Peter, obstinately.
“You have no eye for beauty, Peter,” said Jack, gravely; “look at the grandeur of the scene around you.”
“It’s very pretty.”
“Pretty!” cried Philip, laughing. “I once heard a young lady call the Hallelujah Chorus pretty. You must be a relation of that young lady, Peter.”
“Of all the adjectives in the English language,” said Duval, with mock solemnity, “the one I most detest is ‘pretty.’”
“Especially when it is applied to a certain damsel, whereof we wot,” interjected Philip, mischievously; whereat Jack blushed and the others laughed.
“If Peter is so enthusiastic over all this,” said Tim, waving his hand to indicate the same, “what will he say when he sees Doña Serafina.”
“Bother Doña Serafina,” retorted the doctor, growing red. “I wish you fellows would stop roasting me on the subject.”
“She isn’t a subject, Peter, but an object. Forty-five, and as plain as Tim there!”
“Is it me you mean, Jack. Why, I’m not bad looking, at all. I’ve had that same on the best female authority. We can’t all be heathen gods, like you and Philip.”
“I object to be compared to a heathen god,” said the baronet, lighting a fresh cigarette. “There is ugly Vulcan as well as beautiful Apollo. Your compliment reads both ways, Tim.”
“Oh, the vanity of the creature. But I’m not going to pass compliments, sir. No, it’s my intention to request Mister Duval to deliver a speech.”
“What about?” asked Jack, considerably taken aback at this cool request.
“On the politics of Cholacaca. I dursn’t neglect my business, lads, and the first letter I have to send to my chief is a report of the cause of this shindy.”
“The information will be useful to us all,” said Philip, settling himself more comfortably in his chair; “we will then know which side to take, Don Miguel’s or Don Hypolito’s. Go on, Jack, and you, Peter, hold your tongue; interrupt, and I’ll give orders for your removal overboard.”
The doctor grinned and expressed his desire to know all that Jack had to say on the subject; whereat Duval, without wasting any time, plunged at once into the middle of the subject.
“It’s a difficult task,” he said, rubbing his chin in some perplexity; “but first you must know the geography of Cholacaca. It has more depth than breadth, being a strip of country lying south of Yucatan, about four hundred miles long and two hundred broad. Tlatonac, the chief town, is in the south, and Acauhtzin, the second city, in the north, about three hundred miles intervening. There are other towns of more or less importance in the interior; but the most of Cholacaca consists of dense forests inhabited by Indians and dotted with buried cities.”
“One of which contains the Temple of the Harlequin Opal, I suppose,” said Philip, leisurely.
“Yes; I have an idea that the Temple of the Opal is not very far from Tlatonac; but of this I am not sure. Well, to proceed. The country is very mountainous, and there are comparatively few roads. I am engaged by the Government to construct a railway to Acauhtzin.”
“How far have you constructed?”
“Fifty miles, or thereabouts, and now that this war is on the tapis, I expect the works will have to be abandoned. Failing this railway, the only way to get to the second capital is by water. So, you see, communication between the two towns is not so perfect as it might be.”
“And thus offers good opportunities to Don Hypolito to make things nasty for the Government.”
“There’s no doubt of that, provided Don Hypolito can secure the allegiance of the navy.”
“The navy!” said Peter, in surprise. “You don’t mean to say, Jack, that Cholacaca has a navy?”
“A very good one, as South American navies go. They have three war-ships, named respectively, The Columbus, The Cortes, and The Pizarro, all first-class vessels. The Government has also sent to England for two torpedo-boats, which are expected out shortly.”
“Then, if Don Hypolito commands the navy, he can do what he likes.”
“Not exactly. Tlatonac is well fortified, and the war-ships would have to keep well out of the range of the guns.”
“Any army worth mentioning?”
“Yes; a capital army for this part of the world. Mostly Mestizos, you know; and, if needs be, I dare say the Government can secure the forest Indians as their allies. Fools if they do. No wise man trusts an Indian. That holds good of governments also, I take it.”
“Judging from your opal story,” said Philip, reflectively, “it seems to me that this Indian business depends on the stone.”
“No doubt. If Don Hypolito secures Dolores and her opal, the Indians, out of sheer superstition, will side with him against the Government. In that case, they are too near Tlatonac to be pleasant.”
“And what are the plans of this Don, if you please,” asked Tim, who was scribbling shorthand notes in his pocket-book.
“Hum! you’ll have to ask Xuarez about those, and then he won’t tell you. So far as I can judge, he will win over the navy to his side, establish his head-quarters at Acauhtzin, and make things unpleasant all round. With the navy of three, he can blockade Tlatonac.”
“What about the torpedo-boats?”
“They, no doubt, are on their way out from England. If the war-ships can stop them, they certainly will.”
“Torpedo-boats are unpleasant things to handle.”
“Yes; I don’t suppose the war-ships will try force. Those in charge of the two torpedo-boats won’t know of the disaffection of the navy; so possibly their commander will be decoyed on board the ships, and the rebels can place their own men in charge of the torpederas.”
“In that case,” said Philip, after a pause, “it would be as well to use this yacht to warn them before they enter the harbour.”
“My dear Philip, if you tried on that game, the rebels would send a war-ship after you, and The Bohemian would be knocked to bits.”
“Not if she gets a start. I’ll back her speed against the whole Cholacacan navy. When The Bohemian has all her furnaces going, she is like a streak of greased lightning.”
“But, after all,” said Peter, yawning, “I don’t see why we need anticipate evil. Don Hypolito may not have rebelled, and the navy may still be loyal to the Government.”
“What!” cried Tim, sticking his chin in the air, “d’ye think I’ve come all these miles to see a flash in the pan. If Don Hypolito doesn’t revolt, I shall consider myself deceived. I want war—blood red war, and plenty of it.”
“Barbaric wretch!” said
