," I said in a low voice. It was very hard for 
 me to speak at all. " No, I cannot understand.** 
 
 I pulled off my hat again, and stood before her 
 crushing it in my hands. 
 
 " Why didn't you trust me ? " I said, bitterly. 
 " How could you doubt what I would do ? I 
 trusted you. From the moment you came riding 
 toward me, I thanked God for the sight of such a 
 woman. For making anything so beautiful." 
 
 I stopped, for I saw I had again offended. At 
 the words she drew back quickly, and her eyes 
 shone with indignation. She looked at me as 
 though I had tried to touch her with my hand. 
 But I spoke on without heeding her. I repeated 
 the words with which I had offended. 
 
 227
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 " Yes," I said, " I thanked God for anything 
 so noble and so beautiful. To me, you could do 
 no wrong. But you ! You judged me before 
 you even knew my name. You said I was a cad 
 who went about armed to fight unarmed men. 
 To you I was a coward who could be frightened 
 off by a tale of bulls-eyes, and broken pipe-stems 
 at a Paris fair. What do I care for your brother's 
 tricks. Let him see my score cards at West 
 Point. He'll find them framed on the walls. 1 
 was first a coward and a cad, and now I am a 
 bully and a hired assassin. From the first, you and 
 your brother have laughed at me and mine while 
 all I asked of you was to be what you seemed 
 to be, what I was happy to think you were. I 
 wanted to believe in you. Why did you show 
 me that you can be selfish and unfeeling ? It is 
 you who do not understand. You understand so 
 little," I cried, " that I pity you from the bottom 
 of my heart. I give you my word, I pity you." 
 
 " Stop," she commanded. I drew back and 
 bowed, and we stood confronting each other in 
 silence. 
 
 " And they call you a brave man," she said at 
 speaking slowly and steadily, as though she 
 picking each word. " It is like a brave man 
 to insult a woman, because she wants to save her 
 brother's life." 
 
 238
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 When I raised my face it was burning, as 
 though she had thrown vitriol. 
 
 " If I have insulted you, Miss Fiske," I said, 
 " if I have ever insulted any woman, I hope to 
 God that to-morrow morning your brother will 
 kill me." 
 
 When I turned and looked back at her from 
 the door, she was leaning against one of the pillars 
 with her face bent in her hands, and weeping bit 
 terly. 
 
 I rode to the barracks and spent several hours 
 in writing a long letter to Beatrice. I felt a great 
 need to draw near to her. I was confused and 
 sore and unhappy, and although nothing of this, 
 nor of the duel appeared in my letter, I was com 
 forted to think that I was writing it to her. It 
 was good to remember that there was such a 
 woman in the world, and when I compared her 
 with the girl from whom I had just parted, I 
 laughed out loud. 
 
 And yet I knew that had I put the case to 
 Beatrice, she would have discovered something 
 to present in favor of Miss Fiske. 
 
 " She was pleading for her brother, and she 
 did not understand," Beatrice would have said. 
 But in my own heart I could find no excuse. 
 Her family had brought me nothing but evil. 
 Because her father would not pay his debts, I had 
 
 2 39
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 been twice wounded and many times had risked 
 death ; the son had struck me with a whip in the 
 public streets, and the sister had called me every 
 thing that is contemptible, from a cad to a hired 
 cut-throat. So, I was done with the house of 
 Fiske. My hand was against it. I owed it 
 nothing. 
 
 But with all my indignation against them, for 
 which there was reason enough, I knew in my 
 heart that I had looked up to them, and stood in 
 awe of them, for reasons that made me the cad 
 they called me. Ever since my arrival in Hon 
 duras I had been carried away by the talk of the 
 Fiske millions, and later by the beauty of the 
 girl, and by the boy's insolent air, of what I ac 
 cepted as good breeding. I had been impressed 
 with his five years in Paris, by the cut of his 
 riding-clothes even, by the fact that he owned a 
 yacht. I had looked up to them, because they 
 belonged to a class who formed society, as I knew 
 society through the Sunday papers. And now 
 these superior beings had rewarded my snobbish 
 ness by acting toward me in a way that was con 
 trary to every ideal I held of what was right and 
 decent. For such as these, I had felt ashamed 
 of my old comrades. It was humiliating, but it 
 was true ; and as I admitted this to myself, my 
 cheeks burned in the darkness, and I buried my 
 
 240
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 face in the pillow. For some time I lay awake 
 debating fiercely in my mind as to whether, when 
 I faced young Fiske, I should shoot the pistol 
 out of his hand, or fire into the ground. And it 
 was not until I had decided that the latter act 
 would better show our contempt for him and his 
 insult, that I fell asleep. 
 
 Von Ritter and Miller woke me at four o'clock. 
 They were painfully correct and formal. Miller 
 had even borrowed something of the Baron's 
 manner, which sat upon him as awkwardly as 
 would a wig and patches. I laughed at them 
 both, but, for the time being, they had lost their 
 sense of humor; and we drank our coffee in a 
 constrained and sleepy silence. 
 
 At the graveyard we found that Fiske, his two 
 seconds, Graham and Lowell, the young Middy, 
 and a local surgeon had already arrived. We 
 exchanged bows and salutes gloomily and the 
 seconds gathered together, and began to talk in 
 hoarse whispers. It was still very dark. The 
 moon hung empty and pallid above the cold out 
 line of the hills, and although the roosters were 
 crowing cheerfully, the sun had not yet risen. 
 In the hollows the mists lay like lakes, and every 
 stone and rock was wet and shining as though it 
 had been washed in readiness for the coming 
 day. The gravestones shone upon us like freshly 
 
 241
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 scrubbed doorsteps It was a most dismal spot, 
 and I was so cold that I was afraid I would shiver, 
 and Fiske might think I was nervous. So I 
 moved briskly about among the graves, reading 
 the inscriptions on the tombstones. Under the 
 circumstances the occupation, to a less healthy 
 mind, would have been depressing. My adver 
 sary, so it seemed to me, carried himself with a 
 little too much unconcern. It struck me that he 
 overdid it. He laughed with the local surgeon, 
 and pointed out the moon and the lakes of mist 
 as though we had driven out to observe the view. 
 I could not think of anything to do which would 
 show that I was unconcerned too, so I got back 
 into the carriage and stretched my feet out to the 
 seat opposite, and continued to smoke my cigar. 
 
 Incidentally, by speaking to Lowell, I hurt 
 Von Ritter's feelings. It seems that as one of 
 the other man's seconds I should have been 
 more haughty with him. But when he passed 
 me, pacing out the ground, he saluted stiffly, and 
 as I saluted back, I called out : " I suppose you 
 know you'll catch it if they find out about this at 
 Washington ? " And he answered, with a grin : 
 " Yes, I know, but I couldn't get out of it." 
 
 " Neither could I," I replied, cheerfully, and 
 in so loud a tone that everyone heard me. Von 
 Ritter was terribly annoyed. 
 
 242
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 At last all was arranged and we took our places. 
 We were to use pistols They were double- 
 barrelled affairs, with veiy fine hair- triggers. 
 Graham was to give the word by asking if we 
 were ready, and was then to count " One, two, 
 three." 
 
 After the word ec one " we could fire when we 
 pleased. When each of us. had emptied both 
 barrels, our honor was supposed to be satisfied. 
 
 Young Fiske wore a blue yachting suit with 
 the collar turned up, and no white showing except 
 his face, and that in the gray light of the dawn 
 was a sickly white, like the belly of a fish. After 
 he had walked to his mark he never took his eyes 
 from me. They seemed to be probing around 
 under my uniform for the vulnerable spot. I 
 had never before had anyone look at me, who 
 seemed to so frankly dislike me. 
 
 Curiously enough, I kept thinking of the story 
 of the man who boasted he was so good a shot 
 that he could break the stem of a wine-glass, and 
 how someone said: "Yes, but the wine-glass 
 isn't holding a pistol." Then, while I was smil 
 ing at the application I had made of this story to 
 my scowling adversary, there came up a picture, 
 not of home and of Beatrice, nor of my past sins, 
 but of the fellow's sister as 1 last saw her in the 
 moonlight, leaning against the pillar of the bal- 
 
 243
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 cony with her head bow *d in her hands. And at 
 once it all seemed con' ^mptible and cruel. No 
 quarrel in the world r so it appeared to me then, 
 was worth while if it were going to make a woman 
 suffer. And for an instant I was so indignant 
 with Fiske for having dragged me into this one, 
 to feed his silly vanity, that for a moment I felt 
 like walking over and giving him a sound thrash 
 ing. But at the instant I heard Graham demand, 
 " Are you ready ? " and I saw Fiske fasten his 
 eyes on mine, and nod his head. The moment 
 had come. 
 
 " One," Graham counted, and at the word 
 Fiske threw up his gun and fired, and the ball 
 whistled past my ear. My pistol was still hang 
 ing at my side, so I merely pulled the trigger, 
 and the ball went into the ground. But instant 
 ly I saw my mistake. Shame and consternation 
 were written on the faces of my two seconds, and 
 to the face of Fiske there came a contemptuous 
 smile. I at once understood my error. I read 
 what was in the mind of each. They dared to 
 think I had pulled the trigger through nervous 
 ness, that I had fired before I was ready, that I 
 was frightened and afraid. I am sure I never 
 was so angry in my life, and I would have cried 
 out to them, if a movement on the part of Fiske 
 had not sobered me. Still smiling, he lifted his 
 
 244
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 pistol slightly and aimed for, so it seemed to me, 
 some seconds, and then fired. 
 
 I felt the bullet cut the lining of my tunic and 
 burn the flesh over my ribs, and the warm blood 
 tickling my side, but I was determined he should 
 not know he had hit me, and not even my lips 
 moved. 
 
 Then a change, so sudden and so remarkable, 
 came over the face of young Fiske, that its very 
 agony fascinated me. At first it was incompre 
 hensible, and then I understood. He had fired 
 his last shot, he thought he had missed, and he 
 was waiting for me, at my leisure, to kill him with 
 my second bullet. 
 
 I raised the pistol, and it was as though you 
 could hear the silence. Every waking thing 
 about us seemed to suddenly grow still. I 
 brought the barrel slowly to a level with his 
 knee, raised it to his heart, passed it over his 
 head, and, aiming in the air, fired at the moon, 
 and then tossed the gun away. The waking 
 world seemed to breathe again, and from every 
 side there came a chorus of quick exclamations ; 
 but without turning to note who made them, nor 
 what they signified, I walked back to the car 
 riage, and picked up my cigar. It was still burn 
 ing. 
 
 Von Ritter ran to the side of the carriage. 
 245
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 " You must wait," he protested. " Mr. Fiske 
 wishes to shake hands with you. It is not fin 
 ished yet." 
 
 " Yes, it is finished," I replied, savagely. " I 
 have humored you two long enough. A pest on 
 both your houses. I'm going back to break 
 fast." 
 
 Poor Von Ritter drew away, deeply hurt and 
 scandalized, but my offence was nothing to the 
 shock he received when young Lowell ran to the 
 carriage and caught up my hand. He looked at 
 me with a smile that would have softened a Spanish 
 duenna. 
 
 " See here ! " he cried. " Whether you like it 
 or not, you've got to shake hands with me. I 
 want to tell you that was one of the finest things 
 I ever saw." He squeezed my fingers until the 
 bones crunched together. "I've heard a lot about 
 you, and now I believe all I've heard. To stand 
 up there," he ran on, breathlessly, " knowing you 
 didn't mean to fire, and knowing he was a dead 
 shot, and make a canvas target of yourself that 
 was bully. You were an ass to do it, but it was 
 great. You going back to breakfast ? " he de 
 manded, suddenly, with the same winning, eager 
 smile. " So am I. I speak to go with you." 
 
 Before I could reply he had vaulted into the 
 carriage, and was shouting at the driver. 
 
 246
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 " Cochero, to the Barracks. Full speed ahead. 
 Vamoose. Give way. Allez vite ! " 
 
 " But my seconds," I protested. 
 
 " They can walk," he said. 
 
 Already the horses were at a gallop, and as we 
 swung around the wall of the graveyard and 
 were hidden from the sight of the others, Lowell 
 sprang into the seat beside me. With the quick 
 fingers of the sailor, he cast off my sword-belt 
 and tore open my blouse. 
 
 " I wanted to get you away," he muttered, 
 " before he found out he had hit you." 
 
 " I'm not hit," I protested. 
 
 " Just as you like," he said. " Still, it looks 
 rather damp to the left here." 
 
 But, as I knew, the bullet had only grazed me, 
 and the laugh of relief Lowell gave when he 
 raised his head, and said, " Why, it's only a 
 scratch," meant as much to me as though he had 
 rendered me some great service. For it seemed 
 to prove a genuine, friendly concern, and no one, 
 except Laguerre, had shown that for me since I 
 had left home. I had taken a fancy to Lowell 
 from the moment he had saluted me like a 
 brother officer in the Plaza, and I had wished he 
 would like me. I liked him better than any 
 other young man I had ever met. I had never 
 had a man for a friend, but before we had finished 
 
 247
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 breakfast I believe we were better friends than 
 many boys who had lived next door to each other 
 from the day they were babies. 
 
 As a rule, I do not hit it off with men, so I felt 
 that his liking me was a great piece of good fort 
 une, and a great honor. He was only three 
 years older than myself, but he knew much more 
 about everything than I did, and his views of 
 things were as fine and honorable as they were 
 amusing. 
 
 Since then we have grown to be very close 
 friends indeed, and we have ventured together 
 into many queer corners, but I have never 
 ceased to admire him, and I have always found 
 him the same unconscious of himself and 
 sufficient to himself. I mean that if he were 
 presented to an Empress he would not be im 
 pressed, nor if he chatted with a bar-maid would 
 he be familiar. He would just look at each of 
 them with his grave blue eyes and think only of 
 what she was saying, and not at all of what sort 
 of an impression he was making, or what she 
 thought of him. Aiken helped me a lot by mak 
 ing me try not to be like Aiken ; Lowell helped 
 me by making me wish to be like Lowell. 
 
