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Updated: June 9, 2025
"I am aware that out here you think little of revolutions, but to a newcomer they appear to be matters requiring some management. You see we are only three." "I have the army with me," said he grandly. "In the outer office?" asked I, indulging in a sneer at the dimensions of the Aureataland forces. "Look here, Martin," he said, scowling, "if you're coming in with us, keep your jokes to yourself."
I was a young man, entering on my twenty-sixth year, and full of pride at finding myself at so early an age sent out to fill the responsible position of manager at our Aureataland branch.
"Are we to stand by and see Aureataland enter on the shameful path of repudiation?" "Never!" cried the signorina, leaping up with sparkling eyes. "Never!" She looked enchanting. But business is business; and I said again: "What are you going to do?" "We are going, with your help, Martin, to prevent this national disgrace.
I shall not attempt more description, because all such descriptions sound commonplace, and the signorina was, even by the admission of her enemies, at least very far from commonplace. It must suffice to say that, like Father O'Flynn, she "had such a way with her" that all of us men in Aureataland, old and young, rich and poor, were at her feet, or ready to be there on the least encouragement.
These disturbing phenomena were first brought prominently to my notice at the time when I became involved in the fortunes of the Aureataland national debt, and as all my story turns on this incident, it perhaps is a fit subject for a new chapter.
The officers of the Aureataland Army were a very mixed lot two or three Spanish-Americans, three or four Brazilians, and the balance Americans of the type their countrymen are least proud of. If there was an honest man among them he sedulously concealed his title to distinction; I know there wasn't a sober one.
I knew a few minutes more would be the limit of endurance, when at last I heard a loud shout and tumult of voices. "What's that?" exclaimed the major, in thick tones, pausing as he spoke. I dropped his hand, and, seizing my revolver, said: "Some drunken row in barracks, major. Let 'em alone." "I must go," he said. "Character Aureataland army at stake."
The resolutions arrived at are at present strictly confidential, but we have the best authority for stating that the measures to be adopted will have the effect of materially alleviating the present tension, and will afford unmixed satisfaction to the immense majority of the citizens of Aureataland. The President will once again be hailed as the saviour of his country."
There was a gala supper at the barracks that evening, to commemorate some incident or other in the national history, and I was to be present and to reply to the toast of "The Commerce of Aureataland." My task was, at all hazards, to keep this party going till the colonel's job was done, when he would appear at the soldiers' quarters, bribe in hand, and demand their allegiance.
Starting under the auspices of such a gifted leader, and imbued with so noble a zeal for progress, Aureataland was, at the beginning of her history as a nation, the object of many fond and proud hopes. The country was well suited for agriculture and grazing, but the population a very queer mixture of races was indolent, and more given to keeping holidays and festivals than to honest labor.
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