l of our correspondents have made a hit already, and some of
them have made themselves more famous than the generals! Ha, ha! Our
head editor is going out next month, and of course we'll see to it that
he does wonders. Hullo! there's Jonas now. Why, this is a lucky
meeting. Here, Jonas. You know Cleary. Mr. Jonas, Captain Jinks. I'll
be blessed if here isn't the whole combination."

Mr. Jonas, who had come into the room unannounced, and perched himself
on the corner of a table, was a rather short man with a brown beard and
eye-glasses, and wore his hat on the back of his head.

"Well, Jonas, how are things going?" asked the editor.

"A 1. Couldn't be better. I've just been down at Skinner's----"

"Skinner & Company, one of the biggest financial houses in the street,"
the editor explained to Sam.

"And they've agreed to go the whole job. First of all, it'll be chiefly
trade. I showed them the contracts for boots and hats for the army, and
they were tickled to death. They'll let us have as much as we want on
them. I didn't have the embalmed-beef contract with me--it smells too
bad to carry round in my pocket, hee-hee!--but I explained it to them,
and it's even better. They're quite satisfied."

"And how is the beer business going?"

"Oh! that's a success already. Look at this item," and he pulled a
newspaper from his pocket and showed it to the editor.

"One hundred more saloons in Havilla than there were at this time last
year! Can that be possible?" ejaculated the latter.

"Yes, and I'm behind fifty-eight of them. That agent I sent out ahead
is a jewel."

"Have you been up at the Bible Society?"

"Yes, and I've got special terms on a hundred thousand Testaments in
Castalian and the native languages. That will awaken interest, you see,
and then we'll follow it up with five hundred thousand in English, and
it will do no end of good in pushing the language. It will be made the
official language soon, anyway. What a blessing it will be to those
poor creatures who speak languages that nobody can understand!"

"How is the rifle deal coming out?"

"Only so-so. The Government will take about three-quarters of the lot.
The rest we'll have to unload on the Cubapinos."

"What!" exclaimed Sam, "aren't they fighting against us now?"

"Oh! we don't sell them direct of course," added Jonas, "but we can't
alter the laws of trade, can we? And they require that things get into
the h