 We had a very merry breakfast, and the fact 
 that it was seven in the morning did not in the 
 least interfere with our drinking each other's 
 
 248
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 Aealth in a quart of champagne. Nearly all of 
 our officers came in while we were at breakfast to 
 learn if I were still alive, and Lowell gave them 
 most marvellous accounts of the affair, sometimes 
 representing me as an idiot and sometimes as an 
 heroic martyr. 
 
 They all asked him if he thought Fiske had 
 sufficient influence at Washington to cause the 
 Government to give him the use of the Raleigh 
 against us, but he would only laugh and shake 
 his head. 
 
 Later, to Laguerre, he talked earnestly on the 
 same subject, and much to the point. 
 
 The news of the duel had reached the palace 
 at eight o'clock, and the president at once started 
 for the barracks. 
 
 We knew he was coming when we heard the 
 people in the cafes shouting " Viva," as they 
 always did when he appeared in public, and, 
 though I was badly frightened as to what he 
 would say to me, I ran to the door and turned 
 out the guard to receive him. 
 
 He had put on one of the foreign uniforms he 
 was entitled to wear he did not seem to fancy 
 the one I had designed and as he rode across 
 the Plaza I thought I had never seen a finer 
 soldier. Lowell said he looked like a field mar 
 shal of the S'*"'*" 1 Empire. I was .glad Lowell 
 
 249
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 had come to the door with me, as he could now 
 see for himself that my general was one for whom 
 a man might be proud to fight a dozen duels. 
 
 The president gave his reins to an orderly and 
 mounted the steps, touching his chapeau to the 
 salute of guard and the shouting citizens, but his 
 eyes were fixed sternly on me. I saw that he was 
 deeply moved, and I wished fervently, now that 
 it was too late, that I had told him }f the street 
 fight at the time, and not allowed him to Lear of 
 it from others. I feared the worst. I was pre 
 pared for any reproof, any punishment, even the 
 loss of my commission, and I braced myself for 
 his condemnation. 
 
 But when he reached the top step where I 
 stood at salute, although I was inwardly quaking, 
 he halted and his lips suddenly twisted, and the 
 tears rushed to his eyes. 
 
 He tried to speak, but made only a choking, 
 inarticulate sound, and then, with a quick gest 
 ure, before all the soldiers and all the people, he 
 caught me in his arms. 
 
 " My boy," he whispered, " my boy ! For 
 you were lost," he murmured, " and have re 
 turned to me." 
 
 I heard Lowell running away, and the door of 
 the guard-room banging behind him. I heard 
 the cheers of the people who, it seems, already 
 
 250
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 knew of the duel and understood the tableau on 
 the barrack steps, but the thought that Laguerre 
 cared for me even as a son made me deaf to 
 everything, and my heart choked with happiness. 
 
 It passed in a moment, and in manner he was 
 once more my superior officer, but the door he 
 had opened was never again wholly shut to me. 
 
 In the guard-room I presented Lowell to the 
 president, and I was proud to see the respect 
 with which Lowell addressed him. At the first 
 glance they seemed to understand each other, and 
 they talked together as simply as would friends 
 of long acquaintance. 
 
 After they had spoken of many things, La 
 guerre said : Cf Would it be fair for me to ask 
 you, Mr. Lowell, what instructions the United 
 States has given your commanding officer in 
 regard to our government?" 
 
 To this Lowell answered : " All I know, sir, is 
 that when we arrived at Amapala, Captain Miller 
 telegraphed the late president, Doctor Alvarez, 
 that we were here to protect American interests. 
 But you probably know," he added, " as every 
 one else does, that we came here because the 
 Isthmian Line demanded protection." 
 
 " Yes, so I supposed," Laguerre replied. 
 " But I understand Mr. Graham has said that 
 when Mr. Fiske gives the word Captain Miller 
 
 251
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 will land your marines and drive us out of the 
 country." 
 
 Lowell shrugged his shoulders and frowned. 
 
 " Mr. Graham " he began, "is Mr. Graham/' 
 He added : " Captain Miller is not taking orders 
 from civilians, and he depends on his own sources 
 for information. I am here because he seat n^ 
 to f Go, look, see,' and report. I have been wip 
 ing him ever since you started from the coast s 
 and since you became president. Your censor 
 has very kindly allowed me to use our cipher." 
 
 I laughed, and said : " We court investiga 
 tion." 
 
 " Pardon me, sir," Lowell answered, earnestly, 
 addressing himself to Laguerre, " but I should 
 think you would. Why," he exclaimed, " every 
 merchant in the city has told me he considers his 
 interests have never been so secure as since you 
 became president. It is only the Isthmian Line 
 that wants the protection of our ship. The for 
 eign merchants are not afraid. I hate it ! " he 
 cried, " I hate to think that a billionaire, with a 
 pull at Washington, can turn our Jackies into 
 Janissaries. Protect American interests ! " he 
 exclaimed, indignantly, " protect American sharp 
 ers ! The Isthmian Line has no more right to 
 the protection of our Navy than have the debtors 
 in Ludlow Street Jail/' 
 
 252
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 Laguerre sat for a Jong time without reply 
 ing, and then rose and bowed to Lowell with 
 great courtesy. 
 
 " I must be returning," he said. " I thank 
 you, sir, for your good opinion. At my earliest 
 convenience I shall pay my respects to your com 
 manding officer. At ten o'clock," he continued 
 turning to me, " 1 am to have my talk with Mr. 
 Fiske. I have not the least doubt but that he 
 will see the justice of our claim against his com 
 pany, and before evening I am sure I shall be 
 able to announce throughout the republic that I 
 have his guaranty for the money. Mr. Fiske is 
 an able, upright business man, as well as a 
 gentleman, and he will not see this country 
 robbed." 
 
 He shook hands with us and we escorted him 
 to his horse. 
 
 I always like to remember him as I saw him 
 then, in that gorgeous uniform, riding away under 
 the great palms of the Plaza, with the tropical 
 sunshine touching his white hair, and flashing 
 upon the sabres of the body-guard, and the 
 people running from every side of the square to 
 cheer him. 
 
 Two hours later, when I had finished my 
 " paper " work and was setting forth on my daily 
 round. Miller came galloping up to the barracks 
 
 253
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 and flung himself out of the saddle. He nodded 
 to Lowell, and pulled me roughly to one side. 
 
 " The talk with Fiske," he whispered, " ended 
 in the deuce of a row. Fiske behaved like a 
 mule. He told Laguerre that the original charter 
 of the company had been tampered with, and 
 that the one Laguerre submitted to him was a 
 fake copy. And he ended by asking Laguerre to 
 name his price to leave them alone." 
 
 " And Laguerre ? " 
 
 " Well, what do you suppose," Miller returned, 
 3cornfully. " The General just looked at him, 
 and then picked up a pen, and began to write, 
 and said to the orderly, ' Show him out.' 
 
 " c What's that ? ' Fiske said. And Laguerre 
 answered : c Merely a figure of speech ; what I 
 really meant was " Put him out," or " throw him 
 out ! " You are an offensive and foolish old man. 
 I, the President of this country, received you and 
 conferred with you as one gentleman with an 
 other, and you tried to insult me. You are either 
 extremely ignorant, or extremely dishonest, and I 
 shall treat with you no longer. Instead, I shall 
 at once seize every piece of property belonging to 
 your company, and hold it until you pay your 
 debts. Now you go, and congratulate yourself 
 that when you tried to insult me, you did so when 
 you were under my roof, at my invitation.' 
 
 254
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 Then Laguerre wired the commandantes at all 
 the seaports to seize the warehouses and officers 
 of the Isthmian Line, and even its ships, and to 
 occupy the buildings with troops. He means 
 business," Miller cried, jubilantly. " This time 
 it's a fight to a finish.'* 
 
 Lowell had already sent for his horse, and alto 
 gether we started at a gallop for the palace. At 
 the office of the Isthmian Line we were halted by 
 a crowd so great that it blocked the street. The 
 doors of the building were barred, and two sentries 
 were standing guard in front of it. A proclama 
 tion on the wall announced that, by order of the 
 President, the entire plant of the Isthmian Line 
 had been confiscated, and that unless within two 
 weeks the company paid its debts to the govern 
 ment, the government would sell the property of 
 the company until it had obtained the money 
 due it. 
 
 At the entrance to the palace the sergeant in 
 charge of the native guard, who was one of our 
 men, told us that two ships of the Isthmian Line 
 had been caught in port ; one at Cortez on her 
 way to Aspinwall, and one at Truxillo, bound 
 north. The. passengers had been landed, and 
 were to remain on shore as guests of the govern 
 ment until they could be transferred to another 
 
 255
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 Lowell's face as he heard this was very grave, 
 and he shook his head. 
 
 " A perfectly just reprisal, if you ask me," he 
 said, " but what one lonely ensign tells you in 
 confidence, and what Fiske will tell the State De 
 partment at Washington, is a very different mat 
 ter. It's a good thing," he exclaimed, with a 
 laugh, tc that the Raleigh's on the wrong side of 
 the Isthmus. If we were in the Caribbean, they 
 might order us to make you give back those 
 ships. As it is, we can't get marines here from 
 the Pacific under three days. So I'd better start 
 them at once," he added, suddenlyo " Good- 
 by, I must wire the Captain." 
 
 " Don't let the United States Navy do any 
 thing reckless," I said. " I'm not so sure 
 you could take those ships, and I'm not so sure 
 your marines can get here in three days, either, or 
 that they ever could get here." 
 
 Lowell gave a shout of derision. 
 
 " What," he cried, " you'd fight against your 
 country's flag ? " 
 
 I told him he must not forget that at West 
 Point they had decided I was not good enough 
 to fight for my country's flag. 
 
 " We've three ships of our own now," I added, 
 with a grin. " How would you like to be Rear* 
 Admiral of the naval forces of Honduras ? ** 
 
 256
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 Lowell caught up his reins in mock terror. 
 
 "What!" he cried. "You'd dare to bribe an 
 American officer? And with such a fat bribe, 
 too ? " he exclaimed. " A Rear-Admiral at my 
 age ! That's dangerously near my price. I'm 
 afraid to listen to you. Good-by.'' He waved 
 his hand and started down the street. " Good-by, 
 Satan," he called back to me, and I laughed, and 
 he rode away. 
 
 That was the end of the laughter, of the jests, 
 of the play-acting. 
 
 After that it was grim, grim, bitter and miser 
 able. We dogs had had our day. We soldiers 
 of either fortune had tasted our cup of triumph, 
 and though it was only a taste, it had flown to 
 our brains like heavy wine, and the headaches 
 and the heartaches followed fast. For some it 
 was more than a heartache ; to them it brought 
 the deep, drugged sleep of Nirvana. 
 
 The storm broke at the moment I turned from 
 Lowell on the steps of the palace, and it did not 
 cease, for even one brief breathing space, until we 
 were cast forth, and scattered, and beaten. 
 
 As Lowell left me, General Laguerre, with 
 Aiken at his side, came hurrying down the hall 
 of the palace. The President was walking with 
 his head bowed, listening to Aiken, who was 
 whispering and gesticulating vehemently. I had 
 
 257
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 never seen him so greatly excited. When he 
 caught sight of me he ran forward. 
 
 " Here he is," he cried. " Have you heard 
 from Heinze?" he demanded. " Has he asked you 
 to send him a native regiment to Pecachua ? " 
 
 " Yes," I answered, " he wanted natives to dig 
 trenches. I sent five hundred at eight this morn- 
 ing." 
 
 Aiken clenched his fingers. It was like the 
 quick, desperate clutch of a drowning man. 
 
 " I'm right," he cried. He turned upon La- 
 guerre. " Macklin has sent them. By this time 
 our men are prisoners." 
 
 Laguerre glanced sharply at the native guard 
 drawn up at attention on either side of us. 
 " Hush," he said. He ran past us down the 
 steps, and halting when he reached the street, 
 turned and looked up at the great bulk of El 
 Pecachua that rose in the fierce sunlight, calm 
 and inscrutable, against the white, glaring masses 
 of the clouds. 
 
 " What is it ? " I whispered. 
 
 " Heinze ! " Aiken answered, savagely. 
 " Heinze has sold them Pecachua." 
 
 I cried out, but again Laguerre commanded 
 silence. " You do not know that," he said ; 
 but his voice trembled, and his face was drawn in 
 lines of deep concern. 
 
 258
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 " I warned you ! " Aiken cried, roughly. " 1 
 warned you yesterday ; I told you to send Mack 
 lin to Pecachua." 
 
 He turned on me and held me by the sleeve, 
 but like Laguerre he still continued to look fear 
 fully toward the mountain. 
 
 " They came to me last night, Graham came to 
 me," he whispered. " He offered me ten thou 
 sand dollars gold, and I did not take it." In his 
 wonder at his own integrity, in spite of the ex 
 citement which shook him, Aiken's face for an 
 instant lit with a weak, gratified smile. " I pre 
 tended to consider it," he went on, " and sent an 
 other of my men to Pecachua. He came back 
 an hour ago. He tells me Graham offered 
 Heinze twenty thousand dollars to buy off him 
 self and the other officers and the men. But 
 Heinze was afraid of the others, and so he 
 planned to ask Laguerre for a native regiment, 
 to pretend that he wanted them to work on the 
 trenches. And then, when our men were lying 
 about, suspecting nothing, the natives should fall 
 on them and tie them, or shoot them, and then 
 turn the guns on the city. And he has sent for 
 the niggars ! " Aiken cried. " And there's not 
 one of them that wouldn't sell you out. They're 
 there now ! " he cried, shaking his hand at the 
 mountain. " 1 warned you ! I warned you J " 
 
 2 59
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 Incredible as it seemed, difficult as it was to 
 believe such baseness, I felt convinced that Aiken 
 spoke the truth. The thought sickened me, but 
 I stepped over to Laguerre and saluted. 
 
 " I can assemble the men in half an hour," I 
 said. " We can reach the base of the rock an 
 hour later." 
 
 " But if it should not be true," Laguerre pro 
 tested. " The insult to Heinze " 
 
 " Heinze ! " Aiken shouted, and broke into a 
 volley of curses. But the oaths died in his throat. 
 We heard a whirr of galloping hoofs ; a man's 
 voice shrieking to his horse ; the sounds of many- 
 people running, and one of my scouts swept into 
 the street, and raced toward us. He fell off at 
 our feet, and the pony rolled upon its head, its 
 flanks heaving horribly and the blood spurting 
 from its nostrils. 
 
