Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1911-02-03

IlM M1 S0OAhOAp AOu " ln0 CSldU-
ment of the navy and the
appointment of Felipe
Carrera as its admiral. The wine had
been sent by the Mogul Banana com
pany of New Orleans as a token of
amicable relations-and certain CON
summated deals-between that COM
pany and the republic.
Next to the champagne the credit
of the appointment belonged to Don
Sabas Placido, the newly appointed
minister of war.
The session had been signaIly te-
dious; the business and the wine pro-
digiously dry. A sudden, prankish hui
NOR OF Don Sabas impelling him to
the deed, spiced the grave matters Of
state with whiff of agreeable play
fitness.
In the order of business had come
a bulletin from the department of Drill
In del Mar, reporting the seizure by
the custom-house officers at the coast
town of Solitas of the sloop Estrella
de Noche and her cargo of dry goods,
patent medicine. granulated sugar and
three-star brandy. Also six Martini
rifles and ten thousand Havana cigars.
Caught In the act of smuggling, the
sloop and cargo was now, according
to law the property OF the republic.
The collector of customs, In making
his statement, departed from conven-
donal forms SO far as to suggest that
the confiscated vessel be converted to
the use of the government The prize
was the first capture to the credit of
the department for ten years. 1t oft
en- happened that government officials
required transportation from point to
point along the coast, and means were
usually lacking. Furthermore, the
sloop could act as a coast guard to dis
courage the pernicious art of Snug
Cling. The collector would also ven
ture to name one to whom the charge
of the boat could be safely entrusted
"a young man, Felipe Carrera, not, be
1t understood one of extreme wisdom,
but loyal, and the best sailor along the
coast
1t was upon this hint that the min
lister of war executed his little piece
Of drollery that SO enlivened the tedi-
um of executive session.
In the constitution of this small.
maritime banana republic was a for
gotten section providing for the main
tenance of a navy. The champagne
was bubblins srickily in the veins of
the mercurial statesmen. A formid-
able document was prepared. encrust-
ed with chromatic seals and jaunty
with fiuttering ribbons, bearing the
floral signatures of state, and con-
ferring upon ell Senior Don Felipe Car
rera the title of Admiral Of the ma
rine fleet and force Of the republic
The southern races are lacking in
that particular humor that finds enter
tainment In natural misfortunes. Ow-
ing to this defect, they are not moved
to laughter at the deformed, the fee
ble-minded, or the insane. Felipe Car
rera was but half-witted. Therefore,
the people of Solitas called him Eel
pobrecito loco" saying that God had
sent but half of him to earth, retain
ing the other. A somber youth, glow
ering and speaking only at the rarest
times, Felipe was but negatively loco.
When the outcome of Senior Pla-
cido's little pleasantly arrived in the
form of the imposing commission, the
collector wondered and then smiled.
He sent for Felipe, placed the docu.
ment In his hands. explaining careful
ly to him the high honor that the gov.
eminent had granted him. Without
word, the newly created admiral took
his commission. and departed.
The next morning he came again to
the collector, and, as he passed
through the village streets many were
the compassionate EXPLANATIONS of
''pobrecito muchacho," but never
laugh or a SMILE
Somewhere. Felipe had raked to.
gether a pitiful semblance of a mill
tary uniform-a pair OF red trousers.
q dingy blue jacket embroidered with
yellow braid, and an old fatigue CAP
abandoned by one of the British sol.
diers In Belize. In the latter he had
fastened the gaudy feathers of a par
rot's tail. Buckled around his waist
was an ancient ships cutlass contrib
uted by Pedro Lafitte, the barber, who
proudly asserted its Inheritance from
his ancestor, the illustrious buccaneer.
At the admirais heels tagged his
newly shipped crew-three grinning.
glossy black Caribs. bare to the waist:
the sand in the streets squirting in a
shower from the spring of their naked
feet.
With becoming dignity, Felipe de-
manded his vessel of the collector.
And now. fresh honor awaited him.
The collectors wife, thin, little, vel
low woman who read novels in ham,
mock all day. had found, in an old
book, an engraving of a flag purport-
ing to be the naval flag of the repub-
lie. Perhaps 1t had been so designed
as no navy had ever been established,
oblivion had claimed its flag. With
her own tawny hands she had made
q flag after this pattern--a red cross
upon blue and white ground. Hav.
ing a little of the romance that
abounded In her novels. she present
ed it to Felipe with the words: Brave
sailor. This flag is of your country.
1t you win defend with the life. Go
with God"