V
The visit to the city was imitated on the three succeeding evenings bysimilar excursions. On one night they returned to the plaza, and theother two were spent in drifting down the harbor and along the coast onKing's yacht. The President and Madame Alvarez were King's guests onone of these moonlight excursions, and were saluted by the propernumber of guns, and their native band played on the forward deck. Clayfelt that King held the centre of the stage for the time being, andobliterated himself completely. He thought of his own paddle-wheeltug-boat that he had had painted and gilded in her honor, and smiledgrimly.
MacWilliams approached him as he sat leaning back on the rail andlooking up, with the eye of a man who had served before the mast, atthe lacework of spars and rigging above him. MacWilliams came towardhim on tiptoe and dropped carefully into a wicker chair. "There don'tseem to be any door-mats on this boat," he said. "In every otherrespect she seems fitted out quite complete; all the latest magazinesand enamelled bathtubs, and Chinese waiter-boys with cock-tails uptheir sleeves. But there ought to be a mat at the top of each of thosestairways that hang over the side, otherwise some one is sure to soilthe deck. Have you been down in the engine-room yet?" he asked. "Well,don't go, then," he advised, solemnly. "It will only make you feelbadly. I have asked the Admiral if I can send those half-breed enginedrivers over to-morrow to show them what a clean engine-room lookslike. I've just been talking to the chief. His name's MacKenzie, andI told him I was Scotch myself, and he said it 'was a greet pleesure'to find a gentleman so well acquainted with the movements of machinery.He thought I was one of King's friends, I guess, so I didn't tell him Ipulled a lever for a living myself. I gave him a cigar though, and hesaid, 'Thankee, sir,' and touched his cap to me."
MacWilliams chuckled at the recollection, and crossed his legscomfortably. "One of King's cigars, too," he said. "Real Havana; heleaves them lying around loose in the cabin. Have you had one? TedLangham and I took about a box between us."
Clay made no answer, and MacWilliams settled himself contentedly in thegreat wicker chair and puffed grandly on a huge cigar.
"It's demoralizing, isn't it?" he said at last.
"What?" asked Clay, absently.
"Oh, this associating with white people again, as we're doing now. Itspoils you for tortillas and rice, doesn't it? It's going to be greatfun while it lasts, but when they've all gone, and Ted's gone, too, andthe yacht's vanished, and we fall back to tramping around the plazatwice a week, it won't be gay, will it? No; it won't be gay. We'rehaving the spree of our lives now, I guess, but there's going to be adifference in the morning."
"Oh, it's worth a headache, I think," said Clay, as he shrugged hisshoulders and walked away to find Miss Langham.
The day set for the visit to the mines rose bright and clear.MacWilliams had rigged out his single passenger-car with rugs andcushions, and flags flew from its canvas top that flapped and billowedin the wind of the slow-moving train. Their observation-car, asMacWilliams termed it, was placed in front of the locomotive, and theywere pushed gently along the narrow rails between forests of Manacapalms, and through swamps and jungles, and at times over the limestoneformation along the coast, where the waves dashed as high as thesmokestack of the locomotive, covering the excursionists with asprinkling of white spray. Thousands of land-crabs, painted red andblack and yellow, scrambled with a rattle like dead men's bones acrossthe rails to be crushed by the hundreds under the wheels of theJuggernaut; great lizards ran from sunny rocks at the sound of theirapproach, and a deer bounded across the tracks fifty feet in front ofthe cow-catcher. MacWilliams escorted Hope out into the cab of thelocomotive, and taught her how to increase and slacken the speed of theengine, until she showed an unruly desire to throw the lever openaltogether and shoot them off the rails into the ocean beyond.
Clay sat at the back of the car with Miss Langham, and told her and herfather of the difficulties with which young MacWilliams had had tocontend. Miss Langham found her chief pleasure in noting the attentionwhich her father gave to all that Clay had to tell him. Knowing herfather as she did, and being familiar with his manner toward other men,she knew that he was treating Clay with unusual consideration. Andthis pleased her greatly, for it justified her own interest in him.She regarded Clay as a discovery of her own, but she was glad to haveher opinion of him shared by others.
Their coming was a great event in the history of the mines. Kirkland,the foreman, and Chapman, who handled the dynamite, Weimer, the Consul,and the native doctor, who cared for the fever-stricken and thecasualties, were all at the station to meet them in the whitest ofwhite duck and with a bunch of ponies to carry them on their tour ofinspection, and the village of mud-cabins and zinc-huts that stoodclear of the bare sunbaked earth on whitewashed wooden piles was asclean as Clay's hundred policemen could sweep it. Mr. Langham rode inadvance of the cavalcade, and the head of each of the differentdepartments took his turn in riding at his side, and explained what hadbeen done, and showed him the proud result. The village was empty,except for the families of the native workmen and the ownerless dogs,the scavengers of the colony, that snarled and barked and ran leapingin front of the ponies' heads.