 " Garcia and Alvarez ! ** the man panted. 
 " They're making for the city. They tried to fool 
 us. They left their tents up, and fires burning, 
 and started at night, but I smelt 'em the moment 
 they struck the trail. We fellows have been on 
 their flanks since sun-up, picking 'em off at long 
 range, but we can't hold them. They'll be here 
 in two hours." 
 
 " Now, will you believe me ? " Aiken shouted. 
 "That's their plot. They're working together, 
 
 260
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 They mean to trap us on every side. Ah ! *' he 
 cried. " Look ! " 
 
 I knew the thing at which he wished me to 
 look. His voice and my dread told me at what 
 his arm was pointing. 
 
 I raised my eyes fearfully to El Pecachua. 
 From its green crest a puff of smoke was swelling 
 into a white cloud, the cloud was split with a flash 
 of flame, and the dull echo of the report drifted 
 toward us on the hot, motionless air. At the 
 same instant our flag on the crest of Pecachua, 
 the flag with the five-pointed, blood-red star, 
 came twitching down ; and a shell screeched and 
 broke above us. 
 
 Now that he knew the worst, the doubt and 
 concern on the face of General Laguerre fell from 
 it like a mask. 
 
 " We have no guns that will reach the moun 
 tain, have we? " he asked. He spoke as calmly 
 as though we were changing guard. 
 
 " No, not one," I answered. " All our heavy 
 pieces are on Pecachua." 
 
 " Then we must take it by assault," he said. 
 ** We will first drive Garcia back, and then we 
 will storm the hill, or starve them out. Assem 
 ble all the men at the palace at once. Trust to 
 no one but yourself. Ride to every outpost and 
 order them here. Send Von Ritter and the gat- 
 
 261
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 lings to meet Alvarez. This man will act as his 
 guide." 
 
 He turned to the scout. " You will find my 
 horse in the court-yard of the palace," he said to 
 him. " Take it, and accompany Captain Mack 
 lin. Tell Von Ritter," he continued, turning to 
 me, " not to expose his men, but to harass the 
 enemy, and hold him until I come." His tone 
 was easy, confident, and assured. Even as I 
 listened to his command I marvelled at the ra 
 pidity with which his mind worked, how he rose 
 to an unexpected situation, and met unforeseen 
 difficulties. 
 
 "That is all," he said. I will expect the 
 men here in half an hour." 
 
 He turned from me calmly. As he re-entered 
 the palace between the lines of the guard he 
 saluted as punctiliously as though he were on his 
 way to luncheon. 
 
 But no one else shared in his calmness. The 
 bursting shells had driven the people from their 
 houses, and they were screaming through the 
 streets, as though an earthquake had shaken the 
 city. Even the palace was in an uproar. 
 
 The scout, as he entered it, shouting for the 
 President's horse, had told the story to our men, 
 and they came running to the great doors, fasten 
 ing their accoutrements as they ran. Outside, 
 
 262
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 even as Laguerre had been speaking, the people 
 had gathered in a great circle, whispering and 
 gesticulating, pointing at us, at the dying horse, 
 at the shells that swung above us, at the flag of 
 Alvarez which floated from Pecachua. When I 
 spurred my horse forward, with the scout at my 
 side, there was a sullen silence. The smiles, the 
 raised hats, the cheers were missing, and I had 
 but turned my back on them when a voice shouted, 
 "Viva Alvarez!" 
 
 I swung in my saddle, and pulled out my 
 sword. I thought it was only the bravado of 
 some impudent fellow who needed a lesson. 
 
 But it was a signal, for as I turned I saw the 
 native guard spring like one man upon our ser 
 geant and drive their bayonets into his throat. 
 He went down with a dozen of the dwarf-like 
 negroes stabbing and kicking at him, and the 
 mob ran shrieking upon the door of the palace. 
 
 On the instant I forgot everything except La 
 guerre. 1 had only one thought, to get to him, 
 to place myself at his side. 
 
 I pushed my horse among the people, beating 
 at the little beasts with my sword. But the voice 
 I knew best of all called my name from just 
 above my head, and I looked up and saw La 
 guerre with Aiken and Webster on the iron bal 
 cony of the palace. 
 
 263
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 Laguerre's face was white and set. 
 
 " Captain Macklin I " he cried. " What does 
 this mean? Obey your orders. You have my 
 orders. Obey my orders." 
 
 " I can't/' I cried. " This is an attack upon 
 you ! They will kill you ! " 
 
 At the moment I spoke our men fired a scat 
 tering volley at the mob, and swung to the great 
 gates. The mob answered their volley with a 
 dozen pistol-shots, and threw itself forward. Still 
 looking up, I saw Laguerre clasp his hands to 
 his throat, and fall back upon Webster's shoulder, 
 but he again instantly stood upright and motioned 
 me fiercely with his arm. " Go," he cried. " Bring 
 the gatlings here, and all the men. If you delay 
 we lose the palace. Obey my orders," he again 
 commanded, with a second fierce gesture. 
 
 The movement was all but fatal. The wound 
 in his throat tore apart, his head fell forward and 
 his eyes closed. I saw the blood spreading and dye 
 ing the gold braid. But he straightened himself 
 and leaned forward. His eyes opened, and, hold 
 ing himself erect with one hand on the railing of 
 the balcony, he stretched the other over me, as 
 though in benediction. 
 
 "Go, Royal!" he cried, "and God bless 
 you ! " 
 
 264.
 
 VI 
 
 I BENT my head and drove my spurs into 
 my horse. I did not know where he was 
 carrying me. My eyes were shut with tears, and 
 with the horror of what I had witnessed. I was 
 reckless, mad, for the first time in my life, filled 
 with hate against my fellow-men. I rode a hun 
 dred yards before I heard the scout at my side 
 shouting, " To the right, Captain, to the right." 
 
 At the word I pulled on my rein, and we 
 turned into the Plaza. 
 
 The scout was McGraw, the Kansas cowboy, 
 who had halted Aiken and myself the day we first 
 met with the filibusters. He was shooting from 
 the saddle as steadily as other men would shoot 
 with a rest, and each time he fired, he laughed. 
 The laugh brought me back to the desperate 
 need of our mission. I tricked myself into be 
 lieving that Laguerre was not seriously wound 
 ed. I persuaded myself that by bringing him aid 
 quickly I was rendering him as good service as 1 
 might have given had I remained at his side. 1 
 shut out the picture of him, faint and bleeding, 
 and opened my eyes to the work before us. 
 
 We were like the lost dogs on a race-course 
 265
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 that run between lines of hooting men. On every 
 side we were assailed with cries. Even the voices 
 of women mocked at us. Men sprang at my 
 bridle, and my horse rode them down. They 
 shot at us from the doors of the cafes, from either 
 curbstone. As we passed the barracks even the 
 men of my own native regiment raised their rifles 
 and fired. 
 
 The nearest gun was at the end of the Calle 
 Bogran, and we raced down it, each with his 
 revolver cocked, and held in front of him. 
 
 But before we reached the outpost I saw the 
 men who formed it, pushing their way toward us, 
 bunched about their gatling with their clubbed 
 rifles warding off the blows of a mob that struck 
 at them from every side. They were ignorant of 
 what had transpired ; they did not know who 
 was, or who was not their official enemy, and they 
 were unwilling to fire upon the people, who a. 
 moment before, before the flag of Alvarez had 
 risen on Pecachua, had been their friends and 
 comrades. These friends now beset them like a 
 pack of wolves. They hung upon their flanks 
 and stabbed at them from the front and rear. 
 The air was filled with broken tiles from the 
 roofs, and with flying paving-stones. 
 
 When the men saw us they raised a broken 
 cheer. 
 
 266
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 " Open that gun on them I " I shouted. 
 " Clear the street, and push your gun to the 
 palace. Laguerre is there. Kill every man in 
 this street if you have to, but get to the palace." 
 
 The officer in charge fought his way to my 
 side. He was covered with sweat and blood. 
 He made a path for himself with his bare arms. 
 
 " What in hell does this mean, Macklin ? " he 
 shouted. " Who are we fighting ? " 
 
 " You are fighting every native you see," I 
 ordered. " Let loose up this street. Get to the 
 paiace ! " 
 
 I rode on to the rear of the gun, and as 
 McGraw and I raced on toward the next post, 
 we heard it stabbing the air with short, vicious 
 blows. 
 
 At the same instant the heavens shook with a 
 clap of thunder, the sky turned black, and with 
 the sudden fierceness of the tropics, heavy drops 
 of rain began to beat upon us, and to splash in 
 the dust like hail. 
 
 A moment later and the storm burst upon the 
 city. The streets were swept with great sheets of 
 water, torrents flowed from the housetop, the 
 skies darkened to ink, or were ripped asunder by 
 vivid flashes, and the thunder rolled unceasingly. 
 We were half drowned, as though we were 
 dragged through a pond, and our ponies bowed 
 
 267
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 and staggered before the double onslaught of 
 wind and water. We bent our bodies to theirs, 
 and lashed them forward. 
 
 The outpost to which we were now riding was 
 stationed at the edge of the city where the Calle 
 Morizan joins the trail to San Lorenzo on the 
 Pacific coast. As we approached it I saw a num 
 ber of mounted men, surrounding a closed car 
 riage. They were evidently travellers starting 
 forth on the three days' ride to San Lorenzo, to 
 cross to Amapala, where the Pacific Mail takes 
 on her passengers. They had been halted by 
 our sentries. As I came nearer I recognized, 
 through the mist of rain, Joseph Fiske, young 
 Fiske, and a group of the Isthmian men. The 
 storm, or the bursting shells, had stampeded 
 their pack-train, and a dozen frantic Mozos were 
 rounding up the mules and adding their shrieks 
 and the sound of their falling whips to the tumult 
 of the storm. 
 
 I galloped past them to where our main guard 
 were lashing the canvas-cover to their gun, and 
 ordered them to unstrap it, and fight their way to 
 the palace. 
 
 As I turned again the sentry called : " Am I 
 to let these people go ? They have no passes." 
 
 I halted, and Joseph Fiske raised his heavy 
 eyelids, and blinked at me like a huge crocodile, 
 
 268
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 I put a restraint upon myself and moved toward 
 him with a confident smile. I could not bear to 
 have him depart, thinking he went in triumph. I 
 looked the group over carefully and said : " Cer 
 tainly, let them pass," and Fiske and some of the 
 Isthmian men, who appeared ashamed, nodded at 
 me sheepishly. 
 
 But one of them, who was hidden by the car 
 riage, called out: "You'd better come, too; 
 your ship of state is getting water-logged." 
 
 I made no sign that I heard him, but McGraw 
 instantly answered, " Yes, it looks so. The rats 
 are leaving it ! " 
 
 At that the man called back tauntingly the old 
 Spanish proverb : "He who takes Pecachua, 
 sleeps in the palace." McGraw did not under 
 stand Spanish, and looked at me appealingly, and 
 I retorted, " We've altered that, sir. The man 
 who sleeps in the palace will take Pecachua to 
 night." 
 
 And McGraw added : " Yes, and he won't take 
 it with thirty pieces of silver, either." 
 
 I started away, beckoning to McGraw, but, 
 as we moved, Mr. Fiske pushed his pony for 
 ward. 
 
 " Can you give me a pass, sir? " he asked. He 
 shouted the words, for the roaring of the storm 
 drowned all ordinary sounds. " In case I meet 
 
 269
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 with more of your men, can you give me a written 
 pass ? " 
 
 I knew that the only men of ours still outside 
 of the city were a few scouts, but I could not let 
 Fiske suspect that, so I whipped out my note 
 book and wrote : 
 
 " To commanders of all military posts : Pass 
 bearer, Joseph Fiske, his family, servants, and 
 baggage- train. 
 
 " ROYAL MACKLIN, 
 " Vice-President of Honduras" 
 
 I tore out the page and gave it him, and he 
 read it carefully and bowed. 
 
 " Does this include my friends ? " he asked, 
 nodding toward the Isthmian men. 
 
 "You can pass them off as your servants," I 
 answered, and he smiled grimly. 
 
 The men had formed around the gun, and if 
 was being pushed toward me, but as I turned to 
 meet it I was again halted, this time by young 
 Fiske, who rode his horse in front of mine, and 
 held out his hand. 
 
 " You must shake hands with me ! " he cried.. 
 " I acted like a cad.*' He bent forward, raising 
 his other arm to shield his face from the storm. 
 *' I say, I acted like a cad," he shouted, " and I 
 ask your pardon." 
 
 370
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 1 took his hand and nodded. At the same 
 moment as we held each other's hands the window 
 of the carriage was pushed down and his sister 
 leaned out and beckoned to me. Her face, beaten 
 by the rain, and with her hair blown across it, was 
 filled with distress. 
 
 " I want to thank you," she cried. ** Thank 
 you," she repeated, " for my brother. I thank 
 you. I wanted you to know." 
 
 She stretched out her hand and I took it, and 
 released it instantly, and as she withdrew her face 
 from the window of the carriage, I dug my spurs 
 into my pony and galloped on with the gun. 
 
 What followed is all confused. 
 
 I remember that we reached the third and last 
 post just after the men had abandoned it, but 
 that we overtook them, and with them fought 
 our way through the streets. But through what 
 streets, or how long it took us to reach the 
 palace I do not know. No one thing is very 
 clear to me. Even the day after, 1 remembered 
 it only as a bad dream, in which I saw innumer 
 able, dark-skinned faces pressing upon me with 
 open mouths, and white eyeballs ; lit by gleams 
 of lightning and flashes of powder. I remember 
 going down under my pony and thinking how 
 cool and pleasant it was in the wet mud, and of 
 being thrown back on him agaJn a? though ) were 
 
 271
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 a pack-saddle, and I remember wiping the rain 
 out of my eyes with a wet sleeve, and finding the 
 sleeve warm with blood. And then there was a 
 pitchy blackness through which I kept striking at 
 faces that sprang out of the storm, faces that 
 when they were beaten down were replaced by 
 other faces ; drunken, savage, exulting. I re 
 member the ceaseless booming of the thunder 
 that shook the houses like an earthquake, the 
 futile popping of revolvers, the whining shells 
 overhead, the cries and groans, the Spanish oaths, 
 and the heavy breathing of my men about me, 
 and always just in front of us, the breathless whir 
 of the gatling. 
 
