There was a pause while the men sipped at their glasses, and looked at the horses and the orderly.The clanging of the guitar began again from the kitchen.``You have a very beautiful view here of the harbor, yes,'' said Mendoza.He seemed to enjoy the pause after his ride, and to be in no haste to begin on the object of his errand.MacWilliams and Langham eyed each other covertly, and Clay examined the end of his cigar, and they all waited.
``And how are the mines progressing, eh?'' asked the officer, genially.``You find much good iron in them, they tell me.''
``Yes, we are doing very well,'' Clay assented; ``it was difficult at first, but now that things are in working order, we are getting out about ten thousand tons a month.We hope to increase that soon to twenty thousand when the new openings are developed and our shipping facilities are in better shape.''
``So much!'' exclaimed the General, pleasantly.
``Of which the Government of my country is to get its share of ten per cent--one thousand tons! It is munificent!'' He laughed and shook his head slyly at Clay, who smiled in dissent.
``But you see, sir,'' said Clay, ``you cannot blame us.The mines have always been there, before this Government came in, before the Spaniards were here, before there was any Government at all, but there was not the capital to open them up, I suppose, or--and it needed a certain energy to begin the attack.Your people let the chance go, and, as it turned out, I think they were very wise in doing so.They get ten per cent of the output.
That's ten per cent on nothing, for the mines really didn't exist, as far as you were concerned, until we came, did they?
They were just so much waste land, and they would have remained so.And look at the price we paid down before we cut a tree.
Three millions of dollars; that's a good deal of money.It will be some time before we realize anything on that investment.''
Mendoza shook his head and shrugged his shoulders.``I will be frank with you,'' he said, with the air of one to whom dissimulation is difficult.``I come here to-night on an unpleasant errand, but it is with me a matter of duty, and I am a soldier, to whom duty is the foremost ever.I have come to tell you, Mr.Clay, that we, the Opposition, are not satisfied with the manner in which the Government has disposed of these great iron deposits.When I say not satisfied, my dear friend, Ispeak most moderately.I should say that we are surprised and indignant, and we are determined the wrong it has done our country shall be righted.I have the honor to have been chosen to speak for our party on this most important question, and on next Tuesday, sir,'' the General stood up and bowed, as though he were before a great assembly, ``I will rise in the Senate and move a vote of want of confidence in the Government for the manner in which it has given away the richest possessions in the storehouse of my country, giving it not only to aliens, but for a pittance, for a share which is not a share, but a bribe, to blind the eyes of the people.It has been a shameful bargain, and Icannot say who is to blame; I accuse no one.But I suspect, and I will demand an investigation; I will demand that the value not of one-tenth, but of one-half of all the iron that your company takes out of Olancho shall be paid into the treasury of the State.And I come to you to-night, as the Resident Director, to inform you beforehand of my intention.I do not wish to take you unprepared.I do not blame your people; they are business men, they know how to make good bargains, they get what they best can.That is the rule of trade, but they have gone too far, and I advise you to communicate with your people in New York and learn what they are prepared to offer now--now that they have to deal with men who do not consider their own interests but the interests of their country.''
Mendoza made a sweeping bow and seated himself, frowning dramatically, with folded arms.His voice still hung in the air, for he had spoken as earnestly as though he imagined himself already standing in the hall of the Senate championing the cause of the people.
MacWilliams looked up at Clay from where he sat on the steps below him, but Clay did not notice him, and there was no sound, except the quick sputtering of the nicotine in Langham's pipe, at which he pulled quickly, and which was the only outward sign the boy gave of his interest.Clay shifted one muddy boot over the other and leaned back with his hands stuck in his belt.
``Why didn't you speak of this sooner?'' he asked.
``Ah, yes, that is fair,'' said the General, quickly.``I know that it is late, and I regret it, and I see that we cause you inconvenience; but how could I speak sooner when I was ignorant of what was going on? I have been away with my troops.I am a soldier first, a politician after.During the last year Ihave been engaged in guarding the frontier.No news comes to a General in the field moving from camp to camp and always in the saddle; but I may venture to hope, sir, that news has come to you of me?''
Clay pressed his lips together and bowed his head.
``We have heard of your victories, General, yes,'' he said; ``and on your return you say you found things had not been going to your liking?''
``That is it,'' assented the other, eagerly.``I find that indignation reigns on every side.I find my friends complaining of the railroad which you run across their land.I find that fifteen hundred soldiers are turned into laborers, with picks and spades, working by the side of negroes and your Irish; they have not been paid their wages, and they have been fed worse than though they were on the march; sickness and--''
Clay moved impatiently and dropped his boot heavily on the porch.