La Plata 125 



having my eggs and coffee prepared for me in the 

 morning. When occasionally of evenings I wearied of 

 solitude, I had the pleasure of enjoying the kind hospi- 

 tality of my friends of the Faculty, who invited me to 

 their homes, or I now and then betook myself to the 

 Sportman's Hotel, the leading establishment of its 

 kind in the place, where I was almost sure to find certain 

 'unattached" gentlemen of the Faculty, who were in 

 the habit of dining there. The Sportman's Hotel is an 

 institution of which I can only speak well, but it would 

 hardly be double-starred by Baedeker. Why it bears 

 its name is for me an insoluble riddle. The " ts " in the 

 word Sportsman being unpronounceable by those who 

 speak Spanish, it is called 'Spormans Hotel' by the 

 educated natives, and 'Pormans' by the cocheros. 

 There was a suggestion of propriety in the latter pro- 

 nunciation in view of some things. But I passed 

 some pleasant evenings there, and picked up a few 

 acquaintances who amused me. One evening I came 

 in a little early and found that I was the first person 

 to seat myself except a tall handsome man of alert 

 countenance, who was sitting at a small table next to 

 that at which I had placed myself. He presently 

 accosted me in pleasant tones and said, "You are a 

 fellow-countryman of mine, I judge, why should we not 

 take seats together? ' An exchange of cards was made. 

 I found that my acquaintance was a salesman, repre- 

 senting the largest firm in the United States engaged in 

 the manufacture of firearms. For nearly a lifetime 

 he had been engaged in furnishing weapons to the 

 Central or South American states, now dealing with the 

 governments in power, now furnishing the parties 

 essaying to get into power with the munitions of war. 

 I sat until near midnight listening with unabated 