 After that the next I remember I was inside 
 the palace, and breaking holes in the wall with 
 an axe. Some of my men took the axe from me, 
 and said: "He's crazy, clean crazy," and Van 
 Ritter and Miller fought with me, and held me 
 down upon a cot. From the cot I watched the 
 others making more holes in the wall, through 
 which they shoved their rifles and then there was 
 a great cheer outside, and a man came running in 
 crying, " Alvarez and Heinze are at the corner 
 with the twelve-pounders ! " Then our men 
 cursed like fiends, and swept out of the room, 
 and as no one remained to hold me down, I 
 stumbled after them into the big reception-hall, 
 
 272
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 and came upon Laguerre, lying rigid and still 
 upon a red-silk sofa. I thought he was dead, and 
 screamed, and at that they seized me again and 
 hustled me back to the cot, telling me that he was 
 not dead, but that at any moment he might die, 
 and that if I did not rest, I would die also. 
 
 When I came to, it was early morning, and 
 through the holes in the plaster wall I could see 
 the stars fading before the dawn. The gatlings 
 were gone and the men were gone, and I was 
 wondering if they had deserted me, when Von 
 Ritter came back and asked if I were strong 
 enough to ride, and 1 stood up feeling dizzy and 
 very weak. But my head was clear and I could 
 understand what he said to me. Of the whole of 
 the Foreign Legion only thirty were left. Miller 
 was killed, Russell was killed and old man Web 
 ster was killed. They told me how they had 
 caught him when he made a dash to the barracks 
 for ammunition, and how, from the roof, our men 
 had seen them place him against the iron railings 
 of the University Gardens. There he died, as 
 his hero, William Walker, had died, on the soil 
 of the country he had tried to save from itself, 
 with his arms behind him, and his blindfolded 
 eyes turned upon a firing-squad. 
 
 McGraw had been killed as he rode beside me, 
 holding me in the saddle. That hurt me worse 
 
 273
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 than all. They told me a blow from behind had 
 knocked me over, and though, of that, I could 
 remember nothing, I could still feel McGraw's 
 arm pressing my ribs, and hear his great foolish 
 laugh in my ears. 
 
 They helped me out into the court-yard, 
 where the men stood in a hollow square, with La- 
 guerre on a litter in the centre, and with the four 
 gatlings at each corner. The wound was in his 
 throat, so he could not speak, but when they led 
 me down into the Patio he raised his eyes and 
 smiled. I tried to smile back, but his face was so 
 white and drawn that I had to turn away, that he 
 might not see me crying. 
 
 There was much besides to make one weep. 
 We were running away. We were abandoning 
 the country to which some of us had come to 
 better their fortunes, to which others had come 
 that they might set the people free. We were 
 being driven out of it by the very men for whom 
 we had risked our lives. Some among us, the 
 reckless, the mercenary, the adventurers, had 
 played like gamblers for a stake, and had lost. 
 Others, as they thought, had planned wisely for 
 the people's good, had asked nothing in return 
 but that they might teach them to rule them 
 selves. But they, too, had lost, and because 
 they had lost, they were to pay the penalty. 
 
 274
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 Within the week the natives had turned from 
 us to the painted idols of their jungle, and the 
 new gods toward whom they had wavered were to 
 be sacrificed on the altars of the old. They were 
 waiting only until the sun rose to fall upon our 
 little garrison and set us up against the barrack 
 wall, as a peace offering to their former masters. 
 Only one chance remained to us. If, while it 
 were still night, we could escape from the city to 
 the hills, we might be able to fight our way to the 
 Pacific side, and there claim the protection of our 
 war-ship. 
 
 It was a forlorn hope, but we trusted to the 
 gatlings to clear a road for us, and there was no 
 other way. 
 
 So just before the dawn, silently and stealthily 
 the President and the Cabinet, and all that was 
 ieft of the Government and Army of General 
 Laguerre, stole out of his palace through a hole 
 in the courtyard-wall. 
 
 We were only a shadowy blot in the darkness, 
 but the instant we reached the open street they 
 saw us and gave cry. 
 
 From behind the barriers they had raised to 
 shut off our escape, fiom the house-tops, and 
 from the darkened windows, they opened fire with 
 rifle and artillery. But our men had seen the 
 dead faces of their leaders and comrades, and they 
 
 275
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 were frantic, desperate. They charged like mad 
 men. Nothing could hold them. Our wedge 
 swept steadily forward, and the guns sputtered 
 from the front and rear and sides, flashing and 
 illuminating the night like a war-ship in action. 
 
 They drove our enemies from behind the bar 
 ricades, and cleaned the street beyond it to the 
 bridge, and then swept the bridge itself. We 
 could hear the splashes when the men who held 
 it leaped out of range of the whirling bullets into 
 the stream below. 
 
 In a quarter of an hour we were running swiftly 
 through the sleeping suburbs, with only one of our 
 guns barking an occasional warning at the ghostly 
 figures in our rear. 
 
 We made desperate progress during the dark 
 hours of the morning, but when daylight came we 
 were afraid to remain longer on the trail, and 
 turned off into the forest. And then, as the sun 
 grew stronger, our endurance reached its limit, 
 and when they called a halt our fellows dropped 
 where they stood, and slept like dead men. But 
 they could not sleep for long. We all knew that 
 our only chance lay in reaching San Lorenzo, on 
 the Pacific Ocean. Once there, we were confi 
 dent that the war-ship would protect us, and her 
 surgeons save our wounded. By the trail and 
 unmolested, we could have reached it in three 
 
 276
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 days, but in the jungle we were forced to cut our 
 way painfully and slowly, and at times we did not 
 know whether we were moving toward the ocean 
 or had turned back upon the capital. 
 
 I do not believe that slaves hunted through a 
 swamp by blood-hounds have ever suffered more 
 keenly than did the survivors of the Foreign 
 Legion. Of our thirty men, only five were un- 
 wounded. Even those who carried Laguerre 
 wore blood-stained bandages. All were starving, 
 and after the second day of hiding in swamps and 
 fording mountain-streams, half of our little band 
 was sick with fever. We lived on what we found 
 in the woods, or stole from the clearing, on plants, 
 and roots, and fruit. We were no longer a mili 
 tary body. We had ceased to be either officers 
 or privates. We were now only so many wretched 
 fellow-beings, dependent upon each other, like 
 sailors cast adrift upon some desert island, and 
 each worked for the good of all, and the ties 
 which bound us together were stronger than those 
 of authority and discipline. Men scarcely able 
 to drag themselves on, begged for the privilege 
 of helping to carry Laguerre, and he in turn 
 besought and commanded that we leave him by 
 the trail, and hasten to the safety of the coast. 
 In one of his conscious moments he protested : 
 "I cannot live, and I am only hindering your 
 
 277
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 escape. It is not right, nor human, that one 
 man should risk the lives of all the rest. For 
 God's sake, obey my orders and put me down." 
 
 Hour after hour, by night as well as by day, 
 we struggled forward, staggering, stumbling, some 
 raving with fever, others with set faces, biting their 
 yellow lips to choke back the pain. 
 
 Three times when we endeavored to gain 
 ground by venturing on the level trail, the 
 mounted scouts of Alvarez overtook us, or at 
 tacked us from ambush, and when we beat them 
 off, they rode ahead and warned the villages that 
 we were coming ; so, that, when we reached them, 
 we were driven forth like lepers. Even the village 
 dogs snapped and bit at the gaunt figures, trem 
 bling for lack of food, and loss of sleep and blood. 
 
 But on the sixth day, just at sunset, as we had 
 dragged ourselves to the top of a wooded hill we 
 saw below us, beyond a league of unbroken jungle, 
 a great, shining sheet of water, like a cloud on the 
 horizon, and someone cried : " The Pacific ! " 
 and we all stumbled forward, and some dropped 
 on their knees, and some wept, and some swung 
 their hats and tried to cheer. 
 
 And then one of them, I never knew which, 
 started singing, " Praise God, from whom all 
 blessings flow," and we stood up, the last of the 
 Legion, shaken with fever, starving, wounded, and 
 
 278
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 hunted by our fellow-men, and gave praise to 
 God, as we had never praised Him before. 
 
 That night the fever took hold of me, and 
 in my tossings and turnings I burst open the 
 sword-wound at the back of my head. I remem 
 ber someone exclaiming " He's bled to death ! * B 
 and a torch held to my eyes, and then darkness, 
 and the sense that I was being carried and bumped 
 about on men's shoulders. 
 
 The next thing I knew I was lying in a ham 
 mock, a lot of naked, brown children were playing 
 in the dirt beside me, the sun was shining, great 
 palms were bending in the wind above me, and 
 the strong, sweet air of the salt sea was blowing 
 in my face. 
 
 I lay for a long time trying to guess where I 
 was, and how I had come there. But I found no 
 explanation for it, so I gave up guessing, and 
 gazed contentedly at the bending palms until one 
 of the children found my eyes upon him, and 
 gave a scream, and they all pattered off like 
 frightened partridges. 
 
 That brought a native woman from behind me, 
 smiling, and murmuring prayers in Spanish. She 
 handed me a gourd filled with water. 
 
 I asked where I was, and she said, "San 
 Lorenzo." 
 
 I could have jumped out of the hammock at 
 279
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 that, but when 1 tried to do so 1 found 1 could 
 hardly raise my body. But I had gained the coast. 
 I knew I would find strength enough to leave it. 
 
 " Where are my friends ? " I asked. " Where 
 are the Gringoes ? " 
 
 But she raised her hands, and threw them wide 
 apart. 
 
 " They have gone," she said, " three, four days 
 from now, they sailed away in the white ship. 
 There was a great fighting," she said, raising her 
 eyes and shaking her head, " and they carried you 
 here, and told me to hide you. You have been 
 very ill, and you are still very ill." She gave a 
 little exclamation and disappeared, and returned 
 at once with a piece of folded paper. " For you," 
 she said. 
 
 On the outside of the paper was written in 
 Spanish : " This paper will be found on the body 
 of Royal Macklin. Let the priest bury him and 
 send word to the Military Academy, West Point, 
 U. S. A., asking that his family be informed of 
 his place of burial. They will reward you well." 
 
 Inside, in English, was the following letter in 
 Aiken's handwriting : 
 
 " DEAR OLD MAN We had to drop you 
 here, as we were too sick to carry you any farther, 
 rhey jumped us at San Lorenzo, and when we 
 
 280
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 found we couldn't get to Amapala from here, we 
 decided to scatter, and let each man take care of 
 himself. Von Ritter and I, and two of the boys, 
 are taking Laguerre with us. He is still alive, 
 but very bad. We hope to pick up a fishing- 
 boat outside of town, and make for the Raleigh. 
 We tried to carry you, too, but it wasn't possible. 
 We had to desert one of you, so we stuck by the 
 old man. We hid your revolver and money- 
 belt under the seventh palm, on the beach to the 
 right of this shack. If I'd known you had twenty 
 double eagles on you all this time, I'd have 
 cracked your skull myself. The crack you've 
 got is healing, and if you pull through the fever 
 you'll be all right. If you do, give this woman 
 twenty pesos I borrowed from her. Get her to 
 hire a boat, and men, and row it to Amapala. 
 This island is only fifteen miles out, and the Pa 
 cific Mail boat touches there Thursdays and Sun 
 days. If you leave here the night before, you can 
 make it. Whatever you do, don't go into the 
 village here or land at Amapala. If they catch 
 you on shore they will surely shoot you. So 
 board the steamer in the offing. Hoping you 
 will live to read this, and that we may meet again 
 under more agreeable circumstances, I am, 
 
 " Yours truly, 
 
 " HERBERT AIKEN." 
 281
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 " P.S. I have your gilt sword, and I'm going to 
 turn it over to the officers of the Raleigh, to take 
 back to your folks. Good luck to you, old man." 
 
 After reading this letter, which I have pre 
 served carefully as a characteristic souvenir of 
 Aiken, I had but two anxieties. The first was to 
 learn if Laguerre and the others had reached the 
 Raleigh, and the second was how could I escape 
 to the steamer the first question was at once 
 answered by the woman. She told me it was 
 known in San Lorenzo that the late " Presidente 
 Generale," with three Gringoes, had reached the 
 American war-ship and had been received on board. 
 The Commandante of Amapala had demanded 
 their surrender to him, but the captain of the ship 
 had declared that as political refugees, they were 
 entitled to the protection they claimed, and when 
 three days later he had been ordered to return to 
 San Francisco, he had taken them with him. 
 
 When I heard that, I gave a cheer all by my 
 self, and I felt so much better for the news that 
 I at once began to plot for my own departure. 
 The day was Wednesday, the day before the 
 steamer left Amapala, and I determined to start 
 for the island the following evening. When I 
 told the woman this, she protested I was much 
 too weak to move, but the risk that my hiding- 
 
 282
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 place might be discovered before another steamer- 
 day arrived was much too great, and I insisted on 
 making a try for the first one. . 
 
 The woman accordingly procured a fishing- 
 boat and a crew of three men, and I dug up my 
 money-belt, and my revolver, and thanked her 
 and paid her, for Aiken and for myself, as well 
 as one can pay a person for saving one's life. 
 The next night, as soon as the sun set, I seated 
 myself in the stern of the boat, and we pushed 
 out from the shore of Honduras, and were soon 
 rising and falling on the broad swell of the Pacific. 
 
 My crew were simple fishermen, unconcerned 
 with politics, and as I had no fear of harm from 
 them, I curled up on a mat at their feet and 
 instantly fell asleep. 
 