Rising abruptly above the zinc village, lay the first of the five greathills, with its open front cut into great terraces, on which the menclung like flies on the side of a wall, some of them in groups aroundan opening, or in couples pounding a steel bar that a fellow-workmanturned in his bare hands, while others gathered about the pantingsteam-drills that shook the solid rock with fierce, short blows, andhid the men about them in a throbbing curtain of steam. Self-importantlittle dummy-engines, dragging long trains of ore-cars, rolled androcked on the uneven surface of the ground, and swung around cornerswith warning screeches of their whistles. They could see, on peaksoutlined against the sky, the signal-men waving their red flags, andthen plunging down the mountain-side out of danger, as the earthrumbled and shook and vomited out a shower of stones and rubbish intothe calm hot air. It was a spectacle of desperate activity andpuzzling to the uninitiated, for it seemed to be scattered over anunlimited extent, with no head nor direction, and with each man, oreach group of men, working alone, like rag-pickers on a heap of ashes.
After the first half-hour of curious interest Miss Langham admitted toherself that she was disappointed. She confessed she had hoped thatClay would explain the meaning of the mines to her, and act as herescort over the mountains which he was blowing into pieces.
But it was King, somewhat bored by the ceaseless noise and heat, andher brother, incoherently enthusiastic, who rode at her side, whileClay moved on in advance and seemed to have forgotten her existence.She watched him pointing up at the openings in the mountains and downat the ore-road, or stooping to pick up a piece of ore from the groundin cowboy fashion, without leaving his saddle, and pounding it on thepommel before he passed it to the others. And, again, he would standfor minutes at a time up to his boot-tops in the sliding waste, withhis bridle rein over his arm and his thumbs in his belt, listening towhat his lieutenants were saying, and glancing quickly from them to Mr.Langham to see if he were following the technicalities of their speech.All of the men who had welcomed the appearance of the women on theirarrival with such obvious delight and with so much embarrassment seemednow as oblivious of their presence as Clay himself.
Miss Langham pushed her horse up into the group beside Hope, who hadkept her pony close at Clay's side from the beginning; but she couldnot make out what it was they were saying, and no one seemed to thinkit necessary to explain. She caught Clay's eye at last and smiledbrightly at him; but, after staring at her for fully a minute, untilKirkland had finished speaking, she heard him say, "Yes, that's itexactly; in open-face workings there is no other way," and so showedher that he had not been even conscious of her presence. But a fewminutes later she saw him look up at Hope, folding his arms across hischest tightly and shaking his head. "You see it was the only thing todo," she heard him say, as though he wer
e defending some course ofaction, and as though Hope were one of those who must be convinced."If we had cut the opening on the first level, there was the danger ofthe whole thing sinking in, so we had to begin to clear away at the topand work down. That's why I ordered the bucket-trolley. As it turnedout, we saved money by it."
Hope nodded her head slightly. "That's what I told father when Tedwrote us about it," she said; "but you haven't done it at MountWashington."
"Oh, but it's like this, Miss--" Kirkland replied, eagerly. "It'sbecause Washington is a solider foundation. We can cut openings allover it and they won't cave, but this hill is most all rubbish; it'sthe poorest stuff in the mines."
Hope nodded her head again and crowded her pony on after the movinggroup, but her sister and King did not follow. King looked at her andsmiled. "Hope is very enthusiastic," he said. "Where did she pick itup?"
"Oh, she and father used to go over it in his study last winter afterTed came down here," Miss Langham answered, with a touch of impatiencein her tone. "Isn't there some place where we can go to get out ofthis heat?"
Weimer, the Consul, heard her and led her back to Kirkland's bungalow,that hung like an eagle's nest from a projecting cliff. From its porchthey could look down the valley over the greater part of the mines, andbeyond to where the Caribbean Sea lay flashing in the heat.
"I saw very few Americans down there, Weimer," said King. "I thoughtClay had imported a lot of them."
"About three hundred altogether, wild Irishmen and negroes," said theConsul; "but we use the native soldiers chiefly. They can stand theclimate better, and, besides," he added, "they act as a reserve in caseof trouble. They are Mendoza's men, and Clay is trying to win themaway from him."
"I don't understand," said King.
Weimer looked around him and waited until Kirkland's servant haddeposited a tray full of bottles and glasses on a table near them, andhad departed. "The talk is," he said, "that Alvarez means to proclaima dictatorship in his own favor before the spring elections. You'veheard of that, haven't you?" King shook his head.
"Oh, tell us about it," said Miss Langham; "I should so like to be inplots and conspiracies."
"Well, they're rather common down here," continued the Consul, "butthis one ought to interest you especially, Miss Langham, because it isa woman who is at the head of it. Madame Alvarez, you know, was theCountess Manueleta Hernandez before her marriage. She belongs to oneof the oldest families in Spain. Alvarez married her in Madrid, whenhe was Minister there, and when he returned to run for President, shecame with him. She's a tremendously ambitious woman, and they do sayshe wants to convert the republic into a monarchy, and make her husbandKing, or, more properly speaking, make herself Queen. Of course that'sabsurd, but she is supposed to be plotting to turn Olancho into a sortof dependency of Spain, as it was long ago, and that's why she is sounpopular."
