Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1916-07-26

1
day and agreed to transport our bag
gage at Sc hundredweight The pa
drone stood aside, smiling cheerfully.
II YER good fr'en', eh7'' he de-
manded.
my son." said Talbot, with feeling,
you're gentleman and a scholar.
Indeed. would go further and desig-
nate you as genuine lallapaloozerr'
The padrone seemed much gratified,
but Immediately demanded SIS. This
Talbot gave him. Johnny thought the
demand went far toward destroying
the value of the padrone's kindness,
but the rest Of us differed. I believe
this people, lazy and dishonest as they
are, are nevertheless peculiarly sus-
ceptible to kindness. The man had
started by trying to cheat us of our
bargain; he ended by going out Of his
way to help us along.
Having paid the alcalde, we set
forth. Our good padrone was on hand
tn sag farewell to us at the edge of
town. He gave us sort of cup made
from cocoanut husk, to which long
cords had been attached. With these.
he explained, we could dip up water
without dismounhng. We found them
most convenient.
Shortly after we had left town and
before we had really begun our jour-
ney In earnest we passed a most as
iSh ~
way. This consisted of sixteen mules
and donkeys under sole charge of
three men armed with Anticipated and
somewhat rusty. muskets. On either
side of each mule, slung in rope and
plain to see, hung heavy 1ngot Of
gold! Fascinated, we approached and
stroked the satiny beautiful metal and
wondered that on road so crowded
with travellers Of all grades so precious
a train should be freely intrusted to
the three rugged, lazy natives. So curl
GUS did this seem that Talbot inquired
Of the leader why it was allowed.
whittier would a thief run to?
How could he carry away these heavy
ingots?" the man propounded.
Often around subsequent campflres
we have in idle curiosity attempted to
answer these two questions success
fully, but have always failed. The
gold was safe.
We arrived in Panama In the after
noon, and we were all eyes, for here
was city taken directly from the
pages Of the Boys Own Pirate"
Without the least effort of the mag
nation we could see Morgan or Kidd
or some other old swashbuckler, cut
lass In teeth, pistols in hand, broad
sashed, fierce and ruthless, rushing
over the walls or through the streets,
while the cathedral bells changed wild
ly and women screamed. Everything
about it was Of the past, for somehow
the modern signs Of American inva-
sion seemed temporary and to be
blown away. The two story wooden
houses. with corridor and veranda
across the face Of the second story,
painted In bright colors, leaned crafty
out across the streets toward each
other. Narrow and mysterious alleys |
led up between them. Ancient cathe- |
drals and churches stood gray with
age before grass grown plazas. And
in the outskirts of town We're massive
masonry ruins Of great buildings, con-
vent and colleges, some Of which had
never been finished.
We stopped over one day at the
Fonda Americana and then, realizing
that we were probably in for long
wait, found two rooms in a house off
the main street. These we rented
from native at fairly reasonable
rate. They were In the second story
Of a massive stone ruin whose walls