 When I again awoke the sun was well up, and 
 when I raised my head the boatman pointed to a 
 fringe of palms that hung above the water, and 
 which he told me rose from the Island of Ama- 
 pala. Two hours later we made out the wharves 
 and the custom-house of the port itself, and, 
 lying well toward us in the harbor, a big steamer 
 with the smoke issuing from her stacks, and the 
 American flag hanging at the stern. I was still 
 weak and shaky, and 1 must confess that I choked 
 a bit at the sight of the flag, and at the thought 
 that, in spite of all, I was going safely back to 
 
 283
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 life, and Beatrice and Aunt Mary. The name 1 
 made out on the stern of the steamer was Barra- 
 couta, and I considered it the prettiest name I 
 had ever known, and the steamer the handsomest 
 ship that ever sailed the sea. I loved her from 
 her keel to her topmast. I loved her every line 
 and curve, her every rope and bolt. But specially 
 did I love the flag at her stern and the blue Peter 
 at the fore. They meant home. They meant 
 peace, friends, and my own countrymen. 
 
 I gave the boatmen a double eagle, and we all 
 shook hands with great glee, and then with new 
 strength and unassisted I pulled myself up the 
 companion-ladder, and stood upon the deck. 
 
 When I reached it I wanted to embrace the first 
 man I saw. I somehow expected that he would 
 want to embrace me, too, and say how glad he 
 was I had escaped. But he happened to be the 
 ship's purser, and, instead of embracing me, he 
 told me coldly that steerage passengers are not 
 allowed aft. But I did not mind, I knew that I 
 was a disreputable object, but I also knew that I 
 had gold in my money-belt, and that clothes 
 could be bought from the slop-chest. 
 
 So I said in great good-humor, that I wanted 
 a first-class cabin, the immediate use of the bath 
 room, and the services of the ship's barber. 
 
 My head was bound in a dirty bandage. My 
 284
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 uniform, which I still wore as I had nothing else, 
 was in rags from the briers, and the mud of the 
 swamps and the sweat of the fever had caked it 
 with dirt. I had an eight days' beard, and my 
 bare feet were in native sandals. So my feelings 
 were not greatly hurt because the purser was not 
 as genuinely glad to see me as I was to see him. 
 
 " A first-class passage costs forty dollars gold 
 in advance," he said. 
 
 " That's all right," I answered, and I laughed 
 from sheer, foolish happiness, " I'll take six." 
 
 We had been standing at the head of the com 
 panion-ladder, and as the purser moved rather 
 reluctantly toward his cabin, a group of men 
 came down the deck toward us. 
 
 One of them was a fat, red-faced American, 
 the others wore the uniform of Alvarez. When 
 they saw me they gave little squeals of excite 
 ment, and fell upon the fat man gesticulating 
 violently, and pointing angrily at me. 
 
 The purser halted, and if it were possible, re 
 garded me with even greater unfriendliness. As 
 for myself, the sight of the brown, impish faces, 
 and the familiar uniforms filled me with disgust. 
 I had thought I was done with brawling and 
 fighting, of being hated and hunted. I had had 
 my fill of it. I wanted to be let alone, I wanted 
 to feel that everybody about me was a friend. I 
 
 285
 
 Captain JViacklin 
 
 was not in the least alarmed, for now that I was 
 under the Stars and Stripes, I knew that I was 
 immune from capture, but the mere possibility of 
 a row was intolerable. 
 
 One of the Honduranians wore the uniform of 
 a colonel, and was, as I guessed, the Command- 
 ante of the port. He spoke to the fat man in 
 English, but in the same breath turned to one of 
 his lieutenants, and gave an order in Spanish. 
 
 The lieutenant started in my direction, and 
 then hesitated and beckoned to some one behind 
 me. 
 
 I heard a patter of bare feet on the deck, and 
 a dozen soldiers ran past me, and surrounded us. 
 I noted that they and their officers belonged to 
 the Eleventh Infantry. It was the regiment I 
 had driven out of the barracks at Santa Barbara. 
 
 The fat American in his shirt-sleeves was lis 
 tening to what the Commandante was saying, and 
 apparently with great dissatisfaction. As he lis 
 tened he scowled at me, chewing savagely on an 
 unlit cigar, and rocking himself to and fro on his 
 heels and toes. His thumbs were stuck in his 
 suspenders, so that it looked as though, with 
 great indecision he was pulling himself forward 
 and back. 
 
 I turned to the purser and said, as carelessly as 
 I could " Well, what are we waiting for ? " 
 
 286
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 But he only shook his head. 
 
 With a gesture of impatience the fat man 
 turned suddenly from the Commandante and 
 came toward me. 
 
 He spoke abruptly and with the tone of a 
 man holding authority. 
 
 " Have you got your police-permit to leave 
 Amapala ? " he demanded. 
 
 " No," I answered. 
 
 " Well, why haven't you ? " he snapped. 
 
 " I didn't know I had to have one," I said. 
 " Why do you ask ? " I added. " Are you the 
 captain of this ship ? " 
 
 " I think I am," he suddenly roared, as though 
 I had questioned his word. " Anyway, I've got 
 enough say on her to put you ashore if you don't 
 answer my questions." 
 
 I shut my lips together and looked away from 
 him. His tone stirred what little blood there 
 was still left in me to rebellion ; but when I saw 
 the shore with its swamps and ragged palms, I 
 felt how perilously near it was, and Panama be 
 came suddenly a distant mirage. I was as help 
 less as a sailor clinging to a plank. I felt I was 
 in no position to take offence, so I bit my lips 
 and tried to smile. 
 
 The Captain shook his head at me, as though 
 I were a prisoner in the dock. 
 
 287
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 " Do you mean to say," he shouted, " that our 
 agent sold you a ticket without you showing a 
 police-permit ? " 
 
 " I haven't got a ticket," I said. " I was just 
 going to buy one now." 
 
 The Commandante thrust himself between us. 
 
 " Ah, what did I tell you ? " he cried. " You 
 see ? He is escaping. This is the man. He 
 answers all the descriptions. He was dressed 
 just so ; green coat, red trousers, very torn and 
 dirty head in bandage. This is the description. 
 Is it not so ? " he demanded of his lieutenants. 
 They nodded vigorously. 
 
 " Why a-yes, that is the man," the Com 
 mandante cried in triumph. " Last night he 
 stabbed Jose Mendez in the Libertad Billiard 
 Hall. He has wanted to murder him. If Jose, 
 he die, this man he is murderer. He cannot go. 
 He must come to land with me." 
 
 He gave an order in Spanish, and the soldiers 
 closed in around us. 
 
 I saw that I was in great peril, in danger more 
 real than any I had faced in open fight since I 
 had entered Honduras. For the men who had 
 met me then had fought with fair weapons. 
 These men were trying to take away my life with 
 a trick, with cunning lies and false witnesses. 
 
 They knew the Captain might not surrender a 
 288
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 passenger who was only a political offender, but 
 that he could not harbor a criminal. And at the 
 first glance at my uniform, and when he knew 
 nothing more of me than that I wore it, the Com- 
 mandante had trumped up this charge of crime, 
 and had fitted to my appearance the imaginary 
 description of an imaginary murderer. And I 
 knew that he did this that he might send me, 
 bound hand and foot, as a gift to Alvarez, or that 
 he might, for his own vengeance, shoot me against 
 a wall. 
 
 I knew how little I would receive of either jus 
 tice or mercy. I had heard of Dr. Rojas killed 
 between decks on a steamer of this same line ; of 
 Bonilla taken from the Ariadne and murdered on 
 this very wharf at this very port of Amapala ; of 
 General Pulido strangled in the launch of the 
 Commandante of Corinto and thrown overboard, 
 while still in the sight of his fellow-passengers on 
 the Southern Cross. 
 
 It was a degraded, horrible, inglorious end 
 to be caught by the heels after the real battle was 
 lost ; to die of fever in a cell ; to be stabbed with 
 bayonets on the wharf, and thrown to the carrion 
 harbor-sharks. 
 
 I swung around upon the Captain, and fought 
 for my life as desperately as though I had a rope 
 around my neck. 
 
 289
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 " That man is a liar," I cried. " I was not in 
 Amapala last night. I came from San Lorenzo 
 this morning. ' The boat is alongside now ; you 
 can ask the men who brought me. I'm no 
 murderer. That man knows I'm no murderer, 
 He wants me because I belonged to the opposi 
 tion government. It's because I wear this uni 
 form he wants me. I'm no criminal. He has 
 no more right to touch me here, than he would 
 if I were on Broadway." 
 
 The Commandante seized the Captain's arm. 
 
 " As Commandante of this port," he screamed, 
 " I tell you if you do not surrender the murderer 
 to me, your ship shall not sail. I will take back 
 your clearance-papers." 
 
 The Captain turned on me, shaking his red 
 fists, and tossing his head like a bull. " You 
 see that ! " he cried. " You see what you get 
 me into, coming on board my ship without a per 
 mit ! That's what I get at every banana-patch 
 along this coast, a lot of damned beach-combers 
 and stowaways stealing on board, and the Com 
 mandante chasing 'em all over my ship and hold 
 ing up my papers. You go ashore ! " he ordered. 
 He swept his arm toward the gangway. " You 
 go to Kessler, our consul. If you haven't done 
 nothing wrong, he'll take care of you. You 
 haven't got a ticket, and you haven't got a per- 
 
 290
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 mit, and you're no passenger of mine ! Over 
 you go ; do you hear me ? Quick now, over 
 you go." 
 
 I could not believe that I heard the man aright. 
 He seemed to be talking a language I did not know. 
 
 " Do you mean to tell me," I cried, speaking 
 very slowly, for I was incredulous, and I was so 
 weak besides that it was difficult for me to find 
 the words, " that you refuse to protect me from 
 these half-breeds, that you are going to turn me 
 over to them to be shot ! And you call your 
 self an American ? " I cried, " and this an Ameri 
 can ship ! " 
 
 As I turned from him I found that the passen 
 gers had come forward and now surrounded us ; 
 big, tall men in cool, clean linen, and beautiful 
 women, shading their eyes with their fans, and 
 little children crowding in between them and 
 clinging to their skirts. To my famished eyes 
 they looked like angels out of Paradise. They 
 were my own people, and they brought back to 
 me how I loved the life these men were plotting 
 to take from me. The sight of them drove me 
 into a sort of frenzy. 
 
 " Are you going to take that man's word 
 against mine ? " I cried at the Captain. " Are 
 you going to let him murder me in sight of that 
 flag ? You know he'll do it. You know what 
 
 291
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 they did to Rojas on one of your own ships. Do 
 you want another man butchered in sight of your 
 passengers ? " 
 
 The Commandante crowded in front of the 
 ship's captain. 
 
 " That man is my prisoner," he cried. " He 
 is going to jail, to be tried by law. He shall see 
 his consul every day. And so, if you try to 
 leave this harbor with him, I will sink your ship 
 from the fort ! " 
 
 The Captain turned with an oath and looked 
 up to the second officer, who was leaning over 
 the rail of the bridge above us. 
 
 " Up anchor," the Captain shouted. " Get 
 her under weigh ! There is your answer," hite 
 cried, turning upon me. " I'm not going to 
 have this ship held up any longer, and I'm not 
 going to risk the lives of these ladies and gentle 
 men by any bombardment, either. You're only 
 going to jail. I'll report the matter to our consul 
 at Corinto, and he'll tell our minister." 
 
 " Corinto ! " I replied. " I'll be dead before 
 youVe passed that lighthouse." 
 
 The Captain roared with anger. 
 
 " Can't you hear what he says," he shouted. 
 <c He says he'll fire on my ship. They've fired 
 on our ships before ! I'm not here to protect 
 every damned scalawag that tries to stowaway on 
 
 292
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 my ship. I'm here to protect the owners, and I 
 mean to do it. Now you get down that ladder, 
 before we throw you down." 
 
 I knew his words were final. From the bow I 
 heard the creak of the anchor-chains as they were 
 drawn on board, and from the engine-room the 
 tinkle of bells. 
 
 The ship was abandoning me. My last appeal 
 had failed. My condition was desperate. 
 
 " Protect your owners, and yourself, damn 
 you ! " I cried. " You're no American. You're 
 no white man. No American would let a conch- 
 nigger run his ship. To hell with your protec 
 tion ! " 
 
 All the misery of the last two months, the 
 bitterness of my dismissal from the Point, the 
 ignominy of our defeat and flight, rose in me and 
 drove me on. " And I don't want the protection 
 of that flag either," I cried. " I wasn't good 
 enough to serve it once, and I don't need it 
 now." 
 
 It should be remembered that when I spoke 
 these words I thought my death was inevitable 
 and immediate, that it had been brought upon 
 me by one of my own countrymen, while others 
 of my countrymen stood indifferently by, and I 
 hope that for what I said in that moment of fever 
 and despair I may be forgiven. 
 
 293
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 <f i can protect myself! " I cried. 
 
 Before anyone could move I whipped out my 
 gun and held it over the Commandante's heart, 
 and at the same instant without turning my eyes 
 from his face I waved my other hand at the 
 passengers. " Take those children away," I 
 shouted. 
 
 " Don't move ! " I yelled in Spanish at the 
 soldiers. " If one of you raises his musket I'll 
 kill him." I pressed the cocked revolver against 
 the Commandante's chest. <c Now, then, take 
 me ashore," I called to his men. "You know 
 me, I'm Captain Macklin. Captain Macklin, of 
 the Foreign Legion, and you know that six of 
 you will die before you get me. Come on," I 
 taunted. " Which six is it to be ? " 
 
 Out of the corners of my eyes I could see the 
 bayonets lifting cautiously and forming a ring of 
 points about me, and the sight, and my own 
 words lashed me into a frenzy of bravado. 
 
 " Oh, you don't remember me, don't you ? " I 
 cried. " You ought to remember the Foreign 
 Legion ! We drove you out of Santa Barbara 
 and Tabla Ve and Comyagua, and I'm your Vice- 
 President ! Take off your hats to your Vice- 
 President ! To Captain Macklin, Vice-President 
 of Honduras ! " 
 
 I sprang back against the cabin and swung 
 294
 
 g.
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 the gun in swift half-circles. The men shrank 
 from it as though I had lashed them with a 
 whip. "Come on," 1 cried, "which six is it to 
 be ? Come on, you cowards, why don't you take 
 me!" 
 
