Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1899-01-17

to do is To say you are an Engiishnan,
and they II let you 20 quick enough. "
"Oh, they will, will theyI' said /.
"Well, why is thati Have the English
got Monroe doctrine too?"
"No, but they have warships, which
Is much better. II an Englishman gets
arrested anywhere, all he does is to send
word to the captain of any War vessel
that is in port. The captain sends word
| 70 the authorities demanding the re-
lease Of the captive and large indemDi-
ty. IL they do not give in. the town Is
bombarled, and there You are. In fact,
this plan has led to abuses. "
Indeed. said |. "Howy"
"Well, yon see, al English vess"l
comes into South American port. All
Is no chance for good time. One Of
them goes ashore, kicks up row and
perhaps insults some one or knocks him
Town He Is arrested. The captain de
nAnds his release Thp authorities con
nder. The second day an indemnity is
ilso demanded. The third day 10 j. in
| c1eased. and four hours notice given OF
a bombardmept Then the prisoner is
released and goes aboard with bag OF
! gold, and the officers make merry. IL
has often happened in San Castaragua,
but usually the city officials get per.
centage Of the rake Off. Indeed il has got
to be a fourishiDg industry in Cordoya
since revolutions suspended. There II a
regular scale Of prices. the syndicate
getting 40 per cent, the government 90
and the English captive 40. Last year
We paid over s3, 900, 600 in indemnities.
and President Cuzco made an awful
row about it and has threatened to stop
the whole game.
So long as Bosenko was around the
plan looked very good, but when he
was gone I couldn't help thinking OF
what would happen in case OF failure.
Every time read Of one OF the insur-
gents in CuLa being garrUted | bad a
pain in my neck, and | had resolved to
give it up entirely when Bosenko played
his last card. On the day he sailed he
came To me with list Of rifles, cannon
and cartridges he wanted and n lot Of
provisions. | was to ship the provisions
through q local firm of brokers, who
were to pay the bills. The arms and
ammunition were To- be shipped 10 Cor
dova direct aud be paid by draft on aI-
rival. and all had TO do was to select
them. Just as | was about to throw II
all over, BOsenko gave me a check for
| s5. 600. That settled it. hadn't owned
so much in my life, and | couldn't re-
| sist. cashed the check and was full
ticdgea .evolutionist.
For a time lived on velvet Cham.
pagne, big dinners, dress suit and
theater parties were my sole occupation.
treated all the old newspaper boys
whenever | met them, and they were
all wild 10 get into trade. 1would even
have bought champagne for Tommy
Walling, but he had gone to South
America IA correspondent Of The Globe.
fhe boys used 20 put in paragraphs
| about Hosea Boggs, the rising mer-
chant, which tickled my vanity, and
bought them more champagne. In the
meantime | went to work on the sup
plies. Ii was easy enough TO buy hard
tack. cheese and -four, for this excited
no suspicion, but buying arms was diff
ferent. 1 consulted the selling agents
Of all the different firms, bat 1t was a
delicate matter. Several expeditions to
Cuba had been stopped by the authori-
ties. and | was cautious. The prices
demanded were exorbitant, but the
agents explained TO me that, consider
ing the risks and commissions, they
could do no better. The word com
missions" gave me hint, and asked
what commission / would be allowed.
THE usual rate" they said, but
perhaps We had better be specific
What's your idea:" hadn { al idea
in the world, but thought per cent
liberal In order to get it / considered
I must ask more and then come down,
SO said:
"How does 90 per cent strike you?"
They looked at me curiously for q
moment and said:
"Will that be entirely satisfactory
Inow saw that had asked too little,
but it was too late, and l closed at that
figure, though | heard one Of them
whisper to another, dead easy"
All this took time, but it was ar.
ranged that the arms should be shipped
whenever l gave the word, which was
not to be until the provisions were in
Cordova and the men arranged for. /
now made up my mind to ship the
goods and arms, take my commissions
and back out of the whole affair; but,
of course, I kept my own counsel about
this got letters and cablegrams from
Bosenko frequently, but he was very
careless about the cipher, and was in
constant fear Of being detected.
The thorn in my flesh at this time
was the Office boy. He was deep one.
He knew something was going on, but
couldn't get at it, so he bled me. He
demanded double wages in way that
made me sbiver, and gave 1t to him.
He was careless about getting to the
Office, but when l demonstrated he as
sured me he bad to stay home with bis
bedridden mother. He used my type
writer as II it were his own and drove
me to the verge Of distraction, bat ev.
cry tins I started to have il out with
him there was look Of honest industry
OH his face that made me quail.
Finally could stand it no longer,
snd one Saturday morning ! told him
we must part that night and he de-
manded months wages in advance,
which dared not refuse. That after
noon the provisions were shipped, and
the agent and had q lunch at Savarin's,
during which four cold quarts were
offered al libations to the god of revolu'
tiou. / got back to the Office at O'CLOCK
and wrote out cablegram 10 Boeenko,
announcing the shipment. twas nearly
dark, the electric lights were In trou
: bic, and the wine made ~ Gjddv.