Gunnison news-champion., 1911-08-04

of the president and his
cabinet. he'd 10 the eaiabr
sseuf of the navy and the
appointment OF Felipe
CarreEs IS ifs admiral The vine had
been sent by the Moeul Banana com
psny of New Or,esns as a token Of
aasicsbie relations certain coa-
summsted aeals-between thai com
pany and the repablic
Next 10 the champagne the credit
Of the appoistment belonged to Don
lsiBister OF war
The session had been signally te-
dioas. the business aud the wine pro
sieioUsly dry sudden. prankish hg-
NOR OF Don sabas impelling him to
the deed. spioed the grave matters Of
sfate ~ith a whih of agreeaDls play
fGlness.
. bulletin from the department of Oril
la del Mar. reporting the seizure by
the custom house of'lcers al the coast
town OF Solitas OF the sloop t.streils
de Noche and her cargo Of dry goods.
patent medicine. granglated sugar and
three-star 5randy Also six Martini
rifles and ten Thousand Havana cigars.
Caught IN the act Of smuggling. the
slooD and cargo was nov. according
to law. the property of the republic.
The collector of customs. in making
bis statement, departed from coBveB-
tioBsl forms so far as to suggest that
the eoRfscased vessel be converted to
the use of the government The prize
was the first capture to the credit of
the department for ten years. II oft
en- happened that government officials
Required transportation from point to
point along the coast, and means we're
usually lacking Furthermore. the
sioop 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
Ii was upon this hint that the min
lister of war executed his little piece
of drollery that so enlivened the tedi-
Nm 0f executive session.
In the constitution of this small.
maritime banana republic was a for
gotten section providing for the main
tenahce Of . navy. The champagne
was bubbliRe .rickily IN the veins Of
the mercurial statesmen. A formid-
able document was prepared. encrust-
ed with chromatic seals and jaunty
with nuttering ribbons. bearing the
horal signatures of state, and con
ferrins upon ell senor Don Felipe Car
rera the title of Admiral of the ma
rine neet and force of the republic.
Thus, within the space OF a few min
utes and the dominion of a dozen ex-
ira dry, the country rose to a place
among naval powers. and Felipe Car
rera became entitled to q salute of
twenty-one guns whenever he should
enter port.
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
rers was but half-witted. Therefore,
the people of Solitas called him "el
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.
He generally refused to answer all
questions when on shore. He seemed
to know that he was badly handi-
capped on land where so many kinds
OF understanding are needed, but on
the water few sailors whom God had
entirely and carefully completed could
handle a sailboat as well He could
sail a sloop five points nearer to the
winds eye than the best of them. He
owned no boat, but worked among the
crews of the schooners and sloops that
skinned the coast. trading, and
freighting fruit out to the steamers
where there was no harbor 1t was
through his famous boldness and skill
as a sailor as well as the pity felt for
his mental imperfections that he was
recommended by the collector as a
suitable custodian of the captured
eloop.
When the outcome of Senor 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
ernment had granted him Without a
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 exclamations of
'pobrecito muchacho." but never a
laugh or a smile.
Somewhere Felipe had raked to
81