 The only answer came from a voice that was 
 suddenly uplifted at my side. I recognized it as 
 the voice of the ship's captain. 
 
 " Put down that gun! " he shouted. 
 
 But I only swung it the further until it covered 
 him also. The man stood in terror of his ship's 
 owners, he had a seaman's dread of international 
 law, but he certainly was not afraid of a gun. He 
 regarded it no more than a pointed finger, and 
 leaned eagerly toward me. To my amazement I 
 saw that his face was beaming with excitement 
 and delight. 
 
 " Are you Captain Macklin ? " he cried. 
 
 I was so amazed that for a moment I could 
 only gape at him while I still covered him with 
 the revolver. 
 
 "Yes," I answered. 
 
 " Then why in hell didn't you say so ! " he 
 roared, and with a bellow like a bull he threw 
 himself upon the Commandante. He seized him 
 by his epaulettes and pushed him backward. 
 With the strength of a bull he butted and shoved 
 him across the deck. 
 
 2 95
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 " Off my ship you ! " he roared. " Every one 
 of you; you're a gang of murdering cutthroats." 
 
 The deck-hands and the ship-stewards, who had 
 gathered at the gangway to assist in throwing me 
 down it, sprang to the Captain's aid. 
 
 " Over with him, boys," he roared. " Clear 
 the ship of them. Throw them overboard." 
 The crew fell upon the astonished soldiers, and 
 drove them to the side. Their curses and 
 shrieks filled the air, the women retreated scream 
 ing, and I was left alone, leaning limply against 
 the cabin with my revolver hanging from my 
 fingers. 
 
 It began and ended in an instant, and as the 
 ship moved forward and the last red-breeched 
 soldier disappeared headforemost down the com 
 panion-ladder, the Captain rushed back to me 
 and clutched me by both shoulders. Had it not 
 been for the genial grin on his fat face, I would 
 have thought that he meant to hurl me after the 
 others. 
 
 " Now then, Captain Macklin," he cried, " you 
 come with me. You come to my cabin, and that's 
 where you stay as long as you are on my ship. 
 You're no passenger, you're my guest, and there's 
 nothing on board too good for you." 
 
 " But I don't understand," I protested faintly. 
 " What does it mean ? " 
 
 296
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 " What does it mean ? " he shouted. " It 
 means you're the right sort for me ! I haven't 
 heard of nothing but your goings-on for the last 
 three trips. Vice-President of Honduras ! " he 
 exclaimed, shaking me as though I were a carpet. 
 " A kid like you ! You come to my cabin and 
 tell me the whole yarn from start to finish. I'd 
 rather carry you than old man Huntington him 
 self! " 
 
 The passengers had returned, and stood lis 
 tening to his exclamations, in a wondering circle. 
 The stewards and deck-hands, panting with their 
 late exertions, were grinning at me with unmis 
 takable interest. 
 
 " Bring Captain Macklin's breakfast to my 
 cabin, you," he shouted to them. "And, Mr. 
 Owen," he continued, addressing the Purser, with 
 great impressiveness, "this is Captain Macklin^ 
 himself. He's going with us as my guest." 
 
 With a wink, he cautiously removed my re 
 volver from my fingers, and slapped me jovially 
 on the shoulder. " Son ! " he exclaimed, " I 
 wouldn't have missed the sight of you holding 
 your gun on that gang for a cargo of bullion. I 
 suspicioned it was you, the moment you did it. 
 That will be something for me to tell them in 
 "Frisco, that will. Now, you come along," he 
 added, suddenly, with parental solicitude, "and 
 
 297
 
 Captain Macklin - 
 
 take a cup of coffee, and a dose of quinine, or 
 you'll be ailing." 
 
 He pushed a way for me through the crowd of 
 passengers, who fell back in two long lines. As 
 we moved between them, I heard a woman's 
 voice ask, in a loud whisper: 
 
 " Who did you say ? " 
 
 A man's voice answered, " Why, Captain 
 Macklin," and then protested, in a rising accent, 
 " Now, for Heaven's sake, Jennie, don't tell me 
 you don't know who he is ? " 
 
 That was my first taste of fame. It was a 
 short-lived, limited sort of fame, but at that time 
 it stretched throughout all Central America. I 
 doubt if it is sufficiently robust to live in the cold 
 latitudes of the North. It is just an exotic of the 
 tropics. I am sure it will never weather Cape 
 Hatteras. But although I won't amount to 
 much in Dobbs Ferry, down here in Central 
 America I am pretty well known, and during 
 these last two months that I have been lying, 
 very near to death, in the Canal Company's hos 
 pital, my poor little fame stuck by me, and turned 
 strangers into kind and generous friends. 
 
 DOBBS FERRY, September, 1882 
 
 September passed before I was a convalescent, 
 and it was the first of October when the Port 
 
 298
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 of Sydney passed Sandy Hook, and I stood at 
 the bow, trembling with cold and happiness, and 
 saw the autumn leaves on the hills of Staten Island 
 and the thousands of columns of circling, white 
 smoke rising over the three cities. I had not let 
 Beatrice and Aunt Mary know that I was in a 
 hospital, but had told them that I was making 
 my way home slowly, which was true enough, 
 and that they need not expect to hear from me 
 until I had arrived in New York City. So, there 
 was no one at the dock to meet me. 
 
 But, as we came up the harbor, I waved at the 
 people on the passing ferry-boats, and they, shiver 
 ing, no doubt, at the sight of our canvas awnings 
 and the stewards' white jackets, waved back, and 
 gave me my first welcome home. 
 
 It was worth all the disappointments, and the 
 weeks in hospital, to stick my head in the ticket- 
 window of the Grand Central Station, and hear 
 myself say, " Dobbs Ferry, please." I remember 
 the fascination with which I watched the man (he 
 was talking over his shoulder to another man 
 at the time) punch the precious ticket, and toss it 
 to me. I suppose in his life he has many times sold 
 tickets to Dobbs Ferry, but he never sold them as 
 often as I had rehearsed asking him for that one, 
 
 I had wired them not to meet me at the station, 
 but to be waiting at the house, and when I came 
 
 299
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 up the old walk, with the box-hedges on either 
 side, they were at the door, and Aunt Mary ran 
 to meet me, and hugged and scolded me, and 
 cried on my shoulder, and Beatrice smiled at me, 
 just as though she were very proud of me, and I 
 kissed her once. After ten minutes, it did not 
 seem as though I had ever been away from home. 
 And, when I looked at Beatrice, and I could not 
 keep my eyes from her, I was filled with wonder 
 that I had ever had the courage to go from where 
 she was. We were very happy. 
 
 I am afraid that for the next two weeks I 
 traded upon their affection scandalously. But it 
 was their own fault. It was their wish that I 
 should constantly pose in the dual roles of the 
 returned prodigal and Othello, and, as I told 
 them, if I were an obnoxious prig ever after, they 
 alone were responsible. 
 
 I had the ravenous hunger of the fever-conva 
 lescent, and I had an audience that would have 
 turned General Grant into a braggart. So, every 
 day wonderful dishes of Aunt Mary's contriving 
 were set before me, and Beatrice would not open 
 a book so long as there was one adventure I had 
 left untold. 
 
 And this, as I soon learned, was the more flat 
 tering, as she had already heard most of them at 
 second-hand. 
 
 300
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 I can remember my bewilderment that first 
 evening as I was relating the story of the duel, 
 and she corrected me. 
 
 " Weren't you much nearer ? " she asked. 
 " You fired at twenty paces." 
 
 " So we did," I cried, " but how could you 
 know that ? " 
 
 " Mr. Lowell told us," she said. 
 
 "Lowell!" I shouted. "Has Lowell been here?'* 
 
 "Yes, he brought us your sword," Beatrice 
 answered. " Didn't you see where we placed it ? '* 
 and she rose rather quickly, and stood with her 
 face toward the fireplace, where, sure enough, my 
 sword was hanging above the mantel. 
 
 " Oh yes," said Aunt Mary, " Mr. Lowell has 
 been very kind. He has come out often to ask 
 for news of you. He is at the Brooklyn Navy 
 Yard. We like him so much," she added. 
 
 " Like him ! " I echoed. " I should think you 
 would ! Isn't that bully," I cried, " to think of 
 his being so near me, and that he's a friend of 
 yours already. We must have him out to 
 morrow. Isn't he fine, Beatrice ? " 
 
 She had taken down the sword, and was stand 
 ing holding it out to me. 
 
 " Yes, he is," she said, " and he is very fond 
 of you, too, Royal. I don't believe you've got a 
 better friend." 
 
 301
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 Attractive as the prodigal son may seem at first, 
 he soon becomes a nuisance. Even Othello when 
 he began to tell over his stories for the second 
 time must have been something of a bore. And 
 when Aunt Mary gave 'me roast beef for dinner 
 two nights in succession, and after dinner Beatrice 
 picked up " Lorna Doone " and retired to a cor 
 ner, I knew that I had had my day. 
 
 The next morning at breakfast, in a tone of 
 gentle reproach, I announced that I was going 
 out into the cold world, as represented by New 
 York City, to look for a job. I had no idea of 
 doing anything of the sort. I only threw out the 
 suggestion tentatively, and I was exceedingly dis 
 gusted when they caught up my plan with such 
 enthusiasm and alacrity, that I was forced to go 
 on with it. I could not see why it was neces 
 sary for me to work. I had two thousand dollars 
 a year my grandfather had left me, and my idea of 
 seeking for a job, was to look for it leisurely, and 
 with caution. But the family seemed to think 
 that, before the winter set in, I should take any 
 chance that offered, and, as they expressed it, 
 settle down. 
 
 None of us had any very definite ideas as to 
 what I ought to do, or even that there was any 
 thing I could do. Lowell, who is so much with 
 us now, that I treat him like one of the family, 
 
 302
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 argued that to business men my strongest recom 
 mendation would be my knowledge of languages. 
 He said I ought to try for a clerkship in some 
 firm where I could handle the foreign correspond 
 ence. His even suggesting such work annoyed 
 me extremely. I told him that, on the contrary, 
 my strongest card was my experience in active 
 campaigning, backed by my thorough military edu 
 cation, and my ability to command men. He 
 said unfeelingly, that you must first catch your 
 men, and that in down-town business circles a 
 military education counted for no more than a 
 college-course in football. 
 
 " You good people don't seem to understand," 
 I explained (we were holding a family council on 
 my case at the time); " I have no desire to move 
 in down-town business circles. I hate business 
 circles." 
 
 "Well, you must live, Royal," Aunt Mary 
 said. " You have not enough money to be a 
 gentleman of leisure." 
 
 " Royal wouldn't be content without some kind 
 of work," said Beatrice. 
 
 "No, he can't persuade us he's not ambitious !" 
 Lowell added. " You mean to make something 
 of yourself, you know you do, and you can't be 
 gin too early." 
 
 Since Lowell has been promoted to the ward 
 room, he talks just like a grandfather.
 
 Captain Mack! in 
 
 " Young man," I said, " I've seen the day 
 when you were an ensign, and I was a Minister of 
 War, and you had to click your heels if you 
 came within thirty feet of my distinguished person. 
 Of course, I'm ambitious, and the best proof of it 
 is, that I don't want to sit in a bird-cage all my 
 life, counting other people's money." 
 
 Aunt Mary looked troubled, and shook her 
 head at me. 
 
 "Well, Royal," she remonstrated, "you've got 
 very little of your own to count, and some day 
 you'll want to marry, and then you'll be 
 sorry." 
 
 I don't know why Aunt Mary's remark should 
 have affected anyone except myself, but it seemed 
 to take all the life out of the discussion, and 
 Beatrice remembered she had some letters to write, 
 and Lowell said he must go back to the Navy 
 Yard, although when he arrived he told us he 
 had fixed it with another man to stand his watch. 
 The reason I was disturbed was because, when 
 Aunt Mary spoke, it made me wonder if she 
 were not thinking of Beatrice. One day just 
 after I arrived from Panama, when we were alone, 
 she said that while I was gone she had been in 
 fear she might die before I came back, and that 
 Beatrice would be left alone. I laughed at her 
 and told her she would live a hundred years, and 
 
 34
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 added, not meaning anything in particular, " And 
 she'll not be alone. I'll be here." 
 
 Then Aunt Mary looked at me very sadly, 
 and said : " Royal, I could die so contentedly if 
 I thought you two were happy." She waited, as 
 though she expected me to make some reply, but 
 I couldn't think of anything to say, and so just 
 looked solemn, then she changed the subject 
 by asking : " Royal, have you noticed that Lieu 
 tenant Lowell admires Beatrice very much ? " 
 And I said, "Of course he does. If he didn't, 
 I'd punch his head." At which she again looked 
 at me in such a wistful, pained way, smiling 
 so sadly, as though for some reason she were 
 sorry for me. 
 
 They all seemed to agree that I had had my 
 fling, and should, as they persisted in calling it, 
 "settle down." A most odious phrase. They 
 were two to one against me, and when one fin 
 ished another took it up. So that at last I ceased 
 arguing and allowed myself to be bullied into 
 looking for a position. 
 
 I But before surrendering myself to the down 
 town business circles I made one last effort to 
 remain free. 
 
 In Honduras, Laguerre had told me that a 
 letter to the Credit Lyonnais in Paris would al 
 ways find him. I knew that since his arrival at 
 
 305
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 San Francisco he had had plenty of time to reach 
 Paris, and that if he were there now he must 
 know whether there is anything in this talk of a 
 French expedition against the Chinese in Tonkin. 
 Also whether the Mahdi really means to make 
 trouble for the Khedive in the Soudan. Laguerre 
 was in the Egyptian army for three years, and 
 knows Baker Pasha well. I was sure that if there 
 was going to be trouble, either in China or Egypt, 
 he could not keep out of it. 
 
 So I cabled him to the Credit Lyonnais, "Are 
 you well ? If going any more campaigns, please 
 take me." I waited three restless weeks for an 
 answer, and then, as no answer came, I put it all 
 behind me, and hung my old, torn uniform where 
 I would not see it, and hid the presentation-sword 
 behind the eight-day clock in the library. 
 
 Beatrice raised her eyes from her book and 
 watched me. 
 
 " Why ? " she asked. 
 