"Indeed?" interrupted Miss Langham, "I did not know that she wasunpopular."
"Oh, rather. Why, her party is called the Royalist Party already, andonly a week before you came the Liberals plastered the city withdenunciatory placards against her, calling on the people to drive herout of the country."
"What cowards--to fight a woman!" exclaimed Miss Langham.
"Well, she began it first, you see," said the Consul.
"Who is the leader of the fight against her?" asked King.
"General Mendoza; he is commander-in-chief and has the greater part ofthe army with him, but the other candidate, old General Rojas, is thepopular choice and the best of the three. He is Vice-President now, andif the people were ever given a fair chance to vote for the man theywant, he would unquestionably be the next President. The mass of thepeople are sick of revolutions. They've had enough of them, but theywill have to go through another before long, and if it turns againstDr. Alvarez, I'm afraid Mr. Langham will have hard work to hold thesemines. You see, Mendoza has already threatened to seize the wholeplant and turn it into a Government monopoly."
"And if the other one, General Rojas, gets into power, will he seizethe mines, too?"
"No, he is honest, strange to relate," laughed Weimer, "but he won'tget in. Alvarez will make himself dictator, or Mendoza will makehimself President. That's why Clay treats the soldiers here so well.He thinks he may need them against Mendoza. You may be turning yoursaluting-gun on the city yet, Commodore," he added, smiling, "or, whatis more likely, you'll need the yacht to take Miss Langham and the restof the family out of the country."
King smiled and Miss Langham regarded Weimer with flattering interest."I've got a quick firing gun below decks," said King, "that I used inthe Malaysian Peninsula on a junkful of Black Flags, and I think I'llhave it brought up. And there are about thirty of my men on the yachtwho wouldn't ask for their wages in a year if I'd let them go on shoreand mix up in a fight. When do you suppose this--"
A heavy step and the jingle of spurs on the bare floor of the bungalowstartled the conspirators, and they turned and gazed guiltily out atthe mountain-tops above them as Clay came hurrying out upon the porch.
"They told me you were here," he said, speaking to Miss Langham. "I'mso sorry it tired you. I should have remembered--it is a rough tripwhen you're not used to it," he added, remorsefully. "But I'm gladWeimer was here to take care of you."
"It was just a trifle hot and noisy," said Miss Langham, smilingsweetly. She put her hand to her forehead with an expression ofpatient suffering. "It made my head ache a little, but it was mostinteresting." She added, "You are certainly to be congratulated onyour work."
Clay glanced at her doubtfully with a troubled look, and turned awayhis eyes to the busy scene below him. He was greatly hurt that sheshould have cared so little, and indignant at himself for being sounjust. Why should he expect a woman to find interest in that hive ofnoise and sweating energy? But even as he stood arguing with himselfhis eyes fell on a slight figure sitting erect and graceful on herpony's back, her white habit soiled and stained red with the ore of themines, and green where it had crushed against the leaves. She wascoming slowly up the trail with a body-guard of half a dozen mencrowding closely around her, telling her the difficulties of the work,and explaining their successes, and eager for a share of her quicksympathy.
Clay's eyes fixed themselves on the picture, and he smiled at itssignificance. Miss Langham noticed the look, and glanced below to seewhat it was that had so interested him, and then back at him again. Hewas still watching the approaching cavalcade intently, and smiling tohimself. Miss Langham drew in her breath and raised her head andshoulders quickly, like a deer that hears a footstep in the forest, andwhen Hope presently stepped out upon the porch, she turned quicklytoward her, and regarded her steadily, as though she were a stranger toher, and as though she were trying to see her with the eyes of one wholooked at her for the first time.
"Hope!" she said, "do look at your dress!"
Hope's face was glowing with the unusual exercise, and her eyes werebrilliant. Her hair had slipped down beneath the visor of her helmet.
"I am so tired--and so hungry." She was laughing and looking directlyat Clay. "It has been a wonderful thing to have seen," she said,tugging at her heavy gauntlet, "and to have done," she added. Shepulled off her glove and held out her hand to Clay, moist and scarredwith the pressure of the reins.
"Thank you," she said, simply.
The master of the mines took it with a quick rush of gratitude, andlooking into the girl's eyes, saw something there that startled him, sothat he glanced quickly past her at the circle of booted men grouped inthe door behind her. They were each smiling in appreciation of thetableau; her father and Ted, MacWilliams and Kirkland, and all theothers who had helped him. They seemed to envy, but not to grudge, thewhole credit which the girl had given to him.
Clay thought, "Why could it not have been the other?" But he saidaloud, "Thank YOU. You have given me my reward."
Miss Langham looked down impatiently into the valley below, and foundthat it se
emed more hot and noisy, and more grimy than before.
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