126 To the River Plate and Back 



attention to the tales my newly-found acquaintance 

 told, realizing that in his graphic recitals of adventure 

 there was material for many a romance as stirring as 

 any which have made the reputations of noted writers, 

 whom I might name. During the long years that he 

 has been following his calling as a merchant of arms he 

 has seen the inside of many stirring movements. He 

 told me of the genuine patriotism and self-denial shown 

 by some of the men with whom he had had dealings in 

 the past, and he told me of some things which show that 

 the devil still has his servants on this earth. I cannot 

 repeat the tales he told me as they deserve to be nar- 

 rated, and, even if I could, it would perhaps not be 

 wise to do so. There is one, however, which I am 

 tempted to outline, omitting the names, which I still 

 recall. It is the tale of a railway which was stolen and 

 sold as junk. In the northern part of the continent of 

 South America there is a republic over which there 

 ruled many years ago a President who had a worthless 

 nephew. When the President came into power he 

 provided for this nephew by putting him at the head of 

 a railway belonging to the government. It was not 

 much of a road. It ran from a small harbor on the 

 coast about thirty kilometers into the interior and ended 

 there. The salary of the scapegrace nephew was con- 

 siderable, and was paid from the public treasury, irre- 

 spective of the earnings of the line. But although 

 his salary was regularly forthcoming, the nephew had 

 expensive and extravagant habits, and was always 

 looking about for means to lay his hands upon more 

 money than he received. It happened presently that 



Captain P , an unscrupulous rover of the seas, who 



owned and commanded a couple of large schooners, 

 with which he tramped from port to port, picking up 