 " It hurts me," I said. 
 
 She put down her book, and for a long time 
 looked at me without speaking. 
 
 " I did not know you disliked it as much as 
 that," she said. " I wonder if we are wrong. 
 And yet," she added, smiling, " it does not seem 
 a great sacrifice ; to have work to do, to live 
 at home, and in such a dear, old home as this, 
 
 306
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 near a big city, and with the river in front and the 
 country all about you. It seems better than 
 dying of wounds in a swamp, or of fever in a 
 hospital." 
 
 " I haven't complained. I'm taking my medi 
 cine," I answered. " I know you all wouldn't 
 ask it of me, if you didn't think it was for my 
 good." I had seated myself in front of the wood 
 fire opposite her, and was turning the chain she 
 gave me round and round my wrist. I slipped 
 it off, and showed it to her as it hung from my 
 fingers, shining in the firelight. 
 
 ." And yet," I said, " it was fine being your 
 Knight-Errant, and taking risks for your sake, 
 and having only this to keep me straight." I 
 cannot see why saying just that should have dis 
 turbed her, but certainly my words, or the sight 
 of the chain, had a most curious effect. It is ab 
 surd, but I could almost swear that she looked 
 frightened. She flushed, and her eyes were sud 
 denly filled with tears. I was greatly embarrassed. 
 Why should she be afraid of me? I was too 
 much upset to ask her what was wrong, so I went 
 on hastily: " But now I'll have you always with 
 me, to keep me straight," I said. 
 
 She laughed at that, a tremulous little laugh, 
 and said : " And so you won't want it any more, 
 will you ? " 
 
 37
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 " Won't want it," I protested gallantly. " I'd 
 like to see anyone make me give it up." 
 
 " You'd give it up to me, wouldn't you ? " she 
 asked gently. "It looks " she added, and 
 stopped. 
 
 " I see," I exclaimed. " Looks like a pose, 
 sort of effeminate, a man's wearing a bracelet. Is 
 that what you think ? " 
 
 She laughed again, but this time quite differ 
 ently. She seemed greatly relieved. 
 
 " Perhaps that's it," she said. " Give it me, 
 Royal. You'll never need any woman's trinkets 
 to keep you straight." 
 
 I weighed the gold links in the hollow of my 
 palm. 
 
 " Do you really want it ? " I asked. She raised 
 her eyes eagerly. " If you don't mind," she said. 
 
 I dropped the chain into her hand, but as 1 
 turned toward the fire, I could not help a little 
 sigh. She heard me, and leaned forward. 1 
 could just see her sweet, troubled face in the fire 
 light. " But I mean to return it you, Royal," 
 she said, " some day, when when you go out 
 again to fight wind-mills." 
 
 " That's safe ! " I returned, roughly. " You 
 know that time will never come. The three of 
 you together have fixed that. I'm no longer a 
 fcnight-errant. I'm a business-man now. I'm 
 
 308
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 not to remember I ever was a knight-errant. I 
 must even give up my Order of the Golden 
 Chain, because it's too romantic, because it might 
 remind me that somewhere in this world there is 
 romance, and adventure, and righting. And it 
 wouldn't do. You can't have romance around a 
 business office. Some day, when I was trying to 
 add up my sums, I might see it on my wrist, and 
 forget where I was. I might remember the days 
 when it shone in the light of a camp-fire, when I 
 used to sleep on the ground with my arm under 
 my head, and it was the last thing I saw, when it 
 seemed like your fingers on my wrist holding me 
 back, or urging me forward. Business circles 
 would not allow that. They'd put up a sign, 
 * Canvassers, pedlers, and Romance not ad 
 mitted.' " 
 
 The first time I applied for a job I was unsuc 
 cessful. The man I went to see had been an 
 instructor at Harvard when my uncle was pro 
 fessor there, and Aunt Mary said he had been a 
 great friend of Professor Endicott's. One day in 
 the laboratory the man discovered something, 
 and had it patented. It brought him a fortune, 
 and he was now president of a company which 
 manufactured it, and with branches all over the 
 world. 
 
 Aunt Mary wrote him a personal letter about 
 39
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 me, in the hope that he might put me in charge 
 of the foreign correspondence. 
 
 He kept me waiting outside his office-door for 
 one full hour. During the first half-hour I was 
 angry, but the second half-hour I enjoyed exceed 
 ingly. By that time the situation appealed to my 
 sense of humor. When the great man finally 
 said he would see me, I found him tilting back in 
 a swivel-chair in front of a mahogany table. He 
 picked out Aunt Mary's letter from a heap in 
 front of him, and said: "Are you the Mr. 
 Macklin mentioned in this letter? What can I 
 do for you ? " 
 
 I said very deliberately : " You can do nothing 
 for me. I have waited one hour to tell you so, 
 When my aunt, Mrs. Endicott, does anyone the 
 honor to write him a letter, there is no other busi 
 ness in New York City more important than 
 attending promptly to that letter. I had intended 
 becoming a partner in your firm ; now, I shall 
 not. You are a rude, fat, and absurd, little per 
 son. Good-morning." 
 
 I crossed over to the Brooklyn Navy Yard, 
 and told Lowell and the other watch-officers in 
 the ward-room of my first attempt to obtain a 
 job. They laughed until I hoped they would 
 strangle. 
 
 " Who the devil do you think you are, any- 
 310
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 way," they cried, " going around, insulting mili- 
 ionnaires like that ? " 
 
 After leaving the cruiser that afternoon, 1 was 
 so miserable that I could have jumped into the 
 East River. It was the sight of the big, brown 
 guns did it, and the cutlasses in their racks, and 
 the clean-limbed, bare-throated Jackies, and the 
 watch-officer stamping the deck just as though he 
 were at sea, with his glass and side-arms. And 
 when the marine at the gate of the yard shifted 
 his gun and challenged me, it was so like old 
 times that I could have fallen on his neck and 
 hugged him. 
 
 Over the wharves, all along my way to the 
 ferry, the names of strange and beautiful ports 
 mocked at me from the sheds of the steam-ship 
 lines ; " Bahia, Rio de Janeiro, and the River 
 Plata," " Guayaquil, Callao, and Santiago," 
 u Cape Town, Durban, and Lorenzo Marquez." 
 It was past six o'clock and very dark. The ice 
 was pushing and grinding against the pier-heads, 
 and through the falling snow the tall buildings in 
 New York twinkled with thousands of electric 
 lights, like great Christmas-trees. At one wharf 
 a steamer of the Red D line, just in from La 
 Guayra, was making fast, and I guiltily crept on 
 board. Without, she was coated in a shearing of 
 ice, but within she reeked of Spanish-America - 
 
 3"
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 of coffee, rubber, and raw sugar. Pineapples 
 were still swinging in a net from the awning-rail, 
 a two-necked water-bottle hung at the hot mouth 
 of the engine-room. I found her captain and 
 told him I only wanted to smell a ship again, and 
 to find out, if where he came from, the bands 
 were still playing in the plazas. He seemed to 
 understand, and gave me a drink of Jamaica rum 
 with fresh limes in it, and a black cigar; and 
 when his steward brought them, I talked to him 
 in Spanish just for the sound of it. For half an 
 hour I was under the Southern Cross, and New 
 York was 3,000 miles astern. 
 
 When I left him, the captain gave me a bag 
 of alligator-pears to take home with me, and I 
 promised to come the next day, and bring him a 
 new library of old, paper novels. 
 
 But, as it turned out, I sent them instead, for 
 that night when I reached the New York side, I 
 saw how weakly and meanly I was acting, and 
 I threw the alligator-pears over the rail of the 
 ferry-boat and watched them fall into the dirty, 
 grinding ice. I saw that I had been in rank 
 mutiny. My bed had been made for me and I 
 must lie in it. I was to be a business-man. I 
 was to "settle down," and it is only slaves who 
 rebel. 
 
 The next day, humble and chastened in spirit, 
 3"
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 I kissed the rod, and went into the city to search 
 for a situation. I determined to start at Forty- 
 second Street, and work my way down town until 
 I found a place that looked as though it could 
 afford a foreign correspondent. But 1 had 
 reached Twenty-eighth Street, without seeing 
 any place that appealed to me, when a little 
 groom, in a warm fur collar and chilly white 
 breeches, ran up beside me and touched his hat. 
 I was so surprised that I saluted him in return, 
 and then felt uneasily conscious that that was not 
 the proper thing to do, and that forever I had lost 
 his respect. 
 
 " Miss Fiske would like to speak with you, 
 sv," he said. He ran back to a brougham thav 
 tfas drawn up beside the curb behind me, and 
 opened the door. When I reached it, Miss 
 Fiske leaned from it, smiling. 
 
 " I couldn't help calling you back, Captain 
 Macklin," she said, and held out her hand. 
 
 When I took it she laughed again. " Isn't 
 this like our last meeting ? " sl.e a^ked. " Don't 
 you remember my reaching out of the carriage, 
 and our shaking hands ? Only now," she went 
 on, in a most frank and friendly manner, " in 
 stead of a tropical thunder-storm, it's a snow 
 storm, and instead of my running away from your 
 shells, I'm out shopping. At least, mother's out
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 shopping," she added. " She's in there. Fm 
 waiting for her." She seemed to think that the 
 situation required a chaperon. 
 
 "You mustn't say they were my shells, Miss 
 Fiske," I protested. " I may insult a woman for 
 protecting her brother's life, but I never fire shells 
 at her." 
 
 It did not surprise me to hear myself laughing 
 at the words which, when she spoke them, had 
 seemed so terrible. It was as though none of it 
 had ever occurred. It was part of a romantic 
 play, and we had seen the play together. Who 
 could believe that the young man, tramping the 
 streets on the lookout for a job, had ever signed 
 his name, as vice-president of Honduras, to a 
 passport for Joseph Fiske ; that the beautiful girl 
 in the sables, with her card-case in her hand, had 
 ever heard the shriek of shrapnel ? 
 
 And she exclaimed, just as though we had both 
 been thinking aloud : " No, it's not possible, 
 is it?" 
 
 " It never happened," I said 
 
 " But I tell you what has happened," she went 
 on, eagerly, " or perhaps you know. Have you 
 heard what my father did ? " 
 
 I said I had not. I refrained from adding that 
 I believed her father capable of doing almost any 
 thing.
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 "Then I'm the first to tell you the news," she 
 exclaimed. She nodded at me energetically. 
 "* Well, he's paid that money. He owed it all 
 the time.' 
 
 " That's not news," I said. 
 
 She flushed a little, and laughed. 
 
 " But, indeed, father was not to blame," she 
 exclaimed. " They deceived him dreadfully. But 
 when we got home, he looked it up, and found 
 you were right about that money, and so he's 
 paid it back, not to that odious Alvarez man, but 
 in some way, I don't quite understand how, but 
 so the poor people will get it." 
 
 " Good ! " I cried. 
 
 " And he's discharged all that Isthmian crowd," 
 she went on. 
 
 " Better," I said. 
 
 " And made my brother president of the new 
 company," she continued, and then raised her 
 eyebrows, and waited, smiling. 
 
 " Oh, well," I said, " since he's your brother 
 e best.' " 
 
 " That's right," she cried. " That's very nice 
 of you. Here comes mother. I want you to 
 meet her." 
 
 Mother came toward us, out of a French dress' 
 maker's. It was one of the places I had decided 
 against, when I had passed it a few minutes be-
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 fore. It seemed one of the few business houses 
 where a French linguist would be superfluous. 
 
 I was presented as " Captain Macklin who, 
 you know, mother who fought the duel with 
 Arthur that is, who didn't shoot at him." 
 
 Mrs. Fiske looked somewhat startled. Even 
 to a trained social leader it must be trying to have 
 a man presented to you on a sidewalk as the one 
 who did not shoot your son. 
 
 Mrs. Fiske had a toy dog under one arm, and 
 was holding up her train, but she slipped the dog 
 to the groom, and gave me her hand. 
 
 " How do you do, Mr. Captain Macklin," 
 she said. " My son has told me a great deal 
 about you. Have you asked Captain Macklin 
 to come to see us, Helen ? " she said, and stepped 
 into the brougham. 
 
 " Come in any day after five," said Miss 
 Fiske, " and we'll have tortillas and frijoles, and 
 build a camp-fire in the library. What's your 
 address ? " 
 
 " Dobbs Ferry," I said. 
 
 "Just Dobbs Ferry?" she asked. "But 
 you're such a well-known person, Captain Mack 
 lin." 
 
 " I'm Mr. Macklin now," I answered, and I 
 tried to shut the door on them, but the groom 
 seemed to think that was his privilege, and so I 
 
 316
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 bowed, and they drove away. Then I went at 
 once to a drug-store and borrowed the directory, 
 to find out where they lived, and I walked all the 
 way up the avenue to have a look at their house. 
 Somehow I felt that for that day 1 could not go 
 on asking for a job. I saw a picture of myself 
 on a high stool in the French dressmaker's writ 
 ing to the Paris house for more sable cloaks for 
 Mrs. Fiske. 
 
 The Fiske mansion overlooks Central Park, 
 and it is as big as the Academy of Music. I 
 found that I knew it well by sight. I at once 
 made up my mind that I never would have the 
 courage to ring that door-bell, and I mounted a 
 Fifth Avenue stage, and took up my work of rec 
 onnoitring for a job where Miss Fiske had in 
 terrupted it. 
 
 The next day I got the job. I am to begin 
 work on Monday. It is at Schwartz & Carboy's. 
 They manufacture locks and hinges and agricult 
 ural things. I saw a lot of their machetes in 
 Honduras with their paper stamp on the blade. 
 They have almost a monopoly of the trade in 
 South America. Fortunately, or unfortunately, 
 one of their Spanish clerks had left them, and 
 when I said 1 had been in Central America and 
 could write Spanish easily, Schwartz, or, it may 
 have been Carboy I didn't ask him which was
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 his silly name dictated a letter and I wrote it in 
 Spanish. One of the other clerks admitted it 
 was faultless. So, I regret to say, I got the job. 
 I'm to begin with fifteen dollars, and Schwartz or 
 Carboy added, as though it were a sort of a per 
 quisite : " If our young men act gentlemanly, 
 and are good dressers, we often send them to take 
 our South American customers to lunch. The 
 house pays the expenses. And in the evenings 
 you can show them around the town. Our 
 young men find that an easy way of seeing the 
 theatres for nothing." 
 
