arez, you know, was the
Countess Manueleta Hernandez before her marriage. She belongs to one
of the oldest families in Spain. Alvarez married her in Madrid, when
he was Minister there, and when he returned to run for President, she
came with him. She's a tremendously ambitious woman, and they do say
she wants to convert the republic into a monarchy, and make her husband
King, or, more properly speaking, make herself Queen. Of course that's
absurd, but she is supposed to be plotting to turn Olancho into a sort
of dependency of Spain, as it was long ago, and that's why she is so
unpopular."

"Indeed?" interrupted Miss Langham, "I did not know that she was
unpopular."

"Oh, rather. Why, her party is called the Royalist Party already, and
only a week before you came the Liberals plastered the city with
denunciatory placards against her, calling on the people to drive her
out 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 of
the army with him, but the other candidate, old General Rojas, is the
popular choice and the best of the three. He is Vice-President now, and
if the people were ever given a fair chance to vote for the man they
want, he would unquestionably be the next President. The mass of the
people are sick of revolutions. They've had enough of them, but they
will have to go through another before long, and if it turns against
Dr. Alvarez, I'm afraid Mr. Langham will have hard work to hold these
mines. You see, Mendoza has already threatened to seize the whole
plant and turn it into a Government monopoly."

"And if the other one, General Rojas, gets into power, will he seize
the mines, too?"

"No, he is honest, strange to relate," laughed Weimer, "but he won't
get in. Alvarez will make himself dictator, or Mendoza will make
himself President. That's why Clay treats the soldiers here so well.
He thinks he may need them against Mendoza. You may be turning your
saluting-gun on the city yet, Commodore," he added, smiling, "or, what
is more likely, you'll need the yacht to take Miss Langham and the rest
of 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 in
the Malaysian