The record-union., 1897-04-23
NEVER TIE LOTOS CLOSES. y

Son, and the Presidents liver was out
of order, and his presidency, which eX-
tended over a few hundred miles OF
barren dune and crag, and mixed
population of all colorS, knew 1t. Also
the executive and heads of depart
ments generally were just sickening Tor
another attack of suspicion, the ad-
Vent of the disease being heralded by
press prohibitions and unnecessary ar
rests. Altogether things pointed pref
ty clearly to the periodical outbreak,
which necessitated a rapid change OF
The personnel Of the Government, con-
Quoted on the usual strictly homicidal
principles BY the time the full Ian
guor of the hot weather was upon US,
general amnesty would be proclaimed,
and the new President-who had
climbed into power during the storm
be extrolled for his clemency.
l had not been out very long, and
the ways Of the republic still amused
me. My friend, the British Consul,
who for the last fifteen years had in
habited a little Whitewashed house on
the cliff, Pervaded by rats and gray
lizards and within hail of the pestilen-
tial odorS from the beach GOO feet be-
low, did not look upon things in the
same light. In theory he agreed that
these periC dical blOodlettings were in
dispensable to the health of the re-
public, but he disliked the extra work
and exertion entailed by a too frequent
indulgence in them. Moreover, he pre-
ferred these fever fits should come on
in the cooler part of the year. We
were sitting in the shady end of his
piazza, and he was giving me his views
on the situation.
THE present party'll last about a
fortnight" he was saying, unless they
do something cut of the way mad,
which may give 'em six weeks grace.
What sort of thing?" l asked
They can't do much harm anyway
the area is limited
Don't you make any such mistake, -
returned he, with some warmth The
old world is a mere mass of finder a
spark from here could set blazing. Some
time ago" he went on meditatively
the tail-end of a political party near
ly did the trick. If it hadn't been
that Scanderson was on the premises
they'd have scorched the British EN-
pire for certain
This being a pretty large order even
for South American republic to con-
tract for, l concluded he had a tale tc
tell, and l felt it was my duty to make
him tell it.
Who is Scanderson?" [ asked. 1.-The
name doesn't seem to fit in with blue
tropic seas and hot-blooded Presi-
dents"
It's hard to be sure where he hailed
from-inside the British Isles" Allans-
ford returned thoughtfully. Irish
Scotch for choice Curious blend
Irish Scotch"
1t was too hot to talk although the
night would be on us in half an hour
so 1 settled myself in my chair
The story I said.
The sun was brooding low over the
Pacific-an angry eyeball under a pur-
pie lid-and lending a tinge Of red tc
the low yellow hills bounding the shore
Below US a bloated pelican poised itself
upon one of the black backed boulders
that always reminded me of a school,
Of whales floating dead in the bay.
After a prolonged pause, Allansford
recommended.
1t was rather later in the year when
it all began. There was a President ir
power at the time who was the worst
President these mixed races have ever
been goaded into revolution by. They
only took him on because there were nc
other candidates upon that occasion
The last two had been blown up. yoU
see, and that made the usual crowd g
bit shy. He'd been President about fou1
months, and any one could tell with
half an eye he'd never see a fifth under
ordinary circumstances, but he was
backed by an interruptions party, who
knew that his fall meant early-morn
ing shooting practice for the black anC
yellow troops with themselves for tar.
gets. So they put their heads togeth
er to invent something solid to put of
the evil day and give them time t.
clear; for by this time the troops VIII
were garrisoning the ports had most
~ gone over to the opposition. anC
would be sure to resent any movement
likely to deprive them of their shoot
ing excursions"
Allansford pushed the cigars toward.
me and continued:
AS l said, the President and his par
ty put their heads together and held :
what passed at the meeting"
Who told your 1 inquired, seeing
my companion smile
Well, it was the Presidents right
hand mantle Minister for Foreign
Affairs, Finance, War, Marine. anC
Public Instruction, a gentleman wht
fortunately believed in hedging. TIL,
President got up and gave a crape-and
fire sketch of the position. remarkin.
they were all in the same boat ant
must sink or swim together. and ended
up with polite request that anyon,
who had workable plan to propos
should lay it on the table for genera
consideration.
Various members of the Government
talked different kinds Of nonsense. an,
when they had quite finished. the Pres
ident got on his legs again. eWha
We want said he, is, I gather. breath
ing spaee-time, in fact, to get clear
To do that We must give the peopb
something interesting to think of-tak
some step that viii create sensation
and we can't do better than declar
war on somebody. 1t will give us
fortnights grace. probably more an,
before the war can come off we shall
be out of it all, besides ne adde,
sweetly, making it jolly nasty for tn
party who want to Dust us
The extraordinary foresight of I'll
Presidents scheme caused sucb anoo
ton at this point that business had +
be temporarily suspended; but whe,
things had settled down again. they Sc
about choosing the country whic
should be the subject Of their beIlicos
attentions. Opinions differed here. on