The Minneapolis journal., 1904-12-31
my strength. Your excellency, th
pleasure is mine.' I replied and fell fof
ward to my full length.

do not believe that I could hayx|
been unconscious more than minut3
or two, for President Rivas still held
the revolver in his hand when / cams
vinced me that he would be glad of q
reason to use it sufficiently valid to
United States. i. a ~ &.
"Well,'' he remarked when he saw
me open my eyes, now perhaps you wi
saFgas9 sagls59 what you were doing in e
when You haye explained what y
meant by thrusting me in there
locking the door" I replied.
It was thin argument, but L,
served that both Of the officers in i
room believed it. and knew that his
as ] common n thief had been cen lost. o Ri
realized this. too, for he did not ei
take the trouble to deny the charge
ou came here for a packet Of
tters,v he said, "and I think you h,
it. want 1t back.''
"To what letters can your excelle,
"To three letters written by you
Senior Alvarez promising to aid him
his plans against me by obtaining I.
tain private correspondence OF min
At the time I thought it merely
good guess. and Rivas clever man
to avoid confirming 9aR9 Es the as susR2iGns MSP
frmed, would soon have been commp
Gated to the entire populsce. If
sure that he would never venture
have the soldiers look for that bunt
~ have no letters Of any kind
1nea 1snor eare ehesefore ta fore DOCS
"Search him. was the order gi,
in reply. Then to me: Hff the pacK m
Ia found m vour ,ierson r niua vny, \,
word that I will have you shot befol
The words had scarcely left s,hi
mouth when one Of the men drew tina
aeeursed bundle from my pocket
YGur tga 81 ezsel1ep9y" he reported, "hers
r exclaimed ais ff 1is.ns1rs You epan
them \ ! shall appeal to my govern
The soldier did as he was told. For
an instant which seemed an hour long
waited, and when the man spoke
| closed my eyes as tho the bullet were all
ready on It's way. What he said pene-
trated slowly to my brain.
"Your excellency, these are blank:
pieces Of paper" @
And blank they werel Mechanically
the soldiers, went to the outer door,
where tho command Of the president
was fulfilled and I was released. The
night air and the moonlight seemed very
good. Across the narrow street made.
out a figure in skirt and mantilla, and
I felt my heart grow sick again as I
recognized her. She was Mrs. Nc
Lemore, the woman who had tricked mt
and whose trick had saved me, who
had sent me on a wild goose chase
for roll of white paper while her let
ters rested God knows where, the wonl-
an I loved and who doubtless was even
then on her way to the White House to
meet Rivas. Ell
But she came to me and stopped.
Her face was white and she looked Ill,
''Danford!'' she exclaimed. Thank
God you are safe!'
"You thank God,' I retorted, "and
yet you send me to stick my neck in
q halter for q packet of bare sheetsl
"Because saw that you meant to
take the. letters from me-. My only
was in making you 90 after the bogus
"And you wanted to destroy
them7'
She hesitated.
"The TRUTH" cried. "The truth
Why did you want to destroy them9''
She hung her head.
Elvarez,n she answered. ~ stole
gave them to the president, who re.
turned them to me. You heard Elvareg
ask my business. I am the paid spy Of
the Republic Of Salvador.'
| Ia woman who hunts down meni -
"You are a man who hunts down
women. Which of us is the better9'''
"Regret9 So do I. From the bot
tom Of my heart. I regret everything
in my life that has been evil. One
Of those things has not been my as
sociation with Rivas. He paid me to
incriminate you, at my. request he
6anded II him, and got aWaS while
burned it, +
"You did that-whys'
~ did not want you to know, save
from me. that I had been SO near I'd
running you.' 5..~
"'Again why?") g
49, THAT That's question:" she said, ~ can.
Ths ssntias sa asa sss xas hss eehpg II but
"All my life," whispered, ~ have
been maker Of wars. Hereafter ]
shall be, maker Of love if you will
let me' 70
She lifted her lips and I kissed her
There was a revolution In Salvador
three months later, but Mrs. McLemore
and I had nothing to do with it. Neither
did the wife Of Rivas. Elvarez shot the
president down during dance at the
White House., the hired so1diery pro
claimed him dictator, and no one careG
enough about the matter to dispute /,
with him. About the time that the in
cident occurred RXas Vas spy pass,ed out
the spouse Of Frederick Danforth, cof
fee merchant, at your service.