 Knowing the tastes of South Americans visiting 
 New York, I replied severely that my connection 
 with Schwartz & Carboy would end daily at four 
 in the afternoon, but that a cross-town car passed 
 Koster & Rial's every hour. I half hoped he 
 would take offence at that, and in consequence 
 my connection with Schwartz & Carboy might 
 end instantly and forever ; but whichever one he 
 was, only laughed and said : " Yes, those Brazil 
 ians are a queer lot. We eat up most of our 
 profits bailing them out of police courts the next 
 morning. Well you turn up Monday."
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 DOBBS FERRY, Sunday, Midnight 
 
 It's all over. It will be a long time before I 
 add another chapter to my " Memoirs." When 
 I have written this one they arc to be sealed, and 
 to-morrow they are to be packed away in Aunt 
 Mary's cedar chest. I am now writing these lines 
 after everyone else has gone to bed. 
 
 It happened after dinner. Aunt Mary was 
 upstairs, and Beatrice was at the piano. We 
 were waiting for Lowell, who had promised to 
 come up and spend the evening. I was sitting 
 at the centre-table, pretending to read, but watch 
 ing Beatrice. Her back was turned toward me, 
 so I could stare at her as long as I pleased. The 
 light of the candles on each side of the music- 
 rack fell upon her hair, and made it flash and 
 burn. She had twisted it high, in a coil, and 
 there never was anything more lovely than the 
 burnished copper against the white glow of her 
 skin, nor anything so noble as the way her head 
 rose upon her neck and sloping shoulders. It 
 was like a flower on a white stem. 
 
 She was not looking at the music before her 
 but up at nothing, while her hands ran over the 
 keyboard, playing an old sailor's " chantey " which 
 Lowell has taught us. It carries with it all the 
 sweep and murmur of the sea at night. 
 
 319
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 She could not see me, she had forgotten that I 
 was even in the room, and I was at liberty to 
 gaze at her and dream of her undisturbed. I felt 
 that, without that slight, white figure always at 
 my side, the life I was to begin on the morrow, 
 or any other life, would be intolerable. Without 
 the thought of Beatrice to carry me through the 
 day I could not bear it. Except for her, what 
 promise was there before me of reward or honor? 
 I was no longer " an officer and a gentleman," I 
 was a copying clerk, " a model letter-writer." I 
 could foresee the end. I would become a ner 
 vous, knowing, smug-faced civilian. Instead of 
 clean liquors, I would poison myself with cock 
 tails and "quick-order" luncheons. I would 
 carry a commuter's ticket. In time I might rise 
 to the importance of calling the local conductors 
 by their familiar names. " Bill, what was the 
 matter with the 8.13 this morning?" From to 
 morrow forward I would be " our " Mr. Macklin, 
 "Yours of even date received. Our Mr. Mack 
 lin will submit samples of goods desired." " Mr." 
 Macklin ! " Our " Mr. Macklin ! Ye Gods I 
 Schwartz & Carboy's Mr. Macklin ! 
 
 I set my teeth and fixed my eyes on Beatrice. 
 For her sake, but only for her sake could it be 
 endured. If she could ever care for me, as I 
 longed and hoped she might, I would submit to 
 
 320
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 any servitude, I would struggle to rise above the 
 most hateful surroundings. 
 
 I had just registered this mental vow, my eyes 
 were still fixed appealingly on the woman who 
 was all unconscious of the sacrifice I was about to 
 make for her, when the servant came into the 
 room and handed me a telegram. I signed for 
 it, and she went out. Beatrice had not heard her 
 enter, and was still playing. I guessed the tele 
 gram was from Lowell to say he could not get 
 away, and I was sorry. But as I tore open the 
 envelope, I noticed that it was not the usual one 
 of yellow paper, but of a pinkish white. I had 
 never received a cablegram. I did not know that 
 this was one. I read the message, and as I read 
 it the blood in every part of my body came to a 
 sudden stop. There was a strange buzzing in 
 my ears, the drums seemed to have burst with a 
 tiny report. The shock was so tremendous that 
 it seemed Beatrice must have felt it too, and I 
 looked up at her stupidly. She was still playing. 
 
 The cablegram had been sent that morning 
 from Marseilles. The message read, " Command 
 ing Battalion French Zouaves, Tonkin Expedition, 
 holding position of Adjutant open for you, rank 
 of Captain, if accept join Marseilles. Laguerre." 
 
 I laid the paper on my knee, and sat staring, 
 scarcely breathing, as though I were afraid if I 
 
 321
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 moved I would wake. I was trembling and cold, 
 for I was at the parting of the ways, and I knew 
 it. Beyond the light of the candles, beyond the 
 dull red curtains jealously drawn against the win 
 ter landscape, beyond even the slight, white figure 
 with its crown of burnished copper, I saw the 
 swarming harbor of Marseilles. I saw the swag 
 gering turcos in their scarlet breeches, the crowded 
 troop-ships, and from every ship's mast the glori 
 ous tri-color of France ; the flag that in ten short 
 years had again risen, that was flying over advanc 
 ing columns in China, in Africa, in Madagascar ; 
 over armies that for Alsace Lorraine were giving 
 France new and great colonies on every seaboard 
 of the world. The thoughts that flew through my 
 brain made my fingers clench until the nails bit 
 into my palms. Even to dream of such happi 
 ness was actual pain. That this might come to 
 me ! To serve under the tri-color, to be a cap 
 tain of the Grand Armee, to be one of the army 
 reared and trained by Napoleon Bonaparte. 
 
 I heard a cheery voice, and Lowell passed me, 
 and advanced bowing toward Beatrice, and she 
 turned and smiled at him. But as she rose, she 
 saw my face. 
 
 " Roy ! " she cried. " What is it? What has 
 happened ? " 
 
 I watched her coming toward me, as someone 
 322
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 projected from another life, a wonderful, beautiful 
 memory, from a life already far in the past. I 
 handed her the cablegram and stood up stiffly. 
 My joints were rigid and the blood was still cold 
 in my veins. She read the message, and gave a 
 little cry, and stood silent, gazing at me. I mo 
 tioned her to give it to Lowell, who was looking 
 at us anxiously, his eyes rilled with concern. 
 
 He kept his head lowered over the message for 
 so long, that I thought he was reading it several 
 times. When he again raised his face it was filled 
 with surprise and disapproval. But beneath, 1 
 saw a dawning look which he could not keep 
 down, of a great hope. It was as though he had 
 been condemned to death, and the paper Beatrice 
 had handed him to read had been his own re 
 prieve. 
 
 " Tell me," said Beatrice. Her tone was as 
 gentle and as solemn as the stroke of a bell, and 
 as impersonal. It neither commended nor re 
 proved. I saw that instantly she had determined 
 to conceal her own wishes, to obliterate herself 
 entirely, to let me know that, so far as she could 
 affect my choice, I was a free agent. I looked 
 appealingly from her to Lowell, and from Lowell 
 back to Beatrice. I still was trembling with the 
 fever the message had lit in me. When I tried 
 to answer, my voice was hoarse and shaking, 
 
 323
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 It's like drink ! " I said. 
 
 Lowell raised his eyes as though he meant to 
 speak, and then lowered them and stepped back, 
 leaving Beatrice and myself together. 
 
 <f I only want you to see," Beatrice began 
 bravely, " how how serious it is. Every one of 
 us in his life must have a moment like this, and, 
 if he could only know that the moment had come, 
 he might decide wisely. You know the moment 
 has come. You must see that this is the crisis. 
 It means choosing not for a year, but for always." 
 She held out her hands, entwining the fingers 
 dosely. " Oh, don't think I'm trying to stop 
 you, Royal," she cried. " I only want you to see 
 that it's final. I know that it's like strong drink 
 to you, but the more you give way to it . Don't 
 you think, if you gave your life here a fairer trial, 
 if you bore with it a little longer " 
 
 She stopped sharply as though she recognized 
 that, in urging me to a choice, she was acting as she 
 had determined she would not. I did not answer, 
 but stood in silence with my head bent, for I could 
 not look at her. I knew now how much dearer to 
 me, even than her voice, was the one which gave 
 the call to arms. I did indeed understand that the 
 crisis had come. In that same room, five minutes 
 before the message arrived, I had sworn for her 
 sake alone to submit to the life I hated. 
 
 3 2 4
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 And yet in an instant, without a moment's 
 pause, at the first sound of " Boots and Saddles/* 
 I had sprung to my first love, and had forgotten 
 Beatrice and my sworn allegiance. Knowing how 
 greatly I loved her, I now could understand, since 
 it made me turn from her, how much greater 
 must be my love for this, her only rival, the old 
 life that was again inviting me. 
 
 I was no longer to be deceived; the one and 
 only thing I really loved, the one thing I under 
 stood and craved, was the free, homeless, untram 
 melled life of the soldier of fortune. I wanted to 
 see the shells splash up the earth again, I wanted 
 to throw my leg across a saddle, I wanted to sleep 
 on a blanket by a camp-fire, I wanted the kiss and 
 caress of danger, the joy which comes when the 
 sword wins honor and victory together, and I 
 wanted the clear, clean view of right and wrong, 
 that is given only to those who hourly walk with 
 death. 
 
 I raised my head, and spoke very softly : 
 
 "It is too late. I am sorry. But I have de 
 cided. I must go." 
 
 Lowell stepped out of the shadow, and faced 
 me with the same strange look, partly of wonder, 
 and partly of indignation. 
 
 " Nonsense, Royal," he said, " let me talk to 
 you. We've been shipmates, or comrades, and 
 
 3 2 5
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 all that sort of thing, and you've got to listen to 
 me. Think, man, think what you're losing. 
 Think of all the things you are giving up. Don't 
 be a weak child. This will affect your whole life. 
 You have no right to decide it in a minute." 
 
 I stepped to its hiding-place, and took out 
 the sword my grandfather had carried in the Civil 
 War ; the sword I had worn in Honduras. I 
 had hidden it away, that it might not remind me 
 that once I, too, was a soldier. It acted on me 
 like a potion. The instant my fingers touched 
 its hilt, the blood, which had grown chilled, leaped 
 through my body. In answer I held the sword 
 toward Lowell. It was very hard to speak. They 
 did not know how hard. They did not know how 
 cruelly it hurt me to differ from them, and to part 
 from them. The very thought of it turned me 
 sick and miserable. But it was written. It had 
 to be. 
 
 " You ask me to think of what I am giving 
 up," I said, gently. " I gave up this. I shall 
 never surrender it again. I am not deciding in a 
 minute. It was decided for me long ago. It's a 
 tradition. It's handed down to me. My grand 
 father was Hamilton, of Cerro Gordo, of the 
 City of Mexico, of Gettysburg. My father was 
 t Fighting ' Macklin. He was killed at the 
 head of his soldiers. All my people have been 
 
 326
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 soldiers. One fought at the battle of Princeton, 
 one died righting the king at Culloden. It's bred 
 in me. It's in the blood. It's the blood of the 
 Macklins that has decided this. And I I am 
 the last of the Macklins, and I must live and die 
 like one." 
 
 The house is quiet now. They have all left 
 me to my packing, and are asleep. Lowell went 
 early and bade me good-by at the gate. He was 
 very sad and solemn. " God bless you, Royal," 
 he said, " and keep you safe, and bring you back 
 to us." And I watched him swinging down the 
 silent, moon-lit road, knocking the icicles from 
 the hedges with his stick. I stood there some 
 time looking after him, for I love him very 
 dearly, and then a strange thing happened. After 
 he had walked quite a distance from the house, 
 he suddenly raised his head and began to whistle 
 a jolly, rollicking sea-song. I could hear him for 
 some minutes. I was glad to think he took it so 
 light-heartedly. It is good to know that he is 
 not jealous of my great fortune. 
 
 To-night we spared each other the parting 
 words. But to-morrow they must be spoken, 
 when Aunt Mary and Beatrice come to see 
 me sail away on the French liner. The ship 
 leaves at noon, and ten days later I shall be 
 in Havre. Ye gods, to think that in ten days I 
 
 327
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 shall see Paris ! And then, the Mediterranean, 
 the Suez Canal, the Indian Ocean, Singapore, and, 
 at last, the yellow flags and black dragons of the 
 enemy. It cannot last long, this row. I shall 
 be coming home again in six months, unless the 
 Mahdi makes trouble. Laguerre was three years 
 in the Khedive's service, and with his influence 
 an ex-captain of the French army should have 
 little difficulty in getting a commission in Egypt. 
 
 Then, after that, I really will come home. But 
 not as an ex-soldier. This time I shall come 
 home on furlough. I shall come home a real 
 officer, and play the prodigal again to the two 
 noblest and sweetest and best women in God's 
 world. All women are good, but they are the 
 best. All women are so good, that when one of 
 them thinks one of us is worthy to marry her, 
 she pays a compliment to our entire sex. But as 
 they are all good and all beautiful, Beatrice being 
 the best and most beautiful, I was right not to 
 think of marrying only one of them. With the 
 world full of good women, and with a fight always 
 going on somewhere, I am very wise not to 
 " settle down." I know I shall be very happy. 
 
 In a year I certainly must come back, a foreign 
 officer on leave, and I shall go to West Point 
 and pay my respects to the Commandant. The 
 men who saw me turned out will have to present 
 
 328
 
 Captain Macklin 
 
 arms to me, and the older men will say to the 
 plebs, " That distinguished-looking officer with 
 the French mustache, and the red ribbon of the 
 Legion of Honor, is Captain Macklin. He was 
 turned out of here. Now he's only a soldier of 
 fortune. He belongs to no country/' 
 
 But when the battalion is drawn up at retreat 
 and the shadows stretch across the grass, I shall 
 take up my stand once more on the old parade 
 ground, with all the future Grants and Lees 
 around me, and when the flag comes down, I 
 shall raise my hand with theirs, and show them 
 that I have a country, too, and that the flag we. 
 salute together is my flag still. 
 
 THE END
 
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