Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-08-29

matter of 1900 miles or so to the next
big town and no way to get there un-
less he could work his way on a river
steamer. He tried that. but the sec
ond mate and him had words. SO
Lester had to go ashore. / gather
that he went kind Of lively, too, with
the mate a poor second.
i don't know just where it was
says Lester. Some port with a
Spanish name All l know is I near
starved there. Guess 1 would have
II L hadn't met up with this Gen.
Vincento. as bad as they come. A
trouble maker. too. Seems he was
pullin' off some kind of a revolution.
He'd grabbed the capital and had the
other. general on the run. but he'd
struck snag. His army wouldn't
hght any more on promises. They
wanted to be paid Off Here they
were in the capitol. visitors. but fat
broke. Cash was what they needed.
Right away. too.
Il happened to be loafin' around
one OF them outdoor cafes when he
got the ultimatum. 1t was either pay
up or else his noble soldiers would
go over to the other main who'd
eIoped with the national treasury.
Nlncento gets his eye on me and de-
mandS who the blaZes I am. SO /
gives him a tale about being buyer
for the Rubber Trust. 'Ha" says he.
a rich Americana 1 didn't deny IL.
tramp steamer loaded with rubber.
I'll Sell you the whole cargo. But for
cash, only.
Course that didn't help either OF
us l tried to tell him l was no trav-
cling bank. Bah" says he. I know
carry so careful under your arm % Just
my other suit. general" says |. "Show
me-" says he. There was nothing else
to do. And when he saw them bundles
of coupons you should have seen his old
eyes glisten. "Ah-h-h." says he. "As
friend you shall buy my rubber. Take
| it, The whole cargo is yours And these
these are mine" Say, it was a couple
of minutes before / could really believe
that the old robber actually meant it.
Them yellow and green prize tickets
looked just enough like money to fool
him.
well. had sense enough left to
decker a bit, even at that wouldn't do
to let him get away with it too easy. l
puts UP a good imitation of a howl, calls
him highway robber. talks about
cabin the State Department, and finally
compromises on acceptin' an order for
anything l wanted in any store in town
and an official bill Of lading, freight pre-
paid. for the cargo of rubber. And as
the tramp steamer sailed out Of the har-
Dor with me on board. Gen. Vincento
had his army lined up in the plaza and
was payin' 'em off with my coupons.
How was that, eh?"
l shakes my head "It's good tale,
Lester" says l.: Il could almost believe
it. too, if could see the rubber"
ooh, comet" says Lester. ASK me
something hard. Walk down to Pier 10,
East river. and IL show you, all right.
But first off. wish you'd tell me where
can sell job lot Of crude rubber"
'Eh? ?" says I. "Oh. I say, Piddie Step
over here. will you? Remember our old
friend Nudge. don't you? Well, he's
brought you little souvenir from South
America Uh-huh. Five tons Of crude
rubber. Think you could find market
for him?''
Could he? Say. two minutes later they
walks of arm in arm toward the tele-
phone booth. And have a bunch Pid-
die has revised his ideas on ambitions,
low and otherwise. What I'm wonderin'
though. is how the rate Of exchange in
South America runs about now on cigar
coupons.
Copyright, 1920. BY sewell Ford.)