The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-01-01
PUBLISHED BY. SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
BESIEGEDe
By w. l.. ALDEN.

chap, but he had fair idea of a Joke
Well, after had read the letter | asked
in my coolest and most dignified way
Ladies, what can 1 have the pleasure of
doing for you?"
What we want" said the spokeswoman.
lis lodging for the night, and second-cIass
railroad tickets to Paris The consul at
Avilas said that it would be your pleasure
as well as your duty to do this for us. When
we get to Paris we can get money from
home and so we shant want but a couple
of dollars or so for each of US, Just for our
necessary expenses on the road,
But, my dear madam" said I. tickets
to Paris for all of you would cost about 5000
and my salary is only $50 year. You must
see that can't possibly INCUR any such ex
pense, no matter how anxious l am to helm
you"
We know very well,' said the woman,
THAT you are a millionaire and you are
just stopping here to amuse yourself. The
consul at Avilas told US all about you. and
said that you furnished railroad tickets to
Americans nearly every day in the year"
1.-THE consul was joking" I replied. 81
have no income except my salary, and 1
could no more send you to Paris than
could buy up the Spanish monarchy 1 am
ready to take any amount of trouble to as
sist you, but as for supplying you with rail-
road tickets and money the thing is clean
impossible"
Very well, SIR, said the spokeswoman.
I'VE have been sent to you by the Amer
lean consul, who may be supposed to know
his duty, and who is a gentleman if some
others that I could name are not. He as
sured US that it was your bounden duty to
help US, and L can tell you that we don't in
tend to allow you to shirk that duty on any
pretense whatever. What else are you here
for except to help Americans that need
help? Do you mean to say that govern
ment pays you to stay here and enjoy your
self We shall go to the best hotel in this
town and take rooms, telling the landlord
to send the bill to you. We shall stay there
till you give US our railroad tickets, no mat
ter how long it may be. More than that, if
we don't get the tickets very soon we shall
report you to the President when we get
back to America, and you will be properly
punished for refusing to help American
ladies'
Then she turr cd to the other women and
asked if they approved of what she had
said They all did approve of it with such
enthusiasm that they kissed her then and
there and scowled at me as if 1 had been
the worst criminal in Spain.
If they had been men / should have or
dered them out Of the office and should have
sent for the police if they refused to go.
But bang women. what could 1 do? l told
them over and over again that l could not
Pay either hotel bills railroad fares but
it made no sort of impression on them. They
talked to me until they were tired, and then
they filed out Of the room and l watched
them from my window on their way to the
hotel, which was on the same street as my
Office. l saw them go in, and as they did
not come out again L knew that they must
have found rooms. OF course, l did not be-
leve that they could compel me by law to
pay their bills, but all the same the hotel
keeper would be sure to look to me for pay
ment and could make an intolerable lot of
irotLe when he found that 1 would not
pay When my office hours were over l went
10 the hotel and found the landlord in the
happiest possible frame of mind. Before
could say @ word he overwhelmed me with
thanks for sending him so many guests, and
when 1 assured him that 1 was in no posi-
bic way responsible for the women and that
1 id not believe that he would be able TO
collect any money from them he smiled and
said that he was perfectly willing to trust
10 my honor He had been told by the ladies
that l would pay their bill, and he should
not think of annoying them about small
an affair. He knew that the Senior Consul
was one of the noblest and most generous
of men, and he refused for one single in
slant to tolerate the thought that such a
man would bring an honest innkeeper and
his family to the brink of ruin by refusing
to pay a perfectly just bill He kept on
talking in this exasperating fashion until
1 wanted to knock his stupid head off, and
for that matter would have done so had |
been able to pay the consequent damages
Nothing 1 could say had the slightest effect
upon the miserable man, so l finally went
back to my office and tried to relieve my
mind by writing an unofficial letter to my
colleague at Avilas, which ought to have
driven him wild with rage. But it didn't
seem to trouble him in the least. He wrote
back to me begging me not to excite myself
lest 1 should bring on an attack of fever
and asking me if he should send me three
shipwrecked sailors who claimed to be
Americans and whom I might like to add TO
my collection of female tramps. He added
that it would hardly be worth while for me
to write him any more letters as he had just
forwarded his resignation to Washington
and had turned over his Office to his vice
consul. When l read that letter l could see
in every line of it how happy the scoundrel
was at having put me in a hole and l could
have wrung his neck with pleasure.
For the next week those thirty-two women
came to my Office every morning, and
wanted to know when they would receive
their railway tickets. I couldn't prevent
them from entering the office, for they were
American citizens. and L could not turn
them out, for they were women. 1 tried
smoking the worst tobacco could buy, but
they didn't seem to mind it particularly,
though it made me half sick. 1 made
show OF writing letters while they were in
the room, but they would keep on talking
about my heartless and brutal conduct just
the same as if they knew that l was lis
tening to them. They worried me so much
that l could neither work by day nor sleep
at night They said that the hotel was
very comfortable one, though they rather
thought that it was expensive, and that they
were ready to stay in Aragua all winter in
case / delayed to furnish them with railway
tickets to Paris. There was not the least
doubt that they would keep their word, and
I foresaw that unless the cholera should
break out among them they would ruin me
financially and compel me to sneak out OF
Spain in disguise.
OF course. I had already gone to my
l. I'm